Hopkins Creek celebrates a decade in the paddock with 2026 lineup

One of the country’s most beloved festivals turns 10 this year, with Hopkins Creek today announcing the celebration of a decade and its accompanying local-heavy lineup.

After a three-year hiatus, Hopkins returned last year to a huge response by supporters not only across its home of Victoria or Naarm/Melbourne itself, but nationally too. Having weathered all manner of logistical storms, including fires, floods, postponements and a pandemic in its lifetime, Hopkins Creek’s return was a relieving and reassuring “fuck you” to those very hurdles.

Hopkins Creek 2026 finds the festival making Taungurung Country its home for the second time, having left behind the iconic Kulkurt Crater, and now taking root in more grassy surrounds.

It’s in that home that Hopkins penned a typically poetic reflection in its announcement, a classic of the intention and meaning that sets it apart from so many others, and attracts people to what it creates:

“Ten years is a long time in the paddock. Long enough to watch seeds become trees, for first-timers to become veterans. Long enough to lose a few things and find a few friends along the way. There have been fires, floods, cancellations, postponements and enough uncertainty to keep things interesting. There have also been plenty of reasons to keep coming back, so here we are.”

This year, those reasons are, yet again, the mateship and camaraderie that come with supporting an independent boutique festival like Hopkins, and a well-rounded lineup, too.

While bigger festivals seek to craft lineups seemingly made up of as many internationals as budget can justify, Hopkins has once again gone about pointing primarily towards the people in its own orbit. In a landscape that increasingly appears to demand size and scale above all else, Hopkins strides forward with a goal of supporting its locals as they grow from local acts to national and international touring artists.

This year, that local cohort is huge in number, including DJs like Activator, Ali Currey & Claire Dickson, Bridget Small & Nick Ure, CHEAHDX, D.Tyrone, Darcy Justice, Dawn Again & Toni Yotzi, Dreams, Ed Kent, Hannah D, Mabel, Marley Swain, Millú & Pjenné, Ham, Frizzy, Miscmeg, Nak, Naycab, Sleep D, Tess Monaghan & Jon Jones, Yawung and more.

Performing live include Drifting Clouds, Sleep D’s Maryos Syawish, Paper-Cuts head Radart, Fader Cap, Tangerine, Jack J, Cale Sexton, Ex Ponto and DJ Chrysalis.

Internationally, Hopkins has tapped the likes of English drum and bass icon dBridge, the late 2000s Italian psych-rock inspired duo Almunia, Indonesian DJ and Potato Head Bali resident Dea Barandana, Japan’s Eiji Taniguchi, Aotearoa/New Zealand DJ Frank Booker, Jakarta-based duo Precious Bloom, Japanese producer Powder, Richard Sen and former member of Aotearoa’s first ever feminist soundsystem, Scarlett.

Speaking on the announcement, Hopkins Creek’s Festival Director, Todd O’Brien, shared that the decade milestone belongs to the people around the festival more so than Hopkins itself:

"Truthfully, Hopkins Creek only exists because enough people decided it was worth keeping around.

I know it sounds a bit cliché, but the whole thing is much bigger than any one person. It's thousands of people contributing tens of thousands of hours over a very long period of time.

We've lost some wonderful events over the years. We've also watched great new ones emerge. Ten years on, we're still seeing people take chances on independent music. We're still seeing artists and audiences come together in the bush and create something special.

We've always described Hopkins Creek as a celebration of music & mateship. Ten years on, that's still the whole idea."

In his 2025 review, writer Darren Cheah, also known as CHEAHDX, shared that:

“Hopkins’ return marked a return to form as much as it did the start of a new era. Music & mateship are the festival’s core tenets, and in this reviewer’s opinion, they managed to craft the perfect storm for these to flourish.”

READ: The doof that wouldn't die: Hopkins Creek

Tickets to Hopkins Creek 2026 go on sale Thursday, July 9, at 6PM AEST. “As always, capacity remains intentionally limited. One price. One allocation,” they shared.

-

Jack Colquhoun is Mixmag ANZ's Managing Editor. Find him on Instagram.