The main driver for bringing public Wi-Fi to Fish Creek was the town's Tea Cosy Festival, which attracts around 5,000 people over two days.

"The idea came to us when the livestream for our 2020 Tea Cosy Festival went down, so we decided to approach some telcos to see if we could bring public Wi-Fi to Fishy!" said Tea Cosy Festival president Marge Arnup.

"We're in love with Aussie Broadband, the Morwell-based internet service provider, which agreed to sponsor the data," she said, and South Gippsland Shire Council contributed $1,000 towards the cost of transmission equipment.

The footprint extends from the Fish Creek CFA Station to the Fish Creek Hotel. Access requires a code provided by local businesses to encourage patronage.

"Good connectivity is an expectation wherever people go. The community activities will benefit from public Wi-Fi, and we'll be able to live stream all sorts of events from Fish Creek Town Hall – including the Tea Cosy Festival!" said Arnup.

If you're in the area, the new Wi-Fi service is being celebrated with – you guessed it – a tea party at the Little Oberon Cafe at 11am today, Friday 21 May, which happens to be International Tea Day.

"With Gippsland being the regional birthplace of Aussie Broadband, we jumped at the chance to bring connectivity to both the community and visitors of the beautiful Fish Creek," said Aussie Broadband community impact manager Caroline Kennon.

"Regional towns have never needed our support more than now, plus the tea cosy ladies were very convincing!"

"Fish Creek is a delightful place – even the corellas think so; and they loved sitting on the aerials of the Wi-Fi transmitters pushing them out of position," said Arnup.

Image: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Fish Creek (AU), Welcome Sign -- 2019 -- 150820” / CC BY-SA 4.0