Jehovah’s Witnesses Convention Draws Over 65,700 to Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium Alongside Caulfield Cup

Melbourne’s hotels were almost fully booked this week as more than 70,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses arrived in the city for an international convention that overlapped with the Caulfield Cup crowds. Organisers of the convention at Docklands Stadium said more than 65,700 people attended the Friday event and that they expected numbers to peak at more than 70,000 on Sunday.

If the Sunday forecast held, the gathering would break the record for the largest one-day crowd at the stadium, which had been set by the Catholic Jubilee Mass in 2000. Jehovah’s Witness spokesman Mike Swan said the group had no rivalry with the Catholic Church and did not expect to surpass that figure as a contest, saying the convention was simply a large gathering of people from many backgrounds.

Mr Swan described the event as the largest gathering of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australian history. He said the group had been in Australia for more than a century and that this was the first time it had been able to hire a facility of the size of Docklands in Melbourne. He also said attendees should not be concerned about the crowds, describing members as friendly and willing to talk with residents.

Mr Swan said Jehovah’s Witnesses had travelled from across Australia and from 60 countries to attend. He named visitors from Honduras, Finland, Ukraine, Sierra Leone and Argentina, and said people from across the United States and Asia were also present. Some were staying with local families, while others had booked hotel rooms in Melbourne.

Brian Kearney, Chief Executive of the Australian Hotels Association Victoria, said hotels across Melbourne were operating at a 95 per cent occupancy rate because of the convention and the Caulfield Cup. He said the State Government had indicated the event could bring an inflow of about $50 million to the city, and that he expected the figure might be somewhat higher given how visitors were engaging with Melbourne.

Mr Kearney also said that when he checked in, a hotel concierge had told him that every room in the city was taken.

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