CREATIVES are on notice: only the "the most innovative and creative" designs will do for the 2026 Commonwealth Games baton design.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Organisers of the Games, to be held in Bendigo and other Victorian regional centres, have launched the search for a group to design and fabricate the King's baton to the "highest possible standard".
"The Baton is an exceptionally high-profile icon of the Games," they said in a newly released tender document.
"It is one of the highest profile marketing tools available to Victoria 2026 and its partners."
So, how have others pulled off such a difficult job?
Plastic found on beaches: how Gold Coast 2018 did it
The 2026 King's baton will be the third from an Australian Games to wend its way into Bendigo in 20 years, after Gold Coast 2018 and Melbourne 2006.
Batons from those relays reveal some of the challenges designers might face, and the creative ways they have been solved in the past.
The baton's weight will be a key issue. Organisers want something "user centred".
That might rule out a baton made of solid Bendigo gold, for example.
Still, designers will have to find ways to showcase unspecified materials found in regional Victoria.
The team designing Gold Coast's baton found highly creative ways to deal with those particular combinations of challenges.
That included using plastic discarded in the ocean and on beaches.
That team's final "boundless energy" design borrowed from structural designs of surfboards and marine craft, along with macadamia wood in a nod to the sustainable Indigenous customs of the region.
Designers added 120 LED lights, GPS tracking and Bluetooth to help track the baton as it made its way through the Commonwealth.
Shaped like an athlete: How Melbourne 2006 did it
Melbourne 2006 designers also wanted a lightweight design.
They settled on titanium, with other elements including magnesium and resin.
The 1.5-kilogram baton was "packed with technology", according to details kept by Museums Victoria.
"It contains a global positioning system, two tiny cameras and two microphones, and a transmitter that sends information to the web via satellite," it said.
"Two-hundred light emitting diodes provide visual effects, triggered by radio frequency identifiers in runners' thumb rings and in the baton stand."
The baton's curved form was inspired by the shape of an athlete.
Things 2026 designers HAVE to include
The 2026 baton designers will not just have to think about materials unique to regional Victoria.
Victoria's First Peoples' culture and knowledge must also feature prominently, according to the new tenders.
Groups like central Victoria's Dja Dja Wurrung have emerged as key figures in planning and have already been consulted on a range of Games topics including designs for Bendigo's athletes' village.
Baton designers will have to allow space to store a message from King Charles.
They will likely have until March 2024 to finish designs for the batons and accessories needed, and until August to fabricate and test everything.
The baton is scheduled to leave Buckingham Palace in September 2024 for a tour of 72 Commonwealth nations.
Whoever wins the design and fabrication contract will need to give training and support for any repairs and maintenance while the baton is on its journey, tender documents show.
Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with the Bendigo Advertiser app. Click here to download.
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
