LEGO Christmas Tree at Federation Square

Thousands of Melburnians watched in awe last night when the Southern Hemisphere’s largest LEGO Christmas Tree lit up the heart and soul of Melbourne, Federation Square, kicking off the festive season in spectacular style.  

This year, the remarkable Christmas tree features a stunning new star built by LEGO Master Builder, Chris Steininger and his family who were special guests at the event. The spectacular star is made out of 13,195 LEGO bricks and twinkles with the power of 3,456 LED lights making it the ultimate tree-topper!

 Fed Square’s Christmas Programs runs from 27 November to 27 December.

Time Lapse Video.

Interestingly, from what I understand, this is the very same tree used in Sydney last year (albeit the star) that was built by Australia's own master builder Ryan Mcnaught.  Yet there is no mention of him or his team this year...

Full press release below... 

MELBOURNE SHINES AS AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST LEGO® CHRISTMAS TREE
LIGHTS UP FEDERATION SQUARE
LEGO Australia gives Melbourne the gift of Christmas with a magical new star

Saturday 28 November, 2015: Thousands of Melburnians watched in awe last night when the Southern Hemisphere’s largest LEGO® Christmas Tree came to life at the heart and soul of Melbourne, Federation Square, kicking off the festive season in spectacular style.
 

Putting the Christmas star on top of the tree officially signifies the beginning of festive season celebrations and this year LEGO Australia wanted to make it more spectacular than ever. The remarkable Christmas tree features a stunning new star designed and built just for Melbourne fans by LEGO Master Builder, Chris Steininger and his family.
 

Melbourne’s Christmas star is made out of 13,195 LEGO bricks and twinkles with the power of 3,456 LED lights making it the ultimate tree-topper. The spectacular new star sits proudly on top of the beloved LEGO Christmas Tree, which took more than 1,200 hours to make, is almost 10 metres tall and made from half a million LEGO bricks.
 

Chris Steininger said, “It was such an honour to be invited to Melbourne to unveil the newest addition to the LEGO Christmas Tree. Putting the star on top of the tree is a magical moment for families across the world, and everyone has their own unique one - for my family, it is made out of one of our favourite things, LEGO bricks!
 

“I hope we can inspire families across Australia to come together and make their own special Christmas memories this year by building their very own LEGO Christmas star. The beautiful thing is that you can’t go wrong! Stars made from LEGO bricks can be any colour, shape or size, the only limit is your imagination,” he said.
 

Chris and the LEGO team have also ‘Aussie-fied’ the tree with some fun new additions this year including cricket bat-wielding elves and mischief-making kookaburras.

Visitors can see the enchanting tree at Federation Square come to life with a daily light show set to much-loved Christmas carols until 27 December. It’s guaranteed to bring a touch of awesome to the city’s festive celebrations.
 

Director of Marketing for LEGO Australia, Troy Taylor said “We are extremely excited to bring the largest LEGO Christmas Tree in the Southern Hemisphere to Australia.
 

“We are proud to be partnering with the City of Melbourne and Federation Square to create this fun and memorable LEGO experience to the people of Melbourne. This event plays a key part in our Christmas campaign where we encourage Australian families to celebrate the fun traditions of Christmas through the creative use of LEGO bricks,” he said.
 

The LEGO Christmas is part of Federation Square and the City of Melbourne’s Christmas celebrations that includes a charming Christmas forest in Swanston Street Christmas Square, the Gingerbread Village at Melbourne Town Hall and a citywide festive decorations program.

LEGO Christmas Tree and star fun facts:

• The LEGO Christmas Tree is built from half a million LEGO bricks 
• The LEGO Christmas Tree weighs 3.5 tonnes
• It stands almost 10 metres tall – that’s taller than a two-storey house and wider than the average family car
• The LEGO Christmas star is made from more than 13,000 LEGO bricks and twinkles with the power of more than 3,000 LED lights
• It’s the biggest LEGO Christmas Tree in the Southern Hemisphere
• The LEGO Christmas tree took more than 1,200 hours to build 
• Features kookaburras, cricket bat-wielding elves and Santa in his sleigh, built from thousands of LEGO bricks