SATURDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2026
OUR CHAMPION: Zoe Jacobson
Self-taught oyster shucker Zoe Jacobson earned her place on the world stage when she won the Australian Oyster Shucking Championships at Narooma Oyster Festival in May.
In Galway, the Tasmanian will face the native Galway Flat Oyster – flatter, thicker, more brittle and completely new to her.
She’ll have only a few days to practise.
Luckily, this is exactly how she met the Rock Oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) in 2023 when she first competed in the Australian Oyster Shucking Championships at Narooma Oyster Festival.
Competitive oyster opening is a race against the clock, but every oyster must also be clean, intact and beautifully presented.
And in Galway, Zoe will have to resist a career-long technique: ‘the flip’, a uniquely Australian practice of turning the oyster over in its shell for presentation.
Previous Australian who have represented Narooma Oyster Festival include Greg Carton of Broadwater Oysters (2025), Gamilaroi/Walbunja Gerard Dennis (2024 & 2023) and Jim Yiannaros of Batemans Bay Oysters (2022), joining a tradition that includes Jim Wild of Jim Wild’s Oysters Shoalhaven (Champion 1985) and Qandamooka, Minjerribah Woman Narelle Barnes (1996).
THE OYSTERS
The Rock Oyster
Scientific: Saccostrea glomerata
Native to Australia and particularly New South Wales, this intertidal culinary hero is the star of the Australian Oyster Shucking Championships, and the oysters used a specially grown by Australia’s Oyster Coast.
Opening: The Rock’s deep cup, strong shell and tight hinge require a balance of power and precision during opening. Zoe opened her first Rock Oyster with Dom and Pip Boyton at Merimbula Gourmet Oysters, just one day before her debut at Narooma Oyster Festival in 2023.
Culinary: The Rock Oyster is celebrated for its unique ability to translate its environment into merroir, a taste of place, through five pit stops of flavour – brine, creaminess, sweetness, mineralisation and umami.
The Angasi Oyster
Species: Ostrea angasi
Australia’s native flat oyster, a subtidal hero. Heavily overfished by Europeans in the late 1800s, it is cultivated by only a few growers in southern Australia, including Merimbula Gourmet Oysters and The Oyster Province Tasmania, following decades of research by the global scientific community, including Narooma Rocks Director David Maidment.
Opening: Zoe’s species of choice for training for the World Oyster Opening Championships. Its flat shape and tendency to flake under pressure make it a useful bridge to the Galway Flat.
Culinary: Slower growing rate and subtidal habitat develop a game-like richness, with food journalist and oyster judge Simon Marnie describing it as “the venison of the oyster world”.
The Galway Flat Oyster
Scientific: Ostrea edulis
Ireland’s native flat oyster and the hero of the World Championships which, along with the Irish National Championships and the Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival, are timed to coincide with the opening of the harvest season (September to April).
Opening: Its flatter profile and brittle, thick shell increase the risk of grit in presentation, with a thinner, more tapered blade often preferred by European shuckers.
Culinary: Similar to the Angasi with a high minerality.
The Pacific Oyster
Scientific: Magallana gigas
Originally from the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific is now widely cultivated around the world.
Opening: The Pacific has a similar shape to the Rock Oyster, however its less robust shell means it is generally considered easier to open.
Culinary: The flavour profile is crisp and briny.
THE COMPETITION FORMAT
The Australian Oyster Shucking Championships are modelled on the World Oyster Opening Championships (WOOC), where speed, skill and presentation are paramount.
Competitors open 25 to 30 Rock Oysters in the heats, with the strongest performers advancing to a 30-oyster final. Every finished tray is inspected by qualified judges, and time penalties can be added for shell grit, damaged meat, oysters not fully released from the shell or oysters left unopened. If the shucker cuts themselves and leaves blood on the oyster? Disqualification.
The shucker with the lowest total time wins the John Susman AM Medal and the honour of representing Australia on the world stage.
In Galway, national champions from around the world generally face one high-pressure round of 30 native Galway Flat Oysters before judging takes place.
Australian Champions who have recently competed on behalf of Narooma Oyster Festival at Galway include Greg Carton of Broadwater Oysters Pambula (2025), Gamilleroi and Walbunja Man Gerard Dennis (2024 & 2023) and Jim Yiannaros of Batemans Bay Oysters (2022). Previous Australians include Jim Wild of Greenwell Point (Fastest time in 1984 and placed third in 1993) and Quandamooka Woman Narelle Borey of North Stradbroke Island (1995).
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Narooma Oyster Festival is home of the Australian Oyster Shucking Championships which are proudly supported by Australia's Oyster Coast
