AussieTrek (Australian Star Trek con)
| Star Trek Convention | |
|---|---|
| Name: | AussieTrek |
| Dates: | 1979, 1980 |
| Frequency: | twice |
| Location: | Sydney, Australia |
| Type: | major, celebrity guests |
| Focus: | Star Trek |
| Organization: | |
| Founder: | Karen Lewis |
| Founding Date: | 1979 |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
AussieTrek was the first major Star Trek con in Australia. Members were kept informed by the newsletter, The Captain's Briefs. Its cartoon mascot was James T. Koala.
AussieTrek 1 (1979)
AussieTrek 1 was held March 10–12, 1979 at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney.
It had George Takei as its Guest of Honor. Fan Guests of Honor were Diane Marchant and Susan Clarke.
Convenors were Karen and John Lewis.
One of the judges of the costume parade was Marilyn Mayo, host of morning television's The Super Flying Fun Show (Nine Network). Richard Bradley, Head of Driftaway Productions, presented on special effects in numerous upcoming movies.
There were about 300 full-time attendees.
The first fan-run science fiction media convention, Trekcon, was held in 1978 in Melbourne. This was a solely Star Trek convention with no professional guest of honour. As organisers became more ambitious, it was obvious that they had to cater to people's broader interests - not just Star Trek – in order to afford to invite professional guests from overseas. This was evident in 1979 when AussieTrek 1 invited George Takei, one of the original Star Trek cast, to be their Guest of Honour in Sydney. As the first cast member to appear at an Australian convention, Takei attracted attendees from all over Australia and the convention had a large number of registrations, over 600. However, it ran at a loss.[1]
Karen Lewis with George Takei and con attendees at the first AussieTrek, 1979. (Photo courtesy Susan Clarke.)
John & Karen Lewis, convenors of AussieTrek, 1979. (Photo courtesy John Lewis.)
AussieTrek 1 (1979): Con Reports
Other con reports are in Beyond Antares #13, and issues of Captain's Briefs.
Aussietrek, the result of three years' long planning, was held over the weekend of March 10/11th at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney. Guest of honour was George Takei; Jim Doohan had to bow out due to other commitments. The Menzies is one of Sydney's fancier hotels, right in the heart of the city, and I dare say has seldom witnessed such a peculiar gathering. Attendees came from all over Australia, as well as Britain, America and Hong Kong; there were about 300 in attendance.Not all of us could afford the Menzies so many fans were in hotels around the city - I was in this category. Being forced to commute between the two hotels gave me a thorough grounding in the idiosyncrasies of Sydney's underground rail circuit, especially since I was attired in full Klingon uniform on a typical hot and humid Sydney summer day. Arriving bright and early for the opening of registrations at 8.30 on Saturday, we found a great crowd waiting, many in costume, and there was much greeting of old friends from previous gatherings. Registered, and adorned with 'boarding passes' (the first time a Klingon commander has ever been designated a cadet in Starfleet, I dare say!) we went on to the dealers' room, and the art room. Business was exceedingly brisk in the dealers' room, with the leading clubs of each state being represented as well as sellers of ST merchandise. I bought quite a few local zines I'd been meaning to buy but never got around to as well as some T-shirts made by Astrex member Mike McGann, a talented artist, which had original Dr. Who, Star Trek, D&D and other designs on them.
There was some excellent art on display in the art room, much of it for sale. I was lucky to buy a really excellent portrait of Tom Baker as Dr. Who.
At 10am we filed into the Ballroom for the official opening. Karen Lewis, the Chairperson, began by thanking everyone for coming and saying what a true realisation of a dream it was to have all of us ST fans from all over in one place. She then handed the MCing over to someone else who introduced fan guest of honour, Diane Marchant of Melbourne, who is the Australian Welcommittee rep. Diane spoke briefly about the new movie and showed pictures from it plus photos taken of the floral design Australian fans sent the cast & crew of the film at the start of shooting. The photo of the floral design (of the Enterprise) was autographed with thanks from - if memory serves - Gene Roddenberry, Walter Koenig and George Takei.
After Diane came a speech from the other fan guest of honour, Susan Clarke, president of Astrex, Australia's oldest continuing fan club. Susan gave a brief talk on the history of Trek fandom in Australia and the growth of the fan clubs. She concluded by remarking on how nice it was that all the clubs co-operate so well and help each other out.
Karen then introduced George Takei who took a bow. He looked quite stunning - so bright, vital and tanned, with a white suit on and grinning from ear to ear. He did not speak then, though. Then the Con Committee were introduced.
Next, Catspaw was shown and then it was time for lunch. If I ate anything, I really don't remember. Typical con-goer.
After lunch, George Takei gave his speech. He spoke for the best part of an hour. As he was bound not to say anything that would reveal too much of the plot, he told amusing anecdotes of isolated incidents and aired, quite candidly, his views on the new uniform. He disliked the unisex look, saying that men and women should enjoy each other’s physical differences and not try to look the same. This led into a discussion of women's lib, which he supported, but, he said, he did not like it when it destroyed plain courtesy and the conventions of civilisation. He also mentioned some of the practical difficulties of the new uniforms - like getting into them! One type was so tight that it had to be put on by someone else while the actor wore a silk bag over his head so that the uniform did not rub off his make-up on the way over his face.
Next came a talk on cosmolgy and the possibility of life on other planets, well illustrated by slides. When that was concluded there was an autograph session in one of the other rooms. When I went up to the desk George was sitting at in my Klingon uniform. He said 'You're a fierce one, aren't you?' So I told him I was one of tho more peaceful Klingons. Anyway, he signed my programme then we had our picture taken, seated together with his arm round my shoulders and me giving a Klingon salute. I thought it an excellent idea that the committee had the forethought to arrange for everyone to have their picture taken with George (if they wanted to and at a price) when they got their autograph. It meant that every single person at the con had the chance to speak with him personally and be photographed with him.
How could I forget to mention - it was one of the highlights of the con - the auction, handled in his inimitable style by the ever-behatted Keith Curtis. Needless to say, a lot of Trek stuff went off, including some zines I'd always wanted and which I managed to buy (o/p US zines). However, the really big prices went for books and annuals connected with the various Gerry Anderson TV series. They have a big following among certain fans. Also up for auction were some excellent masks of the Salt Vampire from Man Trap, which fitted over the whole head, made by a fan.
Back to my hotel after the autograph session, grabbing a meal on the way, to change into costume for the masquerade to be held at 8.30. I had to negotiate the transport system among the Saturday night yobs out for a good time in town. As I sailed onto Town Hall Station in full rig as Darth Vader, black cloak and robes streaming behind me, some dingbat yelled 'Superman!' Hardly. Wrong colour clothes, wrong species, wrong alignment, wrong film...
The costumes in the parade were excellent and some amusing, with a wide selection from various SF films, as well as some costumes people had made up. A cameraman from a TV station and from a magazine were there, taking pictures. For some reason the TV man picked on me and insisted I dance for his camera. Vader costumes are not made for boogying in, not on a hot Sydney night.
Much later we adjourned to a room party - the usual 30 people packed into a tiny room, all clustered round George who was holding forth. Part way through, he was presented with a doll of a swagman and much time was consumed in explaining this piece of Australian folklore. I'm sure the poor man was twice as confused as before when we'd finished!
Sunday started late, mercifully. There was a repeat of the clever film clip constructed from ST slides and music used for the opening ceremony, a talk on UFOs and Balance of Terror. In the afternoon the auction was concluded, then came some short films which included a 1940s Superman cartoon — beautiful colours and superb animation even if the story was a little gung-ho. The real hit was a film "Hardware Wars. This was a hilarious parody of SW, using irons, toasters and the like to represent the spaceships and boasting such characters as Augie Ben Boggie (complete with Boris Karloff accent) Princess Ann Broid (who had real buns for hair) Fluke Starbucklor whose conversation was limited to 'Gee! Gosh! Gollee!', Ham Salad and the Wookie Monster (a muppet cookie monster).
Then we had a talk on special effects in films by Richard Bradley, head of Drift Away Productions. He had just come back from overseas where he had talked with the spfx men who did/are doing Superman, Moonraker and the like. He answered questions from the audience on such things as the flying sequences in Superman.
As Spock's Brain was on next, we decided to adjourn for dinner. Anyway, my friend and I both had to come back at 6pm as she wanted to see Man Trap and I had to see Karen about a little bit of byplay to come at the end of my talk. This was at 6.30 when I presented a paper on Klingons - a straight look at Klingons as they appear in scripts and not in fan fabrications. It went down very well.
George came on again for a Q£A session. He answered questions about the movie - as far as he could. He also spoke of his forthcoming book and asked us to back him up over its title. He originally wanted to call it 'In the Image of...' but that didn't suit the publisher who thought 'Revolt of the Robots' sounded better. Then she suggested 'Star Killer' as trendier and wants it to come out along with the ST movie but ho doesn't want that kind of exploitation. He want us to support him in calling it 'Terminal Saboteur' by writing to Sharon Jarvis, Playboy Book Division...
At the conclusion of his talk, he was presented with a gift-wrapped boomerang which he, in true Sulu style, wanted to try out immediately. He then presented the prizes to the art and costume winners.
All in all, the con seems to have been a great success with everyone enjoying themselves. [2] [3]
The first time I met George: I was standing, shaking, my notes crumpled between sweaty fingers, trying to be brave but failing miserably, trying to smile but looking rather sick, I'm sure. Here it was, the first really Big Trek Convention in Australia - AussieTrek '79. George Takei had just arrived at the registration table - everyone else was inside waiting for him so that there was just about only the two of us there. He walked over to me and said: "Ah, did you realise they printed those badges upside down?" and laughed. That deep, infectious, good-natured laugh of his! He was talking about my old Hosato badge. I was one of the very early members of that group until it disbanded and quite proud of the fact.
I was pleased, no thrilled to meet him. I wanted to tell him how much I was moved in the Green Berets and laughed when I saw him in an old Jerry Lewis comedy (and he came to a stick end in it) but shyness stilled my tongue. Perhaps he gets to see this newsletter, not he'd remember me after all this time. But I wanted him to know that I appreciated George Takei the actor and person not just Mr. Sulu (although I do love writing stories about that character ...).
He saw the notes and told me he always got nervous and how a speech is only good and memorable when it comes from the heart, not from a piece of paper. I granted to believe him for he obviously believed that himself. So when the time came for us to go to the Opening Ceremonies - he as Guest of Honour and I as Fan Guest of Honour — I followed his advice and put away my barely readable notes and spoke about what I knew - the beginnings of Trek fandom in Australia. My reward was his smile of approval and afterwards, his telling me quite firmly that he knew I could do it.
AussieTrek became a blur after that, really. I served on the Astrex Table and helped my husband who was the official photographer take the photos of the attendees and George. He sat for hours, signing autographs with unfailing humour and a smile to everyone sparing them each a few words or more. No one seemed to complain on the line. They all knew they'd get to talk or shake hands with him and get their photo taken.
I got a photo taken of myself and the committee with George and he had his arm around me. I was smiling of course. [4]
AussieTrek 2 (1980)
AussieTrek 2 had Susan Sackett as its Guest of Honor and was a one-day convention held in July, 1980, in both Sydney and Adelaide. Convenors were Karen Lewis and Valerie Parv. It had a combined total of 462 attendees.
Susan Sackett addresses con attendees at AussieTrek 2, 1980. (Photo courtesy Susan Clarke.)
Con mascot, James T. Koala, on the AussieTrek 2 cake, 1980. (Photo courtesy Karen Lewis.)
References
- ^ effect of commercialisation and direct intervention by the owners of intellectual copyright : a case study : the Australian Star Trek fan community by Susan Batho (2009) (an academic paper which studies the effect of the Viacom Crackdown and Australian fan clubs)
- ^ by Nikki White in STAG #34.
- ^ PDF of STAG #34; scroll to Page 26
- ^ by Susan Clarke in G.H.T. Journal #6 (1984)