Star Walking Inc.
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| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Star Walking Inc. ("The Star Wars Appreciation Society of Australia") |
| Dates: | October 14, 1988-present |
| Founder(s): | Shane Morrissey, Darren Maxwell, Michael Wilson |
| Leadership: | |
| Country based in: | Australia |
| Focus: | Star Wars |
| External Links: | website |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Star Walking Inc. is an Australian Star Wars fan club. It was preceded by H.A.M.I.L.L.S..
The club was officially launched at Zencon II in October 1988, after becoming the first science fiction fan club in Australia to become legally incorporated.[1]
Amongst other things, it publishes The Force: the newsletter of Star Walking Inc.. See The Force.
Between 1995 and 1997 it also published Alliance, a Star Wars fan fiction 'zine.
Over the years, it has held banquets and other events to commemorate significant anniversaries of movie releases etc.
History
From a much, much longer history, see reference link for more.
A brief history of Star Walking Inc.
Star Walking Inc. "The Star Wars Appreciation Society of Australia" was created by Shane Morrissey in June 1987 to replace the highly successful H.A.M.I.L.L.S Star Wars fan club which closed down a month earlier in May 1987. Shane, with assistance from co-founders Michael Wilson and Darren Maxwell, formed Star Walking Inc. to fill the void left by H.A.M.I.L.L.S, though no one could ever have guessed just how much would be achieved in the club's lifetime.
Despite being conceived in June 1987, Star Walking Inc. was not officially launched until October 14, 1988. The decision to run a new Star Wars club at this time was questioned by many as the entire franchise was going through a very quiet period (known as the 'lean times') both in Australia and the rest of the world.
But the club flourished very quickly and within its first year of operation Star Walking Inc. ran its highly successful The Convention in September 1989. This large, multi-media science fiction event attracted over 300 people and featured Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) making his Australian convention guest of honour debut, and in the process becoming a good friend to Star Walking Inc. [2]
Also, from the zine Alliance #1 (1995):
In Sept 1989 we mounted a science-fiction convention at which Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett ) was the guest of honour. We then hosted the very successful EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 10th Anniversary Celebrations, then the Raiders of the Lost Ark tenth in May '91. For the 9th Australian Media Science Fiction Convention in October '91, I organised Kenny Baker (R2D2) and Dave Prowse as guests for this major event, held In Melbourne. In May 1993 we hosted our second convention, to coincide with Return of the Jedi's 10th anniversary. This convention was also extremely successful, and enjoyed by all those who attended. Our guests of honour were Don Bies (Skywalker Ranch Archivist) and Lisa Cowan (Lucasfilm Staff writer).
At the beginning of 1994, Star Walking formed Skyforce, an active social club for Star Wars fans, headed by Darren Maxwell. The Skyforce meetings are very well attended and plans are under way to have these meetings bi-monthly in 1995 due to their popularity.
Easter 1995 will see the first of many pure STAR WARS universe conventions in Australia, with Force 1, the 1st National Star Wars Convention of Australia; It Is a 3 day gathering of Star Wars fans from all over the country who will group together to share their love of the Star Wars Universe. If you haven't been to a SF convention, I would urge you to attend FORCE ONE. FORCE ONE will be a forum for Star Wars fans - and the force will be following.
Presently Star Wars is going through a renaissance. A whole new range of merchandising Is being released and a second generation of fans are emerging - fans who were quite young when Star Wars was released 17 years ago! With my 14 years involvement In Australian Star Wars fandom, I have seen it grow, die, and be reborn (and grown again even stronger). To these shores have come Jeremy Bulloch, Dave Prowse (twice) Kenny Baker, Don Bles - Skywalker Ranch/Lucasfilm archivist, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, John Dykstra, Lisa Cowan and Maureen Garrett. Coming soon to FORCE ONE will be jon Berg (ILMer) and Steven j. Sansweet (author and Star Wars collector extrordanaire). An Australian who is making ' impressions' within the Star Wars Universe is Queenslander Hugh Fleming, who will also be guesting at FORCE ONE. Hugh is a talented artist whose work is featured in Dark Horse's Star Wars line of comics.
Star Walking Inc is a non-profit organisation and we actively raise money for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute for leukaemia research, and since our formation have raised over $5000. None of this would have been possible without the dedicated hard work of the board members of Star Walking Inc. and most importantly, without your support and participation. So to all. I thank you. It's been fun.[3]
Conventions & Events
- Force 1: the first National Star Wars Saga Convention of Australia, Easter 1995, Melbourne, Australia. Guests: Jeremy Bulloch
- Force 2: the second National Star Wars Saga Convention of Australia, June 1997, Melbourne, Australia. Guests: Kenny Baker, Jeremy Bulloch, Stephen Sansweet.
- Force 3: the third National Star Wars Saga Convention of Australia, June 1999, Melbourne, Australia.
- Force 4: the fourth National Star Wars Saga Convention of Australia, May 21-22, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Force 5: the fifth National Star Wars Saga Convention of Australia, was to be held 2-4 June 2017, but was postponed.
References
- ^ Darren Maxwell, 'Star Walking Inc. - The Story So Far', in Ali Kayn (ed.), The Science Fiction and Fantasy and Horror Fan Resource Book, December 1994, p. 140.
- ^ A brief history of Star Walking Inc., Archived version
- ^ Morrissey, Shane. "History of Australian Star Wars Fandom" - Alliance, No. 1. p. 62.