Trek Australis
| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Trek Australis |
| Dates: | 1993-1995 |
| Founder(s): | Stuart Widdison |
| Leadership: | |
| Country based in: | Australia |
| Focus: | Star Trek |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Trek Australis was an Australian Star Trek fan club formed in Sydney. Its regular club zine, entitled Prime Directive, was edited by Stuart Widdison and Ian Chambers.
Its Birth
By 1992, the long-running club Astrex, and its bimonthly newsletter, Data, were in the hands of George and Maria Papadeas of Photon Productions. That club's focus became increasingly multimedia - and much less Star Trek - once the Papadeas' licensed Official Star Trek Club of Australia launched in 1993.[1]
Trek Australis was born out off the need for a Sydney-based Star Trek club that could focus on regular gatherings of members, charity fundraising and fan writing/publishing that did not require vetting by a representative of Paramount Picture's Australian office, Southern Star. Trek Australis hosted several theme days at Bob Johnson's Star Trek Marathons at the Encore Cinema in Surry Hills (including Star Trek makeup and costuming demonstrations by Ian McLean), and entertained shoppers at the Dymock's city book store's 24-hour sale with the Star Trek version of the board game, "How to Host a Mystery". In 1995, Starfleet-uniformed Trek Australis members assisted with a Christmas party for children as part of the Australian charity, The Starlight Foundation.
The club survived an attempted shutdown by Southern Star (see Effect of Commercialisation and Direct Intervention by the Owners of Intellectual Copyright : A Case Study: The Australian Star Trek Fan Community), but wound down operations of its own volition by 1996.
Zines Published
Gallery
club T-shirt design by Mike McGann
cover of issue #1
Trek Australis member Ian McLean with actress Joyce Jacobs at the Starlight Foundation Christmas party
