Last Saturday I went to a mini con, which was celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Austrek, the Victorian Star Trek fan club. I was a member soon after it began in 1976, but haven’t been a member for some time.
The club was founded by Geoff Allshorn, who was a schoolkid at the time. Some months ago, Geoff asked old members to write something for a book that was going with the convention; I wrote two short items. Quite a few others also did, so it was book length.
When I got to the Northcote Town Hall, I saw a lot of familiar faces, as well as newer members. It was a nice surprise. I didn’t get there till about 1.00 pm, so missed the morning’s events. Apparently my name was mentioned as a fan writer for the club’s fanzine, SPOCK, who had become a professional.
I did still get to see plenty. Someone had put together a lot of old photos to project on to a big screen, including a few of me. We did a lot of things together back then, and were shown in costumes. I was not much of a costumer, but did make a few simple things by hand. One thing we did was go to Nero’s Fiddle, a theatre restaurant on a Roman theme, so we all went in Roman costume. After the show, we were invited up on stage to show our costumes and asked if we had made them ourselves(we had). The MC said he had seen the first episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, which had just begun at the time, so afterwards we all crowded him to ask for details. There were a couple of photos of us dressed Roman in the screening.
This was followed by a fan film made by the club, City On The Edge Of The Yarra. Many people, even of our generation, hadn’t seen it. I had, but not for a long time. In it, Kirk and Spock go through the Guardian of Forever and turn up in Melbourne in our time. There, they stumble into a Star Trek convention. When they go back to the ship, the whole convention follows them. That was followed by a documentary I still don’t remember being made, but I was in it, being interviewed! There I was, wearing a cardigan I still have.
There was a costume parade in which the woman who won was dressed as Nona from the episode “A Private Little War”. (Nona was played by Nancy Kovack, who was Medea in Jason And The Argonauts .)She had done a good job. In the old days that would have been a hall costume, worn outside the panels, but it was something she had made herself, unlike two of the others.
After that, I watched, intrigued, as people bid on various items in the auction. There were prints, knick knacks such as a Guardian Of Forever and model characters from the show, books. Nobody bid over about $70 on anything, but they bid on more than one item, so spent a lot anyway. I remember a Blake’s 7 convention I attended in England where someone bought a pair of sunglasses worn by the actor Paul Darrow in the play Are You Lonesome Tonight? for £275! Not dollars, pounds! I mean, a pair of sunglasses! Even if the buyer wore them, who would know what they were unless she bragged? Of course, she was American, so perhaps took them home and sold them for far more at a US convention.
I didn’t bid on anything, as I already have enough goodies. But it was fun to watch.
After the auction, the anniversary cake was cut and I went home. There were a couple more events, but the lady sitting next to me was going to a house right near where I live and invited me to go with her in an Uber. How could I resist?
I got a copy of the anniversary book and have been reading and remembering. What memories!
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