The History of Austrek - How it all began…
by Darren Maxwell
Conception, formation, launch
In the early/mid 1970s teenage school student Geoff Allshorn was part of a group called the Melbourne Amateur Science Club (MASC) along with a dozen other school friends. The focus of the MASC was to promote sciences including Astronomy, Psychology, Archaeology and the pseudoscience's such as UFOlogy. During this time the MASC produced two publications called Club News and The Space Age.
Then in 1975 colour television arrived in Australia and with it came the re-introduction Star Trek which had not aired on TV for many years. Needless to say the young science enthusiasts were instantly hooked on the show, so in October a special subsection of the MASC was created by Geoff and the others to focus on Star Trek and this was called ... Austrek.
Club members soon became aware of The Ritz, a small North Melbourne cinema screening 35mm Star Trek episodes as fillers for other films. With the show now being projected onto a large screen in vivid colour, the club encouraged the cinema to run Star Trek marathons where a number of episodes would be screened in one night. As to be expected the embryonic Austrek and its members immersed themselves in these events and would continue to do so for the next 15 years.
However, by mid 1976 Austrek still hadn't branched out beyond the original 13 school students of the MASC, so when they came across Leonard Nimoy’s book ‘I am Not Spock’, this prompted the young fans to write a letter introducing their new club to Leonard Nimoy. The letter was simply addressed to ‘Mr Spock, California’ where apparently envelopes like this were actually delivered to the actor’s home.
Unbeknownst to the group, who thought the letter had been lost in the post, it was not only received by someone in the USA but had been forwarded to the Star Trek Welcommittee - a special group designed to link Star Trek fans together from around the world.
The Welcommittee then contacted Austrek, much to their complete surprise and delight, and recommended they speak to their Australian representative, a lady called Diane Marchant. When contact with Diane was made by Geoff, she mentioned about being a regular attendee of the Star Trek marathons at The Ritz, meaning she was right under Austrek’s nose the whole time!
In fact it was through Diane’s influence that Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett-Roddenberry were to become the club's earliest Honorary Members.
With the club now capable of reaching Star Trek fans far and wide, Austrek was officially launched (albeit nervously) to the public on November 6, 1976 at The Ritz during a Star Trek marathon. Needless to say the response was way beyond what anyone ever expected.
Within two months the membership ballooned from the original 13 MASC school students to 130 people! Due to this unprecedented, and somewhat overwhelming success, it was decided to close the MASC and run Austrek as an independent entity.
From here the stars, and history, awaited…
The 1970s - Early success
After gaining experience in producing publications for the MASC, SPOCK, subtitled "Star Trek Propaganda On Club Kids" was intended to be both Austrek’s newsletter and fanzine (a fanzine is an amateur booklet populated with fan written stories and original artwork).
After producing four singled-paged issues known as Volume 1, SPOCK was reborn as a dedicated fanzine - without the subtitle - known as Volume 2. The first 10 page issue of the new Volume 2 format appeared in 1976 and continued for 69 issues. Being the club’s fanzine, SPOCK was produced with a focus on quality and pseudo professionalism which resulted in it winning many awards and accolades until 1995 when it ceased publication.
With SPOCK now designated as the club’s fanzine, a new newsletter had to be created and the first was Trekkie Talk of which there were only two issues released in December 1976 and January 1977. From February 1977 Trekkie Talk was relaunched as The Captain’s Log where the issue numbering cycle restarted at #1. These early issues of SPOCK and The Captain’s Log were typed on a stencil and printed in purple via a Fordigraph spirit duplicator.
Despite early editions of The Captain’s Log being created using very crude production methods (often an entire issue consisting of four pages would be written in one night by whoever had the typewriter), it was clear to see how vibrant and exciting this new club was, especially as many future writers and artists would ‘prove their worth’ by exploring their talents and gaining valuable exposure within its pages. As of today The Captain's Log is still in production with over 340 issues having now been published.
Club meetings in the early days were held at the homes of members on a bi monthly basis and were very successful until the crowds became too large for them to handle. As a consequence a church hall in Fairfield was then hired for regular gatherings. It was also from these meetings where the ‘first Saturday of the month’ schedule was instigated which was designed to coincide with the Star Trek marathons being held on the same night.
Before long Austrek moved its meetings from Fairfield to the Women's Temperance Hall - now the site of the Hyatt Hotel - in Russell St in the city. These meetings were attended by around 30 likeminded fans and consisted of games, trivia contests, chatting and some serious speculating about the scientific and philosophical implications of Star Trek.
1978 saw Austrek run its first ever convention called Trekcon I. This was a modest one day event that was a lot of fun and received a favourable write up in The Sun newspaper. More significantly was the collection of money from attendees which was then used to send a telegram to Paramount congratulating them for commencing filming on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
In 1979 the club made its first fan film called City on the Edge of the Yarra by Stephen Bates and Paul Murphy. Filmed on a Super 8 camera, it featured a comedic story about Kirk and Spock using the Guardian of Forever to arrive in the city the day a science fiction convention is being held, which in turn causes all measure of problems for them. Though once considered deteriorated and lost, this film has since been rediscovered and digitised.
In December 1979 Austrek booked out a cinema for Melbourne's opening night screening of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This was followed by Austrek's second convention Trekcon II in April 1980 which attracted a much larger crowd than its predecessor. The Guest of Honour for this convention was Joe Haldeman, the author of two Star Trek novels.
After a few years of operation, Austrek had well and truly established itself as a major player in worldwide communal fandom at a time when creative counter-culture activities were encouraged. It was also at this time when the club began organising a number of social events as well as fundraising for charity.
The 1980s - A new 'Golden Age' begins
With the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982, new faces were beginning to appear within the club. These were the fans who were too young to enjoy Star Trek when it first appeared on TV in the 1960s but were now living the fan experience in their youth via the films.
With the influx of these new members, 1983 saw Austrek meetings move venues once again from the city to St Luke’s Church Hall in Dorcas St South Melbourne. This venue was to become the much loved home of the club for the next decade.
As the mid 1980s approached, Austrek was experiencing a gradual demographic shift as the younger generation of members were now joining the committee to run the club. A pivotal moment for the 'new' Austrek occurred at the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ‘chicken and champagne’ preview screening held in October 1984 at the Forum Cinema. It was at this event where four Austrek ladies were called to the front of the cinema wearing their 'Fed Red' movie costumes. For many in the audience it was the first time they had heard of Austrek which in turn boosted promotions significantly.
Consequently at the official Star Trek III premiere held less than two months later in December, a virtual army of young costumed fans arrived in the city square so they could march to the Forum Cinema for the screening.
For Austrek the timing of the franchise’s sudden resurgence in popularity couldn’t be better as it was right in the box seat to boost its presence within the fan community. Yet as Austrek was experiencing its own ‘golden age’ of success, it was also evolving which meant some major changes were coming.
The focal point of Austrek in the 1970s was to celebrate Star Trek: The Original Series, but in the mid 1980s this interest was now being shared with the films which made its presence felt through the numerous movie costumes the younger fans were wearing to club meetings. Moreover, it was becoming clear the enthusiastic vigour of the younger members was slowly driving the original 1970s members out of the club (or at least away from its social side) as attendances at the meetings during this transition period had begun to fluctuate.
This generational shift also had a direct impact on the club’s annual Christmas party. Up until the mid 1980s the Christmas party was designed to be a social review of the year gone by where older members would get together in quiet, reflective conversation. Yet with the younger fans now on the scene it was clear this format was not going to last.
To further highlight the impact of this new youthful energy, it became the accepted norm that one would attend an Austrek meeting at St Luke’s Church Hall during the day; have a group dinner in the local restaurant around the corner in the afternoon/evening; then attend the Star Trek marathons - which were now screening at the National Mutual Theatrette in the city - that night ... but not to see the episodes. As strange as it might sound, the joy of the marathons was the fun of simply hanging out in the foyer chatting, laughing and having a great time while all the other patrons were inside watching the shows.
1985 was a pivotal year for Melbourne science fiction fandom as it saw Aussiecon II the World Science Fiction Convention come to town, thereby introducing many of the younger Austrek fans to the science fiction convention scene. It was also during this period where the social side of Austrek began to thrive through the various car rallies, ten pin bowling days and many other social activities which kept members entertained between meetings.
1985 also saw the formation of the club’s theatre group ‘Karidian Players’, whose play The Doubles are Tribbles written by Robert Jan held its one and only performance at the Christmas party that year.
In 1986 the club enjoyed one of its more unique social events, an overnight trip to a rural part of Lancefield to see Halley's Comet. This turned out to be a great weekend away as it brought back the memories of the old MASC as everyone felt like an astronomer for the night.
This year also saw the premiere of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home where once again a mass meeting of costumed fans was the order of the day in the city square. Unlike the Star Trek III premiere held two years prior, this event was a bustling hive of unparalleled energy, particularly when an army of enthusiastically costumed club members walked to the toy department on the sixth floor of Myer looking for these brand new (though rumoured) Star Trek toys that turned out didn't exist - the walk was still fun anyway. This event also reinforced the great joy of seeing the premiere of a Star Trek film in a cinema full of fans.
1986 also saw the beginning of the revamped Christmas party format which morphed from the "quiet reflection" approach to now having costume parades, lights, music and dancing. This particular event featured a TV crew from Day By Day (a prime time current affairs show) who were on hand to film a segment on the club. This footage has since become a fantastic time capsule for how Austrek looked during this period, especially as the club had just turned 10 years old.
Turning the Christmas parties into an actual "party" proved to be a huge win for the club. These events for the next few years became increasingly lavish theme based affairs - such as the "roaring 20s and 30s" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" - which were attended by many members of Melbourne science fiction fandom, even those who didn't like Star Trek. Within a short time these parties gained a reputation of being "must attend" gala events and were easily the highlight of the year.
March 1987 saw Austrek's next convention Trekcon III occur at the Sheraton Hotel in the city. As per the new mantra of invading the city with Star Trek costumes whenever possible, the convention's programming actually required the entire membership to go out into the streets in large groups on Away Missions (scavenger hunts) which made for an interesting sight for sure.
This year also saw the significant event of Austrek taking part in the Moomba Parade for the first time. To prepare for this, club members assembled an impressive mock-up of the shuttle Galileo - incorporating the Enterprise bridge - and placed it on the back of a ute behind which around 50 costumed Austrekkers marched. Fortunately the club's entry was shown on TV which was recorded for prosperity and has since been digitised.
Then out of nowhere a new name suddenly appeared...
Austrek: The Next Generation
February 1987 heard the rumblings of a new Star Trek series being created called The Next Generation. Fans were very 50/50 about the concept as they struggled to accept the new character names as well as the redesigned Enterprise.
With so little information available it was difficult for fans to work out what it all meant, so there was a fair bit of scepticism towards the new show. Still it wasn't long before the first ever Next Generation costume appeared at an Austrek meeting (at the time some people didn't even know what it was), then at the next meeting there were three more. From thereon it seemed as if everyone was wearing one, even by people who usually avoided costumes.
At the Christmas party that year one lady announced how a video tape had just arrived from the US featuring the pilot episode of this new and mysterious show called ‘Encounter at Farpoint’. Knowing how keen fans were to check it out, she invited people to her home that night to see it. So in the stifling Summer heat around 20 people jammed themselves into this tiny, single bedroom flat and subsequently Star Trek: The Next Generation was introduced into Australian Star Trek fandom.
Without anyone realising it, this new Star Trek series was to be the forerunner of a major evolutionary change in Austrek's life.
1988 saw a very unique social gathering of members from Austrek and Astrex (The large Sydney Star Trek club who actually predated Austrek by three years). This one off event was months in the planning and took place in Wagga Wagga which was considered to be the most central point between Melbourne and Sydney – hence the event’s name "Wagga Wagga Con Con". Though it was reasonably successful, the two clubs operated independently of each other and rarely interacted, especially as by this time Melbourne was now the centre point of all social fan activity in Australia.
The 1980s were over and the 1990s had begun, and with the new decade came the best and worst days in Austrek...
The 1990s - Domination then collapse
Austrek's next convention was Trekcon IV in 1990 which was held at the Townhouse Hotel in Carlton and featured Bjo Trimble as the Guest of Honour. The convention itself was a great success at a time when sci-fi conventions in Melbourne were flourishing, however, it was also Austrek’s last two day convention as future events of this nature were reduced to single day events called mini-cons.
The 1980s were over and the 1990s had begun, and with the new decade came the best and worst days in Austrek...
One of the more successful events for Austrek occurred in 1991 when the club celebrated Star Trek's 25 anniversary with a special celebration banquet. This year also saw a video documentary created by club member George Ivanoff to celebrate Austrek’s 15th Anniversary. The documentary featured many members discussing their involvement in the club, including snippets from TV shows where Austrek members appeared such as Hey Hey It’s Saturday. Needless to say this video has become a significant time capsule for how the club looked during this period.
1991 also saw the commercial release of The Next Generation on video tape which only served to increase ‘Next Gen fever’ within Austrek. Importantly, it was also about to see a major demographic shift within the club which would impact it for years to come.
As fate would have it, Austrek evolved exponentially in a single day when seemingly out of nowhere a wave of brand new fans suddenly arrived at a club meeting. These young people were energetic, very technologically savvy and focused solely on The Next Generation as their only source of Star Trek enjoyment.
Suddenly, in what could be considered a bizarre twist of irony within the club, the young 1980s movie fans - who had replaced the 1970s Original Series fans - were about to be replaced themselves by the new 1990s Next Generation fans. Everything had indeed come full circle.
These new faces brought a wealth of changes to Austrek to capitalise on the massive resurgence and popularity of the Star Trek franchise.
From 1992 the bi monthly club meetings changed to monthly; The Captain's Log was now produced on a computer using a process called ‘Desktop Publishing’ - so the days of using a typewriter and sticky tape were finally over; the club's membership listing was upgraded from an old paper based filing system to something called a database; and the club was now researching all the latest information on Star Trek to include in The Captain’s Log from an emerging technology called the Internet.
Another significant event for 1992 was Trekcon VI: The Undiscovered Con, which was the first 'convention' using the one day only mini-con format (note there was no Trekcon V). The event was very successful with over 120 people attending, which was on a par with the traditional two day conventions despite only running half as long. The success of Trekcon VI paved the way for more one day events of this type in the future.
In 1993 Austrek made its second fan film during a trip to Hanging Rock called The Yar Continuum. This featured a Next Generation story of an away mission to a planet where the local aliens had somehow created two Tasha Yars – this was inspired by two club members who were big fans of the character. The filming day was a great deal of fun as a mass of costumed Austrek members pretty much took over the Rock.
Unfortunately a lot of the footage was misplaced after filming so the movie was considered lost and forgotten. Then in 2006 a long retired club member finished it using secondary/backup footage in time for Austrek's 30th anniversary. Unfortunately by this time every person involved in the film, bar one individual, had long since left the club (even the film’s director had passed away). As a result they never got to see the final product, nor relive the enjoyment Austrek experienced that great day.
Another major event to occur in 1993 was the all new Austrek art show. This event turned out to be a unparalleled success with 160 people viewing 130 entries covering 18 categories.
This year also saw Austrek run a one day mini-con called Trexpo which was the first event of its type to be organised by the all new Next Generation fanbase. The event included a comedic Next Generation stage play as well as a wonderful Cardassian makeup demonstration amongst other great activities. Trexpo was so successful that a second mini-con was planned for the following year.
All these events and activities were supported with a new identity as Austrek formerly adopted a new logo designed by Robert Jan. This logo is still in use today.
By 1994 Austrek was a dominate force within Star Trek fandom with over 600 members on the books, despite the recent launch of a rival Star Trek club also based in Melbourne. For Austrek though the accomplishments just kept on coming. First was the celebration of The Captain's Log reaching its milestone 200th issue, featuring its first ever full colour cover as well as a detailed club historical overview. Alongside this was the second successful Trexpo mini-con along with the first annual Austrek fete which was promoted as 'Fete at Farpoint'. This latter event featured a live stage presentation of a creative, interpretive piece based around Wolf 359.
Another significant achievement was the club successfully becoming legally incorporated. To this end Austrek was now officially known as Austrek, The Star Trek Fan Club Inc.
However, the surge of dynamic growth and popularity Austrek had been experiencing wasn't to last as the club was about to be brought to its knees.
1995 - "The worst of times"
The first casualty the club faced was losing its beloved St Luke's Church Hall venue in the middle of the year. This caused a major upheaval to the members who had come to regard the South Melbourne venue as a second home. With a burgeoning membership and no venue to call its own, Austrek flittered between Hobson's Bay Secondary College in Albert Park, Coppin Hall in Prahran and St Francis Church in the city.
During this time Austrek was obtaining brand new episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine on video tape which had been sent from the US. These videos in turn were being screened to masses of eager fans at club meetings which made the meetings very large and successful.
With Star Trek’s popularity at an all time high, the Australian Official Star Trek Fan Club was formed in NSW which resulted in the closure of Astrex, thereby promoting Austrek to be the longest running Star Trek club in Australia (and eventually the second longest in the world). In April 1995 the Official Club mandated that Austrek was no longer permitted to publicly screen these episodes as they hadn't appeared on TV yet - and wouldn't for at least another couple of years. As a consequence Austrek lost its primary source of entertainment which for the past couple of years it had become heavily reliant on for its programming.
It was now “the worst of times".
With the inability to screen new Star Trek episodes at club meetings and the rival Melbourne club successfully luring older Austrek/Star Trek fans to their events, it quickly became a dark time for Austrek which culminated in a massive membership drop as people, including the committee, left the club in droves seemingly overnight.
Yet despite these ominous warning signs there was at least one shining light. August 1996 saw the Star Trek 30th Anniversary Banquet held in Heidelberg which Austrek assisted in organising alongside the rival club. Although the event had 180 attendees and was a major success (especially considering Austrek had just turned 20), it still wasn't enough to bolster Austrek's falling membership numbers.
By the start of 1997 Austrek was sitting on the brink of closure, and nowhere was this more evident than at one club meeting which was so small it was held in a coffee shop. Yet salvation appeared in the form of a handful of devoted members who, under the new leadership of Shane Campbell and Rowena Christensen, kept the club's candle alight during this troubled period.
Also after living a somewhat nomadic existence post St Luke’s Church Hall, 1997 saw the meetings finally settle into a new venue at St David's Church Hall in Camberwell. This occurred exactly two years to the month from when the video screenings stopped.
Unfortunately though Austrek was now barely a shadow of its former self, even after the eventual closure of the Official Star Trek Fan Club as well as the rival Melbourne club and with Star Trek: Voyager in production. Sadly the once proud club meetings now struggled to gain an audience of 15 people, and gala events like the enormously popular Christmas parties of the late 80s and early 90s were a thing of the past.
Rising from the ashes
Yet early in the new millennium Austrek started to steadily grow again, thanks in part to three particularly dedicated members: Bruce Seidl, Frank Derksen and Peter Nesbit, who arranged for the relocation of meetings to the Northcote Town Hall in April 2004. From here new members who were blissfully ignorant about the club’s recent difficulties began to emerge, and slowly but surely Austrek started to rebuild.
Before long the club, which was now being run by an all new and enthusiastic committee led by Scott Liston, started to regain a respectable membership base and soon re-established itself as a main player in Australian Star Trek fandom. Amongst the club's new achievements was one very successful meeting held at the Melbourne Museum in conjunction with a Star Trek exhibit.
The club's triumphant comeback though occurred in 2006 when Austrek ran its special 30/40 Banquet and mini-con to celebrate Austrek turning 30 and Star Trek turning 40. This gala event was a great success on all levels and saw some former Austrek members from the 1980s come along to celebrate the significant milestone.
Austrek also received yet another taste of prime time TV fame by having a Star Trek team appear on Bert's Family Feud in 2008. In this show, Austrek were pitted against the Star Wars team from Star Walking Inc. in a charity episode which had many repeat airings due to its popularity.
It was also during this period where many club members appeared in numerous photo opportunities for magazine and newspaper articles, including Austrek's second appearance in the Moomba parade in 2009.
By 2010 Austrek was cruising along providing great entertainment to its members whilst keeping the spirit of Star Trek alive in Australia. In 2012 the club’s success was particularly evident at its new annual Christmas lunch gathering which was often the largest attendance of any meeting for the year.
As a reward for its great service to the fan community, Paramount Pictures invited club members to attend the exclusive cast and crew world premiere of Star Trek: Into Darkness held in Sydney in 2013.
By the end of 2015 the club started to once again increase its profile as news of a new Star Trek film AND TV series grabbed everyone's attention. With the impending 50th anniversary of the franchise along with the club's own 40th birthday to occur in 2016, club meetings started to bring in some impressive attendance figures which hadn't been seen in many, many years.
40 Years Young!
As to be expected 2016 was a very hectic time for Austrek. In July the club was invited to the official premiere of Star Trek: Beyond in Sydney. This featured the added bonus of club president Melanie Nemer actually interviewing the film’s cast for a segment of The Morning Show on TV.
At almost exactly the same time as the premiere, Austrek featured in a large double spread article in both The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers. The article discussed the club’s history and viewpoints of Star Trek from various members.
But the most significant event of the year occurred in August 2016 when the club ran its 40/50 ball to celebrate Austrek turning 40 and Star Trek turning 50. This was a lavish and successful event where 100 Austrekkers, including club founder Geoff Allshorn, celebrated the occasion with an abundance of positive and enthusiastic energy. Even more significant is the event was captured on video and released on an official DVD for future prosperity.
But the significance of Austrek’s 40th birthday didn’t end just yet.
The start of 2017 kicked off with a February meeting featuring a special club history presentation by Geoff Allshorn. Supporting him in the audience were a number of original 1970s club members who hadn’t been to an Austrek meeting in decades. The reason for their appearance was to highlight a triple milestone for the club: It was 40 years to the month when the first Austrek meeting took place (only missing the exact anniversary by one day); the first issue of The Captain’s Log was published and the first edition of the revamped SPOCK was released.
2017 also saw the launch of the new Star Trek: Discovery series with Austrek receiving official permission from Netflix to screen the pilot episode at a meeting which was very successful. Symbolically it was the first episode of any Star Trek series to be shown at a club meeting in 22 years.
Boldy going...
As the second oldest Star Trek club in the world and one of the few surviving social sci-fi fan clubs in Melbourne, the meetings, which are still being held on the first Saturday of the month (even though the marathons have long gone), continue to draw a good contingent of fans eager to learn what's going on in the Star Trek and general science fiction world at large.
More importantly, at a time when fan interaction is now heavily Internet dominated, Austrek has proven there is still great joy to be had when interacting with other Star Trek enthusiasts in a friendly social environment.
Still boldly going where no one has gone before…
Sources
- Trekcon III con book - 1987
- Geoff Allshorn "Austrek: The Voyage Home” - 1991
- The Captain's Log #200 - 1994
- National Library of Australia “History of Star Trek Fandom in Australia” article - 1995
- D. Maxwell fandom memoirs - 2013
- Geoff Allshorn "The Pioneer Days" - 2013
- Geoff Allshorn 40th anniversary Austrek presentation – 2017
In the early/mid 1970s teenage school student Geoff Allshorn was part of a group called the Melbourne Amateur Science Club (MASC) along with a dozen other school friends. The focus of the MASC was to promote sciences including Astronomy, Psychology, Archaeology and the pseudoscience's such as UFOlogy. During this time the MASC produced two publications called Club News and The Space Age.
Then in 1975 colour television arrived in Australia and with it came the re-introduction Star Trek which had not aired on TV for many years. Needless to say the young science enthusiasts were instantly hooked on the show, so in October a special subsection of the MASC was created by Geoff and the others to focus on Star Trek and this was called ... Austrek.
Club members soon became aware of The Ritz, a small North Melbourne cinema screening 35mm Star Trek episodes as fillers for other films. With the show now being projected onto a large screen in vivid colour, the club encouraged the cinema to run Star Trek marathons where a number of episodes would be screened in one night. As to be expected the embryonic Austrek and its members immersed themselves in these events and would continue to do so for the next 15 years.
However, by mid 1976 Austrek still hadn't branched out beyond the original 13 school students of the MASC, so when they came across Leonard Nimoy’s book ‘I am Not Spock’, this prompted the young fans to write a letter introducing their new club to Leonard Nimoy. The letter was simply addressed to ‘Mr Spock, California’ where apparently envelopes like this were actually delivered to the actor’s home.
Unbeknownst to the group, who thought the letter had been lost in the post, it was not only received by someone in the USA but had been forwarded to the Star Trek Welcommittee - a special group designed to link Star Trek fans together from around the world.
The Welcommittee then contacted Austrek, much to their complete surprise and delight, and recommended they speak to their Australian representative, a lady called Diane Marchant. When contact with Diane was made by Geoff, she mentioned about being a regular attendee of the Star Trek marathons at The Ritz, meaning she was right under Austrek’s nose the whole time!
In fact it was through Diane’s influence that Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett-Roddenberry were to become the club's earliest Honorary Members.
With the club now capable of reaching Star Trek fans far and wide, Austrek was officially launched (albeit nervously) to the public on November 6, 1976 at The Ritz during a Star Trek marathon. Needless to say the response was way beyond what anyone ever expected.
Within two months the membership ballooned from the original 13 MASC school students to 130 people! Due to this unprecedented, and somewhat overwhelming success, it was decided to close the MASC and run Austrek as an independent entity.
From here the stars, and history, awaited…
The 1970s - Early success
After gaining experience in producing publications for the MASC, SPOCK, subtitled "Star Trek Propaganda On Club Kids" was intended to be both Austrek’s newsletter and fanzine (a fanzine is an amateur booklet populated with fan written stories and original artwork).
After producing four singled-paged issues known as Volume 1, SPOCK was reborn as a dedicated fanzine - without the subtitle - known as Volume 2. The first 10 page issue of the new Volume 2 format appeared in 1976 and continued for 69 issues. Being the club’s fanzine, SPOCK was produced with a focus on quality and pseudo professionalism which resulted in it winning many awards and accolades until 1995 when it ceased publication.
With SPOCK now designated as the club’s fanzine, a new newsletter had to be created and the first was Trekkie Talk of which there were only two issues released in December 1976 and January 1977. From February 1977 Trekkie Talk was relaunched as The Captain’s Log where the issue numbering cycle restarted at #1. These early issues of SPOCK and The Captain’s Log were typed on a stencil and printed in purple via a Fordigraph spirit duplicator.
Despite early editions of The Captain’s Log being created using very crude production methods (often an entire issue consisting of four pages would be written in one night by whoever had the typewriter), it was clear to see how vibrant and exciting this new club was, especially as many future writers and artists would ‘prove their worth’ by exploring their talents and gaining valuable exposure within its pages. As of today The Captain's Log is still in production with over 340 issues having now been published.
Club meetings in the early days were held at the homes of members on a bi monthly basis and were very successful until the crowds became too large for them to handle. As a consequence a church hall in Fairfield was then hired for regular gatherings. It was also from these meetings where the ‘first Saturday of the month’ schedule was instigated which was designed to coincide with the Star Trek marathons being held on the same night.
Before long Austrek moved its meetings from Fairfield to the Women's Temperance Hall - now the site of the Hyatt Hotel - in Russell St in the city. These meetings were attended by around 30 likeminded fans and consisted of games, trivia contests, chatting and some serious speculating about the scientific and philosophical implications of Star Trek.
1978 saw Austrek run its first ever convention called Trekcon I. This was a modest one day event that was a lot of fun and received a favourable write up in The Sun newspaper. More significantly was the collection of money from attendees which was then used to send a telegram to Paramount congratulating them for commencing filming on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
In 1979 the club made its first fan film called City on the Edge of the Yarra by Stephen Bates and Paul Murphy. Filmed on a Super 8 camera, it featured a comedic story about Kirk and Spock using the Guardian of Forever to arrive in the city the day a science fiction convention is being held, which in turn causes all measure of problems for them. Though once considered deteriorated and lost, this film has since been rediscovered and digitised.
In December 1979 Austrek booked out a cinema for Melbourne's opening night screening of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This was followed by Austrek's second convention Trekcon II in April 1980 which attracted a much larger crowd than its predecessor. The Guest of Honour for this convention was Joe Haldeman, the author of two Star Trek novels.
After a few years of operation, Austrek had well and truly established itself as a major player in worldwide communal fandom at a time when creative counter-culture activities were encouraged. It was also at this time when the club began organising a number of social events as well as fundraising for charity.
The 1980s - A new 'Golden Age' begins
With the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982, new faces were beginning to appear within the club. These were the fans who were too young to enjoy Star Trek when it first appeared on TV in the 1960s but were now living the fan experience in their youth via the films.
With the influx of these new members, 1983 saw Austrek meetings move venues once again from the city to St Luke’s Church Hall in Dorcas St South Melbourne. This venue was to become the much loved home of the club for the next decade.
As the mid 1980s approached, Austrek was experiencing a gradual demographic shift as the younger generation of members were now joining the committee to run the club. A pivotal moment for the 'new' Austrek occurred at the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ‘chicken and champagne’ preview screening held in October 1984 at the Forum Cinema. It was at this event where four Austrek ladies were called to the front of the cinema wearing their 'Fed Red' movie costumes. For many in the audience it was the first time they had heard of Austrek which in turn boosted promotions significantly.
Consequently at the official Star Trek III premiere held less than two months later in December, a virtual army of young costumed fans arrived in the city square so they could march to the Forum Cinema for the screening.
For Austrek the timing of the franchise’s sudden resurgence in popularity couldn’t be better as it was right in the box seat to boost its presence within the fan community. Yet as Austrek was experiencing its own ‘golden age’ of success, it was also evolving which meant some major changes were coming.
The focal point of Austrek in the 1970s was to celebrate Star Trek: The Original Series, but in the mid 1980s this interest was now being shared with the films which made its presence felt through the numerous movie costumes the younger fans were wearing to club meetings. Moreover, it was becoming clear the enthusiastic vigour of the younger members was slowly driving the original 1970s members out of the club (or at least away from its social side) as attendances at the meetings during this transition period had begun to fluctuate.
This generational shift also had a direct impact on the club’s annual Christmas party. Up until the mid 1980s the Christmas party was designed to be a social review of the year gone by where older members would get together in quiet, reflective conversation. Yet with the younger fans now on the scene it was clear this format was not going to last.
To further highlight the impact of this new youthful energy, it became the accepted norm that one would attend an Austrek meeting at St Luke’s Church Hall during the day; have a group dinner in the local restaurant around the corner in the afternoon/evening; then attend the Star Trek marathons - which were now screening at the National Mutual Theatrette in the city - that night ... but not to see the episodes. As strange as it might sound, the joy of the marathons was the fun of simply hanging out in the foyer chatting, laughing and having a great time while all the other patrons were inside watching the shows.
1985 was a pivotal year for Melbourne science fiction fandom as it saw Aussiecon II the World Science Fiction Convention come to town, thereby introducing many of the younger Austrek fans to the science fiction convention scene. It was also during this period where the social side of Austrek began to thrive through the various car rallies, ten pin bowling days and many other social activities which kept members entertained between meetings.
1985 also saw the formation of the club’s theatre group ‘Karidian Players’, whose play The Doubles are Tribbles written by Robert Jan held its one and only performance at the Christmas party that year.
In 1986 the club enjoyed one of its more unique social events, an overnight trip to a rural part of Lancefield to see Halley's Comet. This turned out to be a great weekend away as it brought back the memories of the old MASC as everyone felt like an astronomer for the night.
This year also saw the premiere of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home where once again a mass meeting of costumed fans was the order of the day in the city square. Unlike the Star Trek III premiere held two years prior, this event was a bustling hive of unparalleled energy, particularly when an army of enthusiastically costumed club members walked to the toy department on the sixth floor of Myer looking for these brand new (though rumoured) Star Trek toys that turned out didn't exist - the walk was still fun anyway. This event also reinforced the great joy of seeing the premiere of a Star Trek film in a cinema full of fans.
1986 also saw the beginning of the revamped Christmas party format which morphed from the "quiet reflection" approach to now having costume parades, lights, music and dancing. This particular event featured a TV crew from Day By Day (a prime time current affairs show) who were on hand to film a segment on the club. This footage has since become a fantastic time capsule for how Austrek looked during this period, especially as the club had just turned 10 years old.
Turning the Christmas parties into an actual "party" proved to be a huge win for the club. These events for the next few years became increasingly lavish theme based affairs - such as the "roaring 20s and 30s" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" - which were attended by many members of Melbourne science fiction fandom, even those who didn't like Star Trek. Within a short time these parties gained a reputation of being "must attend" gala events and were easily the highlight of the year.
March 1987 saw Austrek's next convention Trekcon III occur at the Sheraton Hotel in the city. As per the new mantra of invading the city with Star Trek costumes whenever possible, the convention's programming actually required the entire membership to go out into the streets in large groups on Away Missions (scavenger hunts) which made for an interesting sight for sure.
This year also saw the significant event of Austrek taking part in the Moomba Parade for the first time. To prepare for this, club members assembled an impressive mock-up of the shuttle Galileo - incorporating the Enterprise bridge - and placed it on the back of a ute behind which around 50 costumed Austrekkers marched. Fortunately the club's entry was shown on TV which was recorded for prosperity and has since been digitised.
Then out of nowhere a new name suddenly appeared...
Austrek: The Next Generation
February 1987 heard the rumblings of a new Star Trek series being created called The Next Generation. Fans were very 50/50 about the concept as they struggled to accept the new character names as well as the redesigned Enterprise.
With so little information available it was difficult for fans to work out what it all meant, so there was a fair bit of scepticism towards the new show. Still it wasn't long before the first ever Next Generation costume appeared at an Austrek meeting (at the time some people didn't even know what it was), then at the next meeting there were three more. From thereon it seemed as if everyone was wearing one, even by people who usually avoided costumes.
At the Christmas party that year one lady announced how a video tape had just arrived from the US featuring the pilot episode of this new and mysterious show called ‘Encounter at Farpoint’. Knowing how keen fans were to check it out, she invited people to her home that night to see it. So in the stifling Summer heat around 20 people jammed themselves into this tiny, single bedroom flat and subsequently Star Trek: The Next Generation was introduced into Australian Star Trek fandom.
Without anyone realising it, this new Star Trek series was to be the forerunner of a major evolutionary change in Austrek's life.
1988 saw a very unique social gathering of members from Austrek and Astrex (The large Sydney Star Trek club who actually predated Austrek by three years). This one off event was months in the planning and took place in Wagga Wagga which was considered to be the most central point between Melbourne and Sydney – hence the event’s name "Wagga Wagga Con Con". Though it was reasonably successful, the two clubs operated independently of each other and rarely interacted, especially as by this time Melbourne was now the centre point of all social fan activity in Australia.
The 1980s were over and the 1990s had begun, and with the new decade came the best and worst days in Austrek...
The 1990s - Domination then collapse
Austrek's next convention was Trekcon IV in 1990 which was held at the Townhouse Hotel in Carlton and featured Bjo Trimble as the Guest of Honour. The convention itself was a great success at a time when sci-fi conventions in Melbourne were flourishing, however, it was also Austrek’s last two day convention as future events of this nature were reduced to single day events called mini-cons.
The 1980s were over and the 1990s had begun, and with the new decade came the best and worst days in Austrek...
One of the more successful events for Austrek occurred in 1991 when the club celebrated Star Trek's 25 anniversary with a special celebration banquet. This year also saw a video documentary created by club member George Ivanoff to celebrate Austrek’s 15th Anniversary. The documentary featured many members discussing their involvement in the club, including snippets from TV shows where Austrek members appeared such as Hey Hey It’s Saturday. Needless to say this video has become a significant time capsule for how the club looked during this period.
1991 also saw the commercial release of The Next Generation on video tape which only served to increase ‘Next Gen fever’ within Austrek. Importantly, it was also about to see a major demographic shift within the club which would impact it for years to come.
As fate would have it, Austrek evolved exponentially in a single day when seemingly out of nowhere a wave of brand new fans suddenly arrived at a club meeting. These young people were energetic, very technologically savvy and focused solely on The Next Generation as their only source of Star Trek enjoyment.
Suddenly, in what could be considered a bizarre twist of irony within the club, the young 1980s movie fans - who had replaced the 1970s Original Series fans - were about to be replaced themselves by the new 1990s Next Generation fans. Everything had indeed come full circle.
These new faces brought a wealth of changes to Austrek to capitalise on the massive resurgence and popularity of the Star Trek franchise.
From 1992 the bi monthly club meetings changed to monthly; The Captain's Log was now produced on a computer using a process called ‘Desktop Publishing’ - so the days of using a typewriter and sticky tape were finally over; the club's membership listing was upgraded from an old paper based filing system to something called a database; and the club was now researching all the latest information on Star Trek to include in The Captain’s Log from an emerging technology called the Internet.
Another significant event for 1992 was Trekcon VI: The Undiscovered Con, which was the first 'convention' using the one day only mini-con format (note there was no Trekcon V). The event was very successful with over 120 people attending, which was on a par with the traditional two day conventions despite only running half as long. The success of Trekcon VI paved the way for more one day events of this type in the future.
In 1993 Austrek made its second fan film during a trip to Hanging Rock called The Yar Continuum. This featured a Next Generation story of an away mission to a planet where the local aliens had somehow created two Tasha Yars – this was inspired by two club members who were big fans of the character. The filming day was a great deal of fun as a mass of costumed Austrek members pretty much took over the Rock.
Unfortunately a lot of the footage was misplaced after filming so the movie was considered lost and forgotten. Then in 2006 a long retired club member finished it using secondary/backup footage in time for Austrek's 30th anniversary. Unfortunately by this time every person involved in the film, bar one individual, had long since left the club (even the film’s director had passed away). As a result they never got to see the final product, nor relive the enjoyment Austrek experienced that great day.
Another major event to occur in 1993 was the all new Austrek art show. This event turned out to be a unparalleled success with 160 people viewing 130 entries covering 18 categories.
This year also saw Austrek run a one day mini-con called Trexpo which was the first event of its type to be organised by the all new Next Generation fanbase. The event included a comedic Next Generation stage play as well as a wonderful Cardassian makeup demonstration amongst other great activities. Trexpo was so successful that a second mini-con was planned for the following year.
All these events and activities were supported with a new identity as Austrek formerly adopted a new logo designed by Robert Jan. This logo is still in use today.
By 1994 Austrek was a dominate force within Star Trek fandom with over 600 members on the books, despite the recent launch of a rival Star Trek club also based in Melbourne. For Austrek though the accomplishments just kept on coming. First was the celebration of The Captain's Log reaching its milestone 200th issue, featuring its first ever full colour cover as well as a detailed club historical overview. Alongside this was the second successful Trexpo mini-con along with the first annual Austrek fete which was promoted as 'Fete at Farpoint'. This latter event featured a live stage presentation of a creative, interpretive piece based around Wolf 359.
Another significant achievement was the club successfully becoming legally incorporated. To this end Austrek was now officially known as Austrek, The Star Trek Fan Club Inc.
However, the surge of dynamic growth and popularity Austrek had been experiencing wasn't to last as the club was about to be brought to its knees.
1995 - "The worst of times"
The first casualty the club faced was losing its beloved St Luke's Church Hall venue in the middle of the year. This caused a major upheaval to the members who had come to regard the South Melbourne venue as a second home. With a burgeoning membership and no venue to call its own, Austrek flittered between Hobson's Bay Secondary College in Albert Park, Coppin Hall in Prahran and St Francis Church in the city.
During this time Austrek was obtaining brand new episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine on video tape which had been sent from the US. These videos in turn were being screened to masses of eager fans at club meetings which made the meetings very large and successful.
With Star Trek’s popularity at an all time high, the Australian Official Star Trek Fan Club was formed in NSW which resulted in the closure of Astrex, thereby promoting Austrek to be the longest running Star Trek club in Australia (and eventually the second longest in the world). In April 1995 the Official Club mandated that Austrek was no longer permitted to publicly screen these episodes as they hadn't appeared on TV yet - and wouldn't for at least another couple of years. As a consequence Austrek lost its primary source of entertainment which for the past couple of years it had become heavily reliant on for its programming.
It was now “the worst of times".
With the inability to screen new Star Trek episodes at club meetings and the rival Melbourne club successfully luring older Austrek/Star Trek fans to their events, it quickly became a dark time for Austrek which culminated in a massive membership drop as people, including the committee, left the club in droves seemingly overnight.
Yet despite these ominous warning signs there was at least one shining light. August 1996 saw the Star Trek 30th Anniversary Banquet held in Heidelberg which Austrek assisted in organising alongside the rival club. Although the event had 180 attendees and was a major success (especially considering Austrek had just turned 20), it still wasn't enough to bolster Austrek's falling membership numbers.
By the start of 1997 Austrek was sitting on the brink of closure, and nowhere was this more evident than at one club meeting which was so small it was held in a coffee shop. Yet salvation appeared in the form of a handful of devoted members who, under the new leadership of Shane Campbell and Rowena Christensen, kept the club's candle alight during this troubled period.
Also after living a somewhat nomadic existence post St Luke’s Church Hall, 1997 saw the meetings finally settle into a new venue at St David's Church Hall in Camberwell. This occurred exactly two years to the month from when the video screenings stopped.
Unfortunately though Austrek was now barely a shadow of its former self, even after the eventual closure of the Official Star Trek Fan Club as well as the rival Melbourne club and with Star Trek: Voyager in production. Sadly the once proud club meetings now struggled to gain an audience of 15 people, and gala events like the enormously popular Christmas parties of the late 80s and early 90s were a thing of the past.
Rising from the ashes
Yet early in the new millennium Austrek started to steadily grow again, thanks in part to three particularly dedicated members: Bruce Seidl, Frank Derksen and Peter Nesbit, who arranged for the relocation of meetings to the Northcote Town Hall in April 2004. From here new members who were blissfully ignorant about the club’s recent difficulties began to emerge, and slowly but surely Austrek started to rebuild.
Before long the club, which was now being run by an all new and enthusiastic committee led by Scott Liston, started to regain a respectable membership base and soon re-established itself as a main player in Australian Star Trek fandom. Amongst the club's new achievements was one very successful meeting held at the Melbourne Museum in conjunction with a Star Trek exhibit.
The club's triumphant comeback though occurred in 2006 when Austrek ran its special 30/40 Banquet and mini-con to celebrate Austrek turning 30 and Star Trek turning 40. This gala event was a great success on all levels and saw some former Austrek members from the 1980s come along to celebrate the significant milestone.
Austrek also received yet another taste of prime time TV fame by having a Star Trek team appear on Bert's Family Feud in 2008. In this show, Austrek were pitted against the Star Wars team from Star Walking Inc. in a charity episode which had many repeat airings due to its popularity.
It was also during this period where many club members appeared in numerous photo opportunities for magazine and newspaper articles, including Austrek's second appearance in the Moomba parade in 2009.
By 2010 Austrek was cruising along providing great entertainment to its members whilst keeping the spirit of Star Trek alive in Australia. In 2012 the club’s success was particularly evident at its new annual Christmas lunch gathering which was often the largest attendance of any meeting for the year.
As a reward for its great service to the fan community, Paramount Pictures invited club members to attend the exclusive cast and crew world premiere of Star Trek: Into Darkness held in Sydney in 2013.
By the end of 2015 the club started to once again increase its profile as news of a new Star Trek film AND TV series grabbed everyone's attention. With the impending 50th anniversary of the franchise along with the club's own 40th birthday to occur in 2016, club meetings started to bring in some impressive attendance figures which hadn't been seen in many, many years.
40 Years Young!
As to be expected 2016 was a very hectic time for Austrek. In July the club was invited to the official premiere of Star Trek: Beyond in Sydney. This featured the added bonus of club president Melanie Nemer actually interviewing the film’s cast for a segment of The Morning Show on TV.
At almost exactly the same time as the premiere, Austrek featured in a large double spread article in both The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers. The article discussed the club’s history and viewpoints of Star Trek from various members.
But the most significant event of the year occurred in August 2016 when the club ran its 40/50 ball to celebrate Austrek turning 40 and Star Trek turning 50. This was a lavish and successful event where 100 Austrekkers, including club founder Geoff Allshorn, celebrated the occasion with an abundance of positive and enthusiastic energy. Even more significant is the event was captured on video and released on an official DVD for future prosperity.
But the significance of Austrek’s 40th birthday didn’t end just yet.
The start of 2017 kicked off with a February meeting featuring a special club history presentation by Geoff Allshorn. Supporting him in the audience were a number of original 1970s club members who hadn’t been to an Austrek meeting in decades. The reason for their appearance was to highlight a triple milestone for the club: It was 40 years to the month when the first Austrek meeting took place (only missing the exact anniversary by one day); the first issue of The Captain’s Log was published and the first edition of the revamped SPOCK was released.
2017 also saw the launch of the new Star Trek: Discovery series with Austrek receiving official permission from Netflix to screen the pilot episode at a meeting which was very successful. Symbolically it was the first episode of any Star Trek series to be shown at a club meeting in 22 years.
Boldy going...
As the second oldest Star Trek club in the world and one of the few surviving social sci-fi fan clubs in Melbourne, the meetings, which are still being held on the first Saturday of the month (even though the marathons have long gone), continue to draw a good contingent of fans eager to learn what's going on in the Star Trek and general science fiction world at large.
More importantly, at a time when fan interaction is now heavily Internet dominated, Austrek has proven there is still great joy to be had when interacting with other Star Trek enthusiasts in a friendly social environment.
Still boldly going where no one has gone before…
Sources
- Trekcon III con book - 1987
- Geoff Allshorn "Austrek: The Voyage Home” - 1991
- The Captain's Log #200 - 1994
- National Library of Australia “History of Star Trek Fandom in Australia” article - 1995
- D. Maxwell fandom memoirs - 2013
- Geoff Allshorn "The Pioneer Days" - 2013
- Geoff Allshorn 40th anniversary Austrek presentation – 2017
