A Tale of Two Natcons

[dalekboy]

In the early 90's the media Natcon was going gangbusters (300-400+ attendees), the lit Natcon was dying with a slowly decreasing (around 200) and aging membership. With the success of a couple of joint media/lit Natcons, it was suggested that Australia's population was so small the two cons should be joined

Comments

[emma_in_oz]

I had no idea about any of this - only got involved in conpolitics around 1999. All I knew is that people keep saying - Don't have a Worldcon, it destroyed Victorian fandom. Perhaps there was a problem before the 1999 Worldcon?

Also, with this in mind, what can I do to make the art stream more media-friendly? Given that the guests are already chosen, what would you like to see? Who should I approach to be on art-themed panels?

[kremmen]

I think the "don't have a worldcon, it destroyed Victorian fandom" concept came from the misconceptions of Perth fans who mostly had close to nothing to do with Melbourne fandom before A3. Those misconceptions were further fueled by reports of how A3 was run, which were largely the fault of A3 in particular, not Worldcons in general. Unfortunately, those who have only seen one example of something will tend to assume that it is typical.

[baby_elvis]

Oh, it was a saying over here before 1999, believe me!

[kremmen]

Why? The 1985 Worldcon was pretty good for Victorian fandom.

[dcrisp]

How do we go about tracking down the Doomsday Book? I think its time this was reaquired and worked on again with current and up to date information.

[mortonhall]

I'm pretty sure the Doomsday Book *did* resurface but I couldn't tell you where it is nowadays

[paul_ewins]

It was recovered from NZ last year. I think it was passed to Donna Hanson and I think she passed it on to somebody else again, although I won't swear to that. We can grill her in Adelaide. One way or another it ended up in safe hands.

[mortonhall]

thank you for this history lesson. So many of the modern active fans do not appreciate the struggle and take it all for granted.

[smofbabe]

I obviously was not part of this and didn't know a lot of the history. However, reading this account, I have a few follow-up questions:

* Why did the Multiverse people disband if they were successful? Is this another example you're citing of Australian media fandom's "selflessness"?

* Did the media fans actively participate in the 1999 worldcon committee and submit ideas and panelists for programme that were rejected?

* Have media fans actively participated in the universal natcon committees and submitted ideas and panelists for programme that were rejected?

[paul_ewins]

Multiverse was the passion of two people. Although the idea was for it to be a shared project of all of the Melbourne media clubs it really came down to those two people driving it. When they finally decided to move on in life it all collapsed. At the time there was a bit of the changing of the guard with quite a few club stalwarts moving on. For a time a number of the clubs looked ready to collapse but only the alternate ST club (Enterprise) and the alternate DW club (Gallifrey) ultimately folded.

The media clubs have for a long time been the bulk of Melbourne fandom. A lot of the people involved in A3 were unknown to them and vice versa. A3 stuck to people it knew and didn't consult. There was a lot of talent out there that could have been used but wasn't. Ultimately A3 made the lit/media divide larger than before.

[dalekboy]

Ultimately A3 made the lit/media divide larger than before.

Yep. A2 asked the clubs to be involved, and made the media fans feel like their knowledge and expertise would be welcomed and could only make the WorldCon greater, which would in turn help their clubs. It was very much a, "Of course we want you on board, without you this will be a lesser event for everyone."

[dalekboy]

Quick replies (in the middle of looking after Lex

[transcendancing]

This was incredible to read - and saddening. Being relatively new to this side of things I had no notion. Given the wank, I too wonder if the wrong convention was killed.

Wow.

[callistra]

Ditto.