Once again historian Leigh Edmonds and Perry Middlemiss take us to the heart of Australian fan history. This February 2024 zoom session begins with the events of 1960, and the origins of modern Australian fandom in Melbourne. Illustrated with photos and publications, Leigh tells the story of early fannish meetings, of Somerset Place, and of the competing visions of Australian fandom, from sercon to fannish. In this part 2, he covers how Science Fiction Review got started, the seminal influence of John Foyster, John Bangsund and Lee Harding, and the reason the Ditmar Awards are so named. (He also tells you what they are not named.) There’s the first APA in Australia, why it was started and what it became, the importance of comics fans in Australian fan history and Gelaticon. And Leigh conveys the reason why fans were so intent on getting together – “In this group, when you happen to say something about science fiction, people don’t look at you like you’re crazy.”
The zoom session is great fun and well worth watching. Leigh Edmonds is an Australian historian, and a very long-term science fiction fan. His history of science fiction fandom in Australia, “Proud and Lonely; a history of science fiction fandom in Australia 1936-1975 part 1”, will be published in 2024 by Norstrilia Press. Perry Middlemiss is a fanwriter, editor and podcaster as well as a former Worldcon chair. Many thanks also to Robin Johnson for providing tech support for Leigh.
(Part 1 is here)
The Adelaide Fan Review 
You must be logged in to post a comment.