Transcribed by Elaine Walker
The Voice of the Echidna was the daily (sometimes twice daily) newsletter of Aussiecon 4. I appear to have obtained or at least retained the first three issues, of which this is the first. I am not going to type the entire thing out but I shall put in the key points and highlights. It was an A4 double-sided sheet on pale blue paper, with a logo of an Echidna with the stars of the Southern Cross superimposed on it.
The newsletter started with the welcome to Aussiecon 4 by the Chairs, Perry and Rose.
They were hoping to produce two or three of these per day over the convention and solicited aid from the attendees. Apparently they were previously available on the Aussiecon 4 website but that has long gone. (But thanks to the lovely Wayback Machine they are available there if you wish to look.)
It was indicated that the official hashtags would be #Aus4 and #Worldcon and #Hugos. (Not #A4, or #Hugo and #Aussiecon4 was too long)
There was the usual appeal for Volunteers. Information on Fan Funds and welcoming of the various Fan Fund delegates including DUFF (John Hertz), GUFF (James Shields), NAFF (Gina Goddard) and FFANZ (Stephen Litton and Jan Butterworth).
I don’t know if the WOOF fanzine ever came out. But contributions were certainly solicited.
There were some limericks from a COSMOS magazine request for readers to write a limerick about their favourite science fiction book character or movie. These were to be published over the course of the weekend. This newsletter’s:
Luke knew that he shouldn’t have kissed her,
but found he just couldn’t resist her.
said his Jedi insight
“something’s not right”,
but he didn’t know she was his sister!
Hospitality events (read: parties!!!) would be going ahead in the Crowne Plaza (after some last minute negotiations). Thursday evening’s events were:
- Montreal Thank You (Corporate Lounge, left)
- Continuum 7 (Corporate Lounge, right)
Attendees were also informed of the Weapons Policy (sorry, not as hall costumes) and that there would not be free wireless internet.
The Art Show details were explained and it was noted that the original of Sue Mason’s Aussiecon 4 badge designs would be there to see.
Various food options around the convention were given, with some restaurant reviews, directions to nearby food courts, and where breakfast can be obtained.
It finished off with some technical information about the WSFS various committee meetings, and constitutional changes.
This issue was produced by Flick, with help from Jan van’t Ent, Steve Davies, Fran Dowd, Ang Rosin and some other people. Masthead by Sue Mason.