by Anna Hepworth
There was a solitary printed progress report for SwanCon 4 – unlike such times as the late 90s*, where three (or even four!) progress reports was a common occurrence. This was printed on basic white bond paper, both sides of an A4 sheet, and folded in half to give an A5 booklet – a standard format for many years. What you can’t see from the currently available images** (see flickr for the rest of the ‘SwanCon 4 progress report‘ scans), is that it also followed the common format of being folded in half and a mailing label affixed to the back cover.
Details of the contents follow. As for previous transcriptions, all caps have been converted to lower case to preserve transcriber’s sanity. Idiosyncratic punctuation and spacing has been preserved as much as possible. While technically, this is an eight page publication, if we count each page separately, the order goes front cover-1-2-program (2 pages)-3-4-back cover, and the sections below have been identified in this order.
Front Cover
<swan logo>
WAYCON ’79*
<image of a star in the distance and the torso of a helmeted figure rising from a book>
Progress Report
*swancon IV
Page 1
<on the left, a drawing of a gloved hand pointing toward the top of the page>
Welcome
The Chairman of SwanCon IV comments on progress :-
Bob (committee member in charge of publicity ) tells me that already three months before the con we, or it,are,or is, more organised that Swancon III ever was.
This is progress.
I (chairman of Swancon IV ) resolved after having chaired Swancon I never to undertake further organizational duties ( not because I disliked chairing the first W.A. SF con, I loved it ! but because I am at heart an idle bastard ) ,and now to my bewilderment I do indeed find myself chairman of Swancon IV.
This is progress ?
Damian( committee member in charger of where-its-at and banquets and things ) has so organised his area of operation weeks ago so that he won’t have anything more to do until the night before….
This is progress.
Roy ( committee member in charge of finances ) is in the U.K. on holiday (he says study tour ).
Page 2
This is progress ?
Already the con has around 30 paid-up members, a cosy little hotel to go to, a few films arranged paper aeroplane and kite flying competitions – and from Your Humble Chairman after a couple of beers a coupla hundred unpremeditated words for the first progress report –
This is Progress !
Films
<towards the bottom of this page is a line drawing of a section of a Discovery-esque space ship>
“Voyage of the Ark” , the young film makers award winner for ’78.This film tells the story of a colonisation mission and their problems including space battles and computer malfunctions.
Bartholomew Marmalade, another local production ,telling the story of the attempted conquest of earth by an evil force and its defeat by Captain Bartholomew Marmalade,with the help of some children.
Other films showing at the convention are as follows :- The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer,Duel,Dr Strangelove,Zardoz,Night of the Lepus,The Making of Silentrunning,The Eye Hears the Ear Sees,Cosmic Zoom, a Startrek – blooper reel, a series of documentaries about SF by some famous authors, NASA documentaries on Apollo 11 and 15, and Wargames,warning this film is extremely realistic and may be upsetting to some people. Plus other documentary films,filmclips and locally produced films.
Anyone wishing to screen their own 8mm or
<hand-written text: to P.3>
Proposed program
<two page spread, with illustration in centre, and typing arranged around the image roughly in two columns>
Friday
| 7.00 | Registration |
| 8.00 | Opening & introduction |
| 8.30 | First Contact During this session we hope that the new fans will get to know the old. (who is this fan anyway) |
Saturday.
| 9.00 | RegistrationII * plus film. |
| 10.00 | Introduction II* *(for those not reg. fri.) |
| 11.00 | Panel – Fandom and Fanzines. |
| 12.00 | Lunch(a map will be supplied to eating establishments). |
| 1.30 | Speech – Aspects of Early SF by Dr. Millech. |
| 2.30 | Refreshments. |
| 3.00 | Film. |
| 4.00 | Panel – Media SF. |
| 7.00 | Banquet/Fancy dress Films will be shown for nonatendees [sic] |
Sunday.
| 10.00 | Auction and a chance to recover |
| 12.00 | Lunch |
| 1.30 | GOH speech Aust’ fandom |
| 2.30 | Panel Close Enc-ounters (1st co-ntact) |
| 5.00 | Quiz |
| 6.00 | Dinner |
| 730 | Films see guide |
Monday.
| 10.00 | Auction cont’ plus documentary films |
| 12.00 | Lunch. |
| 1.30 | Silly competitions |
| 3.00 | Panel – Humor in SF |
| 4.00 | Farewell |
| 5.00 | END…………………………… |
Page 3
<to the right of the first section is a line drawing of a human head wearing a pointy hat, which might be identifiable as a particular character?>
16mm SF films contact Bog Ogden <address elided> Ph. <phone number elided> . For Further Info.
(Special screenings can be arranged on re-quest).
Other Items ~
Kites;Doug Thorp, Stirling City Council’s Official Kitist will be at the Con and there will be kites flying (if weather permits)on the reserve,kites will available.Doug will also be displaying his games and other wares.His kind donation of games,to be used as prizes,will make for close competition !
Banquet;There will be a banquet held on the premises this year.It is proposed that the price be $3.50 which should put it well within the means of the average attendee.Please inform us if you are interested in attending as we wish to know the numbers before the Con.There will be a fancy dress competition held during/after the banquet (see program).
Computers;This year we have had the offer of the use of MURPHY,the U.W.A.’s computer club’s computer, MURPHY it’s called due to MURPHY’S law;-anything that can go wrong will go wrong. So if Murphy is “down” that week we have also had the offer of a colour graphics computer from A.C.P. therefore we shall have a computer gaming center at the con’ no matter what happens
<con logo>
Page 4
Venue.
OZONE Hotel Perth
27 Adelaide Terrace
<mud map>
Back cover
Correspondence to ….
There are so many things that come to mind reading through this – the presence of a computer gaming stream! the long lunch breaks! Who is Dr Millech? What happened to the Ozone Hotel? Why four hours of Auction? Did they get any extra 8mm or 16mm films? What kind of silly competitions were they? Ooh, look – first contact as a theme. What goes around comes around hey!
And finally – some of the people who attended Waycon ’79/SwanCon 4 are still involved in WA fandom – we would love to hear from them about their memories of the con, even if it is stories of how everything was better when they were young….
* and presumably other time periods. This is just the only one that I can be sure of without going and looking through the materials to see what the real time frame.
** at time of writing, the final page has not been included, as it contains both a name and an address for one of the ‘con goers.