Source: ANGFA Queensland Newsletter, Volume 10 No. 6, November/December 1994, page 3.  View original scan (PDF)

National Convention: Well it finally arrived. After 12 months of work the ANGFA National Convention was a great success. We came very close to our target of 100 attendees and what a crowd it turned out to be.

Everyone enjoyed a fun weekend of socialising with other fish keepers and listened to a total of 18 lectures and slideshows. Topics ranged from riparian-stream linkages to updates on fish-keeping technologies, displaying fish for public education to surveys of Cape York freshwater habitats.

World renowned naturalist Heiko Bleher put in an all too brief appearance. Enroute between Germany and Papua New Guinea he dropped in to discuss, in his own delightful style, his trip to Papua New Guinea directly after the Townsville Convention of 1993.

An exceptional slide show was presented by Gilbert Maebe and Franz-Peter of Germany on the history of the rainbowfish. While to cater for those not interested in “live bait” Alex Caughey talked about the myths and legends surrounding our mighty Murray Cod and John Merrick presented an interesting and often amusing discussion on Australian Freshwater Crayfish.

The tasty morning and afternoon teas provided a brief respite for attendees to absorb what had been and ready themselves for what was still to be. Whilst the lunches proved to be a time of relaxation and comradeship.

Dinner on Saturday night was superb with enormous amounts of Pasta and Pizza before the main course of fillets of Sole. Whilst the auction held immediately after dinner proved to be a riotous occasion, it still managed to raise nearly $1,000 for the publication of “Fishes of Sahul”.

Of course the National AGM was held on the Sunday morning, with close to 60 bleary eyed members in attendance. The main issue was the election of office bearers for 1995 which proceeded smoothly and resulted in the following committee.

President – Bruce Hansen
Vice President – Ian Michels
Secretary – Doug Collom
Treasurer – Peter Surmon
International Liaison Officer – Neil Armstrong
Membership – Barry Meiklejohn
Editorial Officer – Ron Bowman
Councillors – Graeme Finsen, Graham Heidke, Adrian Dawson

Reports were heard from the various regional groups and Ron Bowman gave a presentation on the history of “Fishes of Sahul” and outlined future ideas.

Other business discussed included a motion from Steven Pyecroft to formulate a structure for Rob Wager’s Native threatened fishes maintenance network. Steven Pyecroft also moved that regional groups should appoint delegates to the ANGFA National committee.

A big vote of thanks go to Kathy Wager and Aimee Brooks for their efforts in formulating and implementing the Fish Widows On Tour concept. All reports indicate a great time was had by all and it would be a terrific idea for future conventions to consider this concept.