Well the Queensland Astrofest is over for another year. While this year is the 30th year - 1993 to 2023 - next year will be the 30th Queensland Astrofest.
Right now we are confirming the dates, but please keep in mind that this is coming up, and hopefully we can open registration a bit earlier, but for now I want to thank our amazing team - Please note there is no particular order to this list:
First and foremost, Anne-Louise Surma-Hawes, Representative from BAS, who was awesome as co-Registrar and social media guru. Even after pulling every all-night possible, she managed to muster the energy to lend her assistance to anyone who sought her help, and keep the outside world up-to-date with activities happening onsite.
Agatha Gambino, Representative from BAS, who was equally impressive as general work-horse and inspiration. Always able to keep us on task, and to worked tirelessly to make the Astrofest run smoothly by stepping seamlessly into any role eg registration and orientation of new arrivals.
Richard Hilton , Representative from BAS, whose help cannot be downplayed tirelessly helping in camp set-up and tear-down, and being available for any jobs in between. Richard's help is another reason the camp ran so smoothly.
John Hughes, Representative from AAQ, whose return to the committee with his help, insight, and experience cannot have a high enough value placed upon it. We missed him earlier in the week, but he more than makes up for it in his work behind the scenes and unrelenting pace in the pack-up phase.
Pat Pearl, Representative from AAQ, another former Committee member who leapt aboard for this event. Pat was unable to attend the event itself but worked hard behind the scenes to negotiate with the sponsors and to keep us on-track in meetings and in so many other ways.
David Hough, Representative from AAQ, who joined the committee with the gusto which only he could generate. He worked with the catering team of Lions Camp Duckadang to achieve the best outcomes, slaved hard in the set-up of camp but unfortunately had to leave early. He should be satisfied with his efforts, and David - I hope that you are able to share a few stories and a glass or two of Cloudy Nights with Alan (who incidentally was greatly missed).
David O'Driscoll, web-slave and all-round IT guru also from AAQ . David says he's not a "Committee member" - but honestly, where would we be without him?
Brendan Downs, from BAS and AAQ, and also refuses to be an official "Committee member". He presents more than his share of input at meetings (which he is apparently not a member of), played the Devils Advocate to help us walk the path of righteousness, organised and published the Registration Booklet, and worked like an indentured slave at camp - set-up, tear-down and all points in between.
And myself, Tony Surma-Hawes, Representative from BAS. My job is to stand in the shadow of these giants and offer whatever assistance I could.
No-one could ask for a better team - but having said that we would always appreciate new team members. We focus on enjoying our time together at meetings and trying to keep them time effective. So if anyone is interested in joining the team for the 30th camp, ask your club (or join one of the 4 main supporting clubs) to endorse you as their representative this is essential due to insurance conditions.
Finally I want to thank our Supporters and Sponsors.
BinTel have supported and provided sponsorship to the Queensland Astrofest since 1993. Not only providing a prize for the raffle this year, they also contributed to the updating of Astrofest infrastructure by this year providing new black-out material for Jamison House.
Astro-Anarchy made a major donation to the raffle once again, and was designated as a Gold Sponsor. Thank-you once again from the Queensland Astrofest.
Testar Australia was also a Gold Sponsor to assist the Queensland Astrofest and their contribution is greatly appreciated.
SkyWatcher Australia was another of our Gold sponsors and has provided welcome support for many years.
Our Silver Sponsor was
ZeroTech, and Bronze Sponsors were
Astrovisuals and
Australian Sky and Telescope.