ADUG, the acronym
for Amiga Downunder User Group Inc. is, as its Constitution
defines it: "a regionally oriented, Internet-based association
serving a virtual community and dedicated to the fostering and
advancement of the Amiga computer and the Amiga computing
platform within the geographical region of Australasia."
As currently defined, the terms "Australasia" and
"Downunder" mean Australia and New Zealand, but these
definitions can be extended, if required, to cover the islands
to their north.
ADUG was officially launched by Petro
Tyschtschenko at the ADU '99 Amiga show in Canberra on 19
August, 1999 (http://www.amigadownunder.org/launchspeech.html)
which, to tie it in to an important date in the Amiga's
history, was the weekend when, as we learned a couple of days
later, Gateway removed Jim Collas and abandoned its commitment
to the Amiga.
Why Was ADUG Formed?
To appreciate why ADUG was formed, one needs to be
aware of the following factors:
The remoteness of both Australia and New Zealand from
the major centres of the Amiga community (i.e. North America
and Europe).
The size and low population density of
Australia.
Australasia's Remoteness
The effect of Australasia's remoteness from the
major centres of the Amiga community has, since Commodore's
collapse, been considerable.
Dismissed by all its various owners, during that
period, as being too insignificant to warrant consideration or
support (a view that is, hopefully, not held by its present
owners, whose President, Bill McEwen, is ADUG's Patron) this
attitude towards Australasia led, not surprisingly, to a very
strong sense of isolation, even abandonment, on the part of
the Australasian Amiga community.
Thus, from what was once a thriving Amiga
community with a HUGE enthusiasm for, and commitment to, the
Amiga, the Amiga community in Australia and New Zealand had,
by the end of 1998, almost disappeared.
Almost, but, as it turned out, not
entirely!
At the end of 1998, Petro T. (I guess that's the
way most of us used to refer to him) decided that he would
visit Australia in January 1999, and I (who, as an
ex-Commodore dealer, had been exchanging faxes with him for
some time) was asked to organize his visit.
The interest aroused by Petro's upcoming visit,
from a supposedly dead Amiga community, amazed me. Emails came
to me from all directions, and from a variety of people who
had now, through sheer necessity, had to move on to PCs or
Macs, but who still cherished, and even still used, their
trusty old Amigas! All were abuzz with the prospect of meeting
Petro (who, at that time, of course, was President/Head Honcho
of Amiga Technology), and all wanted to know where and when
they could do that.
Although Petro's trip was meant to be a purely
Australian affair, I did receive a number of emails from Amiga
enthusiasts living in New Zealand. One of these emails simply
said: "Why should Australia have all the fun?"
This made a deep impression on me.
It was true; why indeed!
It brought home to me very forcibly the fact that,
if Australia was remote, New Zealand was even more so. If the
Australian Amiga community was going to be given an
opportunity to recapture the magic of the Amiga, why should
New Zealanders miss out?
This thought has profoundly influenced my concept
of, and direction for, ADUG, and it is my sincere hope that
more New Zealanders (especially those from the major cities of
Auckland and Wellington, from where we currently have no
Members) will see the advantage to them of joining and
supporting ADUG.
But I digress!
During his short (two week) visit, Petro was able
to meet with (a) the Amiga User Group of Western Australia
(AUGWA) (now, apparently, in hibernation) in Perth, (b) the
combined Victorian Amiga User Groups (Melbourne AUG/MAUG, AUG
of Victoria/AUG and Eastern Suburbs AUG/ESAUG) in Melbourne,
all of which are flourishing, and (c) a number of Amiga users
in Sydney (Sydney, which now has a flourishing User Group,
SAUG, had no active Amiga User Group at that time).
Additionally and, as it turned out, most
significantly, a Business Meeting was held in Sydney.
This meeting, attended by 34 people, was
especially convened for those who had expressed an interest in
being involved commercially (i.e. as dealers, developers, and
in various marketing ventures) with the promising future that
seemed to be opening up for the Amiga at that time. Also at
the meeting were the Presidents of AUGWA (Keith Rutherford),
the Canberra Amiga Users (caus), Steve Kennedy, and the
Wollongong Amiga User Group (Tony Wilson-Greene).
Among the many topics discussed at this Business
Meeting was the problem that I had experienced, firstly, in
locating and communicating with the scattered remnant of Amiga
enthusiasts in Australia and, secondly, in coordinating the
various meetings and other matters relating to Petro's
visit.
The outcome of this discussion was the decision to
form an umbrella-like coordinating and central information
body.
And so the concept of ADUG was born!
And with Steve Kennedy, Keith Rutherford, Tony
Wilson-Greene and myself being appointed President,
Vice-President, Ordinary Committee member and Secretary
respectively, I was given the task of drawing up the
Constitution for the proposed new organization. From
Concept to Realization
The process of forming this revolutionary new form
of Amiga User Group started in March 1999, and it had to take
into account the following:
The size and low population density of
Australia.
To get some idea of Australia's size; if I
were to drive from Sydney (on the east coast) to Perth (on
the west coast) I would be covering a distance of 3900km, or
some 2440 miles. A journey from Melbourne (in the south) to
Darwin in the north, would involve 3760km, or 2350
miles.
Now visualize this enormous territory with a
population of only 20 million, the majority of whom are
concentrated in the two major coastal cities of Sydney
(560km or 350 miles south-east of where I live in Armidale,
NSW; a 7 hour journey by car and even longer by train) and
Victoria's capital, Melbourne.
This, of course, meant
that the task of trying to locate individuals who were once
members of the Amiga community in areas outside these major
metropolitan centres would be like trying to find the
proverbial needle in a haystack!
And it also meant
that communication could only be achieved online; thus
Membership required online access and an email
address.
The inclusion of New Zealand.
That
heart-rending plea "Why should Australia have all the fun?"
made it imperative that some provision should be made to
include the New Zealand Amiga community.
That was
achieved by making the organization an Australasian one, by
ensuring that Membership would be available to residents of
Australia and New Zealand on an equal basis, and by the
inclusion of the constitutional requirement that a minimum
of four members of the 14-member Committee had to be from
New Zealand (www.amigadownunder.org/committee.html).
And
an exclusively New Zealand oriented mailing list, namely NZAmigaUGs@yahoogroups.com,
has also been established, to which all interested New
Zealand residents may subscribe.
Obstacles That Had To Be Overcome
With ADUG finally up and launched, two major
obstacles had to be overcome:
The first was to assure User Groups and their members
that their independence would in no way be compromised by
ADUG. The second was to convince people of ADUG's relevance
to the whole Australasian Amiga community.
Amiga User Groups are very protective of their
independence, so one of the early obstacles that had to be
overcome was the fear expressed by some of the established
User Groups that ADUG would take over control of their
Group.
This fear has proved to be completely
unfounded.
ADUG's aims or objects (www.amigadownunder.org/objects.html)
are listed in Part II of its Constitution, and from this it
can be seen that it was never ADUG's intention to control
local User Groups; rather, to assist them in any way possible
and, where no groups existed (as was the case with the Sydney
Amiga Users Group, SAUG, before its formation in April, 2002)
encourage their formation.
Nor was it ever intended to replace local User
Groups. In fact, because of the virtual nature of its
Membership, ADUG could never replace the face-to-face,
hands-on activities that are the essence of a User Group
meeting.
What Did ADUG Hope To Accomplish?
Perhaps the most significant thing that ADUG hoped
to accomplish is embodied in our slogan: "ADUG - bringing the
Australasian Amiga community together"
And in this, ADUG has made considerable progress;
the most outstanding, I believe, being the way that all User
Groups in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as so many
individuals, worked together to produce two memorable Amiga
presences at the ADUG sponsored, AMIGA DOWNUNDER stands at the
mainstream COMDEX Exhibitions held in Melbourne and Sydney in
September, 2001 and March, 2002 respectively.
For those who were present, they were certainly a
buzz!! The interest shown in the Amiga's comeback, and the
number of people who once owned Amigas, or who still had
Amigas tucked away somewhere, was truly amazing; people were
literally crowding three deep into our stands, and one of my
biggest thrills was to hear how highly a senior ex-IBM
executive from Canada viewed the Amiga!
ADUG had planned to be at COMDEX in Sydney again
this year, but when COMDEX in America closed down its
Australian operation late last year, this opportunity
disappeared. Nevertheless, with Amiga Inc.'s announcement late
last year that it was now in a position to sponsor
participation in mainstream shows in regional areas,
negotiations were entered into with Amiga Inc. for ADUG to be
its representative in organizing an Amiga Inc. booth at CeBIT
Australia (to be held in Sydney on 6-8 May, 2003). Sadly, this
too, eventually fell through. Nevertheless, I will be making
the seven hour trip to Sydney to attend CeBIT in order to
discuss with them the possibility of an Amiga presence in
2004. And while I'm there, I'll probably stick my nose in at
the Pegasos booth.
Can Anyone Join ADUG?
Only residents of Australia or New Zealand are
eligible to become Members of ADUG (www.amigadownunder.org/membership.html)
but there is provision for those who are not residents of
these countries to become "Friends of ADUG." And they can also
keep in touch with what's going on "downunder" by joining the
ADUG ML. Anyone interested in either of these options should
email me.
While ADUG has already accomplished much, there is
still more to do. ADUG's greatest need is for Members, and
this still depends very much on convincing all Amigans in
Australia and New Zealand of ADUG's relevance to their
community.
ADUG is, indeed, a unique User Group. If anyone in
other parts of the world (Africa or India perhaps?) feels that
the ADUG model might be appropriate there, please do not
hesitate to contact me. I will be only too happy to advise or
assist in any way.
And while we look forward confidently to ADUG's
future, we also look confidently to the future of the Amiga.
Like all loyal Amigans everywhere, we thank Bill and all those
involved with him, and wish them well in their efforts to
bring back the computer we love!
