Australian Natcon

The Australian National Science Fiction Convention, started in 1952 regularly presents the Ditmar Awards.

It also holds a Business Meeting at which, nowadays, bids are presented to host the Australian Natcon two years onward.

National Media Conventions

In some years there was a separate Australian National Media Convention. Australian Media Natcons used to present the Australian Science Fiction Media Awards. In 1983, Conquest '83, in Brisbane, was the first media natcon. In 1984, Medtrek '84, in Sydney, was the Australian National SF Media Convention for that year. In 1985, Con Amore, in Brisbane was the National Media Convention. In 1986, Galactic Tours Convention, in Melbourne was the Australian National Media Convention. In 1987, Eccentricon, held at Hawkesbury Agricultural College in Richmond NSW, was the 5th National S.F. Media Convention. In 1989, Conspire, in Canberra, was the Australasian SF Media Convention. In 1993, the New Zealand Natcon, DefCon, was the Australasian Media Natcon.

Spawncon

There was a joke bid, by Jerry Kaufman and Clifford R. Wind, for the 1985 Australian Natcon to be held in Seattle (U.S.A.). It won.

SpawnCon Two

In 1999, when Australia hosted the 57th Worldcon, Aussiecon 3, the Australian Natcon was SpawnCon Two.

Dudcon III

In 2010, when Australia hosted the 68th Worldcon, Aussiecon 4, the Australian Natcon was Dudcon III.

List of Australian Natcons

No.	Date	Convention	Location	Guests of Honour
1	March 22, 1952	First Australian Science Fiction Convention	Sydney	(none)
2	May 1-3, 1953	Second Australian Science Fiction Convention	Sydney	(none)
3	April 17-18, 1954	Third Australian Science Fiction Convention	Sydney	(none)
4	March 18-20, 1955	Fourth Australian Science Fiction Convention	Sydney	Arthur C. Clarke
5	December 8-9, 1956	Olympicon	Melbourne	Frank Bryning
6	April 5-6, 1958	Sixth Australian Science Fiction Convention	Melbourne	(none)
7	April 8-11, 1966	Seventh Australian Science Fiction Convention	Melbourne	(none)
8	April 4-6, 1969	Eighth Australian Science Fiction Convention	Melbourne	Lee Harding and (fan) John Foyster
9	March 27-30, 1970	Ninth Australian Science Fiction Convention	Melbourne	(none)
10	January 1-2, 1971	Tenth Australian Science Fiction Convention	Melbourne	(fan) Robin Johnson
11	August 11-13, 1972	Syncon 2	Sydney	Lesleigh Luttrell
12	August 17-19, 1973	Advention 2	Adelaide	John Foyster
13	August 16-18, 1974	Ozcon	Melbourne	Merv Binns and (fan) John Bangsund
14	January 24-27, 1975	Syncon '75	Sydney	(none)
15	August 13-15, 1976	Bofcon	Melbourne	(none)
16	July 29-31, 1977	A-Con 7	Adelaide	Bill Rotsler
17	March 24-27, 1978	Unicon IV	Melbourne	Brian Aldiss, Roger Zelazny
18	August 10-13, 1979	Syncon '79	Sydney	Gordon R. Dickson, Ken Fletcher, Linda Lounsbury, Kouichi Yamamoto
19	August 15-18, 1980	Swancon 5	Perth	Anne McCaffrey, Shayne McCormack, Grant Stone
20	June 6-8, 1981	Advention '81	Adelaide	Frank Herbert, John Ossian (John Foyster), K. U. F. Widdershins (John Foyster)
21	April 9-12, 1982	Tschaicon	Melbourne	Jack Vance, Leanne Frahm, Eric Lindsay
22	June 10-13, 1983	Syncon '83	Sydney	Harlan Ellison, Van Ikin
23	April 20-23, 1984	Eureka!con	Melbourne	George Turner
24	April 5-8, 1985	Advention '85	Adelaide	Lee Harding
25	March 28-31, 1986	Swancon XI	Perth	C. J. Cherryh, Jack Herman
26	April 24-27, 1987	Capcon	Canberra	Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, and (fan) John Newman
27	June 10-13, 1988	Conviction (Syncon '88)	Sydney	Spider Robinson, Jeanne Robinson, Carey Handfield
28	March 23-27, 1989	Swancon 14	Perth	John Varley and (fan) Paul J. Stevens
29	April 13-16, 1990	Danse Macabre	Melbourne	George R. R. Martin, Eric Lindsay
30	March 29 - April 1, 1991	SunCon	Brisbane	Patrick Tilley, Harlan Ellison (absent), Leigh Edmonds
31	April 17-20, 1992	Syncon '92	Sydney	Michael Whelan, Nick Stathopoulos
32	April 8-12, 1993	Swancon 18	Perth	Terry Pratchett and (fan) Craig Hilton
33	April 1-4, 1994	Constantinople	Melbourne	William Gibson, Kate Orman, and (fans) Bruce Gillespie, and Julie Edge & Martin Edge
34	June 9-12, 1995	Thylacon 1	Hobart	Kim Stanley Robinson, Peter Nicholls, Grant Stone
35	April 4-8, 1996	Festival of the Imagination 1996	Perth	Storm Constantine, Neil Gaiman
36	Sept 27-28, 1997	Basicon 2	Melbourne	(no one or everyone)
37	June 5-8, 1998	Thylacon 2	Hobart	George R. R. Martin, Leanne Frahm
38	Sept 2-6, 1999	SpawnCon Two	Melbourne	(none)
39	April 20-24, 2000	Swancon 2000 (Swancon 25)	Perth	Connie Willis, Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, Ian Nichols
40	April 12-16, 2001	Swancon 2001: Masquerade	Perth	Robert Silverberg, Karen Haber, Rosaleen Love, Marilyn Pride, Lewis Morley, Kate Orman, Sue Ackermann
41	June 7-10, 2002	Convergence 2002	Melbourne	Joe Haldeman, Gay Haldeman, Lucy Sussex, Sean Williams, and (fan) Race Mathews
42	April 17-21, 2003	Swancon 2003	Perth	Lynn Flewelling, Tony Shillitoe, Fiona McIntosh, and (fan) Justin Ackroyd
43	April 23-26, 2004	Conflux 1	Canberra	Greg Benford, Sean McMullen, and (fan) Karen Herkes
44	June 10-13, 2005	Thylacon 2005 (Thylacon IV)	Hobart	Anne Bishop, Marianne de Pierres, and (fan) Merv Binns
45	April 14-17, 2006	Conjure	Brisbane	Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling, Sean Williams, Jonathan Strahan, and (fan) Erika Maria Lacey
46	June 8–11, 2007	Convergence 2	Melbourne	Isobelle Carmody, Fred Gallagher, Dave Freer, and (fan) Cath Ortlieb
47	March 20–24, 2008	Swancon 2008: State of the Art	Perth	Ken Macleod, Rob Shearman, Glenda Larke, and (fan) Zara Baxter
48	June 5–8, 2009	Conjecture	Adelaide	Julie E. Czerneda, and (fans) Steve Scholz & Catherine Scholz
49	Sept 2–6, 2010	Dudcon III	Melbourne	Peter Watts, Helen Merrick, and (fan) Jacob Blake
50	April 21–25, 2011	Swancon Thirty Six / Natcon Fifty	Perth	Ellen Datlow, Justina Robson, Sean Williams, and (fan) Sarah Xu
51	June 8-11, 2012	Continuum 8: Craftonomicon	Melbourne	Kelly Link, Alison Goodman, and (fan) Sue Ann Barber
52	April 25-28, 2013	Conflux 9	Canberra	Nalo Hopkinson, Marc Gascoigne, Karen Miller, and (fan) Rose Mitchell
53	June 6-9, 2014	Continuum X: Carnival of Lost Souls	Melbourne	Jim C. Hines, Ambelin Kwaymullina, and (fans) Danny Oz & Sharon Moseley
54	April 2-6, 2015	Swancon 40	Perth	John Scalzi, Kylie Chan, and (fan) Anthony Peacey
55	March 25-28, 2016	Contact2016	Brisbane	Ben Aaronovitch, Keri Arthur, Maria Lewis and (fans) Jill Pantozzi and Kirilee Barker
56	June 9-12, 2017	Continuum 13: Triskaidekaphilia	Melbourne	Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant and Likhain, DUFF Delegate: Paul Weimer
57	March 29 - April 2, 2018	Swancon 2018	Perth	Kameron Hurley, Ryan Griffen, Emily Smith, Foz Meadows, and (fan) Barb de la Hunty
58	June 7-10, 2019	Continuum 15: Other Worlds	Melbourne	Kate Elliott, Ken Liu
59	April 25-27, 2020 (cancelled due to the Covid-19 epidemic)	Swancon 2020	Perth	Nalini Singh, John Robertson
60	October 2-4, 2020 October 1-4, 2021 September 30-October 3, 2022	Conflux 16: Visions of Time	Canberra	John Birmingham, Amie Kaufman, Daniel O'Malley, Lisa Fuller, Tom Buckland
61	September 29-October 2, 2023	Conflux 17: Passages and Portals	Canberra	Amie Kaufman, Grace Chan, Lisa Fuller, Ellen Datlow, Helen Marshall, and (fan) Perry Middlemiss
62	May 17-19, 2024	Continuum 16: Reboot	Melbourne	Shannon Chakraborty, Vanessa Len, and Cienan Muir
63	May 16-18, 2024	Continuum 17: Horizons	Melbourne

Much of the information for this page has been obtained from the Convergence 2 website, which updated a list compiled by Marc Ortlieb, and (more recently) from a (less recent) list provided by Marc Ortlieb in the Aussiecon Three Souvenir Book.

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