Tenth Australian Science Fiction Convention
The 10th Australian Natcon, AKA Melcon 71, was held 1-2 January 1971 at a portable lecture room assigned to the Meteorology Department of the University of Melbourne, in Melbourne, VIC. It was also known, informally, as Gelaticon, on account of an incident where scheduled programming was abandoned in favour of queueing for ice cream from a gelati van that had arrived outside. Stanley Pitt was GoH and Robin Johnson was Fan GoH.
The convention was organized by John Foyster, Leigh Edmonds and Lee Harding. The venue was supplied by Dick Jenssen.
There was a costume party on Friday night. Merv Binns "der Fuehrer of the MSFC" went as Adolf Hitler, and was awarded a prize; another was won by Robin Johnson as Nicholas van Rijn.
The convention was followed by a day of films, run by the Melbourne Fantasy Film Group.
There is a convention report in issue 20 of SF Commentary.
A colour photo of fans queuing for gelati is included in issue 6 of iOTA. Some black-and-white photos from the convention are included in issue 5.
| Ninth Australian Science Fiction Convention | Australian Natcon | Syncon 2 |
| 1971 |
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