Star Walking Inc: It all began in the beginning

 

There is no doubt that 2003 will be a big year for many Star Wars fans, not the least of which is because Star Walking turns 15 years old. In achieving this milestone, Star Walking now reinforces its title as the longest running non-official Star Wars fan club in the world.

 

A lot of people have experienced the joy of Star Wars that Star Walking has brought throughout these many years, whether it be in the form of five large conventions, over half a dozen dinner dances and banquets, a host of premiere film screenings, and of course the ever prominent club newsletter. For someone like myself who was there at the very beginning, 15 years doesn’t really seem that long ago. With such a joyous and successful history of operation under its belt, if you were to ask “was there a defining moment in time where it all started?” The answer would be “yes”, and this is where it all began.

 

In May 1987, Shane Morrissey single handily organised an event called the “Star Wars 10^th  Anniversary Celebration Banquet”. This “standalone” banquet was held at the infamous Townhouse Hotel in Carlton and was the first banquet of its kind to be run without the support of an accompanying science fiction convention. The banquet was a glorious tribute to Star Wars and was a night long remembered by many, however there was a sad side to this event in that the President of the Australian Star Wars Appreciation Society – HAMILLS – announced that HAMILLS would be closing down after six successful years of operation. The flow on effect from this news was that without its parent club, the Victorian Chapter of HAMILLS, which was being run by Shane, had to close down as well.

 

It was in June 1987, barely two weeks after the 10^th anniversary banquet, when Shane called me on the phone and outlined his thoughts of starting up a new fan club to fill the void that HAMILLS had left. Despite having been four years since the last Star Wars saga film was released, HAMILLS had closed down with a thriving membership base who were now without any common outlet for their Star Wars interests.

 

Shane and I got together soon after this phone call and I listened while he shared his ideas. Shane wanted to create a new club for fans of Star Wars and Lucasfilm movies. Knowing that the Star Wars saga had finished and yet Lucasfilm Ltd would continue on, Shane thought it natural to call his new club “The Lucasfilm Appreciation Society of Australia” – to differentiate it from the American based Lucasfilm Fan Club. Unlike many other science fiction based fan clubs of the time, Shane was determined to make his club look as professional as possible, which was especially important as he wanted it become internationally recognised with Lucasfilm Ltd. Obtaining this “professional” image though was going to be challenge considering the club was to be a non profit organisation.

 

From the very outset Shane wanted one vital component in his club, legal protection against financial loss. Experience had taught him that science fiction clubs and conventions, like any other business entity, were not immune to potential real life financial pressures. This lesson was highlighted in the actual scenario of a large science fiction convention which had run at a significant monetary loss a year earlier – a debt which was paid from the personal financial pockets of the organisers.

 

Shane needed advice and guidance on how to proceed in these crucial steps, for this he turned to the huge ex HAMILLS contact list which he had amassed during his years with that club. Aside from providing a ready made fan base whom he would eventually pitch his new club to, he had a wealth of Star Wars friends all eager to assist in this exciting new venture.

 

Enter Adelaide based ex HAMILLS member Wes Lockhart. Wes was currently running a successful space programme inspired club called Quasar Inc. Shane discussed with Wes the pros and cons of running a club that was legally incorporated. Incorporating a club comes with many responsibilities and duties such as the formation of an Executive committee, holding Annual General Meetings and tabling financial statements and director’s reports. Shane realised, however, that Incorporation provided one overwhelming safeguard: Security for individual members in the event that the club ever ran into financial trouble.

 

There was no doubt about it, Incorporation was the way to go. Wes supplied Shane with a copy of Quasar’s Rules of Association which Shane then used as a model for his club. Shane reviewed these rules and modified some details accordingly. Within a short period of time, Shane had created his own Rules of Association and was ready to obtain his Incorporation certificate.

 

Without warning a problem suddenly occurred that stopped everything in its tracks. Shane was made aware that to use the name “Lucasfilm” in his club’s title could cause potential legal ramifications with Lucasfilm Ltd. as the club was not endorsed by them. After some discussion it was recommended that the club neither have the name Lucasfilm nor Star Wars in its title. This caused a bit of a dilemma for Shane as he now had a club that needed a new identity.

 

From the outset the club was designed to have a Lucasfilm based theme, but with a strong Star Wars emphasis as this was Shane’s first love. With this in mind, Shane concluded that the club had to have the word “Star” somewhere in the title to represent Star Wars. As it was, the word “Star” seemed an automatic choice for the first word. With this foundation stone in place, he set about trying to find the second word to fit the Lucasfilm aspect of the club’s theme. Despite the number of options that were available, it seemed natural that the second word should start with a “W”. Being an avid reader, working in a library, and having a whole Star Wars collection based on printed material, Shane had a vast number of books in his Star Wars collection including the excellent biography Skywalking: the Life and Films of George Lucas. One night Shane was in his kitchen rattling off various “Star W….” names that could be used, when he opened his fridge door and said “Star Walking”.

 

The magic was there and it all fit perfectly: “Star” to represent Star Wars, and “Walking” to represent Skywalking, the book which focused on the films of George Lucas, ergo Lucasfilm Ltd. As a major bonus to this, the club now had a name which did not violate any legal codes.

 

Although Shane had been given legal advice not to use the name Lucasfilm or Star Wars in the club’s title, that didn’t mean it could not be used in the sub title, thus the club’s original name, The Lucasfilm Appreciation Society of Australia, now became the club’s official description.

 

It was time to become incorporated.

 

Ironically it was my task to go into the city to pickup the Incorporation Kit from the Legal newsagent. Upon returning to Shane’s place that night, it became a rather amusing site to see him riffle through an endless amount of pink pages trying to decipher what it all meant. Frustrated, at one point he picked up one innocuous pink sheet and said in an admonished voice “what are you???”. As a result, Shane invariably made a number of mistakes on the forms which resulted in me returning to the city a few days later to pickup a new Incorporation Kit.

 

The Kit was finally filled out correctly, the Rules of the Association were printed up, everything was submitted to the Corporate Affairs Commission and soon after, Star Walking Inc. became a legal identity.

 

Unlike today, 1987 was a time when personal computers were not very advanced, and as such Shane needed someone to turn to who could create a logo for Star Walking Inc. Enter Dave Hefford. Dave, like Wes Lockhart, was an ex HAMILLS member who lived in Tasmania and was a fully qualified and registered architect. Upon hearing that Shane was creating a new Star Wars fan club, Dave was only too happy to invest his time creating a new logo for it.

 

During a visit to Victoria, Dave was provided with an outline of what Shane wanted in the logo: including traditional Star Wars type writing and a stylised Southern Cross. With this in mind Dave went back to Tasmania and worked on some designs. In time he returned to Victoria to present his work for us to view. The results were two magnificent hand drawn designs, one with the Star Walking text blasting out from a vanishing point in the distance, and the other using a bold shadow effect without the vanishing point. Considering this work had been performed by a licenced architect, it was quite possibly the most professionally produced logo ever created for a non profit fan club. However a dilemma became apparent as both logos were fantastic and we couldn’t work out which one to pick. After a discussion it was agreed that Shane’s initial concept with the vanishing point would be used for the club’s logo, while the shadow version would be used for any Star Walking conventions and events.

 

The next important step was to lay the foundations for the all important club newsletter, especially considering the club was going to be a newsletter only based organisation (remembering that Skyforce social club meetings would not appear for another six years). Shane opted to follow the HAMILLS and Lucasfilm Fan Club pattern of releasing a newsletter every three months to coincide with the seasons, this in turn also gave Shane more time to put an issue together (no computers here either, it was all done on an electric typewriter). One area which caused some discussion was the title of the newsletter. Shane was adamant that since the newsletter was just that, a newsletter, that its name should reflect what it was (this principle also applied to the first Star Walking convention in 1989 which was aptly called Star Walking Inc.: The Convention). As it was, the first issue of Star Walking Inc. The Newsletter didn’t appear until late 1988.

 

Membership cards were then created, using the wonderful graphical design skills of Michael Wilson, Michael, like Wes and Dave before him, was also an ex HAMILLS member (and a close friend of Shane’s) who became responsible for creating all subsequent logos for the club and remained an active committee member within Star Walking until he resigned in 1999. Unlike other fan clubs who’s membership numbers are sequential, Shane opted for a unique and more informative numbering system that included where the person was from, the season they subscribed in and the year their subscription was due to run out. The end result looked something like this: V-Win-89 (Victoria, Winter, 1989).

 

1988 rolled on and everything was starting to come together. The club was incorporated, it now had a logo, brand new membership cards, even a PO Box in Springvale. All that was needed was a launch date, and what better place to do that than at a convention.

 

On October 14 1988 at Zencon II the National Media Science Fiction Convention, Star Walking Inc. “The Lucasfilm Appreciation Society of Australia” was launched to the world at a big party on the Friday night.

 

And that’s how it all began.

 

NB: For a historical overview of all Star Walking operations, just go to the Star Walking web site and visit the About section.

 

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