Some of you will have seen my email earlier this month thanking on your behalf the two main AAQ protagonists Terry Cuttle (the convenor, photograph at far left) and Jonathan Bradshaw (who put the programme together, photograph immediate left) and their many helpers. As I said in the email we know NACAA was a success because a lot of people told us so, both personally and through the feedback forms. Terry showed us why he had been such a successful project manager in his professional life, and confirmed yet again that the most efficient form of government is a benign dictatorship. JB used his considerable powers of persuasion to create a great technical programme, skillfully navigating the shoals of dissent that such a job inevitably involves.

Terry and JB have privately thanked those AAQ members who took responsibility for particular aspects but I would like to recognise them publicly here. Greg Bond and Joe Cali were the official photographers; John Hughes looked after furniture (and could get a job as a removalist any day); Diane Hughes was the tea lady and so much more; Geoff and Matt Biggs did a great job keeping the technology going; Alison Beck used her great professional skills to prepare the signage; David Moriarty was responsible for liaising with the caterers, which he did with his customary efficiency; Roy Axelsen took on the big job of running registrations and pressed into service many helpers including, I couldn't help noticing, various AAQ spouses and other relatives; David O'Driscoll was responsible for transport, the partner programme, web site interventions and much more (the Minister for Everything if you remember the days of Sir Joh).

On a personal note I would like to thank Des Janke, Graeme Jenkinson, Roy Axelsen, Terry Cuttle, Jonathan Bradshaw and Tony Dutton who helped me put on a session on Astronomy 101 which was very well attended not only by beginners but also by several more experienced amateurs who wanted to learn about new things. And there were many more kind people too numerous to mention who simply turned up and did whatever was needed at the time. One of the pleasures of such events is the camaraderie which the participants enjoy. You get out of these things what you put in, as we all know.

We also had terrific support from our very own professionals at UQ, with Prof. Michael Drinkwater and Dr Tamara Davies performing a superb opening session talking about their work on the accelerating universe (with connections to Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt), and two other members of the UQ team giving talks.

These conventions are important for at least two reasons. They bring together the amateur community across the country, and they represent an important biennial audit of the scientific work of quite astonishing quality which that community is conducting.
I'm pleased to report that our Association was right up there in terms of both the quantity and quality of its contributions. In fact we continued our dominance of the Astral award for best presentation, won last time in Canberra by David O'Driscoll. This year there were two winners, both from the AAQ. One award went to Ray Johnston for his presentation Fire In The Sky that included an aurora photography audio-visual produced by Rick Stevenson. The other Astral award went to the triumvirate of Tony Dutton, Greg Bond and Julian West with a well integrated technically sophisticated presentation of their work on the near infrared phase lag of R Carinae, a Mira-type variable. Photo left shows Keith Forbes, Julian West and Tony Dutton. It was a great example of how Tony and Greg's photometry could be complemented by Julian's spectrometry to build a fuller picture of the features of this interesting star. Unfortunately Steve Russell, NACAA's Secretary, made an understandable mistake on the night by confusing them with another trio of presenters and giving the award to the wrong people, but I expect this to be put right in due course.

(Photographs by Greg Bond)
Tim Napier-Munn