2011 Canberra, ACT

Canberra was the venue for the 37th Annual ANBC Show in 2011. The National Competition was hosted by the Budgerigar Society of N.S.W. To that end, the event also accommodated the Annual meeting of the World Budgerigar Organisation (WBO). Importantly, this is a first for Australia, and a first in the Southern Hemisphere. The delegates attending from around the World made up an impressive group of dedicated Budgerigar fanciers. The length of travel time attests to that.

WBO Delegates

President; Gerd Bleicher. Germany.
Vice President; Carlos Romoa. Portugal.
Secretary; Ghalib Al Nasser. United Kingdom.

The other delegates attending from overseas were:

Grant Finley UK,
Terry Knot Eire,
Carl Slavin Canada,
Pierre Chamoy France,
Eiko, Bleicher Germany,
Allessandro Bernabei & Luisa Ballerini, with interpreter Valeria Ballerini Italy,
Dave Ingo New Zealand,
Malcolm Taylor South Africa,
Yilmak Cakmak & Rafet Tanis with interpreter Fatma Tanis Turkey.

Australia was represented by Bob Bourke ANBC Secretary NSW. Leigh Downey ANBC Historian Vic.

The Delegates allowed Warren Wilson as President of the ANBC & BSNSW to sit in at the meeting. Keeping him quiet was another matter. This historic meeting being held at the Rex Hotel Canberra. Very pleasing to see all the dedicated bird fanciers attending and discussing the enhancement of the hobby Worldwide.

The 2011 Competition

The venue for this year’s competition was the Marque Hotel in their Ball room. A rather ancient Hotel almost at its use by date but adequate for our Show. Quite central to everything in Canberra as most things are.

Friday started with the W.B.O. Meeting as the teams arrived and were bedded down all successfully. The meet and greet was held at the Rex Hotel a short walk from the Marque Hotel the main venue. A very long convoluted evening while being good for the international visitors, very hard on the older fanciers who had no access to a chair to sit on or a table to eat off. Eventually everyone seemed to find something to eat and a way to eat it. Saturday the real competition began, with the usual full auditorium by 9.00 am with the Judging commencing on a first trial with 21 birds of each class on the bench to be assessed. Two years of 3 birds from each zone per class. As is the custom the odd numbered classes are Judged on the Saturday, even on Sunday. The concept was very well received and all fanciers lucky enough to have a bird in their respective teams had the chance to see them Judged against allcomers. The down side was the Judging on 3 levels of staging leaving people wondering where the Judging was up to and where the placing were. A very nice array of trade tables helped to add to the friendly atmosphere of the event.

Saturday’s evening Dinner Dance was held at the Rex Hotel and was well supported but could be better supported to show faith in the organising teams effort. A pleasant night was enjoyed by all who attended.

Sunday morning was extremely busy again as the even numbered class judging began with Victoria holding a slender lead of 14 points. This lead was soon whittled away as the Judging progressed with a final result seeing NSW victorious by 31 points. Congratulations to them for a great team effort.

This year there were 20 Individual Logie winners and 2 scoring a double. Congratulations to all, with the doubles being Sheppard & Flanagan (Vic) & C & B Gearing (WA)

Final Results

N.S.W. 478.
Victoria. 447.
South Queensland. 404
South Australia. 321.
Western Australia. 299.
Tasmania. 182.
North & Central Queensland. 178.

We again had the opportunity to observe the talents of an International Judge in Ghalib Al Nasser. (UK) Congratulations to him and the other Judges, Jim Fletcher (TAS) who was teamed with Ghalib, and Jean Painter (NSW) teamed with Alan Rowe (VIC.)

The computerised results were positively and professionally handled again by Maureen & Andrew Bourne, ably assisted by Pat & Bill Sedgwick. Carol Gough provided the computer comments as they were delivered by the Judges along with the results for Luke Fletcher to live stream to the World instantly. Rod Turnbull provided the Photo’s. It is a great credit to the Hobby to bring all these people together to enhance the weekend. Thank you, it is appreciated I’m sure by all attendees and other who cannot make the trip for the great weekend it is.

The Auction on the Sunday afternoon show cased the cream of available pairs with very good results. Some may say expensive. The punters can recognise good stock and it is priced accordingly. Everyone seemed happy.

All Judging , Colour & Standards, Variety and Brasea meetings were conducted as per schedule and were concluded with positive results.
A Victorian Judge managed the National accreditation exam and has been accepted onto the National Judges panel. Congratulations to James Bader.

On a sadder note Ross Loats passed away 2 months prior to the Nationals. He was an avid supporter of the National competition and had accrued 6 Logies. At the Delegates meeting a motion was passed to have Ross posthumously inducted into the ANBC Hall of Fame. There were two other Inductee’s and they were Mark Chidel (NSW) & Kakoschke & Rice (SA)

Sunday nights Presentation Dinner was at another Hotel The Rydges Lakeside and it too was very well patronised. All Presentations were as per schedule but tediously slow, poor sound and fragmented. While realising these functions are necessary as tradition goes and great for the Hobby I believe more care for the quality of food presented balanced against cost must be taken into consideration. This was not one of the better ones.

The Budgerigar Society of NSW had a very comprehensive Tour Itinerary covering all areas of life, history, and birds in the Canberra area. A wide variety with something for everyone. This continued on into the week back in Sydney to accommodate the International visitors. All would have had a great time down under.

Congratulations NSW for all the organising that would have been required to achieve this.

ANBC Elections

The A.N.B.C. Elections were held at the Delegates Meeting on the Monday with the following results.

PRESIDENT. Alan Baxter. Vic.
SECRETARY. Bob Bourke. NSW.
PUBLIC OFFICIER. Dave Butters. NSW.
HISTORIAN. Leigh Downey Vic.
WEB MASTER. Steve Campbell. Vic.

The standing Executive for 2011 / 2012 is the President, Secretary, & the Immediate past President.
There were four of the founding fathers inducted into Hall of fame Honour Roll.
Gordon Lowe (Posthumous) (SA.) Colin Morgan & Ron Hunt (NSW) & Barney Hackney (SQLD)

Major items other than the normal running of the ANBC discussed were moves away from the accepted Show format of recent years.

Additional Classes added after next year (2012)
3 birds per class team format trial, including 2 birds per Class team trial for 2 years (2013 / 2014).
Also in 2013 the National Competition date changes to the third weekend in June.
The compulsory 16mm perch change in the Standard Show cage disappears
International Judges time requirement appointment disappears.

Just a couple of motions put up and not thought through.

As per discussions in the minutes there were 4 zones instructed to vote against the additional classes by their zone membership. But it was still passed. Make you wonder. There is also a postal vote floating for a Promotional class as of 2013 but not for points. Variety is a by product of two other variety’s. Dark eyed clears.

2012 is Victoria’s turn to host the National Competition and now seems to be a good custom, it is being held in a Provincial city. Geelong is the location, a very nice city on the waterfront, about 70 km from Melbourne

We anticipate a great attendance and look forward to renewing and enhancing friendships in this wonderful hobby.

Results Booklet
Website

Leigh A Downey, 2011
ANBC. Historian.