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The year 2023 will mark sixty years since the first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast, and it looks like returning showrunner Russell T Davies is making sure there are plenty of treats ahead for fans. The focus for now is firmly on the farewell of Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor this October in an epic story set to feature the Master, the Daleks and the Cybermen, along with classic companions Tegan and Ace. Some news has already been released though, regarding what lies beyond that, with confirmation that David Tennant and Catherine Tate are currently filming material that will be shown as part of the show’s sixtieth anniversary celebrations. Also, the incoming Doctor has been revealed to be Ncuti Gatwa, an acting graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, born in Nyarugenge, Kigali, Rwanda, growing up in Scotland and best known for his role as Eric Effiong in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education. And he is set to meet up with Rose! Not Billy Piper though, this new Rose will be played by Yasmin Finney, a Trans woman, best known for her role in the Netflix series Heartstoppers. There will no doubt be more news about the future of Doctor Who, most likely to be released following the final appearance of Jodie Whittaker later this year, coinciding with celebrations for 100 years of the BBC.

Regretfully, due to circumstances beyond our control, the Day Event scheduled for Sunday the 8th of May has been postponed until Sunday the 29th of May.

At long last, the much delayed Data Extract 250/251 double issue has been released! DWCA committee members have packaged it all up for the post and it will arrive in the letterboxes of club members this week. Make sure your membership is up to date so you don’t miss out! The double issue includes an exclusive interview with Katy Manning on her long connection to Australia, Pete McTighe takes us behind the scenes on the short films made for the Blu-ray collection releases, it has a tribute to Louise Pajo (Gia Kelly from The Seeds of Death), written by her in her final days, a look at the real world Future Library with artist Katie Paterson, DE founder Dallas Jones looking at DE history and his own fandom origins, Craig Land’s epic comic as past companions team up to take on the Master, the Jason Towers comic telling the true story of Colin Baker climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, UK correspondent Bel Bailey-Melouney takes us behind the scenes on Time Fracture and tours the filming locations of Flux, Dom Kelly looks back over series 11 and 12 to bring us a timely exploration of the Thirteenth Doctor, Tim Darby counts down tales of Gallifrey, Roger Reynolds introduces us to the Doctor’s neighbor at 78 Totters Lane and Lethbridge-Stewart joins the Time War.

Comic artist Jason Towers has some behind the scenes illustrations for his contributions to the League of Extraordinary Companions and Old Sixie comics on his website here: http://jasontowers.com/drwho/

After all the lockdowns, after all the delays – we’re finally back in action! Returning for 2022, the DWCA will be hosting a Day Event on Sunday 27 March at Club Burwood, 97 Burwood Road, Burwood. Come along to catch up with friends, watch some eps, visit the club shop and celebrate all things Doctor Who! We hope to see you there!

Due to COVID related issues, 2021 was a lean year for DWCA Publications output. Our apologies to all club members for the delays and thank you for your patience! Thankfully we are back on track for 2022 with a whole swag of exciting releases coming your way this year, starting with the long-delayed Data Extract 250-251 double issue.

Shipping to all club members in March, it features an exclusive interview with Katy Manning on her long connection to Australia, Pete McTighe takes us behind the scenes on the short films made for the Blu-ray collection releases, a tribute to Louise Pajo (Gia Kelly from Seeds of Death), written by her in her final days, a look at the real world Future Library, DE founder Dallas Jones looking at DE history and his own fandom origins, Craig Land’s epic comic as past companions team up to take on the Master, the Jason Towers comic telling the true story of Colin Baker climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, UK correspondent Bel Bailey-Melouney takes us behind the scenes on Time Fracture and tours the filming locations of Flux, Dom Kelly looks back over series 11 and 12 to bring us a timely exploration of the Thirteenth Doctor, Tim Darby counts down tales of Gallifrey, Roger Reynolds introduces us to the Doctor’s neighbor at 78 Totters Lane and Lethbridge-Stewart joins the Time War.

Further releases throughout 2022 will include DE 252 (June), DE 253 (September), DE 254 (December), Zerinza Volume 6 (December) as well as the novel Trash Island by Dom Kelly (the first release in our new ongoing Eleanor series).

The Doctor Who Club of Australia has been quiet for some time due to a number of challenges related to COVID-19, but as the world begins to re-emerge so are we, with exciting plans ahead for 2022. DWCA Day Events for Sydney are back for 2022, with the following dates booked and more details to be announced soon regarding the programs (and special guests!) for these. In the meantime you can add 27 March, 8 May, 21 August, 9 October and 20 November 2022 to your calendar and plan to catch up once again with your fellow Whovians!

The DWCA Sydney Online Tavern is on 26 November, starting at 7 pm and running through to 9 pm.
If you’d like to take part, just before 7 pm please go to the DWCA Sydney Local Group on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/153888718054009

There you will see that I will have posted a link to the video room for Tavern that night. The video room will be called Dallas Room as this is the only way to get to the room. There will be lots to talk about with four chapters into the epic FLUX. Plus, don’t forget, if you can please, bring along 5 questions for the pub quiz part of the evening! Hope to see you there!

Happy 58th Anniversary everyone! And talking of anniversaries – own very own Dallas Jones has been working hard to figure out just what the exact anniversary date should be for the DWCA publication Data Extract…

Dating Data Extract – by Dallas Jones

The anniversary date of the beginning of Data Extract (DE) (or as it was known at its inception – Australasian Doctor Who Newsletter) is currently lost in the mists of time unless I can borrow a TARDIS. The only three people at its birth were me, Tony Howe and his mother, Rosemary. Unfortunately, Rosemary has passed away and it is down to my and Tony’s memory of those 41 years ago.

There is no documentation of the printing of the first DE as Tony printed it in his garage on a printer that the Sydney University Science Fiction Association (SUSFA) owned, he did have a diary of what he printed but did not start that until a few years later. As I was working for Telecom Australia at the time in a 9-to-5 job I could not do the newsletter during the week, other than gathering news and typing info up on my poor manual ribbon typewriter, which I had bought as a student in high school 10 years before. I needed access to Tony’s Remington golf-ball typewriter to type the issue up as it used a different process that produced clear crisp type. The only other documentation that would have provided dates would have been the receipts that would have been given to Tony for payment of the first posting of DE which went out with issue 17 of Zerinza. Unfortunately, such documentation is either lost or is somewhere buried in either Tony’s or my home.

Last year for the fortieth anniversary of DE it was published that November 24th was the anniversary date. This was based on the information, that appeared in the first issue, advising of Tom and Lalla’s upcoming marriage. So for the fortieth, I checked online and found that this event was reported in the UK newspapers on November 19th. I assumed that DE was posted with Zerinza the following Monday and thus the date of November 24th was arrived at. Since then I have checked with Tony and he is not sure on which day he posted Zerinza (which included the first issue of DE for free as a promotional offer launching the club’s newsletter with a subscription form) after DE was printed, so I assume the posting day as the 24th is incorrect and what day it was posted is currently not specifically known. So the best date to celebrate DE beginning would have been on the date on which it was probably printed Sunday, November 23rd.

Originally many years ago, without doing much checking, I thought that and printed that DE went out in October, I at that time forgot to look at the issue to see that it clearly had November on the front page. The October date had been mixed up in my mind as this was the time when I decided I wanted to help the club and do a newsletter and I spoke to Tony to get his approval to class any newsletter as a CLUB one and if it was OK if he could help me with printing it and promoting it. So DE came into fruition as an idea in October and into reality in November.

In the last few weeks with the 41st anniversary of DE coming up, I decided to see if I could further confirm this date and I spoke to Tony and he did some checking and advised me that he had found that on page 18 of Zerinza 17 it stated: “Since the newsletter was printed more news – another companion Nyssa…”. I looked at my copy to confirm this and I then followed up on the internet and found that the report of Nyssa as a companion was announced in the UK on Saturday, November 22nd. Thus the preparation of DE, ready to be printed, had to have been finished by the latest on Sunday 23rd during the day for me to have seen the completed printed issue on Sunday, otherwise the info about Nyssa would have been included. This means that the information about Nyssa came in after DE had been printed on November 23rd and before the last page of Zerinza was printed, sometime in the next couple of days, and Zerinza was posted, with DE included, later that week.

So Happy Anniversary Doctor Who and Happy Anniversary to Data Extract as well!

Dear Club Members – thank you so much for hanging in there during the Pandemic!

On Sunday 21 November 2021, the DWCA will be hosting its first day event since lockdown first started. Starting at 11 am and running through to 4 pm, this gathering will be taking place at our usual venue: Club Burwood, 97 Burwood Road, Burwood NSW 2134, . The DWCA Shop will operating during this time, letting you catch up on on items you may have put off and get ready for Christmas. Due to continuing government and venue restrictions, a maximum of 35 people in addition to the Committee will be able to attend on the day and all over the age of 16 will need to be able to provide proof of full vaccination. We strongly urge those wishing to attend to pre-purchase tickets via the club’s website at the link above.

Our Annual General Meeting will be running from 4pm through to 5pm. For those of you who wish to participate but do not fell able to attend in person, you will be able to participate via video hookup (link to be sent to members on Saturday 20th November).

Nominations for office bearer positions have now closed. The Returning Officer has received the following nominations:

President – Jon Andersen
Vice President – Darran Jordan
Treasurer – Brad Harrison
Secretary – Roger Reynolds

We hope to see you there on Sunday 21 November.

In Australia the last few years have seen each new episode of Doctor Who paired with an episode of the commentary show Whovians, featuring Rove McManus and team. Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic put pay to plans for more Whovians on the ABC to accompany the Flux story… fortunately for Australian fans the DWCA’s Newcastle Local Group has that covered! You can join their team on Zoom after each episode of Doctor Who: Flux airs on the ABC on Monday nights – where they will be running a Whovian Panel to discuss the events of each episode, share theories and partake in audience participation. The show will be called Zooming Whovians and has been set up as a Doctor Who Club – Newcastle Group event – so please join the excitement from 8:30 pm onwards every Monday night for the next six weeks. Just follow the Zoom link below straight after watching the new episode on the ABC to enjoy the show and take part in the conversation:
https://charlessturt.zoom.us/j/68053433630