Wikimedia Australia finally exists!
I am very happy to relay the news that Wikimedia Australia is finally 100% official. woo-hoo!
What happened was, on March 1, the Wikimedia Foundation board approved our existence based on our draft rules. On April 20, we held our incorporation meeting, where the “members” formally decided to incorporate.
We tried to submit our rules to Consumer Affairs Victoria (the relevant government body), but they rebuffed our Statement of Purpose (SoP) as too short and not explicit enough about member benefits. What a let-down! We had actually deliberately chosen a brief and simple one, to make it as easy as possible for everyone to agree on it. So reworking the SoP was no simple task, and we lost momentum a few times. Finally we pushed up to something everyone could agree on (including the Chapters Committee), sent our wonderful Public Officer back off to CAV, and crossed our fingers and held our breath. News came back today that all is well. Hurrah!
Thankyou to everyone who helped make this happen, including all the Wikimedians who gave input in any form, and Chapcom who provided encouragement and prompt feedback. Now the fun really begins: taking members, organising our first AGM to set our first elected committee, setting up our website/s… and seeing what we are really capable of.
(With any luck we will soon set up a blog, and I won’t talk much about WMAU here.)
Comment
Congratulations! So it was almost a historical moment in that not-at-all improvised chapter meeting at the St. Marc’s breakfast room…
Keep all your motivation and fun, I’m looking forward to hearing of your fresh ideas and projects.
best wishes, elya
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
— elya · 8. August 2008, 22:05
Thankyou elya :)
I was hoping it would be done before Wikimania actually! But better late than never.
— pfctdayelise · 9. August 2008, 01:35
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