| The Perth Congress was attended by 302 delegates from 42
countries from all of the inhabited continents. About 80% of the delegates were
from overseas and 10% were from the Eastern States. In addition there were 25
accompanying people. Only a handful of the overseas people had been to Perth
previously. The conference provided them with a once in a lifetime opportunity
to come to Australia for the conference, examine the collections of the Western
Australian Museum, collect on their own, and see a bit of Australia. The
icebreaker was held at the Museum on the Sunday evening, and the conference
itself was held at The University of Western Australia during the week of 12 to
16 July. We believe the Perth conference was the largest mollusc meeting ever to
be held in the southern hemisphere and the third largest ever anywhere in the
world. The general consensus was that it was a very successful meeting.
Many delegates were from Europe or North America, temperate areas where the
marine molluscs are very well known and there are relatively few species. It is
unusual to find a new species of mollusc in the shallow marine waters of these
areas. In contrast, Western Australia has a wide range of tropical and temperate
habitats and overlap zone on the west coast. With thousands of species and a
short history of study, finding new species along our coast is an everyday
occurrence. In fact, the molluscs of the seabed of the continental slope, just
west of Rottnest Island, are almost completely unknown.
Following the congress, there was a postconference field trip to the new Saville
Kent Research Laboratory in the Abrolhos Islands. A total of 22 people
participated in the field trip, including nine from overseas and one from
Queensland. Many of the international participants had never dived on a coral
reef, and they were astounded by the diversity and colourful life they found on
the reef.
Other delegates took advantage of their visit to Australia to collect and
sightsee in various parts of the state. Many went to Shark Bay, and others went
to Albany and Esperance on the south coast. Some were smarter and headed for the
warmer climes of Dampier and Broome. The trips were not limited to Western
Australia. A group of delegates from Austria went to Darwin and a land snail
contingent from the Natural History Museum in London went to Queensland.
Organizing such a huge Congress cannot be done by one person. I received
considerable assistance in the planning and during the Congress from a committee
of Anne Brearley, Lesley Brooker and Winston Ponder. During the event all of
these people chipped in and helped, along with Corey Whisson, Mark Salotti,
Jeremy Shaw and Jacqui Wells. Congresswest, through the efforts of Mandy
Sheehan, and many other people and organizations helped tremendously in the
background.
I have one substantial regret about the Congress. With over 300 people here
during the event and all the distractions of organizing things, I was not able
to catch up nearly as well with longterm friends and colleagues as I would have
liked. I look forward to Brussels in 2007 when I can relax and watch your new
President, Thierry Backeljau ably organize the next World Congress of
Malacology!
Fred Wells
UM President Emeritus
Extracted from an article in the Unitas Newsletter,
21, Nov. 2004.
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