Written by our Current Magazine Editor Bruce Tainton, the following is an outline of the history of  the Australian Beer Can Collectors Association and its magazine 'The Australian Beer Can Collector'  which started it's life in 1978
a full year before the formation of the club.

The article was written in December 2003 and printed in the 150th issue of our magazine

“For several months now, I have been thinking “what a pity there is no newsletter or magazine produced for the Australian and New Zealand Beer Can Collector”.

This was the opening statement to Mike  Pinkard’s first editorial in Volume 1 Issue 1 of Australasian Beer Can Collector, which Mike issued on November 15 1978. Mike had seen the need for such a publication after taking up the hobby and discovering that many others shared his passion.

Mike, an officer in the regular army, was based in Sydney at the time, and maintained a collection of around 60,000 beer labels. He was trading labels with former ABCCA member Herbert Haydock from the USA who sent him some beer cans to complete a trade.

Mike was instantly hooked on this new and unique hobby and began frequenting liquor shops searching for new cans to add to his collection. One such shop was run by John Waddington, who was one of the first in Sydney to import a wide variety of overseas brands in cans. John maintained a list of  collectors who frequented his shop, which he passed on to Mike.

Now Mike was even more keen once he saw this list of over 50 potential new trading partners! He even recognised a couple of names, such as Frank Constable, whom Mike knew as a label collector.

Armed with the list, Mike decided to have a go at producing a subscribers’ newsletter, and Volume 1 Issue 1 was posted to a total of 56 collectors on November 15 1978. Interested subscribers were asked to send $6 for six  issues per year.

Mike decided that each subscriber should be allocated a subscriber number. As he stated in the first issue, all collectors who subscribe by the next issue shall have their names drawn out of a hat (including Mike.) This way, all subscribers would have a chance of becoming no. 1.

34 out of the original 56 collectors replied. Frank Constable who is still an active member drew No. 1, with Mike becoming no. 2.

 Whilst all this was going on, Mike was doing a seemingly endless “promotional tour”, ABCC attained 100 subscribers by April 1979, and by July of that year, this had grown to 175. The first “Can of the Year” competition was held, with Courage Oktoberfest 1978 emerging as our first “Can of the Year”.

 Whilst all this was happening, a group of Queensland subscribers had begun meeting regularly, and on June 16 1979, they decided to form a “Queensland Division” of ABCC with their own committee, newsletter and to have regular   meetings. To be a member you had to  be a subscriber to ABCC, reside in Queensland and pay an  annual fee of $1 to cover postage costs for their newsletter. Mike applauded this  move and expressed his desire for the other states to follow suit.

 Victoria was the first of the other states to embrace the idea and the Victorian Division was formed in September 1979. It is interesting to note that both the Queensland and Victorian Divisions were formed before the official formation of the ABCCA as a proper club.

 This was to happen sooner rather than later, with the first AGM of the ABCCA being held on September 8 1979. Sydney’s Wayne Robinson (#016) was elected foundation President, with Peter O’Donnell (#006) from Katoomba as Vice President.

 Victorian Graham Hall (#038) was to become Junior Vice-President, while Mike  became Secretary/Treasurer and Editor. Trevor Norman (#020) became his assistant. The remainder of the committee comprised Warwick Shinner (#051), Jack Parry (#024) and Ray Eastman (#007).

 Due to the majority of the committee being from NSW, it was decided to allow each of the remaining states a seat on the committee. The first State Representatives were: Victoria - Bob Halligan (#023); SA - Frank Constable (#001), WA - Lew McDonald (#011), Tasmania - John Grimsdale (#057), Queensland - Frank Gration (#058), NZ North - Tom Kerrisk (#139), NZ South - Murray Turner (#033).

 Mike was made the association’s first Life Member in recognition of all the hard work he put into establishing the club. This didn’t mean his input ending there, with Mike continuing as Editor of ABCC and encouraging members to send in articles of interest to the hobby. A want/trade ad section was established and Mike liaised with the breweries for information and contacts. The magazine grew from 12 pages for the first issue to over 30.

 By November 1979, one year after Mike sent out that first issue, the club had grown to 240 members. The first convention, to be called the “CANATHON” was held on January 27 1980 at Fairfield Showgrounds, Sydney. 43 members were in attendance.

 Mike then returned to his native Tasmania in November 1980, where he established the Tasmanian Division in January 1981, becoming its first President. During this time he continued as Editor of ABCC.

 By this time, the second Canathon had been held, this time in Melbourne. The club’s membership continued to rise, and by 1982, over 700 collectors had joined the ranks. The third Canathon was hosted by the Queensland Division, where Frank Constable became the Association’s second ever President. Frank and Mike, along with the remainder of the committee continued to improve the club and foster the hobby of beer can collecting.

 However, after six years Mike decided it was time for a changing of the guard. He felt that ABCC needed the fresh ideas of someone new, so in March 1985, Mike stood aside as Editor and also from the position of Secretary/Treasurer. Fellow Tasmanians Colin O’Brien (#561), Patrick Hovington (#238) and Peter Applebee (#494) took over as joint Editors and maintained the high standard set by Mike. South Australia’s Rod Noble (#305) became the new Secretary/Treasurer.

 Mike was confident that he had left this fine club which he had worked so hard to  develop in good hands for the future. Certainly membership showed no signs of abating, with membership numbers reaching 1000 at around the time Mike stepped aside.

 In November 1985, it was deemed that the term “Australasian” was a little too outdated and the membership passed a motion to have the club’s name changed. The magazine hence became “Australian Beer Can Collector” from the January 1986 issue onwards.

 The late 1980’s saw more development and membership growth as well as a couple more editorial changes. Queensland’s Bob Wright (#017) took over from January 1987 until July 1988 when it was returned to Colin O’Brien and Patrick Hovington. Colin and Pat decided that a change of format was needed and the magazine was changed to a larger (A4) size format which many members praised because they felt it was easier to read and follow.

  However, by the end of 1990, Colin and Pat felt that other commitments would prevent them from continuing to produce ABCC in a      standard good enough for the club. By the Adelaide Canathon in 1991, the committee was wondering if they would find someone to       replace them. Up stepped John Geerts (#1154) from South Australia.

 John felt  he could have a go, considering he had done a little of this type of work in the past. He brought with him a few fresh ideas, as well as a sense of humour which most members warmed to. John never dreamt he would stay in the job for 12 years

 It was a considerable achievement to maintain the momentum for that long and John finally scored his well earned break when he handed over to Bruce Tainton (#783) in April 2003.

 Although Mike Pinkard’s health and involvement with the club declined in recent years, the membership was shocked and saddened by his sudden death in August 2000 at the age of 49. It is a shame that the man who started it all is no longer with us. However, I am sure he would never have thought this publication he started in 1978 would reach nearly 150 issues!

NOW FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS!