Significant Events in the History of the Australian Cat Federation (ACF) Inc.

Special Moments

Bjorn Christie Johnstone (director, RAST) succeeded Jack Howson as PresidentHe chaired his only Annual General Meeting when Whyalla (South Australia) was host to the National Show weekend Unfortunately, his was a short tenure. His presidency was conditional on moving towards an amalgamated cat fancy in Australia, with the now five–year–old Coordinating Cat Council of Australia (CCCA) and ACF "getting together". For various reasons, this did not occur and, as he foreshadowed at the AGM, he later withdrew from office. The 1984 Whyalla National Show was the first hosted outside a capital city, and it was some achievement for a country South Australian club to manage a show so much bigger than their regular shows. Swiss judge, Alfred Wittich, was present and the Best Cat in Show was GC Redwyton Wetheby James (blue British Shorthair and grandson of the 1978 winner),The Best Kitten was Absin Fandango (tawny Abyssinian); and the Best Neuter was Mischa Dorian, a cream Persian. The Guild seminar topic was blue cats (all breeds). One conference matter covered was which judges should adjudicate on Balinese and Somalis (at this stage, the FIFe–style semi–longhair group still existed) and the consensus was that they should be handled by appropriate shorthair judges, given their type. FIFe standards were to be adopted by ACF and, for the first time, it was suggested that ACF might do away with breed numbers.