Geocaching Association of Australia Inc.

The Spindoctors · Post by **The Spindoctors** » 11 February 08 10:48 pm

After a fair bit of reading, googling, emailing and discussion, I have decided to push ahead with the formation of an incorporated association.

The role of the association will be to represent and promote the 'sport' of geocaching in Australia.

It will NOT take on the role of running or controlling the Geocaching Australia website/forums, nor will it dictate what geocachers can or cannot do.

It will also NOT interfer in the recently formed Geocaching Tasmania Inc. association. However, I do see some form of interaction between the two.

Its goals will be similar to those of the New Zealand Recreational GPS Society and the Geocaching Association of Great Britian.

I'm pushing for an incorporated model for a number of reasons. The two key ones are regarding financial liability and eligibility for funding/grants.

This is the first stage of the process, and I am therefore calling for any individuals who are willing to nominate themself to assist in forming the association. A minimum of five members (including myself) are needed. Feel free to send a private message to me.

This group of five will draft the initial constitution, draft aims and apply for incorporation, beginning in the next week or so.

The aim is to have everything set-up by mid-year, in time to submit comment to the anticipated NSW Parks and Wildlife Service review of park regulation.

Please note this is seperate to any discussion of GCA website funding/administration.

For further background on this proposal - http://forum.geocaching.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=9817

New Zealand Recreational GPS Society - http://www.gps.org.nz/

Geocaching Association of Great Britain - http://www.gagb.org.uk/

ideology · Post by **ideology** » 12 February 08 4:05 am

great stuff! if there is anything we can do to support it, please let us know!

mundoo · Post by **mundoo** » 12 February 08 7:51 am

Which State will the incorporation be with or is there a Federal incorporation available?

If there is NO Federal incorporation body available how will the office-holders/members be affected if they are not from the State of incorporation?

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 12 February 08 8:36 am

Our radio club was formed in Victoria in 1965. Currently all Committee Members/office holders are in NSW. For quite a while there was a mix of Vic/NSW office holders so the state of incorporation doesn't seem to matter.

GammaPiSigma · Post by **GammaPiSigma** » 12 February 08 9:37 am

Some info from ASIC here:
 
http://www.asic.gov.au/
 
Of note read the section below the links to the relevant state bodies. This may be what you are after in terms of forming a national body.
 
I am a committee member for a small bushwalking club and we are associated with the NSW Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs, which in turn is affiliated with the national body Bushwalking Australia (it appears that BA is incorporated in South Australia). Other state based groups can affiliate with a national representative group if they wish to even if the national group is registered in a particular state. In the case of GCA it may be better to investigate the national registration aspect than being associated in one state.
 
If you want to register just as a state body this link will help: 
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/business/associations.html
 
Get yourself a copy of the model rules for incorporated associations and use these as a start point for developing a constitution. These rules mainly cover the legalese aspects of running a club but they are a good start.
 
Cheers, 
Mike (pi).

Papa Bear_Left · Post by **Papa Bear_Left** » 12 February 08 1:02 pm

I imagine that the various State regulations are quite similar, but does anyone know if there's any advantages to being incorporated in one place over another?

(Like the way you see a lot of semi trailers with SA rego plates, presumably because it's cheaper there)

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 12 February 08 9:10 pm

Only one I can think of is the fees may vary slightly. For the radio club it just involves copying any printed material (we do a magazine) to the State Library of Victoria and the National Library of Australia where I am sure they rest in dusty boxes. A copy of the AGM minutes and annual financial statement needs to be lodged each year as well.

The Spindoctors · Post by **The Spindoctors** » 12 February 08 11:00 pm

I spoke with NSW Fair trading today and discovered that there are two paths we can follow in setting up the association.

To cut a long story short, I believe it would be best to only set up an association in NSW for NSW cachers. This would also avoid any perceived conflict issues with the Tasmanians.

Apologies to those from interstate that have responded. There are sure to other state based associations in the future and the lessons learned from Nsw and Tassie will help you along the way.

I still require a few more people willing to put their hand up.

To remove any perceived link with the GCA website, I will also be looking at setting a separate website and forum. Any volunteers for this task would be appeciated.

Cheesy pigs · Post by **Cheesy pigs** » 13 February 08 8:04 am

Spindoc Bob wrote:To cut a long story short, I believe it would be best to only set up an association in NSW for NSW cachers. This would also avoid any perceived conflict issues with the Tasmanians.

Apologies to those from interstate that have responded. There are sure to other state based associations in the future and the lessons learned from Nsw and Tassie will help you along the way.

Wow, look at that, Tassie is leading the way - who'd have thought it?

...and yes, I dont know how much help we'll be (seeing as though we are new to this too), but anything we can do to help...we will!

ideology · Post by **ideology** » 13 February 08 8:31 am

we're happy to host a website & forum for the association under the domain name of your choice. alternatively you may wish to have a separate website to show to third parties but then have the forum be a subforum on this website to save people registering for multiple websites. this software also allows for private areas if you want to make use of those. we may even use it as a trial for new forum software which should run a little faster than phpbb.

Team Piggy · Post by **Team Piggy** » 13 February 08 8:53 am

This one should prob be moved into NSW forum to save interstaters replying?

Team Falling Numerals · Post by **Team Falling Numerals** » 13 February 08 8:56 am

Spindoc Bob wrote:.... there are two paths we can follow in setting up the association.

To cut a long story short, I believe it would be best to only set up an association in NSW for NSW cachers.... .

Agreed.

Establishing a national body would be much more costly and require a lot more administration.

Just do it!

The Spindoctors · Post by **The Spindoctors** » 13 February 08 8:30 pm

The original thought behind this post was to create an Australian association..

Since then this has since changed to be just NSW - from my perspective only. Tasmania has recently set up there own.

In times, I believe other states may follow, and eventually a national body may form, hopefully with links to the states.

Given the move to change from a national body to a state one, I have opened a new topic in the NSW section of this forum to provide information on progress, and allow debate. I recommend all future discussion occur there.

http://forum.geocaching.com.au/viewtopi ... 827#105827

Feel free to discuss any future Australia-wide association on this topic.

Team Piggy · Post by **Team Piggy** » 13 February 08 8:42 pm

It would be very interesting to perhaps note and report on the formalities required so other states can have an idea on what to expect?

The Spindoctors · Post by **The Spindoctors** » 13 February 08 8:52 pm

Will do Piggy.

I am following the NSW's Fairtrading website.

The first step is to recruit at least five people - two of which are the initial office bearers, until the first AGM is held.

I'm drafting the constitution, which is based on a model constitution. Therefore it's more a matter of inserting names and adding in the bit here and there.

This will then be sent around to the other founding members for discussion.

The application for incorporation will then be lodged.

I'll keep you up to date on any future steps and hurdles along the way.