AJS FNQ Society History - Past Presidents
Mr Peter Cominos 1981-82 (12 months)
TBC
1982-94
Capt. Terry Russell1994-2002(8 years)
Rebecca Wright 2002
(12 months)
Philip Turner
2003-4(24 months)
Michael Waters 2005-6(18 months)
Andrew McLean 2006-7(18 months)
Colyn Huber
2007-8(12 months)
Jeff Haynes
2009(Current)
The Australia Japan Society in Far North Queensland Inc. was registered on 20thNovember 1981.
Collection of Historical Documents
AJS FNQ October 1998 Newsletter

Bill Cummings' daughter Ruth welcoming one of first tour groups at Cairns Airport, about
1981.

Bill at Ibuski Resort near Kagoshima on 1st Queensland Tourist Promotion Mission to Japan,about 1981.

Bill with a member Kyushu Television Team & son Andrew, in Cairns, about 1981.

Bill with Janet at Saturday night dinner with one of early Japanese tour groups, at Kamsler's
former Tradewinds Motel, Florence Street Cairns, about 1981.

Bill with Janet & school children in Tokyo on JAL inaugural flight, late 1980's.
Brief History of AJS FNQ in the 1980's
Courtesy of W S (Bill) Cummings of Cummings Economics
The following gives some background on the formation of the Australian Japan Society inCairns from my perspective as the Manager of the then Far North Queensland Promotion
Bureau (now TTNQ) from 1973 to 1982.
We were aware that Japanese tourism to Australia was increasing strongly in the late 70's
but given lack of direct access, very few were coming to Cairns.
A breakthrough occurred when Air Niugini came to us about 1980 with a proposal to bring
Japanese groups down to Cairns via their B707 flights form Kagoshima to Port Moresby andthence through to Cairns on their regular flights from Port Moresby.
We seized the opportunity with both hands and ran with it strongly. A motivation in thebackground included the tussle going on with Townsville about upgrading the airport to takelong distance international flights by wide bodied jets.
The groups started arriving on a weekly basis. They would come down on Fridays, spend
their weekend in Cairns before returning to Port Moresby for a number of days and thenreturning to Japan on Thursdays. We were so keen that we would organise local people(board directors, civic leaders, etc.) to attend a dinner with them on Saturday evenings andpresent them with an honorary citizenship certificate.

Despite the language difficulties, the dinners were a great success including for the locals
participating.
Kinki Nippon were the tour organisers and only recently I had contact from one of the thenyoung tour guides, Koh Fujiwara, now a well established photographer in Japan with a
special interest in nature photography.
Ken Onishi was the other main guide. Attached are some photos of our daughter Ruth
welcoming the groups at the airport and at one of the dinners.
We soon learnt that we were dealing with a very different market and needed to climb asteep learning curve. That included the industry and shops learning to deal with tightly
organized groups with different perceptions about commissions.
A number of Japanese ladies in the area married to Australians were extremely valuable
during this early phase in assisting with interpreting, helping produce brochure materialetc., including Kay Fisher of the International Hotel, Shizue Pennicott and Mayumi
Thompson.
As part of a concerted effort, we decided it would be a good idea to form a branch of theAustralian Japan Society. We invited the then executive officer of the Society from Sydneyto come up to Cairns. He addressed a meeting we called at the Bureau's then Visitor
Information Centre in the converted former Fire Brigade building (now site of the parking
station in Grafton Street next to the old Council Chambers, now Library.
It was resolved to form an Australian Japan Society in North Queensland. Peter Cominos,
one of the leading businessmen in the city and a director of the Bureau, kindly agreed to beChairman. The staff of the Bureau helped support it and organize regular functions.
As part of the promotion in the market, I went up on the first Queensland Tourism Missionto Japan along with representatives from the Gold Coast, Rockhampton and from Tourism
Queensland in Brisbane.
We hosted travel agents and journalists from Japan and at one stage KTV (Kyushu TV) sent
down a camera team and presenter to cover the area (photo attached).
However, time moved on. Air Niugini got into financial difficulties and ceased flying toJapan.
After 8 years in the position of Manager of what was in effect a wider development bureau
with a strong tourism arm, I decided in 1982, it was time to do other things.
In the meantime, we had won the battle to get the airport upgrade. Initial flights were by
Qantas to Hawaii and to South East Asia and it took a few years and an initial testing of themarket with charters, before regular direct flights commenced.
Janet and I had the honour of being invited to be on the inaugural flight to Tokyo when JAL
entered the market and were delighted to meet at the reception held in Tokyo one of thetravel writers I had looked after during the early 80's.

Importantly, after the experiences in the early 1980's, the industry was ready and wellgeared to cater for Japanese visitors.
We had found the Japanese to be excellent, polite visitors, who we got on with, very well.
Any early concerns about lingering animosities from World War II were soon dispelled.
Of course, when the direct flights commenced, visitor numbers rose rapidly and with very
capable people like Geoff Donaghy as Bureau Manager, cultivating the market at the time,
Japan became a major element in the region's tourism.
I have been delighted to see that others have kept the Society going. It can be proud of therole it has played over the years in helping lay strong foundations for a lasting relationshipbetween this region and Japan.