The 39th Annual Meeting of the Society was held during 3-7 July in Hobart and it was a great success. Dr Barry Gardner and his team at the University of Tasmania did a fine job in organising the conference which seemed to flow without any hitches. Many delegates commented on how much they enjoyed the presentations of invited speakers who covered a wide range of matters such as informative surveys of parts of mathematics and its applications, historical and linguistic aspects of mathematics, and innovative ideas for teaching mathematics. The warmth of the hospitality of our hosts and of the company provided a nice balance to the weather.
The presentations by student delegates were very impressive. While we may wonder at times about where our discipline is heading, we can at least be assured that Australia has some graduate students who are producing some fine mathematics and are enthusiastic about explaining their very technical work to others.
The meetings of the Council and various committees of the Council testified to the great deal of work that is put into the Society by mathematicians around the nation. The Society is active in publishing, mathematics education issues, supporting conferences and generally enhancing the mathematical sciences in Australia.
Under the leadership of Professor Derek Robinson, there are plans ahead for groups in the Society to explore the idea of a new electronic journal, to consider the developments in mathematics education in the states in Australia and to organise major national and international conferences over the next few years. The President's annual report which follows elaborates on some of these ideas.
So it is clear that there is plenty of scope for members of the Society to contribute to the profession at a national level.
In 1996, the 40th Annual Meeting of the Society will be held in Adelaide with Flinders University as the host.