Underground Magic - Australian Society of Magicians
The Australian Society of Magicians is one of the oldest Magic Clubs in Australia. The SA branch (also known as Assembly No. 2) was established in 1920. It provides a forum for amateurs and professionals to gather and discuss their craft. I recently interviewed President Mr Phil Ahrens & member Mrs Toni Offler about this organisation.
“A society created for people interested in magic to learn and perform the art; and to respect the secrets and ethics of the magic community” is Phil Ahrens’ description on this long-standing association. The society has quite an interesting history. “The Australian Society of Magicians was created in 1907. Started in Sydney and we (the Adelaide branch) are chapter two of that organisation. In Adelaide, we started in 1920. We’re over a hundred years old and in fact, we’re the oldest continuously running club in the Southern Hemisphere. But the ASM itself is the fourth oldest in the world”.
Joining The Organisation
He mentioned how he first started in the club, “I loved magic my whole life, since I was a little boy. I met a magician, he invited me to the club and gave me opportunities to grow and learn as a magician”. As for Mrs Offler, “I’m a third-generation magician” who learnt magic from her grandfather and has been practicing magic for over fifty years. “Both my father and grandfather were members of the Australian Society”.
Setting A Standard
“We set a standard of what magic should be” quoted Ahrens and then he shared some concerns about the magic community going forward. "Because online, people can get more information on the internet, however it’s not necessarily good information. In that way the club becomes more important, we’re the protectors & preservers of the history of magic in Australia”.
Programs & Initiatives
Ahrens talked about some of the programs and initiatives they have. We’re available for performing events and can put on a show for any sort of fundraising activities, so community and sporting clubs, Rotary, Scout groups, Guides, etc. We also support the History Festival every year, where we open up our club rooms, we talk about our history, the club, the bomb shelter, and then we perform a small show. This allows people to understand what our art is about and our historical significance to our culture”. Offler also mentioned “we have two or three magicians from overseas who give lectures during the year and on meeting night, we’ll often pick a subject and someone will go through it and teach it”.
The Bomb Shelter
Ahrens discussed the history of the bomb shelter that was constructed during World War II. “The government at the time decided to build an air raid shelter. It’s more of a communications bunker and all the major ovals in metropolitan Adelaide had a communications bunker built near it, all connected (wired) to Victorian Square. The idea was to coordinate an evacuation (in case of an attack) of the city and ovals were an obvious place because there were no structures to fall over and hurt people, buses could assemble there and transport the women and children”.
As for its post-war history, “Most of the bunkers fell into disuse. Our particular bunker was used by St Johns for training purposes for a while. Fifty years ago, the Thebarton Council came to us and offered us the air raid shelter as our clubrooms because it was in disuse. So we cleaned it up and we’ve been the custodians ever since”. Offler said “Before that, we were in a church on Goodwood Rd and lots of empty shops. But this is the longest that we’ve been in one actual place”.
If you want to find out more about the Australian Society of Magicians, please visit bombsheltermagic.com. They meet on the third Thursday of every month.
