Austrek is a Star Trek fan club. It is the second oldest Trekkie fan club in the world and is celebrating it' 40th anniversary this year. Credit:Justin McManus "On the surface Star Trek is about exploring space but really it's about exploring ourselves, exploring what it means to be human," Daalmeyer says. "To me the original series from the 1960s is also an interesting exploration of that era. It was made at the height of the Cold War and the civil rights movement, while on screen you had Russians, Asians and an African American woman working side by side. Uhura wasn't just the token damsel in distress, she was an important member of the crew and treated like an equal." Ten years ago Daalmeyer started watching the 1980s TV reboot Star Trek: The Next Generation with her parents. She was still in primary school but the show spoke to her and she soon became a dedicated fan. But it wasn't until last year that Daalmeyer joined Austrek after discovering the club at Melbourne's Oz Comic-con pop culture and science fiction convention. A former figure skater with a passion for martial arts, she doesn't fit the profile of the stereotypical Star Trek fan, but she believes part of Austrek's appeal is that Star Trek fans tend not to be judgmental. "Austrek is a lot of fun, we meet up every month and sometimes we dress up but we don't just talk about Star Trek," she says.

Austrek's Rachel Daalmeyer / "Jane T Kirk" Credit: Justin McManus "I know we're basically just a bunch of nerds getting together, but Austrek is really about spending time with friends who you know will accept you for who you are." Words like "nerd" and "geek" have lost some of their sting in an age where the most sought-after fashion accessory is a Star Trek-inspired pocket-sized computer which makes phone calls. At the same time, science fiction is more accepted as a legitimate part of popular culture, making it a little more socially acceptable to be as passionate about your favourite TV show as others are about their favourite football club. Austrek's David Tonkin as Spock. Credit:Justin McManus "When you tell someone that you like Star Trek I don't think they turn their nose up quite as far as they used to, even if they don't understand what it is we love about it," Daalmeyer says.

"I know people would be more accepting if we were really passionate about a sport, but I don't understand the difference – we're all just watching people running around on a screen, our action is just set in space." Austrek's Richard Joint. Credit:Justin McManus Some Star Trek fans can speak Klingon and have memorised the schematics of the Enterprise, just as some Collingwood fans can name every centre half-forward for the last 50 years and talk you through a blow-by-blow replay of the dying minutes of the 2010 drawn grand final. And just like crowd shots in the football coverage, the media tends to single out the most passionate fans, says Austrek president Melanie Nemer. "Yes, you get your socially awkward Star Trek fan, just like you get toothless Collingwood fans, but they're not all like that – they're just the ones that people like to make fun of," Nemer says.

In her early 40s, Nemer admits she made fun of Star Trek fans as a teenager but in her 20s was introduced to Star Trek: The Next Generation through friends. She soon grew to love the show for its ethos of tolerance rather than its spaceships and rayguns. "It might be the wrong thing for the club president to say but, to be honest, when it comes to arguing about the technical design of the Enterprise or what happened in a specific episode, well that's not me," Nemer says. "For me Star Trek is not so much about the technology; to me Star Trek is about booking my ticket to travel somewhere else – I'm along for the ride and the adventure, not all those little technical details." In an era of vapid entertainment which bombards viewers with negativity, Nemer would rather follow the adventures of explorers on a mission of peace. Whether they're in the farthest corners of the galaxy or back on Earth, their mandate for tolerance and co-operation aligns with Nemer's view of the world. "What draws a lot of people to Star Trek is that even when you're feeling really miserable you can put on Star Trek and have some hope for the future," she says. "Star Trek is about tolerance and acceptance, I see that on the screen and I see it in our club. We've got a really diverse and eclectic group, and over time you see people come out of their shell because they know they're among friends." To better understand the club and its members you need a crash course in Star Trek history. The show debuted in 1966, a time of turmoil when mankind stood at a crossroad – staring into the abyss of nuclear war while also looking to the stars.

Set 300 years in the future, the series portrayed a Utopian age where the human race had survived the apocalyptic horrors foretold by much science fiction of the day. Inspired by Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, creator Gene Roddenberry aimed for each episode to be an adventure story with an underlying morality tale. More than just cowboys and indians in space, Star Trek told the story of the United Federation of Planets, similar to today's United Nations, with the race of Klingon warriors playing the part of the Russians to help explore the themes of the day. Despite the fervour of the space race, Star Trek struggled for ratings by the third season, when it was shunted into a late-night time slot and eventually cancelled only months before Armstrong stepped on the Moon. Despite the pleas of fans, Star Trek remained in stasis for a decade. Captain Kirk and his crew returned in 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture – a film based on the pilot episode of Star Trek: Phase 2, a 1970s television reboot which never got off the ground. After a string of movies Star Trek: The Next Generation made it to television in the late 1980s. A new captain and crew won over a new generation of fans with memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall rather than the Cuban missile crisis. The revival spawned more movies and several spin-off TV series which ran until 2005. JJ Abrams picked up the mantle in 2009, bringing Kirk and his shipmates back to the big screen with a new cast. This month's Star Trek Beyond is Abrams's third film, while Star Trek is also coming back to television next year.

Each new iteration has brought a new wave of fans to the club, while others dropped away, says Austrek club historian Darren Maxwell. Now in his late 40s, he fell in love with the series as a teenager after attending the 1982 premiere of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – credited with kickstarting the franchise's revival after the lacklustre first film. Spock's sacrifice to save the ship and his dying words to Kirk, "I have been, and always shall be, your friend", became such a seminal part of Star Trek folklore that JJ Abrams revisited the story of Khan in the modern films. By the mid-1980s there was already two generations of Star Trek fans, those who grew up watching the original television series and younger fans like Maxwell who discovered it through the movies. "The club went through a massive transformation and a lot of the older people left because this wasn't the Star Trek they knew and loved," Maxwell says. "We saw the same thing when Star Trek: The Next Generation came to television and then the other new shows and movies – there have definitely been peaks and troughs in our membership over 40 years." Today Austrek has around 140 members, with roughly 40 people attending monthly meetings, while its Facebook page has more than 500 followers. Most club members are over 30. While it's become more socially acceptable to be a science fiction fan, Maxwell says there's still a stigma attached to joining a fan club.

"You might find a thousand people who love Star Trek – they may even turn up at an expo wearing a costume – but suggest joining a club or coming to a meeting and they balk," he says. "There's still a psychological line which means that, even while the Star Trek franchise might be gigantic, clubs like Austrek can struggle to grow." The rise of the internet has been a double-edged sword for clubs like Austrek, helping win over a new generation of fans but reducing the need to join a club in order to stay in touch with their favourite shows. Before the internet the core concept of a fan club was receiving a newsletter, while the social side of gathering with like-minded fans was a bonus, Maxwell says. "These days Facebook can play the role of the newsletter so people don't see the need to join a club – people still love Star Trek but sadly there isn't a large wave of younger fans coming into the club," he says. "They're missing out on that face-to-face social aspect which really gives you the feeling of belonging to something special. At its core Star Trek has always been about people, not about spaceships, so I hope there'll always be a place for clubs like Austrek for fans to call home." Austrek is holding its 40th anniversary Gala Ball in August. For more details, visit austrek.org.