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Linux Australia is the national, Australian Free and Open Source Software Community organisation. It was founded in 1997 and formally incorporated in New South Wales as a non-profit organisation in 1999. Linux Australia aims to represent Australian Free and Open Source Software communities and to support and collaborate with related groups, including Linux User Groups in Australia.
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History and goals
Linux Australia was co-founded by Terry Dawson and Gary Allpike. From humble beginnings the organisation was formally incorporated to provide legal support for the inaugural Conference of Australian Linux Users (now linux.conf.au). Over progressive years the organisation has steadily matured in its operation and today its major activities include the successful annual linux.conf.au open source conference, a grants program that seeds and supports relevant open source projects, and regular participation in public events such as conferences and exhibitions. Public relations activities include lobbying to government and corporate entities on open source issues and comment and opinion to the media.
Office holders
The executive council is elected democratically by the organisation membership annually, and therefore changes year to year. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in furthering the goals and objectives of the organisation.
Presidents
Previous committee members and details can be found on the Linux Australia website http://linux.org.au/About/Council
Notable former committee members include Andrew "Tridge" Tridgell (Samba), and Paul "Rusty" Russell (Linux Kernel, notably Netfilter and the 2.6 modules rewrite), and Mary Gardiner founder of the Ada Initiative.
The Rusty Wrench award
The Rusty Wrench is an award presented annually at linux.conf.au since 2005 for service to the free software community in Australia. It is named for its first recipient, Rusty Russell.
Past recipients
The Rusty Wrench award was not awarded between 2008 and 2011. It was awarded again at linux.conf.au 2012 based on nominations from the free software and open source communities.