Tuesday, 14 September 2010, Ian Peter and I celebrated 21 years since Pegasus Networks officially went online from Terania Creek, NSW.
This historic moment was actuated via a Motorola “brick” direct to a satellite service burrowing into EcoNet / PeaceNet in the USA, the whole show powered by the sun from the back of a van. It was quite a moment. Ian had said that at the time the “net” was perhaps as large as three copies of Encyclopedia Brittanica and may be used by a lot of people within a decade.
Ian, though still involved in the Internet Society and the Internet Governance Forums, seems to have retired early. He’s building a new house over-looking the ocean on one of the most gorgeous coast-lines in Australia. I’m living in a mud-brick shack in the southern part of the country producing low budget documentaries and crafting songs out of my love for “anthro-diversity” (a term coined by my mate, David Nerlich). Curiously, doing much the same now than as I was before writing, “Welcome to Pegasus Networks” 21 years ago!
andrew garton 
Andrew, / I was the guy at Byron Bay as Ian P.set up Pegasus who wrote all the user manuals & did all the customer support by phone and online.
A GREAT Lady did all the money & book-keeping work at The Epicentre.
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A Pommy man spent time there, taking Ian’s money but contributed sweet FA.
– A ‘GREAT’Canadian / South African guy came from SFO and set up our TINY 486 with its very small hard disk. Using Linux, of course.
– Once, when it crashed, yet again – I phoned SFO and they taught me basic Linux to recover our system.
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BEST STORY ! – We obtained a client. An Anglican Minister in the far West of NSW on the end of a very dirty phone line at 300 baud.
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I helped him. – Later, he emailed me – “Thanks. I have joined an American Church Newsgroup – We share our sermons. Pegasus has changed my life. ”
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PERMACULTURE ?
Ms. Robyn was then the Editor of the monthly ‘Permaculture Journal’ as part of Bill Mollison’s Permaculture system.
– Using my Apple Macintosh with my large screen B&W monitor, I’d help her finish any problem pages and layout to get them off to the printers on time.
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– I truly honour Ian Peter’s vision.
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If you want more, search Google – APC – Association for Progressive Communications.
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KS – ENDS
Kieth, I don’t think it’s fair to talk about the “Pommy guy” in those terms. If it’s who I think it is he did a lot more than people realise.
BTW, I’m on the APC Board… get heaps and more besides. Still very much part of the process so to speak.
Firstly, a big THANK YOU Andrew & Ian for your wonderful foresight in starting Pegasus. I can still hear the sound that the modem would make upon making a connection!
I came across this page whilst looking for the year that I volunteered to help out on the Green Train (slogan – “You CAN make a difference” ) that travelled the NSW countryside with environmental exhibits which Pegasus had a ‘booth’ on. (Also included Dave, the talking rubbish bin from the “Do The Right Thing” litter campaign, & Alan Watterson from the Dept of Ed).
One of my favourite memories from that fantastic time of my life is of the schoolgirl from Tamworth that declared she would never ever need a computer as she was going to be a farmers wife.
Thank you once again for your contribution to the internet in Australia!