Australian Mathematics Competition - History

History

The fore-runner of the competition was first held in 1976, was open to students within the Australian Capital Territory, and attracted 1200 entries. In 1976 and 1977 the outstanding entrants were awarded the Burroughs medal. In 1978, the competition became a nationwide event, and became known as the Australian Mathematics Competition for the Wales awards with 60,000 students from Australia and New Zealand participating. In 1983 the medals were renamed the Westpac awards following a change to the name of the title sponsor Westpac Banking Corporation (previously known as the Bank of New South Wales). Other sponsors since the inception of the competition have been the Canberra Mathematical Association and the University of Canberra (previously known as the Canberra College of Advanced Education).

The competition has since spread to countries such as New Zealand, Singapore, Fiji, Taiwan and Malaysia, which submit thousands of entries each. A French translation of the paper has been available since the current competition was established in 1978, with a Chinese translation being made available to Singapore and Taiwan students in 2000. Large print and braille versions are also available.

In 2004, the competition was expanded to allow two more divisions, one for year five and six students, and another for year three and four students.

In 2005, students from 38 different countries entered the competition. The competition is very hard with the majority of students receiving participation awards.