The computer is known as Silliac and pioneers of that era will take part in the Computing the Future Symposium to be held on September 13, 2006.

Professor Albert Zomaya, head of the IT School at the University of Sydney, said it will be a milestone attended by eminent researchers and international guest speakers.

There from the very beginning were the Silliac pioneers, including Barry de Ferranti who is the chairman of the Silliac Fiftieth Celebrations Organizing Committee.

"When you think of how far things have come in the world of computing - it is amazing to think it has only been 50 years! I feel privileged to be part of the story. The University of Sydney was the first university in Australia to have a computing science department - and I now get to see the amazing things being done in the areas such as robotics, pervasive computing, health informatics, grid computing and optics," de Ferranti said.

It all began with a (pre-decimal currency) A$100,000 (US$75,900) donation from Sir Adolph Basser to the then Nuclear Research Foundation, founded by Emeritus Professor Harry Messel.