Australia's first flat-Earth convention was supposed to end with a bang.

The convention flyer described it as an "ocean level world record laser attemt" [sic]. A repetition of the Bedford Level Experiment on a record-breaking scale. A laser beam sent miles across the sea to another point – a boat, probably.

Samuel Birley Rowbotham first conducted the experiment – with surveying equipment – in 1838. He used the results to declare that the Earth was flat. In 1870, in response to a wager, biologist Alfred Russel Wallace repeated the test, adjusting for the effects of atmospheric refraction. His results were consistent with the curvature of a spherical Earth.

For his troubles, Wallace won £500, and a lifetime of death threats and litigation from the people who claimed he cheated.

The Bedford Level Experiment is controversial, and commonly repeated. Mostly by flat-Earthers. This test, at the close of Australia's first flat-Earth convention, would be no different, save for the scale.

But it never happened. Because the flat-Earth convention itself never happened.

The convention was supposed to take place on March 17, 2018, but it fell apart. The collateral damage was extensive: broken friendships, bruised egos, an arson attempt.

Co-organizer Lee Maxwell Judd believes "dark negative forces" were behind its failure, but the convention was doomed from the start.

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-bizarre-tale-of-the-australia-flat-earth-convention-that-fell-apart/