As a contribution to honour the foresight of Ken Clements and John Foyster in founding MERGA [Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia] so many years ago this paper is not a research paper in the usual sense. Rather it sets out to sample the context of Mathematics Education in Australasia and beyond (then and now) and to highlight some challenges as seen by this author. In this personal view I do not intend to expand in detail upon particular strands of research in which I have been involved, although for purposes of illustration examples will be drawn from time to time from this and other work. MERGA is about both people and scholarly activity, and so this paper will make reference to both--for history, culture, and challenge are essential components of the development of any organisation.