In 1970, during Melbourne IV, the Intervarsity Choral Festival movement celebrated its twenty-first birthday. Present as honoured guests were IV’s ‘Founding Parents’, Peggy and Colin Russell-Jones. They had been, before they were married, and in their roles as SUMS Secretary and SUMS President respectively, among the organisers of the first festival in 1950. At the 1970 festival, they presented the then ‘IV Father’ Andrew Bunting of MUCS with a Convenor’s Chain and suggested that each subsequent Convenor add another link. The tradition of including a ‘quotable quote’, sometimes taken from the text of one of the works performed at the festival, was begun by [[Andrew Penman]] two years later. Below is a complete transcription of the Convenor’s Chain. By 1995, the chain had become so long that a new top-piece was added inscribed with the words ‘IVCF CONVENORS’, and new panels can now be added down beside the old links.

||'''Year'''||'''City'''||'''Convenor'''||'''Society'''||'''Inscription'''|| '''Comments''' ||
||1970||Melbourne||Andrew Bunting       ||MUCS||IVCF Festival Father|| The reverse is inscribed “From the Founding Parents <<BR>>Peggy and Colin Russell-Jones, Sydney 1950” ||
||1971||Canberra ||Brian Hingerty      ||SCUNA||[no inscription]|| ||
||1972||Brisbane ||Andrew Penman        ||QUMS||Organise, organise|| ||
||1973||Perth    ||Timothy Mason        ||PUCS||Piano subito|| ||
||1974||Adelaide ||Matthew Mitchell     ||AUCS||Esiona|| Misspelling of “Eis Aiona”, the opening words of Orff’s ''Catulli Carmina'' ||
||1975||Sydney   ||David Goodwin        ||UNCS||Cecil B. de G.|| ||
||1976||Hobart   ||Christopher Thomas   ||TUMS||Mit clusters|| ||
||1977||Canberra ||Rik Allen           ||SCUNA||He slumbers not, nor sleeps|| From Mendelssohn’s ''Elijah'' ||
||1978||Melbourne||Phil O’Byrne         ||MUCS||Pastime with good company|| Title of an often-sung [[Pub Song]] attributed to Henry VIII ||
||1979||Brisbane ||Gary Price           ||QUMS||Did I do that?|| ||
||1980||Perth    ||Rob Kay              ||PUCS||How kind of you to let me come|| Quotation from Pygmalion/My Fair Lady. <<BR>>Kay's name is engraved on a small key. ||
||1981||Adelaide ||Deb Tranter          ||FUCS||Lamaragashu|| From Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms ||
||1982||Sydney   ||Ann Stephens         ||SUMS||One meeting puhleeze!|| ||
||1983||Melbourne||Libby Nottle       ||MonUCS||Who wants a casting vote or two?|| ||
||1984||Perth    ||Serena Kay           ||PUCS||Ease in Frogs|| Direction (in conductor’s score) to tape operator during Fanshawe’s ''African Sanctus'' ||
||1985||Hobart   ||Chris McDermott      ||TUMS||Selig Sind|| From one of Schütz’s funderal motets ||
||1986||Brisbane ||Noel Wilmott         ||QUMS||Oh, the wild joys of living!|| ||
||1987||Adelaide ||Ali Jonas            ||FUCS||Sit down, you’re rocking the boat!|| Song by same name from Lerner and Lowe’s ''Guys and Dolls'' ||
||1988||Sydney   ||Stephen Schafer      ||SUMS||The straight and the narrow, the sad and the gay|| From Martin and Peter Wesley-Smith’s ''Songs of Australia'' ||
||1989||Canberra ||40th IV Committee   ||SCUNA||We did it with a k|| There was no convenor, the festival being run by a "Kollective" ||
||1990||Perth    ||Geoffrey Garside     ||PUCS||Behold in me a sofa, rest on me|| From Holst’s ''Hymn of Jesus'', although the original text has the word couch, not sofa. ||
||1991||Melbourne||Jacqui Harrison    ||MonUCS||Make love, not war|| This IV was known as the ‘Summer of Love’ and began <<BR>>on the day after the commencement of the Gulf War ||
||1992||Hobart   ||Chris McDermott      ||TUMS||Et in Arcadia ego|| Losely translated as “I am in Paradise”, a thought expressed in <<BR>>''Brideshead Revisited'', the theme of the festival ||
||1993||Brisbane ||Noel Wilmott         ||QUMS||What the hey, make it so!|| ||
||1994||Adelaide ||Catherine Campbell   ||FUCS||Low-born clods of brute earth–is not the night restless for them?|| First line from Elgar’s ''Dream of Gerontius''; <<BR>> second line from John Adams’s ''Death of Klinghoffer''. ||
||1995||Sydney   ||Craig Miller         ||SUMS||To all that went down doing their duty: Geschwinde!|| First part from Vaughan Williams’s ''A Sea Symphony''; <<BR>>last word from Beethoven’s ''Meersstille und Glückliche Fahrt''. ||
||1996||Canberra ||Liz Keogh           ||SCUNA||Ain’t got time to die|| Line from an often-sung spiritual by Hall Johnson ||
||1997||Perth    ||Sarah Penn           ||PUCS||Nothing succeeds like success|| ||
||1998||Melbourne||Andrew Wailes        ||MUCS||Raise your voice, O mighty throng! Alleluia!|| Line from Timothy Sexton’s ''An Australian Alleluia'' ||
||1999||Hobart   ||Antony Logan         ||TUMS|| || ||
||2000||Brisbane ||Michael Scott        ||QUMS|| || ||
||2001||Adelaide ||                     ||    || || ||
||2002||Sydney   ||Jon Hogan-Doran      ||SUMS|| || ||
||2003||Canberra ||Luke Murtagh        ||SCUNA|| || ||
||2004||Perth    ||Joel Mendelson       ||PUCS|| || ||
||2005||Melbourne||Sarah Chan   ||MonMUCS,ROCS||I will fear no Evil: Thy Rod & thy Staff comfort me|| ||
||2006||Adelaide ||Ange Randall         ||AUCS|| || ||
||2007||Brisbane ||Horst Joachim Schirra||QUMS|| || ||
||2008||Sydney   ||                     ||    || || ||
||2009||Hobart   ||                     ||    || || ||