Seachange Prof i le No: 5

Daniela Heubusch has won engineering awards in SouthAustralia, Tasmania and New South Wales during her briefprofessional career in Civil and Environmental Engineering,including being awarded the Tasmanian Young ProfessionalEngineer of the Year 2001 and being a finalist for the NSWYoung Professional Engineer of the Year in 2003.

Two years ago the German-born dynamo did not knowwhere the Shoalhaven was.

Today she is part of Shoalhaven City Council's NaturalResources unit and was recently promoted to manage thedepartment's flood control and drainage unit working onissues relating to one of Australia's greatest coastal riversystems. Daniela manages an annual budget of $850,000and a team consisting of two flood engineers, one drainageengineer and anything up to five consultancy groups.

She learnt about the Shoalhaven position in the AustralianWater Association weekly newsletter, which summarisesall relevant positions advertised in Australia.

Daniela gained her contract position ''over the phone'' but she and her fiancé did a reconnaissance visit before deciding to move from Launceston, where they had beenworking for two years.

They flew into NSW through hundreds of kilometres ofsmoke at the height of the bushfires of Christmas 2002and were virtually the only car on the road to Nowra, thePrinces Highway having just re-opened, still with firesalong the route from Sydney.

Daniela signed up for the contract position as it fittedneatly into her personal professional career, objectives and strategies. "I'm an engineer, I analyse

Daniela working towards living insymbiosis with a river system

Daniela - Manager