origins edition 1 2009

8/8/2019 Origins Edition 1 2009

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200 9 Edition 1


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12Blokey NT imagemay be a mythUnderstanding one sector of the NT population

18Karrabing: keepingcountry liveArchiving three fam ilies so cial, historical andcultural knowledge

31 Lim ited Ed itionAlan Grifths etching Jooba

8 First Person Alison Elliott explores the importanceof qua lity early childhood edu cationin the a cademic and socia ldevelopm ent of youn gsters

10 Ch a rles, My Hero Tim Berra examines the m an who

chan ged a world view

30 Regional Russian im m igran t nds a new life

in Gove

38 PublishingNews from CDU Press

26 AlumniDista nce e du cator s REACT to n eed

4 News

32 OpinionWendy Brady explores IndigenousAust ralian s an d t he Great Chain of Being

28 Q&AAaron Devine is Director of VET an d Teaching Qu ality

14Digesting croc secrets from theinside out How crocodiles havesurvived environm entalcatastrophes

19Nomad nds a homein e-learningEngaging s tudents in self-directed learning

20Way forward inPNGs maternalmortality crisis Addressing the desperatesituation of som e newmothers


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Origins is produced by Char les DarwinUniversitys Corporate Com mu nications.

EditorRobyn McDougall

Project managerLynda Baxt er

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PrinterFinsbu ry Green Printing

Corporate Communications is grateful to theollowing people for their contributions and

assistance in compiling this edition:Wayne Barbo ur, Tim Berra , Wen dy Brady, Ann eChivas, Keith Christia n, Aaron Devine, Pete r

Dohe rty, Christin e Edwa rd, Alison Elliott, PeterEve, Mike an d Che ryl Flynn , Kate Golebiows ka,Sarah Hanks, Rob Harcourt, Greg Holland, SueKruske, Mark Mee kan , Robyn McIne rne y, OlgaPostan s, Elizabeth Povinelli, Sha ne Tha m m , BillWade, Suzan ne Wilson.

Opin ions an d v iews expressed in th i s ed i t iondo not necessar i ly reec t those of Char lesDarwin Universi ty. Reprodu ction of a nym ater ia l appear ing in th i s ed i t ion requi reswrit ten perm ission from Robyn McDougall ,E: robyn.m cdou gall@cdu .edu .au

Publishe d May 2009

This edit ion is also available atwww.cdu .edu .au /corpora tecommunica t ions / publ ica t ions .h tml

CRICOS Provide r 00300K

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Contributors

k e it h c h r i s t ia n Animal physiologist and ecologist,Kei th Chris t ian has spen t m ore than two decadesat Charles Darwin University (an d its precursors)wh ere h e is curre nt ly Professor of Zoology. He alsoha s research interests in biological control andevolution. For this issue, Professor Christian exploresthe emerging research behind t he sc ience wh ichha s allowed crocodiles to survive m ajor catast rophesover the m illennia.

r i c h ie h o d g s o n Now into his fourth edition of Origins as a cont ribut or, CDUs Media Ofcer Richie Hod gsonha s written several articles for this issue based oninterviews with CDU research ers, lecturers an d alum ni.His s tory on the desperate s i tuat ion of matern alm ortality in Papua New Guinea offers a distu rbinginsight int o a crisis which cont inues to cripple thecount rys health system .

r o w bo o k e r Row Booker recently joined CDUs

m edia team after imm igrating to Austra lia fromthe United Kingdom , where sh e worked as a rad ioreporter a nd n ews produ cer for the British ForcesBroad cas ting Service. She cur ren tly is CDUs Market ingComm un ications Ofcer. Row writes several art iclesin th is edition of Origins on th e upcom ing Char lesDarwin Symposium , Charles Darwin: Shaping ourScience, Society an d Futu re. She also writes aboutthe generosity of an NT family in don ating asubstant ia l sum of money to support environmen talresearch s tudents .

j ason m c in t o s h Jas on McIn tos h is CDUs PublicRelat ions Ofcer in Alice Springs. He en joys showca singth e successe s of sta ff an d stud ent s across CDUs regiona lcam puses an d cent res. Jason says hes never lookedback since retu rnin g to Alice Springs from the big sm oke.His contribut ions to this edition include an articleabout a Russian imm igrant wh o has es tabl ished a n ewlife in Nh ulun buy a fter learn ing English throu gh CDU.

cover Courtesy of Sprout i n s id e f r o n t c o v e r Alan Grifths Jooba from th e Waringarri Suite 200 8 Etching on paper image25 x 2 5cm paper size 52 x 40cm

ph o t o g r a p h Courtesy Northern Editions

Origins is printed from vegetable-based inks and al l wastend by-products of the process ha ve been recycled intoarden m ulch and low-grade solvents.

The paper u sed in this edit ion of Origins has beenman ufac tu red under the env ironmenta l man agementystem ISO 14001 using Elem ent al Chlorine Free (EFC)ulp sourced from su stainable, well-man aged forests .

CREDITS Origins


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As the Northern Territorys premier tertiary educationprovider, Charles Darwin University performs acrucial role in the wider community. The Territorysmu ch-vaun ted vitality is, in part, the resu lt of thedynamism of its ow n university.

On the m ove

CDU has int ense workingrelationships with a great varietyof individua ls and organisationsthroughout th e NT an d beyond. Weare indeed fortun ate to work withinone of the worlds m ost cultura lly andbiologically diverse regions.

At the sam e tim e, the Territorysunique cha l lenges are a lsowel l-docum ented, and pa r t of the m ission of the u niversity is to

develop knowledge tha t w ill solvecomp lex problem s existing in ourregion. In doing so, CDU is ind eeda valuable asset in th e social,cultural, intellectual and economicdevelopmen t of Northern Australia.

The Territory has every right to beproud of our achievement s, notonly in h elping to build a st rongcomm unity in th e nor th , but a lsoin providing higher ed ucat ion andvocational education and trainingfor local, na tional and intern ational

stud ent s. We are young and, for anins t itu t ion tha t s t raddles the ent i reTerritor y, we are n imble. We ca nrespond quickly to new dema ndsand opportuni t ies .

As an institution, we mu st be agilean d our a gility is reected in th ethe m e of this edition of Origins .The articles that follow are base d

on th e the m e, On the m ove, and provide a ta ste of thecontributions CDU is m aking in higher edu cation a nd VETteaching, to the com mu nity through our par tnersh ips, and tothe lives of m an y individua ls. The the m e helps to il lum inatethe dynam ism tha t i s required of CDU as we m eet ourresponsibili t ies to t he NT comm un ity, face t he geograph icalchallenges of our location, and work with ou r diverse bu tsma l l populat ion base .

In this issue you will read abou t research tha t will assistpolicy-ma kers to unders ta nd th e m ovemen ts of overseasimm igran ts wh o come to th e Norther n Territory. This group

represen ts a signicant sect or of the NT populat ion and lit t lework has been un der taken in the pas t to unders tand thedemographic and economic impa cts of these people .

You w ill discover how CDU is he lping to a ddress a m ater na lm ortality crisis in Papua New Guinea, which is rankedam ong the wors t in the world in regard to women dyingin childbirth .

And you will learn a bout how a u niversity lecturer from th eform er Soviet Union is workin g to rebuild h er life in Govewith t he help of English classes offered t hrou gh CDU.

This edition also showcases th e Charles Darwin Symposiumwhich will celebrate th e 200th a nn iversary of Cha rles

Darwins birth an d the 150th a nn iversary of the pu blicationof On t he Origin of Species.

The Symp osium s keynote sp ea ker, Professor Tim Berra ,a long with oth er prominent presenters , opens up thediscussion in this Origins ahea d of the September event .

I hope you enjoy these an d other a rticles and regularcolum ns in th is edit ion, and that you gain a deeper senseof the im pacts of our un iversity.

Professor Barney Glover

Origins VICE-CHANCELLOR EDITORIAL


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Director of th e School for Environm ent al Resea rch, ProfessorStephen Garn ett , an d th e Biodiversity Inform ation Ofcerwith Tropical Sava nn as CRC, Dr Gabriel Crowley, wereawa rded th e pre stigious D. L. Serven ty Meda l by BirdsAustralia (previously the Royal Australasian OrnithologistsUnion) for their contribut ions to publications in the eldof or nith ology.

Partn ers in life a nd work, Professor Garn ett an d Dr Crowleyhave m ade a signican t, pivotal and u nique contr ibution tothe kn owledge and conservat ion of Austra lian birds.

This contr ibut ion has been ma de through h ands-onintensive research, the comp ilation of system atic overviewsof the conservation stat us of Austra lian birds, an d thedevelopment and maintenance of networks of ornithologistsan d other s, na tionally an d intern ationally, with interest inthe m an ageme nt of Austra lias threat ened birds.

l eft

Aw ard winn ers, Professor Stephen Garnett an d Dr Gabriel Crowley.

CDUs NT Manager of the Prima ry Industries an d Comm un ityServices Indu stry Division, Dr Brian Heim wa s a nn oun cedthe winner.

It was the rst t ime t he Territory has part icipat ed in theawards, with Dr Heim scooping not only the Agricultura lTeache r of the Year Award, but a lso the u ltimat e accolade

of ITSE Teach er of th e Yea r 2008.

Origina lly from Texas, USA, Dr Heim ha s wor ked a t CDUsKath erine cam pus for the past six years.

To win th is award is a t rem endou s hon our. It goes beyondexplana tion to say what i t actu ally m ean s to me, he said.

Dr Heim said he believed that a n agricultural course he ha ddeveloped in di rect response to indust ry dem and secured theprestigious awa rd.

I think its th e job of vocational edu cation a nd training(VET) teach ers to respon d rapidly to indu stry an d tom eet their n eeds w holly.

NT academ ic tops Aus tralia in vo cational teachingCDU has blitzed the res t of Aus tralias training providers to take out th e Instituteof Trad e S kills Exce llen ce (ITSE) Tea che r of the Yea r awa rd for 200 8.

Res ea rche rs w in Birds Aus tralia aw ardTwo prom inent CDU rese archers have received a national aw ard to hon our their outstanding contributionsto the eld of birds in the Aus tralasian region.

He said he h ad s t rongcompe tition in th e awa rds. I haveto say the qu ality of the otherVET teachers n omina ted for theaward wa s am azing. I actu allyhad picked out in m y own h ead

who I thought was m ost l ikely towin and of course it wasnt me,but t o be told I ha d won it was

just a n a m azing surprise.

The award comes w ith a $10,000cash com ponen t designed, inpar t , to help fund a project tobenet industry, students andthe winning teacher.

Dr Heim plans to u se them oney to develop his existinganima l s tudies program intoan onl ine course .

above

Dr Brian Heim plansto put his $10,000 prize to good use.

NEWS Origins


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CDU ha s developed a new Bachelor of EngineeringCo-operative degree program to link with local andna tional indus try, combining paid work with st udy.

The NT Government Department of Planning andInfrast ru ctu re (DPI) is providing $2.3 million t o fun dup to 20 scholarship places on the new cou rse.

The scholarsh ips are valued at up t o $117,156 each ,with recipients receiving a stipend of $15,000 foreach full year of the four a nd a h alf year degreecourse. The rem ainder of the scholarship award alm ost $50,000 for each stu dent is in th e form

of paid work placem ent s with th e DPI.DPI Chief Execu tive Ofcer, Richa rd Han cock sa idstud ent s would gain practical knowledge and work experience on a ran ge of infrast ructu re projects tobuild the NT.

These work exper ience placem ents will providestud ent s with on-the -job skills an d experience, an dopportu nities to develop close working relationshipswith professional engineers, Mr Hancock said.

CDUs Hea d of th e School of Enginee ring an dInform at ion Tech nology, Professor Friso De Boer sa idthe q ua lity and st ructu re of the Co-op degree would

provide ben ets to th e NT by supplying m ore job-readyengineers to th e workforce, while th e scholarshipprogram would a t t ract and re ta in the bes t and th ebrightest in the Territory.

Charles Dar win Un iversitys Palm erston-ba sedBakery Lecturer David Barker com peted in theSIGEP Brea dcu p 2009, one of th e w orlds la rgest

professional tra de fairs dedicated t o bakery,confectionary and gelato products.

He jo ined th ree other team m ates in the seas idetown of Rimini, taking on European an d Mexicanbakers in various comp etitions.

Thousan ds of people an d a th rong of m edia followedthe t eam as th ey produced t radi t ional and innovat ivebreads, a cake, art work using dough an d a showca sedisplay all within strict t ime limits and with dene dingredients.

Mr Barker s Europea n adven ture st art ed at th e2007 Melbourn e Food Expo whe re h e wowed t he

judges with h is Austra lian -them ed rosella sour doughbread an d was asked to represent th e na t ion in I ta ly.

The tea m also spent a busy two weeks visiting Italianbakeries and m ajor ma nu factur ing facili t ies beforetravelling to Fran ce where th ey atten ded a worldpast ry compet ition, Coupe d u Monde d e la Ptisserie,in Lyon.

Mr Barker sa id his favourite food on th e trip wasItalian pizza.

They have ha lf the t oppings and 10 times th e avourof th ose h ere in Aust ralia, he said. I couldn t be lievehow good they were.

$2.3 m illion in s cholars hipsboos t elite en ginee ring cours eScholarships valued at more than $100,000ea ch are on offer to build the infras tructure

of th e Northe rn Territory.

Secon d place belis s imo for NT m as ter bakerA talen ted Territory baker an d h is Aus tralianteam nearly cleaned out the hosts afterwinning second place at an internationalbaking competition in Italy.

above

CDU baker David Barker (far right) celebrates h is w in in Italy.

bel ow

Aw ard-winning Engineering student s (from left): Luka Bisevac B.Eng/B.Applied Science (winner 20 08 VCs prize); Lachlan Prescott B.Eng-Co-op (winn er 2009VCs prize); Professor Friso De Boer, Head of CDUs S chool of Engineering and IT;

Joanna W inslade B.Eng-Co-op (winner 2 009 VCs prize) and Ryan Prsecott (CDU B.Eng 3rd year).

Origins NEWS


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After two weeks on Groote Eylandtcovering navigation, boatingprocedures, ma intenance an d otherskills needed to be a coxswain, 11Indigenous par t ic ipants passed th etesting eight m etre coxswain course.

CDU Lectu rer in Maritim e Studies,Milton Miller said the programdelivered a wide ra nge of trainingincluding driver edu cation, coxswaintraining, survival at sea , andoccupational health and safety.

The course equips participants with th e skills to com m an d,with sa fety and efciency, a comm ercial vessel of less th aneight metres and provides employment opportunities inthe sm all vessel sector including tourism, comm ercialworkboats, sheries an d aqu acultu re, he sa id.

The course also achieved a nat iona l rst with pa rticipan t IdaMama rika becoming the rst Indigenous wom an t o qualifyfor the eight m etre Insh ore Coxswain Certicate.

Mr Miller said the course also aimed a t m eeting the nee dfor coxswain training for studen ts with limited li teracy andnu m eracy skills.

These are t he people wh o will help guard our coas tlinesfrom illegal shing an d ma nage the en vironm enta l issuestha t spring up in some of the Territorys m ost beau tiful, if inaccessible, areas, he said.

The t ra ining scheme is based on th e concept that thebest people to patrol the remote coast al fringes are thepeople wh o live on th e coast the saltwat er people ort radi t ional owners whose a ncestors have been m anaging theenvironmen t in their own way for hund reds of years.

Several course gradua tes are h oping to use th eirqua lication to gain em ploym ent with Custom s and jointhe frontline in patrolling the vast expa nses of coast acrossth e Territory.

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In training for an important job.

Indigen ous coxs w ains to he lp protect coas tlineAn innovative Searanger program hosted by CDU has provided real training andemployment opportunities to Indigenous people.

Resea rch Associat e w ith CDUs

Graduat e School for Health Practice,Dr Suzan ne Belton has com pletedthe rs t s tudy on unwan tedpregnan cy in East Tim or.

Ent itled Mater na l Mortality,Unplanned Pregnan cy and UnsafeAbortion in Timor-Lest e: A Situ at ionalAnalysis, the stu dy was presen teddu ring East Timors Institu te of Health Sciences rst Congress onHealth Sciences in ea rly Decem ber2008 in Dili.

Co-authored by Dr Belton, AndreaWh itta ker a nd Dr Lesley Barclay, th es tudy invest igated and recom men dedstrat egies to reduce m orbidity andm orta l ity associa ted wi th unwa ntedpregnan cy and un safe abor t ion.

The ma ternal death and fer t i li ty

rate in Timor-Leste con tinued tobe very high, but t he p roportionof materna l morta l ity due tounsafe abor t ion was u nknown.

Dr Belton said th e law regulatingterm ination of pregnan cy inTim or-Leste was highly rest rictiveand women could not request e lect iveabortion for any reason , includingto preserve their hea lth or saveth eir lives.

A hu ge problem is tha t the re hasbeen no research conducted onun safe a bortion sin ce Timor-Leste sindependence from Indonesia in2002, she said.

This study describes th e context

o f unp lanned an d unwan tedpregnan cy and fer t i li ty managem ent ,as well as investigating an dcanvassing a way forward.

Dr Belton said a n um ber of keyndings in relation to indu cedabortion were uncovered.

Key ndings included th at inducedabor t ion cont inued t o be performedin secret, 40 per cen t of all emergen cyobste t r ic care was m anaging andtreat ing comp lications from earlypregnan cy losses, an d doctors an dmidwives continued to be reluctantto speak with wom en about inducedabortion, she said.

Unsa fe abortion a lea ding caus e of deathUnsafe abortion is a leading cau se of death for pregna nt wom englobally, according to a prom inen t CDU res ea rcher.

NEWS Origins


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Territory pion ee rrece ives PhD at 84At age 8 4, Judy Opitz h ascompleted the highest academichonour. After 18 consecutiveyears of university study, theTerritory p ione er has received aPhD from CDU.

Dr Opitz took her rst steps intohigher edu cation in 1990 with an Artsdegree m ajoring in a rchaeology an dan th ropology, followed by Honourswhich sh e com pleted in 1998. But h erappet ite for learning was far fromsatised, leading h er to en rol in a PhD.

Her thesis compared t he a rchaeologicalsignicance of two Australian Heritagesites Tasm an ias Port Arthu r Pen alColony and t he Territorys Kaka duNat ional Park and examined th eways th e sites archa eological historieswere presen ted for visitors.

She said Kakadu visitors sought m orein-depth knowledge of Indigenouscul ture , and wanted to know aboutthe u se and signican ce of the site toprehistoric peoples, not just about i tspresen t-day signicance.

At th e sam e time a s working onher thesis, Dr Opitz wrote herau tobiograph y ent itled An EnglishRose in Kakadu , which h as beenaccepted by a local pu blisher. The

book recounts h er childhood inEngland wh ere she wa s raised byna nn ies an d governesses, to hersearch for adventure and su bsequentvoyage to Aus tra lia as a 10-poun dPOM in 1959, and event ua lly tomeet ing her future hu sband andcrocodile hu nt er h ero, Tom Opitz, inthe fam ous Darwin Hotel.

Tom worked a t th e Nourlan gie SafariCamp a s a guide, leading hun tingpart ies for Am erican t ourists. In 1964the cou ple built a store in Kakad u,

which later beca m e the Gagudju LodgeCooind a, ren own ed for its YellowWater boat cruises.

Now that she h as nished her PhD,Dr Opi tz has se t her mind on s tudyingphilosophy.

She said educat ion would alwaysbe important to her, and helpingpeople access educat ion was hercurrent pa ss ion.

Researchers from CDU, the University

of South Austra lia a nd the Universityof Wollongong h ave m apped Darwinscreative indu stries includingbusinesses based in m arket ing,advertising, mu sic, lm an d t elevision.

Ninety-eight pra ctit ioners wer einterviewed to help constru ct alocal m ap of where th ey live, work an d seek their inspiration. The m aprevealed several hotspots including theDarw in CBD, Para p a nd Winne llie.

Chief investigator of t he Crea tiveTropical City: Mapping DarwinsCreat ive Indu str ies Project, AssociateProfessor Tess Lea said th at Da rwin svibrant grass roots com mu nityalso had a stron g creative network,pa rticu larly with th e NTs Asianneighbours.

Ident ifying iconic creat ive spaces isimportant because th ese spots helpgenerate a nd inspire the productivitythat bui lds our reputa t ion andpres en ce, Dr Lea said.

It highlights p laces th at n eed to be

recognised, protected an d trea sured.Austra lian Burea u of Statisticsinformat ion revealed tha t a lmost2000 peop le were em ployed inDarw ins crea tive ind ust ries in 2006.

The CDU research report sh owedtha t th is eld emp loyed signicantlym ore people tha n m ining (463),nan ce/insura nce (1160) an dvarious prim ary industr ies.

Dr Lea sa id Darwin could develop amore res i lient economy and become

less dependen t on the Austra lianGovernm ent and resource sectorby prioritising CDUs place inthe com mu nity.

She said th e University played a vitalrole in nu rtu ring and developingcreative minds.

CDU feeds into t he NT econom ywith graduates in key areas of design, new m edia, musictechn ology a nd engineering.

Darw in: A crea tive hu b in the tropicsDarw in has the poten tial to becom e a national leader and hu b for creative inn ovation a ndins piration, according to a recen t project led by CDUs Schoo l for Social and Policy Res earch.

r i gh t

Dr Judy Opitz, 84, still hungry for learning.

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A ssociate Professor Tess Lea leads anexam ination of the N T capitals creative life.

Origins NEWS


10/44

The North ern Territorys u nique social and geograph icprole has resu lted in a relat ively small, but diverse

an d dispersed ra nge of programs for young children. Inm etropolitan Darwin, early childhood services are m uchlike th ose in oth er cap ital cities, albeit with sta fngshor tages that character ise man y employm ent sectors . Inm ore rem ote locations, childrens services face a ran ge of operationa l cha llenges associated with isolation an d poorresourcing including difculties in a ttra cting qua lied earlychildhood educators.

Research h as long established th e importa nce of the earlychildhood years to social and a cadem ic developmen t.Culturally rich and nurturing environments provide optimalcontexts for brain developm ent a nd intellectua l, physicalan d social growth. Positive early childhood e xperiences

predict better academic achievement, school retention,and em ployment opt ions and take-up.

Some of Austra lias care an d edu cation p rovision isam ongst the best in th e world. We have gold sta nda rdearly childhood cent res but th ey are spread u nevenly.In the m id-1990s we led the world in our n ational childcare accreditat ion system , but th is ha s struggled toaccomm odate th e m assive ear ly childhood sectorgrowth of the pas t decade.

The Federal Governm ent cam e to ofce pledging to im proveearly childhood qu ality an d create a world-class system of integrated ea rly childhood learn ing and care. The aim is tha t

by 2013, all children in the year before formal schooling willhave a ccess to qua lity, affordable, early childhood e duca tionfor 15 hours a week, 40 weeks a year, delivered by degree -qua lied, early childhood teach ers in pu blic, private an dcommunity-based preschools and child care settings.

This is n o simple ta sk. In t he NT, as elsewhere, earlychildhood provision is patchy. There ha s been no inte grated,whole-of-Territory or whole-of-comm un ity planningapproa ch. And there is th e tyran ny of isolation. Som etimes,child care provision has been at t he wh im of comm ercialoperators wh o focused m ore on shareh olders protsand property gains than building educational capitalfor children an d fam ilies.

Across Austra lia, near ly one m illion ch ildren un der sch oolage participate in ear ly childhood services an d the sector isone of th e na tions biggest e m ployers. Some 50 or so childcare cen tres in th e NT catered for abou t 3092 children in2006 (Census of Child Care Services, 2007) . About ha lf thesewere in th e th ree-to-ve age group. Some 19 per centwere four years o ld and m any a lso a t tendedGovernment preschools each week.

Child care centres ran ge in size from 30 or so places to75 places. A child car e place m ay be occu pied by m orethan one chi ld because m any chi ldren a t ten d par t - t ime.Child care also includes hom e-based, but sup ervisedFam ily Day Care.

Quality early childh ood edu cationis crit ical to academ ic an d socialdevelopment . al ison el l iot t exploresth e u nique chal lenges facing th e NT.

t ext

A lison Elliott

phot ogra ph

Peter Eve

ant ennae

Alison Elliott is Professor of Education and Head of CDUs Schoolof Education. She is recognised w idely for her leadership, research,

development a nd policy w ork in early childhood care and education.

Growing strongadults fromearly childhood

rst erson

FIRST PERSON Origins


11/44

The NT has t he h ighest p roportion (34 per cent) of children at tend ing child care fu ll-time. This m ay reect acombina tion of l im ited fam ily support netw orks and greaterfull-time e m ploym ent opportu nities. Some 3272 childrenwere e nr olled in NT presch ools in 2006: 1378 Indigenou s

children an d 1894 non-Indigenous children (DEET Ann ual Report 2006 2007) . The Produc tivity Com m issions Ann ua lReport for 2007 stated t ha t n early 80 per cent of eligible fouryear olds atten ded a presch ool program in 2007.

Exact ea rly childhood part icipat ion ra tes a re difcult todetermine becau se a t ten dance da ta a re collected in di fferentways and a t different t im es, an d there is no unique identierfor each ch ild wh o enrols. Coun ting is com plicated becau sem any chi ldren par t icipate in more th an one ear ly childhoodservice. High fam ily m obility also com plicates count ing.

There a re two m ain types of services providing edu cationan d care t o children from birth to ve years of age in the NT:preschools and child care centres, som etimes known a s early

learning centres.

The Territory is a leader in preschool edu cation. Mostpreschools are co-located on pr imar y school sites and h aveadm inistrative an d edu cational t ies to the sch ool. Preschools,includ ing mobile presch ools, provide session al edu cat ionprogram s for four year olds for up to 12 hours a week.This will soon increase. In som e cases, atten dan ce is opento th ree year olds an d, depending on fam ily vulnerability,can be a lmost full-tim e. There is no limit to the nu m ber of preschool places the government funds but, understandably,provision of a p reschool teach er is l inked t o m inimumenrolm ents. This m akes provision difcult in rem ote area swith sm all, highly mobile popu lations.

In add ition t o on-site presch ools, mobile preschoolsoperate in a ra nge of very remot e areas t o service sma llcomm un ities. The m obile preschool visits each comm un ityfor about tw o days a week. It is staffed by a qu alied tea cher(not necessar ily an ea rly childhood teach er) and on-siteteacher ass is tants .

Child care centres a re the second m ain type of earlychildhood service. Accredited ch ild ca re cen tres en ablefam ilies to access t he Child Care Benet, a su bsidy to helpparen ts afford the ser vice. Most early learn ing centres aretechn ically child care centre s. Som e provide a strongeduca tional program an d emp loy qua lied early childhood

staff. At present, however, the re is no req uirem ent forNT child care cen tres to em ploy a qu alied earlychildhood teacher.

Other t ypes of early childhood services in t he NT includeComm onwealth -funded Multifunctional AboriginalChildrens Services an d crches. These budget-basedservices are prima rily for Indigenous children, and are n otrequired to meet n ormal na t ional accredi ta t ion s tanda rds .They include long day ca re, playgroups, outside-school-hou rs-care, school holiday care an d other cu lturallyre levant program s.

The n ationa l diversity in early childhood service qu alityan d a ccess is polarised in th e Territory. We have som e of the

best an d worst services. The NT Governm ent -fundedpreschools and th e ear ly learning centres a t ta ched toCatholic and Independent schools are am ong the bes t

na tionally and inte rna tionally. Unfortun ately, some of Austra lias m ost problem atic ea rly childhood servicesare also in t he Territory, especially in rem ote locations.They are house d in dirty an d n eglected facilit ies, withlim ited stafng and re sources. Some s it outside thena tional child care accreditation schem e so there islit t le q ua lity cont rol.

Extrem e staff shortages across the sector na tionallyare e xacerbat ed in rem ote locations. Not su rprisingly,fam ilies and children don t wan t to par ticipat e in poor-qua lity ear ly childhood services, so som e cen tres sitvirtua lly em pty.

The NT Governm ent strat egy, Closing the Gap of Indigenous Disadvant age: A Generational Plan of A ction (Aug 2007) addresses specic challenges th at affectIndigenou s Territorians. Closing the Gap strategiesinclude improving early educational outcom es forall Territory children an d enh an cing developm enta land educational outcomes for Indigenous children.Strategies include a dditiona l targeted ea rly childhoodservices including m obile preschools.

The forma tion of an ea rly childhood division in theNT Depart m ent of Educa tion and Training, m ovem entof child care adm inis t ra t ion t o the NT Depar tm entof Educa tion an d Training, the assen t of the Careand Protection of Children Act an d a n ew ChildrensCom m ission sh ould a ll boost ea rly childhood p rovision,access an d qua lity.

The h igh p roportion of youn g children in th e Territorym akes qua lity early childhood especially im portan t.NT comm unit ies are the m ost youthful in the country.In Jun e 2007, 51,800 children (24.1 per ce nt ) wereaged 15 years a nd u nder from th e NTs populat ionof 218,000 overall. There w ere a n est ima ted 3642four year olds. Some 40 per cent of NT children areIndigenou s an d th e Indigenou s populat ion is growingat twice the a nnu al projected ra te for the widerAustralian population. By 2013 Indigenous childrenwill comp rise 50 per cen t of a ll Territory children.

The Territory is a leaderin preschool educat ion.

Origins FIRST PERSON


12/44

The shift from crea tion to evolutionhas moved intellectual end eavoursfrom un testable belief to rationalund erstand ing tha t ows from thescientic met hod. This, in turn , ha sallowed a staggering array of advan cesin knowledge. Darw in is consideredone of the m ost inuential scientistswho ever lived because th e th eory of evolution is one of the m ost powerfulideas in science and m ay well be thegreatest idea ever had by the hu ma nm ind. Darwin supplied an explana tionfor the grea t diversity of life an dshowed tha t a ll life, including hum an,is related by descent from a comm on

an cestor. No other biologist has h ad a nimpact of this magnitude.

The elegan t sim plicity of Darwinsreason ing can be distilled as follows.There is variation in na ture an d ma nym ore offspring are generated th an ca nsurvive, the refore the re is a stru ggle forsurvival in wh ich favoura ble variat ionsare preserved and u nfavourablevariations ar e rem oved. This processleads to evolution wh ich h e denedas descen t with m odication an dto speciation, the formation of new

species. Since n atu re is doing theselecting for the forms best a daptedto a part icular environm ent, hecalled th e process na tural selectionas oppose d to art icial selectionth at is im posed by breeders. Darw inborrowed t he e xpression survival of the ttest from economist HerbertSpencer. Evolutionary tness meansreproductive tness. In m odern term s,the ttest is the one who gets the mostgenes into the n ext generation, notneces sarily th e biggest or strongestindividual.

Darwin drew th e rst evolutionary tree sh owing therelated ness of all anima l life (1837). He explained how cora lreefs form (1842) and con tribut ed to geological observat ionson earth m ovem ents (1844) and the deformation th eory of m eta m orphic rock (1846). He described all known ba rna clespecies, fossil and living (1851-1854). Darwin explained howorchids are fertilised by insects (1862) an d how plant s climb(1865). He intr oduced the control in controlled exper imen tand h e catalogued th e variation in dom estic plants an danim als (1868). He explained h um an origins and sexualselection in wa ys never be fore art iculated (1870-71), anddiscussed hu m an a nd a nima l emotions (1872).

The latter work was one of the rst books to use ph otographs.Darwin sh owed how insectivorous plant s growing onimpoverished soils u tilise n itrogen-rich insects (1875), andhe dem onstrated tha t th e offspring of cross-fertil ised plantswere m ore num erous an d vigorous tha n self-fertilised ones(1876, 1877). His observations of climbing plants laid thefound ation for the eld of plant growth h orm ones (1880), an dhis work on eart hworm s (1881) is a classic stud y in ecology.Any one of these a chieveme nts cou ld constitut e a lifes work for most scient ists. Darwin accom plished all of th is with graceand dignity. He was a devoted hu sband and father, and hispersonal l ife was a m odel for em ulation.

t im m. ber r a is Professor Emeritus of Evolution, Ecology and Organism al Biology at the Ohio Sta teUniversity, Research Associate at the Museumand A rt Gallery of th e Northern Territory, atw o-time Fulbright Fellow, and au thor of sixbooks including Charles Dar win: The ConciseStory of an Extraord inary Man.

t ext

Tim Berra

phot ograph

Courtesy Tim Berra

Charles , My Hero

The m an w ho change d a world viewCha rles Darwin is my hero because h e accomplished so m uch t ha t isso im portan t . By cha nging the way hu m an s view th eir place in n atu re ,he created a para digm shift , a very rare event in th e h is tory of science:the replacem ent of one world view by an other.

ant ennae

Professor Tim Berra w ill be keynote speak er at the Charles Darwin Sym posium in Darwin from 22 24 September 2009. Titled Charles Darwin: Shaping our Science,Society and Future , the Symposium celebrates the200th anniversary of Charles Darwins birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Onthe Origin of Species . W: cdu.edu.au/cdss2009.

ncise

les

CHARLES, MY HERO Origins


13/44

Origins ON THE MOVE


14/44

With a land m ass of almost 1.4 millionsq km, the NT represents one of thelargest regions in th e na tion, but i thas t he sm al les t populat ion - n udging

just 220,000 people. This rela tivelysm all pool of people available to th eTerritor ys workforce and econ om icdevelopment highlights the needto unders tand the m ake-up of the populat ion.

A Resea rch Associat e w ith CDUsSchool for Social an d Policy Resea rch(SSPR), Dr Kat e Golebiows ka, h asrecently investigated im m igration an demployment experience of overseas-born nurses a nd m idwives in theTerritor y. This sect or of th e workforcerelies on recruiting overseas-tra inedprofession als: in Novem ber 2007about 13 per cent of th is workforce inthe Territory was overseas-tr ained.

From this initial interest, DrGolebiowska has broad ened h er

research to s tu dy the character is t icsof interna tional migration in th eNT. She began her one-year, ground-breaking stu dy in August 2008.Esse nt ially, Im t rying to iden tifywhat happens w hen overseas-bornmigrants come to the NorthernTerr itory and wh at demographic andeconomic im pacts thei r presence hereha ve, sh e sa id. Do they st ay pu t,m ove around t he Territory or moveintersta te? Finding an swers to thesequest ions wi ll help to u nders tan d

their role in th e populat ion growthof the Territory, which ha s typicallybeen volatile.

Imm igran ts form a sizeable portionof the Territorys popu lation . Them ost recent n ational Census (2006)by the Australian Bureau of Stat istics(ABS) shows t ha t som e 22 per cen tof Territorians were born overseas.Further, in the wee k before the lastCensus was un der taken, 94 per centof eligible Territor ians w ere en gaged

t ext

Robyn McDougall

phot ograph

Peter Eve

in work, suggesting that im m igran ts are critical to a robustNT economy, see W: www.censusdata.abs.gov.au.

Dr Golebiowska expects t he re sults of her st udy will havetwofold ben ets. It will he lp to ll in th e gaps in t heacad em ic li teratu re. In nat ional publications, the NT rarelygets a lot of attent ion (becau se of a pau city of inform ation),but m ore detailed answers shou ld be able to be offered afterthis stu dy, she sa id. Just as im portan t, the resea rch resu ltswill help to gain furt her insights int o the regional dispersalof im m igran ts in Austr alia.

The st udy com plemen ts t he work of SSPRs PopulationStudies Group wh ich ha s studied, am ong other aspects, them obility of Indigenous a nd non -Indigenous Territorian s,an d ha s produced p opulation projections for the NT. DrGolebiowska is drawing on unp ublished Census da ta fromthe ABS, unpu blished informat ion s upplied by the FederalDepartm ent of Im m igration an d Citizenship, an d interviewswith im m igran ts n ow living in Darwin an d Alice Springs,to describe the volum e of people com ing to the NT fromoverseas including their eth nic origin, age, occupa tion an dgender an d visa type. She will com pare t hese with guresfrom th e rest of Austr alia.

Preliminary ndings related to gender suggest tha t the im ageof the NT being m ale an d blokey m ight need to be revised.Ana lysis of the 2001 Censu s dat a sh ows tha t imm igrationinto th e NT is m ostly women . Im looking to see if the 2006Census tren ds are th e sam e. If the t rend is conrm ed in 2006Census d ata , it could ch an ge perceptions of the NT, she said.

Ive found t ha t th e imm igran ts are com ing for ma nyreason s: to take up em ploym ent a s skilled m igran ts, asfam ily migrants an d as refugees. We have the full spectrumin th e NT, sh e sa id.

But how im m igran ts com e to ch oose Darwin, Alice Springs,or the NT for that m att er, m ay not be the im m igran ts soledecision. Austra lian Governm ent policy state s th at skilledimm igrants en ter ing the count ry on a tem porary long-term 457 visa (which gran ts tem porary residence for up tofour years and requ ires a m inimum two-year em ploymentcontra ct from the spon soring em ployer) are requ ired torem ain in one location for the two-year du ration of their job.

When overseas- t ra ined nurses s ign up wi th nu rserecruitm ent a gencies , which are popular a m ong thoseeduca ted in Africa, theyre m ade a n offer and gene rally takethe rst offer. Its a m att er of cha nce wh ethe r they end u pin Cana da, New Zea lan d or Aust ralia, or Alice Springs orMelbourn e, if they ch oose to com e to Australia.

The issue of populat ion in Austra l ia is nowh ere as im portan t a s in

th e Nort he rn Territory. kat e g ol ebio w ska is working to un ders tan done sector of th e NT popu lation: oversea s-born m igran ts.

Blokey NT image may be a myth

w eb byt e

For more informationon the w ork of the SSPR

Population S tudies Group,see W: www.cdu.edu.au/

sspr/populationstudies.

f a r r i gh t

Kate Golebiowsk a

ON THE MOVE Origins


15/44

Dr Golebiowskas initial ana lysis of the Censu s sta tisticsshows that th e NT at t racts more im migrants f rom south-east Asia th an does Austra lia as a whole, which sh ouldnot come as a surpr ise given th e Territorys proximity tothe region.

But in compa rison to th e rest of Austra lia, we are a lsogetting proportionately slightly m ore African im m igran ts,not from the north , but from oth er African cou ntries, shesaid. While South Africans dom inate in th e na tional arena ,in the NT it is Zim babwea ns wh o dom inate. The Africanimm igrants m ay be a t t racted by the re la t ively s t rongAustra lian econom y and t he com para tive safety of society.

Immigrant nu rses and m idwives f rom Zimba bwe who

she inte rviewed said th ey would consider moving back to the ir home cou ntr ies, but on ly in a fam ily emergency.They said they wou ld not consider going perma nen tly.Austra lia is hom e n ow. Most were inte rested in becom ingAustra lian citizens.

Dr Golebiowska said m an y Alice Springs nur ses a rrived inthe NT on th e tem porary 457 visas. Most are ha ppy to getawa y from Africa, sh e said. Some n ur ses from Africa a retold by the recruitm ent a gencies that Alice Springs is muchthe sa me as Afr ica , but the nurses repor t tha t i t i s muchhott er! she said.

While some developing coun tries are concerned a boutthe exodus of skilled professionals, others view skilledem igration a s an opportun ity. Som e institutions in th ePhilippines have m ade an industr y of training nu rsesspec ically to work overs eas, Dr Golebiowska said. Theyfollow the US curriculum for registered n urses which isaim ed at facili tating their em ploym ent there. As a result ,rem ittan ces have become a big part of the Philippineseconom y. Likewise, ma ny African-born nu rses w orking in theTerritory support th eir fam ilies in th eir homelan ds.

Dr Golebiowska said she h oped her research w ould seedfur ther oppor tuni t ies for both t he imm igrants a nd th eNorthern Territory.

On the m oveKate Golebiowska has been m oreor less on the m ove s ince age15. As a teen ager in h er n at ivePo land , she spen t m any summ erbreaks taking up scholarshipsto st udy Italian in Italy, Fren chin Switzer land a nd Engl ish inScotland. But it wa sn t un til sh eun der took her Masters in p ol it ica lscience at Warsaw University andwrote a MA thesis on in ternat ionalm igration in Europe, in w hich sh e

included a chap ter on Austra lianimm igrat ion, that her in teres t inthe a rea was fuelled.

In 2002 Kate m oved to Canberra totake up a PhD scholarship at th eAustralian National University. Itwas h ere, at h er rst day at ANUtha t she discovered a distant fam ilym em ber working in the samebuilding. The relative h ad beenseparated f rom th e wider fam ilyby almost 50 years an d 15,000 km .The discovery unders cored the

poignancy of emigration.Once she subm i t ted he r t hes i sin 2006, Kate wa s free to m ove toDarwin whe re her par tn er l ives .Now she looks forward to jo iningother overseas-born immigrantsla ter th is year in taking herci t izensh ip tes t . And the re arefew would-be c it izens wh o areha ppier th at the cricket questionshave been rem oved from th eAustra l ian tes t .

Origins ON THE MOVE


16/44

Most of the worlds crocodilians a re th reate ned orenda ngered, and a lthough Australias two species of crocodiles have enjoyed three decades of population growthsince they were protected, these species too face newchallenges to t heir su rvival, including the e ffects of climat echange an d invasive species such as can e toads .

Professor Keith Christian an d Dr Ch ris Tracy, from CDUsSchool of Environmental and Life Sciences, have joinedwith Professor Grah am e Webb and Charlie Man olis, of Wildlife Mana gemen t Interna tional (WMI) and CrocodylusPark, in two projects to investigate t he u nique a dapt ationsof crocodiles an d th eir susceptibili ty to environm enta ldis turbances .

The rst project, funded by th e Austra lian Research Council(ARC) in conjunction with the Innovation Board of theNorthern Territory Governm ent an d WMI, is exam iningthe digestive physiology of crocodiles with a long-termgoal of improving growth ra tes of captive anim als in th ecrocodile farm ing industry. To a chieve t ha t aim, h owever, theresearch ers are investigating the u nderlying physiology andbehaviour of crocodiles relate d to t heir digestion.

Using recent ly developed techniques tha t m easure th e waynutr ients pa ss through th e in tes t ines , the researchers havediscovered th at crocodiles have a surprising ability to a bsorbnu trients passively across th e intest ines. Passive absorption

(as opposed t o active transport) requires no en ergy, an d th ushas some a dvantages.

The exten t of passive tran sport in crocodiles is compara bleto that found in birds and bats animals that have veryhigh energy requirem ent s. This un expected result m ay berela ted to the fact tha t crocodi les and birds share a comm onan cestry, or, alterna tively, it m ay be relate d to t he fact th atthe pre l iminary m easurem ents were a l l ma de f rom fas t -growing juvenile an imals.

Experimen ts plan ned for this year will involve larger an d,ther efore, slower-growing crocodiles in a n a ttem pt to fu rthe r

Crocodiles are an cien t creatu resth at h ave survived environm ent al

cata s t rophes over the m il lenn ia .And m any of the cha racter is t ics

th at h ave al lowed them to surviveinto t he 21st Centu ry are only now

beginn ing to be u nders t ood.

Digesting crocs secrets fromthe inside out

t ext

Richie Hodgson

ON THE MOVE Origins


17/44

unders ta nd t he pa t tern revealed by the in it ia l exper im ents .Either w ay, the results w ill provide n ew insight into theinner workings of crocodiles, an d u ltimat ely these insightsm ay be able to be exploited to produ ce an im proved dietfor captive an ima ls.

A second project, which will begin mid-year, pending asuccessful ARC application, will exam ine th e effects of can e toads on popu lations of freshwat er crocodiles.

It is well established th at crocodiles can die after eating acane toad, and s ince both crocs and toads inha bit the edgesof waterways, it seem s a forgone conclusion that toads willdecimate freshwater crocodile populations.

There are, however, several comp licating factors. One factorrelates to th e m ain preda tors of freshwa ter crocodile eggs,goanna s, being poisoned by toad s. With fewer goanna saround, m any m ore hatchl ings m ay be produced, even i f larger crocodiles were to die as a result of eat ing toads.Determ ining the ba lance betwee n th ese opposing forces isone of the a ims of the new project .

Another com plicating factor is related to appare ntdifferences in th e su sceptibili ty of freshwa ter crocodilepopulat ions to can e toads a t leas t based on prel iminaryobservations.

Drs Jona th an Webb (form erly of CDU) an d Mike Letn ic, of the

University of Sydney, recent ly docum ente d h igh m ortalityam ong freshwa ter crocodiles soon after th e invasion of toa ds in th e NTs Victoria River. Sim ilar obser vation s h avebeen made in other rivers, including Katherine River. Butpreliminary observations in McKinlay River su ggest mu chless mort ality.

Althou gh a thorough survey of McKinlay River h as n ot beencarried out since t he a rrival of toads (that will be the toppriority if th e ARC fun ding is succes sful), a su rvey of nestsfound n o reduction after th e arrival of the toads, suggestingthat fem ale num bers have not decl ined.

It is well esta blish ed th atcrocodiles can die aftereat ing a cane toad, andsince both crocs an dtoads inha bit th e edgesof wat erways, i t seem sa forgone con clusionth at toad s will decim atefreshwa ter crocodilepopulat ions .

Variability a m ong popu lations invarious river system s ma y be cause dby any num ber of factors , such a sthe ability of individua l crocs tolearn not to eat toads , the speed a twhich popu lations m ay evolve tolearn to n ot eat toa ds, or pre-existingdifferences a m ong populations inthe ir propensity to eat frogs andtoads. The latter possibility couldrela te to the fact that there are somena tive frogs in som e river system stha t are also toxic, raising the

possibility th at crocodiles in th oseareas may have a long-establ ishedaversion to ea ting frogs. These a ream ong the various possibili t ies th atresearch ers hope t o investigate overthe next few years .

The freshwa ter crocodiles inMcKinlay River will be an im port an tpar t of the s tu dy because of thelong- term populat ion dat a tha t havebeen collected since the 1970s byWMI staff.

Analyses of the popu lation structu re,size-dependan t survivorship, an dreproduct ion before and a f ter thecan e toad invasion will result inone of the m ost comprehensivepopulat ion stu dies of any long-livedreptile. In a sense, the invasionof cane toads a nd t hei r effecton crocodile populat ions is anevolutionary experiment on a grandscale the sort th at crocodiles have,so far, endu red over the m illennia.

Origins ON THE MOVE


18/44

The Conservat ion and LandManagement Lecturer ha s a specia ll ink wi th h is s tudents wh o are locatedin Tenn an t Creek, 500km north of hisAlice Springs ba se. Wayne, wh o is of eas tern Aranda descent , re turned tohis Central Austra lia birthp lace wh ichhe lef t when h e was rem oved f rom hisfam ily as a ve-year-old and placedin Retta Dixon Homes in Darwin,m an aged by the Aboriginal Inlan dMission.

The challenges of Aborigina l identityan d the con fusion of not belongingwere e lem en ts of Waynes life, butat a young age he also developeda pa ss ion for the environm entand eventua l ly became a h ighlysuccessful cul tura l and n atural landma nagemen t specia l is t .

The land has been a consis tentthem e throughout h is career whichha s included working in Top EndIndigenous com mu nit ies as a ran ger

co-ordina tor, a stockm an on catt les ta t ions and a s an Indigenous landma nagemen t facil ita tor.

It was a fter reloca ting to Victoria in2006, however, tha t Wayne soon feltan urge to re turn home. There wasan overwhelm ing an d spiritua l desireto go back to m y ancest or count ry,he sa id .

About the sam e t ime, a lec tur ingpos ition a t CDUs Alice Spr ingscam pus captured his a t tent ion and in

late 2006, Wayne retu rned to CentralAustralia with his family.

It was a n excuse to re turn homean d do someth ing for my people,and t o introduce m y children to theirIndigenou s her itage which is soimp orta nt for th eir life journe y, he sa id.

Waynes rst form al lectur ing positioninvolved a steep learning curve, buthe sa id he h as found great p leasure inhelping his people and reconn ectingwith his fam ily which is spread acrossCentral Australia.

r ight

Conservation Land Management students in

Tennant Creek Tony Junior Cutta (left) and Corey

Hogan get to work.

At home where two worlds collide

t ext

Jason McIntosh

phot ograph

Jason McIntosh

above

Wayne Barbour

His stu den ts a re considered wild boys an d a ha rd group to cra ck,

bu t Alice Springs lectu rer w ayn e bar bour is r igh t a t hom e am ong them .

I had to be m yself an d deliver su bjects from th eirperspective. I found m y cultural connection with th ese me nm ade a h uge difference, he sa id.

This m ean t ada pting his experiences an d knowledge of Indigenou s people in his backyard of Northern Austra lia tothose in Cent ral Austr alia.

At rst, i t was a ch allenge. I had t o think in a desert w ayan d let go of my Top End e xperience, but once th ey got toknow who I was th e process changed becau se we developedthe re spect betwe en u s, he sa id.

Weed spraying is a classic exam ple becau se to th em(Indigenou s people) killing plants doesnt m ake sen se, someof them have a cultu ral value.

His solution was to explain that d an gerous bushres werem ore of a t hrea t to bu sh t ucker. Its all about nal deliveryan d tting edu cation into t he world they live, Wayne said.

And the results h ave been im pressive. His rst group of Certicate I in Conservation Lan d Managem ent st uden ts lastyear registered a 96 per cent pa ss rate. Many of them arenow working with Wayne t o comp lete th eir Certicate II inConservation Land Management.

He said he was th rilled to see the efforts of his studen ts,

m an y of whom are h is direct relations. It gives m e such agreat feeling to see t hem work so hard , he sa id.

ON THE MOVE Origins


19/44

Dr Meekan, of the Austra lian Institute of Marine Sciencein Darwin, ha d been following the m ovement s of theenorm ous sh for month s on its 4000km journey fromChristma s Islan d, 500km south of Jakart a in Indonesia,across to West Papua, and ba ck south again.

The high-tech t racking tag on its back was collectingimportant n ew inform at ion about these m yster ious giants -the worlds largest sh which can m igrate up to 12,000kman d are u nder t hrea t from ocean -going vessels in Asia whichharvest the sharks for comm ercia l purposes .

But ou t of the blue, the sh arks journey stopped a brupt ly justoff West Timor.

Dr Meekan recal led how he real ised with disma y that thetag, and perh aps the wha le shark, had ended up on a rem otebeach . Then, to his surprise, the t ag began to m ove inland.

I could follow its pa th t o a village an d I could see it wa ssitting in a house, Dr Meekan said.

After overlaying th e signal on to Google Earth m aps, hequickly laun ched a rescu e operation for the device becausethe d ata it contained wa s absolutely invalua ble.

A research associate a t Cha rles Darwin Un iversity, ConradSpeed, went t o the far-ung village about t hree kilometresinland, p inpointed the h ouse an d offered a reward for the$4000 tags ret ur n.

A local villager looking for turt le eggs had fou nd it on th ebeach, Dr Meekan said.

White scra tch ma rks on the blue surface revealed the tagprobably had been ripped from th e back of the gent le whaleshark by another sha rk and then washed ash ore .

Very lit t le is known a bout t he be haviour of wha le shar ks inthe open ocean. But th e record stored on the recovered tagrevealed tha t the gigan tic sh ha d dived to depth s of m orethan 1000 metres .

Its extrem ely dark an d very cold down the re, less tha n 10degree s, Dr Meekan said.

Scient is ts are concerned th at t heaverage length of whale sha rks atNingaloo Reef in Western Aust raliahas dropped f rom seven m etres to vem etres in th e pas t 10 years .

Num bers have also declined, withcollisions with vessels a likely sourceof deaths .

With West Australian Tourism relyingheavily on t he wh ale sharks drawingthou san ds of visitors t o Ningaloo Reef every year, debat e on h ow to best

address the decl in ing numbers h asbecome m ore in tense .

About 25 per cen t of the an imalsat Ningaloo have scars th at couldbe att ributed to boat strikes,Dr Meekan said.

Unders tanding more about th ei rm ovemen ts an d s low reproduct ivebiology were the keys to the irprotection.

For such a ra pid decline to beobserved in su ch a long-lived

species suggests a stron g morta litysou rce, he s aid.

Fishin g in Asia is also deplet ingnum bers and researchers haveestablished a project to helpdevelop sma ll ecotourismoperations in Indonesia topreserve the ocean giants.

We see that a s one of the m ostuseful ways to ensure t he futureof the an imals, he said.

phot ograph

Courtesy Rob Harcourt

t ext

Richie Hodgson

Marine scientist mar k meekan h a dth e feeling that som eth ing was am isswh en th e ve-met re- long whale shark he wa s tracking via sa tell ite su dden lyappea red to be heading inlan d.

Whale sharks wayward journey

Origins ON THE MOVE


20/44

With a n en t i re cont inent to choosefrom for h er resea rch, ElizabethPovine lli set off for Belyuen , anIndigenous comm unity on the oth er

side of Darwin h arbou r.It was the rs t s tep toward becomingProfessor of Anth ropology atColum bia Un iversit y, New York City,an d a djunct Professor at CDU. But shedidnt know tha t at th e time, nor didshe know a nything about Belyuen oranth ropology th en.

I knew noth ing about Austra lia oth erthan what I had seen in m ovies . And Iarrived in Darwin by chan ce, a cha nceheavily m ediated by the regularrout es of airline ights, she s aid.

Some 25 years on, Professor Povinelli continues to work closely with t hree Indigenou s fam ilies. Together t heyare developing a u nique m ethod of archiving the s ocial,historical and cu ltural knowledge of the ir traditiona l lan d inthe Anson Bay region south west of Darw in. Their project iscalled Karrabing: keeping country live.

Karra bing is an Em iyengal word t ha t refers t o th e tidesnal ebb before it return s, an d reects th e fam ilies hopeto discover a way of life tha t joins Indigenous a nd n on-Indigenou s aspirations.

Ultimately, Karrabing will become a real-world library, whereinforma tion is l iterally embedded into th e landscap e. Futurevisitors will be able to use m obile phone s to ph otographtwo-dimen sional barcodes placed on the lan d, which willprom pt th e phone t o download a webpa ge. They might viewvideos or recordings of ancestors discussing the site, discoverlocal environmen tal knowledge, or for the a dventu re tourist ,informat ion about good places to sh an d hu nt .

Professor Povinelli continues to record their cultura l historiesto ensure th e famil ies have the personal resources to ma keKarra bing work, an d to esta blish a susta inable life at AnsonBay. She rem ains a consta nt voice of encouragem ent for

them to gain essential skills. Som e of the people alreadyhave certicates in we lding, carpentry, an d power a ndwater m ana gement , but what they dont have is money orphysical resources, somet hing Karrabing could p rovide if i t has a n econom ic ow-on effect. If the con cept succeed s,the fa m ilies hope to develop a tourism bu siness, or have itada pted for use a t tourist Meccas arou nd t he globe as a liveguide em bedded into the d estinat ion.

Of equa l im portan ce to the fam ilies is the opportu nity toreconnect wi th thei r land a f ter a generat ion of separat ion.In th e 1930s, Ruby Yarrowin a nd her paren ts genera tionwere the last perm an ent resident s of south ern Anson Bay.They m oved n orth t o Belyuen, then were forcibly inter ned

at t he Kather ine Aboriginal war ca m ps du ring World WarII. They ed because of th e violence an d walked m ore tha n200 km back to Anson Bay. After t he war, they retur ned toBelyuen where Ruby m arried an d raised her children andgrandchildren.

In 2007, her extend ed fam ily ed Belyuen becau se of violence and th ey are now seeking to return to th e placewhere this long journey sta rted. Linda Yarrowin, dau ghterof Ruby Yarrowin, said the ha ppiness of th eir children wascentra l to their desire to ma ke life on their land work.

When you are th ere you feel your grand paren ts, yourpeople walking aroun d. You wa nt your children to be there,she sa id .

In 1984, youn g Am erican st ud en tel iza bet h po v in el l i travelled t o Darwinto s tudy the econom ic pract ices andpolit ical views of Indigen ous wom en .She ha s re tu rned every year s ince.

t ext

Shane Thamm

phot ograph

Courtesy Linda Davis

bel ow

Ruby Yarrowinwith her family

Karrabing: keepingcountry live

l eft

Ruby Yarrowin in the 19 60s

ON THE MOVE Origins


21/44

From a n ea rly age, the n ewlyappointed Associate Professor an dHead of the School of CreativeArts and Hum ani t ies caught thewan dering bug, inherited no dou btfrom his fathe r who worked ininternat ional const ruct ion.

His father s career dictated t ha tthe young Bill Wade would spe ndhis forma tive years far from h isna tive Onta rio.

At th e t en der age of 12, Bill lived inIran while his fath er trained localsin the product ion of pulp and pape r.Later the fam ily relocated to Israel,again following his fathe rs work th ist ime in a i rcraf t han ger const ruct ion.

And his global odyssey continue dinto adu lthood with Bill and h is

young fam ily now calling the m selvesTerritorians.

Similarly, the seeds of his careerpath grew out of h is own educat ionalexper iences as a youngster and hislife-long passion for th e creat ive an dperforming ar ts a s a mu sic ian, audioengineer an d producer of num erousCD projects and m ultimed ia ti t leswhile working in Can ada s Northw estTerritories.

I was sch ooled entirely by distance

educa tion for both Year 8 an d Year 11wh ile I was living in th e Middle-East ,Bill sa id.

Later in life I again studied externallyto com plete m y Master s in Distan ceEduca tion a t Can ada s University of Athabas ca, so throu gh my 10-plus

years of self-directed distance learning, I have becom e ahu ge advocate for i ts m erits.

First a nd forem ost Bill describes himself as a teach er byprofession. He began his career a s a prima ry schoolteacherbefore transitioning out of the classroom to chair teach ereduca tion program s for Can ada s Northwe st Territories.

In 2006 he moved th e 22,000 kms from the NorthwestTerritories of Canad a to Darwin to ta ke up a lecturing post atCharles Darwin University.

Since a rriving at CDU, Bill ha s imm erse d him self in th e eldsof creative art s, new m edia, distan ce educa tion, exible andonline learning, an d e-learning in genera l, an inte rest heat t r ibutes to his own exper ience as a n externa l s tudent .

Im p assionat e on the m erits of e-learning and h ave writtenarticles, papers and delivered numerous presentationsprom oting its worth as a n ed uca tional strat egy. Evidenceproves tha t i t can fur ther en gage youth in th e creat ive ar tsan d go some w ay towards levelling the playing eld in term sof closing the gap on educational disadvantage, Bill said.

For m ore tha n 20 years, Bill has cham pioned how t echn ologycan en han ce the tea ching and learning exper iences of botht eache r s and s tuden t s

In 2000 his work as both an educator an d researcher wasrecognised with th e Can adian New Media Educa tor of theYear award an d in Austra lia h e is fast gaining recognition inthe eld of e-learning through h is coordina tion of the a nn ua ldistance educa tion tech nology conference MobilizeThis.

Since ar riving at CDU, Bill ha s won th e resp ect of h iscolleagues a nd p eers, being na m ed th e CDU 2008 Cha m pionof the Year for Teaching a nd Learn ing Leader ship for th e

Facu lty of Law, Busin ess a nd Arts.He also has a vested interest in open ing critical discoursean d deba te on innovation tensions, which h e explains asthe juxta position tha t exists between ICT system s needingto offer safe environm ents for studen ts an d VET or HigherEduca tion educa tors wan ting to use innovative technologiesan d to en gage in au the ntic innovation.

He is curren tly ana lysing a pilot implem enta tion of CDUse-portfolio system , which is designed to en gage studen ts inself-directed learn ing and he is working towards providingguidelines a nd su ggestions for im plemen ting this systemwithin th e School of Creative Arts a nd Hum an ities an dbroa der CDU, HE an d VET sect ors.

Nomad nds ahome in e-learningAs an adven tu re -seeker and nom ad by na tu re, it cam e as n osurpr ise to Canad ian -born bil l w a de to n d h im self living inth e Nort h ern Territorys Top End.

w eb byt e

Visit the an nual dista nce education technologyconference MobilizeThis at W: ht tp:// mobilizethis.w ikisp aces.com. See A ssociate Professor Bill Wad esrecent lead article in the Knowledg e Tree on innovat iontensions W: http://kt.exiblelearning.net.au.

t ext

Row Booker

phot ograph

Peter Eve

above

Bill Wade

Origins ON THE MOVE


22/44

This death a t Goroka occurs in spite of nationa l policy thats ta tes th at a l l materni ty care should be provided f ree of charge. But if hospitals failed to cha rge patient s, they wouldhave even less capacity to care for them .

This i s the desperate s ituat ion of ma ternal m orta l ity thatPNG faces, a crisis that continue s to cripple th e coun trysheal th sys tem.

A wet and dre ary October morn ing in Port Moresby mar ksthe beginning of a one-week workshop with repre senta tionfrom a ll Papu a New Guinea s m idwifery teachinginst itu t ions , heal th depa r tm ent a nd oth er s takeholders.

This was th e th ird visit by World Health Organisation(WHO) consulta nt an d Cha rles Darwin University AssociateProfessor Child Health, Sue Kruske, to help to address thedesperate s i tuat ion of ma ternal m orta l ity exper ienced byAustra lias n orther n neighbour.

To say the coun trys m ater na l services are in a p oor statewould be an unders ta t emen t of epic propor t ions .

In 2008, a n um ber of events occurred in PNG thathighlighted th e escalating problems w ithin the cou ntr ysm ater na l services. The most signicant wa s the releaseof matern al morta l i ty es t imates conta ined in the la tes tHealth Demograph ic Survey results wh ich indicated a m orethan twofold increase in the PNG m aterna l morta l i ty ra tefrom 370 to more t ha n 730 per 100,000 in the past 10 years.The estima tes ran k PNG am ong the worst in the world forma ternal m orta l ity.

It was Dr Krus kes assignm ent t o help stakeh olders to improvethe qu ality an d conten t of the m idwifery curricula across

four tea ching schools involved in m idwifery edu cation in PNG.In December 2006, Dr Kruske led a com prehen sivereview of th e coun trys m idwifery educa tion. A total of 30recomm endat ions were made t o im prove both qual i ty andconten t. A new cu rriculum a cross the four schools wasamong the recommendat ions .

The following year, she ret urn ed to develop the newcurr iculum , based on th e in ternat ional WHO curr iculum ,and dram at ically redesign the curren t program s across thecount ry. Major cha nges included separa ting pediatrics fromthe m idwifery program , increasing the m idwifery conte ntan d increasing the dur ation from 44 weeks to 52 weeks.

This draft curriculum was left with the schools to modify totheir own need s. However, with th e exception of one wh ichimplemented m inor changes , there were l im i ted resources toapply the new p rogram a cross the schools, she sa id.

When the la tes t m aterna l morta l i ty gures were re leased in2008, Dr Kruske wa s invited to cont inue d eveloping the newcurriculum . This involved designing a nd developing eightnew subjects that included both the t radi t ional component sof midwifery practice and contemporary material consideredessen tial for effective midwifery pra ctice in PNG. Newm ater ial included p ublic hea lth, epidem iology an d thesociological inu ences of m ater na l health a nd well-being.

The qu ality of educa tion provided for th e prepa ration of m idwives has a m ajor inu ence on th e ability of hea lth

Way forward inPNGs maternalmortality crisis After walking for eight hou rs, a wom an

bleeds to deat h w ith a n ewborn chi ldin h er arm s at th e entran ce of Gorokahosp ital in Papu a New Guinea . Shedies becau se sh e doesn t h ave 10 Kina(A$5), th e h ospita ls a dm ission ch arge.

ON THE MOVE Origins


23/44

services to provide skilled care for women in pregnan cy,childbirth an d th e postn ata l period, Dr Kruske sa id.

Current ly, there a re insufcient m idwives in PNG an d th enu m ber being trained still wont com e close to addressingthe workforce shortages.

With so man y contr ibuting factors to the poor state of m ater na l and ch ild hea lth in PNG, a workable solutionseem ed alm ost impossible, she sa id. Women have very poorstat us in th e count ry, particularly in rura l areas. Infectiousdiseases such a s HIV are reach ing endem ic proportions andthe h ealth service infrastr uctu re has slowly been eroded inthe pa st 30 years. Stakeholders estima te tha t up to 50 percent of rura l health facilit ies have closed in th e past 30 years.

Poor ma intena nce of hea lth facilit ies has a ffected the a bilityto attract and maintain staff, and provide high-quality andsafe care.

Even essent ial m edical supplies an d equipm ent were oftenunavai lable even th ough the centra l warehouse h ad su ppl iesavailable.

Dr Kruske sa id ma ny women did not have access to hea l thservices for care during pregnan cy an d childbirth beca use of the ir geograph ical isolation.

PNG is ruled by its geograph y, with only a h an dful of bone- jarring, snaking roads crossing the m oun tain ra nges to link key centr es. Electricity a nd sewerage ser vices st ruggle t oreach even large towns, and lack of infrastruct ure dictate stha t 85 per cent of the p opulation stil l eke out a l iving assubsistence gardeners.

For m illennia before th e a rrival of Western civilisation, t inypopulat ions were hidden from on e anoth er in walled-off river valleys or clinging to treache rous m ount ain slopes,ghting ercely against t heir ne ighbou rs. This causedthou san ds of un ique comm un ities to evolve, each with th eirown rich custom s, trad itions an d languages.

Today, more tha n 800 distinct lan guages are spoken in PNG,aroun d one-th ird of the worlds total, an d m ost are spokenby only a few hu ndred p eople.

The Highlan ds were th e nal frontier of PNG to succu m b toWestern exploration and m any of the elderly stil l rem em berthe custom ary lifestyles they led before being introduced t oEuropea ns, coffee p lanta tions, Coca Cola a nd Christian ity.

Within one genera tion, the se people witnesse d the tra nsitionfrom ston e axes, digging sticks and grass h uts t o four wheeldrive vehicles, satelli te comm un ication and th e Westm instersystem of governm ent .

Providing health ca re to such a fragm ente d an d diversepopulat ion ha s a lways been difcult, and indicators of PNGsheal th s ta t us , such as chi ld and m aterna l morta l ity ra tes ,have consistent ly rated a m ong the bleakest in the world. Inth e 1960s, 20 per cen t of children born in PNG died beforethe ir fth birth day, Dr Kruske said.

But im pressive improvemen ts were m ade in th e 1960s and1970s. An efcient hea lth out reach p rogram wa s establishedwith aid posts in rem ote areas sta ffed by health exten sion

ofcers who administered basicm edicines a nd ca re.

Maternal and chi ld hea l th pat rolsregularly walked to rem ote villages toprovide educat ion, anten ata l care andvaccina tions. By 1982, 93 per cen tof the popu lation lived within atwo-hour walk of a health care facilityand t he chi ld m orta l ity ra te hadnea rly halved from 20 per cen t in1960 to aroun d 11 per cent.

But progress in PNGs h ealth stat usha s declined over the pa st 30 years.

To reverse th is trend , a MinisterialTaskforce on Matern al Health ha sbeen est ablished an d is reviewing alarge num ber of subm issions beforem aking recomm endat ions to theMinister on a proposed way forward.

The one-week worksh op in PortMoresby dur ing October 2008 offereda holistic approach to addr essingPNGs m ater na l m ortality crisis.

Considerable work rem ains to developreadings, lectures a nd various oth ertea ching m ate rials, Dr Krus ke said.

It is estima ted th at, of the newcurriculum , approxima tely 60 percent ca n be sourced in existingm ater ia ls , but t hese m ater ia ls requirefull revision a nd u pdat ing.

The rem aining 40 per cent consistsof new mat er ia l and tea chers haveident ied that t hey do not havethe capacity to in t roduce th is newmaterial without assistance.

There is now a h igh-qu ality,contem porary, PNG-contextu alisedm idwifery curriculum availablefor im plemen tat ion across PNG.If implem ent ed carefully withthe correct suppor t and real is t ictimefram es, Dr Kruske sa id sheexpected signicant imp rovem ent inthe qua lity of midwives gradua ting.

t ext

Richie Hodgson

phot ographs

Courtesy AssociateProfessor Su e Kruske

far l ef t above

Sulpain Passingan, from PNGs Departm ent of Health, and Dr SueKruske at the BomanaWar Cemetery.

fa r l eft bel ow

A typical postnatalward in PNG offerssub-standard facilities for mothers and their babies.

Progress in PNGs h ealth sta tu s h asdecline d over th e pa st 30 years.

Origins ON THE MOVE


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Always nea r her s ide, the cra yons, paints a nd pa per insidethe su itcase un der her bed gave the young Robyn McInerneysolace am ong the u nset t l ing foster hom es, orphanages an dstat e care of her childhood.

More tha n 50 years later, the Cha rles Darwin Un iversity AliceSprings-based Bachelor of Visual Arts stud ent continue sto use he r formidable artistic talent to expose the crisis of self-identity and to close wounds sh e accum ulated wh ile lostbetween Indigenous an d white worlds.

Born n ear Oodna datt a, in South Austra lias far n orth, to anAboriginal m other an d wh ite fathe r, Robyns life wa s m arkedby uph eaval. She lived with foster fam ilies across Austra liaand Papua New Guinea as a chi ld , moved to Denma rk as ayoung woman with her then h usband, and m any years la terretu rned t o her roots in Centra l Austra lia.

Robyns rece nt exhibition in Alice Springs, titled Shat tere dlives, attracted local acclaim, but ben eath the vibrantpaint ings an d sculpture was a wom an t rying to reconcilehe r pa st. It followed an ea rlier exhibition, titled Bucket

and brush, which represented the punishm ent of c leaningtoilets w hile in childrens h omes.

When I rst did the installation I was crying inside, but asI continu ed with it I realised it ma de m e feel good aboutm yself, she said.

Her story echoes those of man y Indigenous Austra lian s whohave been caught in th e abyss between black and whi tecultures. Robyns life of upheaval sta rted w hen she wa san infant a nd p laced in th e United Aboriginal Mission atOodnada tta . At age six, she a nd t hree siblings were ta kenfrom th e town a nd sen t to a foster fam ily in Adelaide.

But wh en her fos ter parents announ ced that th ey were

expecting a ch ild of th eir own, Robyn was re m oved. Her newworld within Evan gelistic Baptist fam ilies saw h er m ove u pthe e aster n sta tes an d later to a Christian Aviation Missionat Daru in Papu a New Guinea. One of her clearest m em orieshere w as of propeller planes roa ring in. She wa s now 11.

The locals used to t ell me th ey were m ixmaste r belong-em gods in the ir pigeon English, nam ed after the kitchenbeater s, she sa id. I remem ber m y age because they gave m ea Bible for Christm as a nd it was d ated 1960, she said.

Hande d to yet an other w hite PNG-based foster fam ily,Robyn was soon retur ned to New South Wales at shortnotice. Literally dum ped in th e stat e, she wa s taken on by

the government .

Art returns Robyns stolen heart Before falling as leep, you n g robyn m c inerneys th oughts wou ld dr if t in t othe world that lay within a n old suitcase benea th h er bed. It was h ere tha tthe t hread s of her ident i ty were held and th e place from w hich her hea l ingwould begin.

phot ographs

Jason McIntosh

t ext

Jason McIntosh

bel ow

Robyn McInerney

ON THE MOVE Origins


25/44

I didnt wa nt to go back t o Adelaidebecause i t wasnt m y home, so thecourts declared I was a wa rd of NSW,she sa id .

After a noth er roun d of childrenshom es, Robyn was sent to a Sydneyreforma tory where she found solacewithout e i ther fos ter parents orreligion dicta ting he r life.

I felt free from a fam ily unit wh ereI didnt belong and ha d friends tha tbeca m e m y siblings, she said. I gotso institutiona lised, I cried w hen I leftbecau se I l iked the rout ine and felt asense of belonging, but t he oth er kidsthought I was crazy wan t ing to s taybecau se they were trying anyth ing toget ou t.

Many years later, Robyn gained a ccess

to governm ent les that revealed atrail of l ies about h er background an dheritage. That rea lly hurt m e to th ink these people wrote these th ings thatwerent t rue about wh o I was andwhe re I was from. It really tore meapa rt, she said.

They warned m e not to read i t on myown beca use it wa s so full of l ies an dI was so depressed about th at becausehalf the t ime t hey jus t ma de i t up.

With n o record of her b ir th a nd th euse of adopted family nam es dur ingher schooling, Robyn ha s alwaysstr uggled for iden tity. They gave m e acerticate of citizensh ip tha t m igran tsget when they come to the countryan d I th ink, you know, Ive been livinghere all of my life with an Aboriginalm other w hich is a total insult , shesaid.

r ight A n early record of

Robyn McInerneys identity

At age 18 she nal ly escaped when sh e m et an d m arr ieda Dane, but this also involved an other bat tle through th ecour t syst em with th e h elp of Aboriginal Legal Aid. Thegovernm ent gave m e perm ission to m arry an d I was off, shesaid.

After l iving in Denm ark for seven years an d m asteringDanish, Robyn said her an xieties grew and s he took th etough decision to return to Austra lia. Soon after, she m et he rm other in Alice Springs following a 20-year sepa ration am omentous occasion she cher ishes . My mother h as n owpa ssed a way, bu t wh en I walk th e (Todd River) bridge toun iversity I feel tha t sh e is the re, she said.

After irting with various careers, Robyn said st udyingfor a Bach elor of Visua l Arts at CDU was giving her a wayforward and helps her to share h er s tor ies wi th others .

She said it was eq ua lly importa nt for traditional Aboriginalpeople to un ders tand t he s to len generat ion jus t as i t wasthe wider society. Its great w hen they com e in from thecomm unit ies because m any re la te to being downtrodden,but t hey dont always und ersta nd th e stolen generation, she

said.

Robyn is inspired by th e likes of pa inter Richard Bell andphotograph er Tracy Moffat wh o can carr y their messa ges sowell. It inspired m e to tell m y story and I was so hap py tosee oth ers a ppreciate a nd adm ire my work, she said. Itspart of my hea ling process that m akes m e stronger.

This new strength w ill help Robyn to face her m em ories asshe visits her birthp lace after m ore tha n 50 years. My lastdream is to go hom e an d I feel my life is complete an d it willm ake up for all the years I was away; like the last piece of m y lifes jigsaw.

My life will be complete when I return hom e, she said.

I got so ins ti tut iona lised,I cried wh en I left.

Origins ON THE MOVE


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Dr Greg Holland ha s research edan d studied tropical cyclones an drela ted severe weather for m uch of his l ife, an d is considered on e of thepreem inent a uth orities in his eld. Heis also the innovator of a research t oolthat has revolut ionised the s tudy of cyclones and hurr icanes .

After receiving a Bach elor of Scien ce with First Class Hon ors in

Mathematics from the Universityof New South Wales in 1972, th eenth usiastic and bright-eyed DrHolland was p osted t o DarwinsBurea u of Meteorology and was s oonto receive his baptism of re. The year1974 sta rte d with Tropical CycloneWanda bringing torrential rain an dooding to Brisbane. It ended withanother ma jor Austra lian populat ioncentre be ing devasta ted by a cyclone.

As one of the forecasters on du tywhen Cyclone Tracy devasta ted

Darwin in 1974, the m em ory is sti llas vivid and ch illing as ever for DrHolland som e 35 years on .

The cent ral pressu re of 950 hPa wasnot p art icularly special for severetropical cyclones, but the windswere u nu sua lly strong, he said.The anem ome ter at Darwin Airportrecorded a gust of 217 km/ h beforethe ins t rumen t wa s des t royed.

Tracy was rst dete cted as adepression unu sua lly close to theequa tor in the Arafura Sea on 20December 1974 and had becom e asm all but intense t ropical cyclone atlandfall , the radius of th e gale forcewinds being only about 50 km .

It moved slowly south west a ndintensied, passing close to Bathu rstIslan d on th e 23rd and 24th. Then itturned sh arply eas t -southeastward,and h eaded s t ra ight a t Darwin,striking th e city early on Christm asDay, he sa id.

Warnings were issued, but perh aps

becau se it was Christma s Eve, an d

perh aps becau se no severe cyclone had a ffected Darwin inma ny years , m any res idents were caught u nprepared. Buteven had there been perfect com pliance, the com binat ionof extrem ely powerful winds a nd th e loose design of ma nybui ldings a t that t ime, was such th at wholesale des t ruct ionwas probably inevitable.

Having sur vived the devastation of a m ajor tropical cyclonewithin his rst two years, Dr Holland p acked his bags an dhea ded to t he United State s to follow his passion. Atten dingColorad o State Un iversity, he received his Maste r in

Atmos ph eric Science in 1981, followed by his doct orat e in 1983.

Now Director of the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology(MMM) Division at th e Nat ional Cent er for Atm osph ericResearch in Boulder, Colorado, Dr Holland has had adistinguished career in t ropical mete orology includingforecasting, teach ing, research a nd com mu nity service.

At the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre h ewas Senior Principle Research Scient ist , an d found ed a nd ledthe Mesoscale Meteorology Research Group, which h as bee nactive in resea rch, major eld program s in the Darwin areaand support for forecast operations.

He ha s acted as ch air of the Working Group on Tropical

Meteorology for th e WMO Com m ission for Atm osphericSciences for 12 years, an d cham pioned the developmen t andcomm ercialisation of th e Aerosonde Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle(UAV), which is a w orld lea der in its eld.

A cyclones da ngerously high wind m ean s its a lmostimpossible for scientists to observe intense tropical cyclonesan d hu rricanes in act ion. But getting access to th e cyclone iscritical to developing un dersta nding.

One of the big problems with t ropical cyclones is they occurin rem ote a reas. Its a very hostile environm ent. No-onewan ts to be there, but i ts an a rea wh ere you have to takeobservations, he said.

So, in collaborat ion with a Canad ian e ngineer, Dr TadMcGeer, Dr Holland h as developed a sm all auton omou saircraft powered by a sm all petrol engine. The a ircraft hasthe opt ion of being piloted from th e ground or h an ded overcomp letely to robotic m ode.

We com m un icate throu gh to the low-earth orbiting satellitesystem, in t h is case the i r id ium t e lephone system , and th eaircraft th en is ying basically as a m obile phone. It actua llyhas i t s own phone num ber you can cal l i t up an d i t ca l lsyou back ena bling tran sfer of new instructions to th eai rcraf t and weather da ta to th e ground.

The aircrafts ingenious design m ean s tha t on a previous

ight u p in th e Arctic, north of Alaska, the a ircraft was un derthe comm an d of a pilot sit t ing in Melbourn e. The aircraft

t ext

Richie Hodgson

phot ographs

Courtesy Dr Greg Holland

Steeled by th e experience of l iving th rough t he d evasta tion of Cyclone

Tracy, greg ho l l and ha s ta ken h is exper t ise in m eteorology far beyondAus tra lias north ern wa ters.

In the path of a cyclone

above

Dr Greg Holland

f a r r i gh t

The aftermath of Cyclone Tracy in Darw in.

GLOBAL TERRITORIAN Origins


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han dles turbulence an d th e types of condi t ions in t ropicalcyclones extrem ely well. It has a ll the advan tages of beingsm all, which m ean s its very stron g, he said.

Essentially what t his aircraft can do is y in u nder nea ththe clouds in th e really intense pa rts of the cyclone an dtake the tempera ture , pressure and hum idity observat ionsan d, of course, the very im portan t winds. And we know th atwill improve the forecast system by 30 to 40 per cent , whichm eans we are m uch bet ter able to warn vulnerable coasta lcommunities.

Dr Hollands publications ha ve included m ajor contributionsto six textbooks and forecast m an ua ls, together with m oretha n 100 research pap ers in atm ospheric sciences an d UAVs.

At age 60, whe n m ost would be thinking about a com fortablelow-key retirem en t, Dr Hollan ds pass ion for met eorology,cyclones, and a tm ospheric research is as st rong as ever.

He talks enthu siastically about his career and offers thesewords of ad vice for aspiring m ete orologists: This is one of the great career s. Becau se th e weat her is everywhere, we livein our own laboratory an d every day you wake up an d look out th e window at som ething new an d in teres t ing.

The we ll-travelled re searche r,however, is quick to remem ber whe rehis journey began a nd th e dram at icchanges his career has brought tohis life. My time in t he Top End is

remem bered wi th great a ffect ion.I cam e to experience th e tropicalweat her a nd to learn how it t icks,he sa id .

Darwin gets in your

origins edition 1 2009

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