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Origins is a product of Charles Darwin University’s Corporate Communication section with design and layout by Sprout Creative, printing by Colemans Printing and photography by Baz Ledwidge and contributions by Rajiv Maharaj. Opinions and views expressed in Origins do not necessarily represent those of Charles Darwin University. Reproduction of material appearing in Origins requires written permission. For further details on Origins contact Scott Walker on 08 8946 6019 or scott.walker@cdu.edu.au

Published November 2004

vice chancellor’s comment 1

northern exposure 2

solving the riddle of the world’s biggest fish 4

smart skies 6

music for learning for life 8

meeting marvellous marvin 9

titillating the tastes 10

contentsbracing for the unwelcome squatter 12

found in the earth mound 14

night of a thousand stars 15

heroic illusions 16

island intervention 17

making life as a midwife 18

unspoken interactions 20

uncertain blitzkrieg 22

the living desert 24

water rights and values 25

knight’s folly 26

detecting the difference 28

the good oil 30

new roost 31

putting practice into study 31

directions 32

indigenous health research boosted 33

art matters 34

future indigenous stockmen 36

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contents vc1

Professor Helen Garnett with a piece by Frank Gohier,featured in the article ‘Art mattersÕ.

Welcome to Origins

A tangible sense of energy marks the first year of Charles DarwinUniversity’s entry into bothAustralia’s higher education andvocational education and trainingsectors.

We were inaugurated through a vision of creating a thriving university - one that fosters thecourage to be different and one that cherishes and realises its geographic and demographicadvantages.

Through this vision we havebeen working hard at synthesis-ing the contributions of a numberof former institutions into a new,affordable place of learning that offers a fresh choice for further education in NorthernAustralia and beyond whichincludes a significantly enhancedinteraction with secondaryschool students.

We have also focussed on expanding the capacity of ourstaff, our students and our professional relationships -evolving as an accessible cultural and intellectual assetengaged with and relevant to thewider community.

It has been a dynamic process with important learnings that will influence our future and greatrewards, some of which are recognised in this edition ofOrigins.

In 2005 we will continue to thriveand grow - not just because weare new, unique and fortunate. Itwill be because of our ability todisplay an energy that is commit-ted to making a difference inevery aspect of life.

Let us all challenge ourselvesnext year.

Vice Chancellor,Professor Helen Garnett

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OFBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Dr Claire Baxter joined Charles DarwinUniversity as Executive Director ofBusiness Development. Dr Baxter waspreviously with the University of Sydneywhere she was responsible for contractresearch, consultancy, intellectual propertymanagement and commercialisationincluding facilitation of development ofstart-up companies.

In that role, Dr Baxter oversaw rapidgrowth in industry interaction and commer-cialisation with the value of contractsincreasing from under $10 million to over$50 million a year and the number of spin-off companies rising from none to an average of six a year.

Dr Baxter, who has a PhD in Biochemistryand a Masters in Professional Accounting,possesses significant high-tech businessexperience. From 1985 to 1995 she wasthe managing director of biotechnologycompany, Bioclone Australia Pty Ltd, whichis one of the country’s leading manufacturersof medical diagnostic products.

She has held many private and public sec-tor committee and board positions includ-ing former memberships of the PrimeMinister’s Science and EngineeringCouncil and the New South WalesInnovation Council.

Charles Darwin University Vice-ChancellorProfessor Helen Garnett said Dr Baxter’sappointment provides strong strategicleadership for the business developmentfunctions across the university.

“Claire Baxter’s appointment is a significantone in terms of leveraging our educationand professional capabilities to provide andnurture future returns to the university andthe Northern Territory Community throughinvolvement in a variety of commercial,marketing and networking initiatives,”Professor Garnett said.

DIRECTOR INTERNATIONALCharles Darwin University welcomesDennis Meehan in the role of DirectorInternational. For the past seven years Mr Meehan worked in the InternationalOffice at the University of Technology,Sydney, initially in the capacity of Inter-national Marketing Manager and then asDeputy Director International. This was aperiod of rapid growth of the InternationalProgram at UTS with the numbers of inter-national students at the institution growingto exceed 5,000 as well as a large cohortof UTS Australian students studying abroad.

Prior to this he held the position of DeputyDirector, International Centre at theUniversity of Western Sydney.

Mr Meehan has a Bachelor of Arts and aDiploma of Education from the University

of New England and a Master ofEducation from the University of NewSouth Wales.

In his role as Director International, Mr Meehan works with the UniversityExecutive, the International Office staff,the Faculties and Schools to grow the profile of international students at CharlesDarwin University and to facilitate oppor-tunities for its students to study abroad.

DEAN OF LAW, BUSINESS AND ARTSProfessor Eugene Clark has been appointed as the University’s Dean of theFaculty of Law, Business and Arts. TheFaculty includes a wide range of HigherEducation and VET programs in Art andDesign, Business, Hospitality andTourism, Humanities and Social Sciences,Law and Music. In recent years it hasexpanded its profile in research and development and is actively trying to further its business development.

A key focus of Professor Clark’s appoint-ment will be to pursue linkages with relevant government, professional, industry and community groups, toenhancing the Faculty’s and theUniversity’s teaching and research profileand to developing and promoting inter-national activities.

Professor Clark’s academic experience isdrawn from institutions across Australia,

North America, Asia and the South Pacific.Professor Clark was Head of School andProfessor of Law at the University ofCanberra. He has held a number of Pro-Vice Chancellor positions at the Universityof Canberra and, as an e-business and e-government lawyer, has establishedsuccessful off-shore teaching programs inAsia and online education in Australia.

A finalist in law for the inaugural NationalTeaching Excellence Awards, ProfessorClark has been published in numerouspublications as well as being co-author ofManagers and the Law.

He was also Leader of Courtroom of theFuture project involving interdisciplinaryresearch and training related to courts inmodern society. Justice Kirby of the HighCourt of Australia is Chairman of theAdvisory Committee for this project.

DIRECTOR CORPORATECOMMUNICATIONSCommunications professional, RichardJohn, has joined Charles DarwinUniversity as Director, CorporateCommunications.

Relocating from Sydney, Mr John brings awealth of marketing, public affairs andnegotiating experience gathered fromAustralia and internationally to his newDarwin based role.

Mr John holds a Bachelor of Arts and aMaster of Arts from the University ofNewcastle.

His background includes education and educational publishing, the foreignservice as a diplomat in Greece; senior multilateral management and marketing;consultancy in marketing communicationsand public affairs and senior executivesearch. He also spent some time in thecoal industry as Executive Director of thecoal industry association in NSW.

Much of his work undertaken with and formajor corporations in the United Kingdomand Australia has been the developmentof strategic communications planning.Such organisations have included theFederal Government, Dwr Cwmru WelshWater and the State Bank of NSW.

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Dennis Meehan

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Richard John

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Fresh talent for a new institution - Charles

Darwin University continues to expand the

professional skills and capacity required to

ensure the University develops as a place

that dares to be different, prepared to take

on challenges and is committed to making

a difference.

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Coming face to face with the gaping mouthof a 12-metre shark in the warm waters ofthe Indian Ocean has been an amazingexperience for Michelle Press.

Holding a Bachelors of Science in MarineBiology from the University of WestFlorida, Ms Press is about to complete her Masters of Tropical EnvironmentalManagement at Charles Darwin University.

She has dedicated her masters researchto the enigmatic whale shark, looking todiscover whether individual whale sharksreturn each year to Western Australia'sfamous Ningaloo Reef.

Speculated to live up to 150 years of age,the whale shark is the sole species of theRhincodontidea family and is closely related to nurse sharks, leopard sharksand wobbegongs. Like their near cousins,whale sharks have distinctive body markings which are believed to be usedfor camouflage and visual recognition.However, unlike their cousins, whalesharks are filter feeders that predominatelytarget small prey such as copepods, krilland baitfish.

The huge size of an adult whale shark andsome special physical attributes means ithas few predators. Their back is coveredin small scales called denticles that act ina similar fashion to a turtle’s shell providing an incredibly strong surface.

Beneath this lies up to 14 centimetres ofthick cartilage tissue. These characteris-tics make whale sharks a second-thought proposal for large sharks or killer whales.

“There is photographic evidence wherethe teeth of a large shark have beenripped out and remained embedded into awhale shark’s back after an attack. Thewhale shark lost its dorsal fin but survived,” Ms Press explained.

Whale sharks also have the unfortunatemantle of being the world’s most expensiveshark flesh. Sold in Taiwan at up to $US11per kilogram, a single average sized adultwhale shark can be worth up to a whop-ping $US200,000 - a rich day’s fishing inany language.

Little is known about their breeding habitsapart from the fact that they hatch eggsinternally. The only pregnant female whaleshark ever caught was, amazingly, carrying up to 300 young at various stagesof development. Three of these youngwere subsequently raised in captivity thusexpanding our knowledge about whaleshark growth and development.

“Despite this, whale sharks remain a bit ofa mystery. Although protected underWestern Australia's Wildlife ConservationAct, their status as either an endangered,rare or vulnerable species is contentiousas there is simply not enough scientific

knowledge of the whale shark’s biology,ecology or behaviour to make a deter-mination,” Ms Press said.

“Ningaloo Reef is one of the few access-ible places in the world where wild whalesharks congregate in significant numbers.”

“Unproved theories of why the 4,572square kilometre Ningaloo Marine Park isa whale shark hot spot includes breeding,a northward migration to warmer tropicalwaters or the annual mass spawning ofcoral in the area,” Ms Press explained.

Through photo-identification research, MsPress is about to conclude her researchthat will help to scope whale shark visit-ation to and aggregation at Ningaloobetween March and July each year.

“While a common research tool, until nowthere had been no published attempts to usephoto-identification in whale shark research.

“A photographic database of individualwhale sharks that have visited theNingaloo Reef area over the past ten yearshas become available through a history of images taken by a local enthusiastDr Geoff Taylor, those taken by local ecotourism boat operators, and imagestaken by myself and my supervisor, Dr Mark Meekan, a Research Scientistwith the Australian Institute of MarineScience.”

As part of the process, Ms Press cataloguedthe sharks according to distinguishingmarks, fin and body size and their uniquespot patterns to re-identify individuals infuture surveys. Once individual animalshave been identified, an attempt to matchsharks sighted more than once will beundertaken.

Collectively, these images offer importantevidence of returning whale sharks andareas most frequented by these sharks.

“In total we have identified 265 individualwhale sharks that have visited NingalooReef between 1992 and 2004,” Ms Pressremarked.

“Of these, we determined that 61 whalesharks have been resighted at NingalooReef during this time. The photo-identification process also indicated someof the animals returned on several occasions and some after an incredible 12year absence.”

Ms Press’ photo-identification project is partof a larger global tagging project headed byher supervisor Dr Meekan and partneredwith scientists from the NationalOceanographic and Atmospheric Associ-ation and the University of New Hampshire.

“Fifteen of the photographs used in thisstudy were taken during a field trip associated with Dr Meekan’s taggingproject in Ningaloo reef in May 2004.”

Some of the whale sharks photographedby Dr Taylor have id tags associated withthem for future identification and all 15 ofthe whale sharks photographed during Dr Meekan’s field trip have popup archivaltags associated with them. These tags collect and store information about depth,temperature and light levels of the shark’ssurroundings every minute for up to ninemonths to track their migration.

Ultimately, the research to determine whywhale sharks occur predictably atNingaloo Reef is vital if the areas important to sharks are to be protected ina multi use environment that includes fishing, oil prospecting, tourism and conservation.

“There is great conservation and financialincentive. For example while a whaleshark may be worth up to $US200,000dead, the whale shark ecotourism industryat Exmouth in Western Australia is estimated to be worth $17 million annually,Ms Press said.

“Publishing this photographic cataloguemay also assist in the tracking of individ-uals to Indonesia where many whalesharks are targeted for the commercial fish-ing industry as well as throughout the restof the world where whale sharks are found.

Her research findings will be presentedduring November.

“I hope that this project will be the start ofa global photographic catalogue of whalesharks to allow for a better understandingof migration patterns and aggregationsites,” Ms Press said.

“In total we have

identified 265

individual whale

sharks that have

visited Ningaloo

Reef between

1992 and 2004“

F I S Hs o l v i n g t h e r i d d l e o f t h e w o r l d ’ sb i g g e s t f i s h

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Australian pilots could soon be flying withsophisticated electronic flight bags, thanksto the ingenuity of a Northern Territory pilotand IT professor who has been trialingTablet PCs and new communications technologies in the cockpit.

Associate Professor Bob Pascoe, Head ofCharles Darwin University’s School ofInformation Technology, regularly flies hissix seater PA32 aircraft from Darwin toMelbourne or Sydney. He is workingtogether with colleague Dr AndrewFinegan and research students NeilCrossley and Michael Pascoe.

“Pilots carry flight bags, often includingover a thousand pages of paper andweighing many kilograms. These flightbags carry essential flight information,including so-called instrument approachplates which are required for landings inbad weather,” Associate Professor Pascoeexplained.

“Pilots can now have all that information,plus more, at their fingertips with TabletPCs. Also, with our system we use newcommunications technology to cheaplyupdate the information digitally in the air inmost regions of Australia. It is a safer andmuch more efficient way of flying.”

Electronic flight bags already exist but arestill in a primitive form and are usuallyused on ordinary laptop computers.

While less cumbersome than paper, pilotsmust still look up an index, click on appro-priate documents to select the ones theyneed and wait for them to appear on thescreen.

With the HP Tablet PCs and softwarebeing developed at Charles Darwin, all theinformation the pilot requires is availableinstantly. Using Bluetooth connectivity to aGPS system, the Tablet computer knowsthe aircraft's exact position at any time,and can predict the flight information thepilot will need.

Under the old paper-based system, pilotsare still issued with paper updates, whichmust be manually inserted into the documentation in their flight bags.

“Where there is human intervention, thereis room for human error, and it is possibleto misfile updates, so it is not a foolproofsystem.”

“I was once flying in to Sydney’s KingsfordSmith airport and heard a 737 pilot on theair traffic control frequency ask for a so-called visual approach. It appears hehad misfiled some documents he wouldhave needed to make an instrumentapproach. Lucky the weather was clear.”

He much prefers the safety of the new system.

A year ago the School received a$220,000 cash and equipment grant fromHewlett Packard to do research in the appli-cation of Tablet Computers in education.

“There have been several spin-offs of thatwork, generally focusing on mobilityissues. The present aviation package isone of them. I first wrote some aviationsoftware over 15 years ago, but that wasonly for the flight planning phase - beforethe flight commences. Without tablet com-puters we couldn’t walk on board with thisinformation.”

Associate Professor Pascoe and his teamare using the new X1 data connectivitypackage from Telstra, and HP TabletComputers to research a whole new rangeof electronic flying aids which can be carried on board aircraft for auxiliary useby pilots.

“Tablet PCs have a magnificent form factor. They fit easily on my lap, andbecause they do not have a lift up screen,there is no interference with the cockpitcontrols.”

He also notes that the handwriting interface of the Tablet PCs is a much morenatural interface for pilots, who have to beready to write down rapidly delivered AirTraffic Control instructions.

The improved long-range data communi-cation technology, which the Universityhas been given by Telstra to test in the aviation environment, is making the mobile technology even more connected.

“My son Michael and I were returning froma family holiday skiing at Mt Hotham inVictoria in August. We were flying over theSimpson Desert, with internet access atour fingertips. The Simpson is unbeliev-ably remote, waves of sand as far as thehorizon. Yet, several kilometers up, I hadperfect connectivity.”

Associate Professor Pascoe is not under-estimating the issues involved howeverindicating that aviation is a conservativeenvironment, and for good reason.

“We are using electronic devices that havea small potential to interfere with the certified electronic instrumentation andcontrol systems on the aircraft. We havetested for this interference and believe thatthe risk is very low.”

“Certainly, we believe that we can demonstrate that the gain in safety byusing this technology far exceeds theminiscule risks. As with any new technology, there are risks and we are taking the responsible position of evaluating these rather than sticking ourheads in the sand.”

s m a r t s k i e ss m a r t s k i e s

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S M A R T S K I E S��

“Ultimately, the name of the game is to improve aircraft safety for both small and large aircraft.”

We were flying over the Simpson Desert,

w i t h i n t e r n e t a c c e s s a t o u r f i n g e r t i p s .

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A Charles Darwin University PhD studentis one of five exceptional individuals thathave been recognised nationally for ‘outstanding contributions to improving literacy and/or numeracy’.

Musician, music educator and music therapist, Anja Tait, has developed, trialedand evaluated an arts-based approach tothe teaching of literacy and numeracy toIndigenous students. She received $10,000as part of the 2004 Federal EducationMinister’s award announced in August.

Ms Tait’s research creates explicit linksbetween skills development in music andrelated arts with literacy and numeracy.Her research was based in Darwin urbanschools with high Indigenous enrolments.

“This award honours the school communi-ties, and in particular the teachers who hadthe courage to embrace the arts and trans-form their teaching practices,” Ms Tait said.

Mother of a three-year-old daughter, Ms Tait has worked on her research proj-ect titled ‘Music for Learning for Life’ sinceOctober 2002. It is an ‘Education and theArts Partnership Initiative’ funded by theAustralia Council for the Arts.

“This project focuses on educational outcomes for Indigenous upper-primarystudents when intensive music educationis authentically integrated with literacy andnumeracy teaching and learning,” Ms Taitexplained.

“Participating teachers reported that theprogramme's model of shared planning,team-teaching and evaluation promotesan increased sense of efficacy throughreflective teaching practices, increasedspecialist art skills and enhancedstudent/teacher relationships.”

Ms Tait’s professional time is sharedbetween her PhD research and her role asmember of the Music Advisory SupportTeam, with the Northern Territory MusicSchool - which is part of the NTDepartment of Employment, Educationand Training - where she has an oppor-tunity to apply her skills and ideas inurban, rural and remote Indigenousschools throughout the NT.

Student outcomes from the research project include evidence of: • improved reading achievement of up

to 1.8 years during a nine month period• Improved mathematics achievement of

up to 2.1 years during a nine month period

• Increased participation in classroom learning and confidence to ask for help

• Increased involvement of families in students’ learning tasks and school community activities.

Ms Tait’s primary supervisor, Professor IanFalk who is the University’s Chair inRemote and Rural Education, said thatAnja originally came in to see ‘someone’ inthe University’s School of Education aboutone year ago to ask for assistance with theevaluation component of an AustraliaCouncil grant proposal she was preparing.

“Our discussions subsequently broadenedinto talk of doing a Masters so that she could‘double up’ on her good work with myselfbecoming her primary supervisor and Dr Neville Grady, who also works at CharlesDarwin University, her co-supervisor.”

“Anja’s initial response regarding talk ofundertaking higher education was...‘but I'm the mother of a very busy toddler!’”

“However, she took on her post graduatestudy and her project was soon upgraded

to a PhD, with the support of another staffmember, when it became apparent thather work was of significance.

Since then she has been invited to presentthe research at national conferences andresearch seminars.

Ms Tait is an invited keynote presenter forthe World Congress of Music Therapy tobe held in Brisbane during July 2005. Theproposed topic is: Making the links: Music,Indigenous health and education in theTop End of Australia.

This presentation will include Ms Tait’s 10years of work in music therapy in the TopEnd across gender, generation, and cul-ture, in home, hospital, and communitycare as well as her current research inmusic and related arts education.

“An unanticipated outcome of the researchis that Liliane Marie, ‘the toddler’, is nowalmost four years old, and each morningasks me if I am going to uni-work or other-work,” Ms Tait remarked.

“She tells me that when she’s bigger thatshe’ll go to uni-work too!”

A local award winning IT solution thatremoves the language barrier that canblock Indigenous Australians access tohealth and education services is beingmarketed and installed beyond theTerritory by Charles Darwin University’sCentre for Remote TelecommunicationsSolutions.

“Through a teaming agreement with thedevelopers of MARVIN, Inchain Pty Ltd,the Centre is currently working closely with the Northern Territory and Federalgovernments to promote and implementthis product in some of Australia's mostremote communities,” explained theCentre’s Director, Mr Bill Treacy.

MARVIN - or Messaging Architecture forthe Retrieval of Versatile Information andNews - is an animated computer productthat is revolutionising the way importanthealth messages are delivered to remoteNT communities.

Collaboratively developed by the NTDepartment of Health and CommunityServices, the NT Department ofEmployment, Education and Training andInchain, MARVIN was originally aimed attackling the issue of substance abuse inremote Indigenous communities.

However, it was soon recognised thatMARVIN was a potential solution to amuch wider suite of applications wherelanguage and cultural differences, nationally and internationally, are an issue.

”Language is one of the major barriers thatface health and education professionals intheir attempts to communicate importantinformation to Indigenous communities inremote areas of the NT and other parts ofAustralia,” Mr Bill Treacy said.

“MARVIN allows community members todevelop the learning and trainingresources themselves, typing in their ownmessages and recording their voices intheir languages. The onscreen result iswalking, talking, computer generated characters modelled on local elders or onthe learners themselves.”

The Centre for Remote Telecommuni-cations Solutions was established atCharles Darwin University in 2003 with theaim of providing solutions to remote communities, promote information com-munication technology within the NT andexport NT developed technology.

“As a result of the Centre's recent efforts toexport technology beyond the NT, MARVIN is currently being used on a pilot project by a major federal governmentagency prior to its potential use on anational long term Indigenous study.

“There is also significant interest in theproduct from a number of other federal andstate agencies,” Mr Treacy remarked.

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Urged by his parents to take up a careerthat could take him around the world andmean that he would never go hungry,internationally experienced chef, AtholWark, has arrived as the new lecturer inhospitality at Charles Darwin University’sAlice Springs campus.

Bringing with him a culinary backgroundthat includes work in England, France andsome of Australia’s best-known five starestablishments, the 39-year-old father oftwo has carved out a niche for himself specialising in using Australian ingredients.

Some of the dishes Mr Wark has preparedinclude river mint smoked barramundi pateand semidried kutjra (tomato), bunya nutused in a hummus and camel - ‘a beautifullean product’ - used in a beetroot skewerwith native currant and mango salsa.

“You need to experiment with differentingredients to arrive at a dish and flavourthat separates your food from the usual,”Mr Wark explained.

“It really is all about destination marketing.A guest can have eggs and bacon forbreakfast anywhere so you need to focuson making it uniquely delicious and mem-orable for the customer to make your mark.”

It is this experimentation that led Mr Warkto arrive at his signature dish - the EmuEgg Pavlova.

“The saltier, lighter emu egg is equal toabout a dozen chook eggs and when prepared can serve around 28 people. Itis pretty economical but a pricey product.

“But the great thing is that all of the product can be used. The white for the pavlova, the yolk for the anglaise andthe shell, cracked in half, can be used toserve the anglaise from as part of a distinct touch to silver service.”

Born in Zimbabwe, Mr Wark’s family leftthe country in 1980 upon the rise of theMugagbe government. Arriving in SouthAfrica at the age of 15, and not believingin the apartheid regime of that country, Mr Wark soon departed for England totake up his two year catering diploma atthe prestigious City and Guilds in southwest England. His education here includ-ed being one of ten apprentices selectedto work aboard the Q.E.II during a worldcruise.

“This was a fantastic opportunity for ayoung man. I got see such destinations asDurban, Kenya, Sri Lanka and throughoutAsia and gained immense personal satis-faction in meeting the needs of guestsfrom significant cultural diversity.”

After a few senior and specialist chefpositions which included Chamonix inFrance, the Crown Casino in Melbourneand the Marriot Hotel and Conrad

Jupiters Casino at the Surfers Paradise,Mr Wark was enticed to Alice Springs toopen up the new Convention Centre in therole of Executive Chef.

“Opportunities to open a new conventioncentre only come along in Australia everyfive years or so. It was one that I was notgoing to miss.”

With his contract up at the Centre, Mr Wark decided to brave a new frontierfor himself and take up teaching at theUniversity’s Alice Springs Campus.

“I wanted to stay in Alice as it is a uniquedomestic and international destination.The local food industry recognises thisand benefits from a great Food Group.”

The Group was started to bring suppliersand chefs together and network to workout how to better source or perhaps growingredients specific to the region ratherthan rely on interstate goods.

“This cooperative approach has realisedbetter opportunities for both outlet andsupplier as well as nurturing some cottageindustries such as hydroponically growningredients like lettuces and micro greens.

“Change also keeps you hungry, so tospeak, and it was a case of taking hold ofanother career opportunity but this timewith a difference.

“When the position came up I thought itwas a great time to share the skills I havegained from my experiences and trainpeople regarding industry standards andexpectations.

“While each role I have had has been different in terms of location, each has alsobeen varied in terms of style whether it bein a la carte, banquets, 24 hour outlets, silver service restaurants, bars, etc.Variety brings with it the challenge to meetand exceed different customer expectations.

“This variety is also in my role at theUniversity. We have a superb facility in theDesert Lantern Restaurant where as partof the hospitality team, I teach bars, butchery, restaurant and apprentices.

“We also have great fun with the threehour hobby type cooking classes we runevery now and then.”

“It’s great to be encouraging people torecognise the assets they have and try to do something unique and wonderfulwith them.”

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“This modelling has never been done forgoanna. It will allow us to work out whatimpact cane toads are having on the mortality rate so we can make a moreinformed projection about what is likely tohappen to the goanna population in thefuture with increased mortality andreduced densities,” he said.

The status quo for now, Dr Brook said,was to wait, observe and record. While hereadily accepts the cane toad will be a‘major problem’ for Northern Australia, henonetheless, maintains some optimism forthe goanna.

“I think what is likely to happen is thatthere will be a depression in density, butprobably no more than a local eliminationof the population. They will be reduced alot, but they won’t become extinct and overtime, as the goanna adapt through naturalselection, they will recover but never topre-toad numbers,” he said.

“Some people expect the toad to have agreater impact than what might actually bethe case. The population might be moreresilient than people realise, so while theymay not have a major impact on the mangrove goanna, they may have a substantial impact on the freshwater goanna - that’s the point, we will wait and see.”

Dr Brook said while people living in Darwinmay only notice the impact of cane toadson wildlife to a negligible extent, that wouldnot be the case for Indigenous people whouse native wildlife such as snakes andgoanna as a food resource.

“The main impact may well be on theIndigenous population because they usegoanna as a resource. The goanna will bereduced substantially, so people will findthem much more difficult to hunt andacquire and it will impact on their lifestyle,”he said.

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The international weekly magazine - thefirst media to break the ‘Dolly the clonedsheep’ story - sent one of its senior writersfrom the United Kingdom to interview ecologist Dr Barry Brook from the university’s Key Centre for TropicalResearch to talk about the ground-breaking work being done in the NorthernTerritory. It is the second time the hugelyinfluential magazine has taken an interestin Dr Brook’s work. It previously reportedhis paper on extinctions of species inSingapore (Nature vol 424, p 420).

Dr Brook, who is also receiving significantattention in the international scientific community for the co-authored paper TheUncertain Blitzkrieg of PleistoceneMegafauna (Journal of Biogeography,2004), has been working in the field with thehelp of PhD students James Smith andBrooke Rankmore to monitor populations ofselected species - mostly goanna - beforethe inevitable arrival of the cane toads.

The compelling and novel aspect of theresearch currently being undertaken byBrook and his team is that the focus is oncollecting data pre-cane toad invasion.This has never been done before becausewhen the cane toads (Bufo marinus) wereintroduced from Hawaii into Queenslandsugar cane fields in the 1930s to combatthe pest cane beetle, it was never contem-plated the amphibians would become abiological terror that would kill just about

any manner of wildlife, including fish,snakes, dogs and even freshwatercrocodiles, that had the misfortune of biting into its highly toxic flesh.

Indeed, considering the toads were totallyineffective in the first instance becausethey couldn’t jump high enough to eat thepest beetles normally found feeding at thetop of sugar cane stalks, the introductionof the species was an unmitigated disasterfrom the outset - and one that has left apainful and enduring legacy as one the country’s worst environmental disasters.

By the time scientists realised somethingwas seriously wrong in Queensland, theseemingly indestructible cane toads withno natural predators to keep them in checkhad proliferated and already dramaticallyimpacted on wildlife populations. Thismeant there was no base data to quantifythe impact, no way of accurately assessinghow wildlife populations had altered - that isuntil Dr Brook and his team started its monitoring project four years ago. It’s a pro-ject that has transformed the Top End ofthe Northern Territory into a living laboratory.

“It is critical to have this baseline information pre-cane toad together withinformation when the toads actually arriveso we can work out what's going to happen long-term. This is the main empha-sis of the field work. It’s not a matter of trying to stop the toads arriving - we are too

late for that - but, rather, being the first to doc-ument clearly and in a reasonable amount ofdetail the impact of a vertebrate invader in acontinental setting,” Dr Brook said.

The field work involves monitoring popu-lations of selected species pre-cane toadat Adelaide River, Manton Dam andaround Humpty Doo outside Darwin. Thedata is mostly collected from mangroveand freshwater goanna with the northernquoll also under observation.

“We are monitoring the demographics -how the populations operate, how thewildlife survive, and how they reproduce inthe absence of cane toads. As this hasbeen done over the last four years, weknow in a fair bit of detail how the popu-lations operate, and now cane toads arearriving (they are almost at Adelaide River,110km south of Darwin) we will be able tomonitor things like how the densitychanges,” Dr Brook said.

“We have radio transmitters so we can finddead individuals and see whether theyhave ingested toads which will give us abetter idea of idea of mortality rates.”

Dr Brook, who is a specialist in analyticaland computer simulation modelling forpopulation ecology and risk assessment,said the data collected could be used tobuild a computer simulation model to seehow populations operated.

Charles Darwin University's leading role in

researching the impact of the invasion of

cane toads in Northern Australia will be

highlighted in a feature article by the

world's leading scientific journal, Nature.

unwelcome brac ing for the

unw

elco

me

It's not a matter of trying to stop the toads arriving - we are too late

for that - but, rather, being the first to document clearly and in a

reasonable amount of detail the impact of such an invader in a

continental setting

“

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squatter

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Research into Indigenous earth moundsthat are thousands of years old found inwetland environments in the NorthernTerritory have been the focus of a recentseminar series involving a select group ofEuropean universities.

Daryl Guse, an anthropologist with theAboriginal Areas Protection Authority, presented the seminars which were basedon his Charles Darwin University Mastersstudies undertaken in the Reynolds River region around Litchfield Park southof Darwin.

Planning to submit his thesis for hisMasters of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander Studies early next year, Mr Gusesaid the focus of his research is the way that Aboriginal culture interacts with its environment rather than being deter-mined by it.

“Work with the Werat Traditional Ownersdocumented a suite of archaeological sitesthat demonstrate continuous occupationby Aboriginal people of the region duringthe last 10,000 years,” said Mr Guse.

The region is dominated by the sandstoneplateau and escarpment of the TabletopRange overlooking the extensive paper-bark swamps and lagoons of the ReynoldsRiver, with the coast only 60 kilometres to the west.

“The predominance of earth mound sitesacross this landscape has implications forour understanding of Aboriginal settlementpatterns in the freshwater wetlands ofnorth Australia.”

Earth mounds are about 30 to 40 metres indiameter by a metre or so high and havebeen built over thousands of years. Theycontain items like stone tools and remnants of a diet that included wallabiesand turtles. They can also be a burial sitefor family members.

“Earth mounds occur in several of the wet-land systems in the Territory and are stillvery much a part of the Aboriginal culturallandscape. They are a great connectionwith the past and the present but it isunusual that we find these mounds in suchopen regions.”

“While the archaeology of the region mirrors the massive changes that wereoccurring in the landscape and the eco-logy since the last ice age, the earthmounds show that as the wetlands grew insize the human population became morestable and complex.”

Mr Guse said that the opportunity to present his research in Europe wasrealised through some existing contactswith the University of Cambridge and alsothrough contact, by chance, with a PhDstudent from the University of Aarhus inDenmark who is in the NT to studyIndigenous tourism.

“Gauging from the reaction to my seminarsthere is a great deal of European interest inAustralian Indigenous culture and heritage.”

Mr Guse presented seminars at theDepartments of Anthropology andArcheology at the University of Cambridge,UK; University of Gothenburg, Sweden;University of Aarhus, Denmark; andUniversity of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. C

found in thefoundearth mound

More than 630 guests attended CharlesDarwin University’s formal graduation ceremony at the Darwin EntertainmentCentre during October where 229 graduands attended to receive formalrecognition of successfully completingtheir studies.

In total, 1,131 people graduated fromCharles Darwin University in Octoberincluding 202 higher education graduandsand 929 vocational education and traininggraduands.

The Ceremony featured Mr Roger Gibson,a Director with Price Waterhouse Cooper’sadvisory and consulting business, who presented the Occasional Address to graduands.

Previously named as one of the top 100Future leaders of Australia, Mr Gibson hasbeen the Chair of MCC Welfare Services,a charity that works with disadvantaged

people living with HIV/AIDS and is current-ly the chair of PACT Youth Theatre, themost awarded contemporary youth theatrecompany in Australia. He has co-led morethan 15 leadership development coursesfor talented young people.

Mother of two, Melodie Bat - who receivedthe Masters of Education (Honours) - provided the Graduand Response.

“For me, studying at Charles Darwin washighlighted by the genuine interest andassistance shown by lecturers and support

staff and their understanding of the competing demands in my life,” said Ms Bat, who is a Lecturer in Education atthe Batchelor Institute of IndigenousTertiary Education.

“I have a real career, a real family and mystudy is a real part of my life. TheUniversity understood this and worked outa flexible approach so I could successfullycomplete my Masters,” Ms Bat explained.

Also attending the ceremony were TiwiIsland residents Aaron Sprigg and BrianCerato who received the Certificate IVAssessment Workplace Training.

“Completing the course means more localresidents are able to train fellow residentsso that local skills needed for areas liketourism can be developed and expanded,”Mr Cerato, who is Transport Manager withTiwi Islands Local Government, said.

night of at h o u s a n d

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N I G H T O F A T H O U S A N D S TA R S

Image courtesy of NT News

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17

“According to teachers’ assessments,many of the children have shown markedimprovements in behaviour. Parents havealso indicated improvements in the familysituations of their children as a result of theProgram's encouragement of positive andassertive parenting strategies.”

The Program is run in conjunction withschools on Bathurst and Melville Islands,located 80 km north of Darwin, and theTiwi Islands Health Services. The TiwiIsland Health Services team refer to theprogram as Ngarlipirliga’ajirri, meaning‘helping each other to clear a path’.

The $790,000 Program - which has beenjointly funded by the Commonwealth andNorthern Territory governments, BeyondBlue and the Cooperative ResearchCentre for Aboriginal Health - was adaptedfrom ‘Exploring Together’, a school-basedparenting program for at risk childrenbetween the ages of 6-12 years. Theadaptation of this program was an initiative of the former Tiwi Health Board.

“Children with conduct disorders orobserved behavioural difficulty manifest inschool or other settings are referred to theProgram by teachers and family members,” explained Dr Robinson.

“Six to seven children, each with a parentor caregiver, attend the Program on aweekly basis for two hours for a schoolterm. Evaluation of parents’ well-being andparenting and of children’s behaviour isconducted at the start and end of the termand again at a six month follow-up.”

Dr Robinson said that the measuredresults of Program's outcomes are encouraging and point to reductions in children’s problem behaviours and in parents’ anxiety. These improvementsalso appear to be sustained at the follow-up stage.

“If confirmed, these results will be highlysignificant indicators of what it is possibleto achieve with well targeted programs inIndigenous settings.”

Dr Robinson explained that the establish-ment of the program for the Tiwi Islandsrequired adapting the program andresearch instruments to local social and cultural circumstances.

“Just as importantly, the program alsoneeded the recruitment and training ofindigenous staff. Their work with parentsand children and their role in groundingthe program in the local community context is central to its success.”

The current Program was completedrecently with a final evaluation report ofthe Program due out before the end of 2004.

16

What happens to an elite athlete’s identityin a form slump or at the end of a career?What happens when the praise and adulation comes to an end? How do athletes cope with being dropped? How dothey cope with the sudden change ofgoing from a ‘somebody’ to a ‘nobody’?

These are some of the questions beingtackled by Charles Darwin University PhDpsychology student Elizabeth Grylls.

Ms Grylls, 32, has interviewed 153 athletes from the amateur and professionalranks including AFL footballers, state netballers and 44 elite international competitors.

The working title of her thesis is ‘The RoleAthletic Identity Plays on AustralianAthletes’.

“I chose the topic of athletic identitybecause I kept reading newspaper articles, and hearing about athletes thatwere not the best player in the team orwho were struggling to make the gradeeven though they had given up as muchas the best player in the team, and yetthey were always going to struggle,” MsGrylls said.

“I wanted to know what happens to thisplayer if he or she doesn't make it.”

“There are examples of athletes whostruggle with their identities, including AFLfootballers that make comebacks, athleteswho take risks such as using banned substances (to sustain their identity) ortraining while injured.”

“I want to look at the athlete holistically andinvestigate the influence of athletic identityon Australian athletes, exploring the effectfactors such as, age, nationality, personality,achievement, ability and social networkhas on an athlete’s identity.”

She said a further aim of the study is toexamine the extent to which an athlete willtry and maintain an athletic identity,through risk taking (banned substances),and continuing in sport either by extendingtheir career or participating in an alternativerole in the sporting area.

“The study also looks at the issues of howan athletic identity can play on the psycho-logical well-being on the individual, aftersuch factors as retirement, burnout, stressand injury, or de-listing from a club andnon-selection come into play.”

Ms Grylls has a degree in human move-ment from the Royal Melbourne Institute ofTechnology. She has been a keen sportfan for as long as she can remember andcurrently works part-time as a tenniscoach at the Darwin Tennis Centre.

It is expected the findings from Ms Grylls’research will be applied in both a theoreticaland applied perspective in the field ofsport and exercise psychology, particularlyin relation to elite Australian athletes.

“The benefits to these fields of psychologywill be in the area of an athlete’s identity,and will generally be to those people whodeal with these athletes, such as, coaches, managers, the social group ofthe athletes and also to the athlete themselves,” Ms Grylls said.

“It is hoped that the findings can helpassist athletes from developing any psychological stress by ensuring that theathlete does not engage too much personal energy into developing and maintaining a strong and solitary identity.”

Ms Grylls expects to complete her thesisat the end of 2005.

heroici l l u s i o n si h

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The study also looks at the issuesof how an athletic identity can playon the psychological well-being onthe individual“ “

Research regarding a school-based intervention program to address suicide and otherserious difficulties affecting Tiwi Islands children and their families has pointed to remarkably successful outcomes.

The Ngarlipirliga’ajirri Early Intervention Program has been supported by research headed up by Dr Gary Robinson from Charles Darwin University’s School for Social andPolicy Research.

C

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Ngarlipirliga’ajirri, meaning ‘helping each other to clear a path’

i n t e r v e n t i o n

... adapting the program ...to local social and culturalcircumstances.“

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19

“The Educator on the maternity ward isfantastic and given Darwin's multiculturalmix, we also learn a lot from the other mid-wives we work with who come from a variety of different backgrounds.”

The University’s Midwifery Coordinator,Bev Turnbull, said that there have beenmore than 30 graduates from theGraduate Diploma in Midwifery since itbegan in 1999 and that there are about 20students currently undertaking the course.

“Our nationally recognised course, whichwas introduced as the result of a comm-unity needs survey in 1999, has some dis-tinct advantages and within the context ofthe current national shortage of midwivesour graduates are finding employmentreadily,” Ms Turnbull said.

Ms Turnbull said the course is designed tomeet the needs of remote, rural and urbanstudents and that the external nature ofthe program offered opportunities for students in other states who would other-wise not be able to access midwifery programs because of distance factors.

“As well as having students based inDarwin, Katherine and Alice Springs,about one third of our students are locatedin either South Australia, Tasmania, NewSouth Wales or Queensland.”

Further to the academic aspect of thecourse is a clinical placement componentof 880 hours which is conducted in a variety of settings, both within health carefacilities and in the community as a whole.Clinical placement is undertaken threedays a week with a dedicated clinical educator based within the health carefacility.

“Remote students come into either Darwinor Alice Springs for clinical practice, butcan also undertake part of their practicumin areas such as Katherine or Gove. Giventhat clinical places are at a premiumallover the country, interstate students canalso undertake practicum in their ownstate where possible,” Ms Turnbullexplained.

“Unique to this course are remote clinicalplacement requirements where studentsare encouraged to work within anAboriginal community to enhance the theoretical cross cultural learning.”

In the NT, remote clinical placementsoccur in cooperation with Territory Healthand includes remote communities such asthe Tiwi Islands, Galiwinku and Palumpa.This distinctive aspect of the course recognises that Indigenous births accountfor more than 40 per cent of newbornTerritorians.

“With a strong Indigenous population inthe Territory, the opportunity to learn fromboth health care professionals and com-munity members in remote settings is ofgreat value.”

“Remote placement is a very unique cultural experience which is of undoubtedvalue to the program learning outcomes,”Ms Turnbull stated.

18

The Northern Territory’s high birth ratepresents midwifery students, Mandi Smithand Anika Bernau, with one of the busiestand most diverse training grounds in thecountry.

With a background as a palliative carenurse and a surgical nurse in Adelaide,Mandi Smith moved to the Territory threeyears ago in search of a sea change.

“I had always promised myself that I wouldgo back and do postgraduate studies.Upon moving to the Territory I began workat Darwin Private Hospital and learnt thatthey were offering scholarships in the mid-wifery program - a career I hadn’t contem-plated previously,” Ms Smith explained.

“I didn’t get a scholarship but got a job onthe ward where I have been for the pasttwo years and decided to take up theGraduate Diploma of Midwifery at CharlesDarwin University.”

“I started out with the intention to completethe course full time during one year butbecame pregnant and changed my studyto a part time basis. My son is now 10months old and I am looking to complete the course in January 2005.”

Ms Smith’s classmate, Anika Bernau,moved to Darwin from Perth in Januarythis year and began work in DarwinPrivate Hospital’s maternity ward.

“I had been studying nursing in WesternAustralia since leaving secondary schooland had always wanted to have a career inmidwifery,” Ms Bernau explained.

With her first child due in early 2005, Ms Bernau is completing the course on afull time basis and said that a career inmidwifery offered many choices.

“It’s a whole different specialty area to therest of nursing and can also open up alternative career paths. If you wanted to work with the Royal Flying DoctorService for example, you would need tohave completed studies in midwifery,” Ms Bernau remarked.

“For me, one of the great things about thecourse at Charles Darwin is the strongfocus on Indigenous health encompassingcross cultural health - an area which iscovered more extensively here than inother courses that I am aware of.”

The Northern Territory has the highestbirth rate of any Australian State orTerritory with about 3,800 babies borneach year. With about 700 births annuallyat the Darwin Private Hospital, both Ms Smith and Ms Bernau agree that the environment is a great place to work andlearn.

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This proves of great delight to her, as doesthe idea that the cars are not ‘waste’ buthave an ongoing life as works of art with orwithout her involvement. Each of thesecars she names, and records the changesto their surfaces and substance over time.

A vital dynamic of the Swamp as an arenafor making art, is Bronwyn’s tenuousanonymity. Without any kind of personalexchange, indeed because there is none,Wright has managed to activate art gestures in the hoon observers connectedto her own interventions in the site.

Unalloyed to any kind of conventional artcontext, the hoon’s play is evidence thatthe urge to alter and connect through art isunbounded.

“The response of the young guys to anything I do is raw, unknowing, innocentof the art world.”

The whole question of ‘knowing’ being deleterious to art seems like a contradiction,so grounded is art in the idea of communication.

However, in the case of the Swamp, as ashared arena for private agendas to interact, the art possibilities multiplyexponentially in a context of open-endedness, in contrast to consciouslyshared collaborations which necessitatescompromise.

Earlier in 2004 the NT government put upa hefty locked gate to the main entrance tothe Swamp. Bronwyn has a key but theyoung men’s playful traffic has almostceased.

“Change is part of the dynamic. The inter-active dialogue is not as lively as it oncewas, so my work is also changing. I ammaking work from my huge archive ofimages taken in the Swamp over the lastseven years.”

“My current work ‘Carscapes’ combinespainting in acrylic on large canvases andsilk screened photographic images.Recent digital experimentation involveslow resolution mobile phone images and I am in the process of developing a newseries of digital camera works that includethe human figure as protagonist.”

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The suburban use of a wasteland locatedon the edge of the Northern Territory capital has proven a successful muse forCharles Darwin University lecturerBronwyn Wright.

The artist-photographer, and her two dalmatian dogs Coco Donut and HotChips, have a 14 year long associationwith The Swamp on the edge of Darwin’snorthern suburbs. Her photographic workhere has taken Ms Wright across Australiain a number of recent high profile exhibitions and competitions.

Earlier this year Ms Wright was one of onlyeleven artists to be invited to participate inthe Australian Centre for Photography’s30th Anniversary Exhibition, Zeitgeist. Thegraphic design lecturer was the only NTbased artist to be participating in theSydney based exhibition.

Her participation in Zeitgeist further develops Ms Wright’s reputation. In 2003,Ms Wright won first prize of $20,000 in theENERGEX Arbour Contemporary Art Prizeand earlier this year exhibited her works inthe Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.

“My work in The Swamp has links to thestealth associated with graffiti artists andthe flamboyant play of the theatre. It isbased on intimacy with the site, daily visits, observations of seasonal variationsand an anonymous interaction or dialoguewith a youth sub-culture.”

“For the young men and boys in the primeof their suburban warrior hood it’s a placeto spin out in old cars, or stolen cars,4WD's or on motorbikes.

“Plenty of active ‘circle work’ - donuts andburnouts are part of the energy of the Swamp. The Swamp is littered with thewreckages of disintegrating, abandonedcars. These blackened, crumpled metalbodies provide me with an opportunity.”

She takes a minimal approach to her owninterventions in the Swamp, transformingabandoned car bodies, which she surreptitiously embellishes with spray-paint and other materials. The paintedobject, the car stays in the land and continues its own journey of transformation and decay.

“Revitalisation may take place throughmarks made by me or by personsunknown to me. The object, the site andhuman participators are constantly revitalised by the changing weather. Thisis process. This is the continuum.”

The photographic record reveals thatthrough engagement with the car surface,she often finds, unexpectedly, rhythmsand resonances with existing naturalforms of the Swamp.

unspokeninteractionsununspoken

interactionsspokenunspokeninteractions

u n s p o k e ni n t e r a c t i o n s .

“Change is part of thedynamic. The interactivedialogue is not as lively asit once was, so my work isalso changing.”

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zblitzkrieg

22 23

Brook, who is skilled in population modelling, and Bowman then created acomputer model using complex mathematical algorithms so they could calibrate settings to see what inputs wereneeded to produce the empirical evidencethey had before them. The problem theyhad is best exemplified by the analogy of astudent given a basic arithmetic test. Whilethe student might be told the end sum ofthe equation is, say for example, the number four, he or she then needs todecide the conceivable ways the numberwas arrived at - that is it could be a case oftwo plus two, or two multiplied by two, orone plus three and so on. On an infinitelylarger scale, this is what Brook andBowman did with their mathematicalmodel. They knew the end profile of thedead animals; the computer modelrevealed the variations that could havecome into play to produce such an outcome.

“We discovered there are many differentways to extinction - you can do it by over-hunting, being incredibly wasteful,destroying habitats with fire and makingthe animal populations whither, you coulddo it by fixating on big animals as trophies.There's a lot of different ways you canimpact the capacity for the big animals tosurvive. There may have been some environmental disturbance, climatechange, drought. There’s a 101 ways youcan do it - that’s why it’s called the uncertain blitzkrieg,” Bowman said.

The point, now proved by Brook andBowman, is that while humans alone werenot necessarily solely to blame (or, indeed,conscious of what they were doing), the were a factor nonetheless when theextinctions took place. This work isunprecedented. In the context of the scientific argument and debate (includingthe attack on Flannery) that purports otherfactors - specifically excluding humans -were at play in the extinctions, the uncertain blitzkrieg theory is an iron-fistedrebuke. Flannery wasn't far off the mark -he just didn't have the empirical data andmathematical formula to silence his critics.

“While there are a number of scenarioswhere both humans and other factorscame into play, there are no plausible scenarios where just other factors cameinto play and humans didn’t play a role asother people have argued,” Brook said.

“The mathematical models are based onquite sound biological principles. Themodel we used looks at the balance ofuncertainties and gives you a probability ofwhat happened. We can, therefore, verifyhumans did have a role in extinction whichprovides a more fundamental explanationof what happened.”

The over-riding message, Brook andBowman said, is that extinctions couldn’thave occurred without the intervention ofhumans, and even if there were other factorsthat drove these extinctions, or influencedthe rate or magnitude of the extinctions, “itremains an inescapable fact that it wouldn’thave unfolded without humans being there”.

The pair agree their theory supports the idea that human impact on the environment must be taken very seriously.

“The impact of humans can result in majorramifications that echo through evolution-ary times. These great lineages of animalshave been wiped out forever, and thereare many more lineages of animals andplants that will soon also be wiped out forgood,” Brook said.

“The big animals,” Bowman said, “areprobably not going to make it in manyenvironments now, because humans havemore powerful technology - AK47s are alot better than running around and killingan animal with a spear.” C

uncertain blitzkrieg

uncertainuncertain“The impact of

humans can result in

major ramifications

that echo through

evolutionary times.

“uncertain blitzkrieg

uncertain blitzkrieg

It was a remarkable discovery and mostunexpected: Two Charles Darwin Universityscientists working in the sweltering heat andhumidity of Darwin develop a theory thatpresents a very plausible explanation andmathematical model to shed light on whythe world’s large animals became extinct.

The term used for these large animals ismegafauna. Put simply, these are very biganimals - gigantic bison, sabre-tooth tigersand beavers the size of grizzly bears. Theydisappeared and no scientific theory hadbeen able to explain with any real authoritywhy they became extinct. It was an enduringpuzzle that provoked intense discussion fromspecialist and non-specialist alike for the better part of the last 150 years.

Finding out why the giant birds, reptiles andmammals became extinct in the latePleistocene - about 10,000 years ago fromthe end of the Ice Age in North America, andabout 45,000 years ago in Australia - is theholy grail of paleobiology. The debatebetween advocates of the two main theories- climate change and overkill by humans -can politely be described as robust. Butwhile the climate change idea seemed lesslikely (negated by the fact many big animalssurvived the Ice Age), the overkill propositionremains volatile subject matter. Indeed,South Australia’s Tim Flannery is routinelymaligned for his seminal best-selling bookThe Future Eaters (1994) which argued thatthe arrival of humans in Australia had a pro-found and invidious impact, leading to rapidor ‘blitzkrieg’ mass extinction of species.

It is into this contentious field that CharlesDarwin University’s Professor DavidBowman and Dr Barry Brooks have enteredthe fray to leave an indelible mark with theirpaper, The Uncertain Blitzkrieg ofPleistocene Megafauna (Journal ofBiogeography, 2004). The pair published anearlier instalment of the theory in 2002 inthe prestigious Proceedings of NationalAcademy of Sciences of the United Statesjournal, and they are awaiting peer review

for the final and concluding paper to be pub-lished in Biology Letters, the British journalof the Royal Society. For Bowman, 46, andBrooks, 30, this is nothing short of a star turn before the international scientific community.

The theory, as Bowman explained, is simple.

“The theory of uncertain blitzkrieg is that wehave been able to show a biologically plausible reason whereby whereverhumans go, with whatever level of technolo-gy they can get their hands on, there will bea corresponding inevitable extinction of animals because of the capacity of humansto change the environment and outstrip theanimals’ capacity to adapt,” he said.

“We have been able to provide a biologicallyplausible mechanism where previously,while it was said there was a coincidence of extinctions where humansgo, it was never elaborated. We have beenable to flesh out an ecological mechanismfor this to happen. The blitzkrieg is that ithappens fast and it’s uncertain becauseextinctions can happen for a lot of differentreasons, but humans are always in the mix.”

Bowman and Brook looked at the profile ofextinct animals and worked out individualbody mass from skeletal remains. Over twoyears of painstaking research, they compiledliterature from around the world, looking atthe animals that had survived and those thathad become extinct. These animals werethen ranked according to increasing bodymass. The findings convinced the pair therewere onto something of considerable significance.

“What we saw was not a step, that is you gotto a certain size and then you were dead -we know that's not true because elephantsexist. What we saw was a really nicesweeping curve so the bigger the animal,the more likely it was to go extinct but therewasn’t any threshold so little ones wentextinct, medium ones went extinct, but morebigger ones went extinct. This was prettyexciting for us as it was a new piece ofempirical evidence that we had discovered,”Bowman said. continued>

rights and values

The creation, ownership and use of know-ledge sourced from the world's most strikingly beautiful landscapes heraldedCharles Darwin University’s second symposium for 2004: The Living Desert.

“The desert is a European idea, and isoften equated with wilderness, a waste-land, no mans land,” Symposium con-venor and Charles Darwin University’sChair of Desert Knowledge, ProfessorDonna Craig explained.

“Yet the world’s deserts are populated,some for tens of thousands of years, someby millions of people. They are culturallyand environmentally rich places albeit withuncertain futures.”

“In a globalising world, how should knowledge be used, owned, gathered andarchived in desert regions? How can suchknowledge help community development,cultural priorities and environmental protection?”

Held at Alice Springs’ Araluen Centre, the symposium took place on 9 and 10November.

Hosted by ABC journalist, Justin Murphy,The Living Desert attracted an excitingarray of local, national and internationalspeakers to discuss the important intellec-tual and institutional issues related tolearning and research in desert regions.

Mr Sopan Joshi, from the Centre forScience and the Environment in India, presented international insights into build-ing the knowledge economy with theworld's desert regions. Mr Joshi is alsoDeputy Coordinator with the New Delhipublication Down to Earth which coversenergy politics, Indigenous people, landand water management and agriculture.

Learning from the visions of great uni-versities of the desert was the focus ofNative American educator OctavianaTrujillo's presentation. A director of AppliedIndigenous Studies at Northern ArizonaUniversity, Professor Trujillo has extensiveexperience in education program development for minority and multiculturalpopulations - particularly Native Americanswas the first woman to serve as chair ofthe Pascua Yaqui tribe in Arizona and hasreceived fellowships from the Fulbright,Kellogg, Smithsonian and Rockefellerfoundations.

Robynne Quiggin, a descendent of theWiradjuri people from NSW, discussedvaluing, understanding and protectingIndigenous knowledge. A former solicitor,Ms Quiggin is a law lecturer at theUniversity of Technology Sydney, aresearcher at Jumbunna IndigenousHouse of Learning and has a depth of

experience in Indigenous intellectual andcultural property, genetic resources, bio-prospecting, micro-credit and bankingin remote areas.

Alice Springs born Harold Furber provided focus on the meanings of univer-sity based on their historical evolution. A board member of the Desert KnowledgeCooperative Research Centre, he holds avaried background as an administratorand an educator in Indigenous issues. Hehas won many awards including a CentralAustralian of the Year NAIDOC Award.

More information on the speakers and the Living Desert program is available at:www.cdu.edu.au/cdss

Looking ahead, next year’s CharlesDarwin Symposium at Alice Springs will beheld between 20 - 22 September in theAraluen Centre under the title of Imagining Childhood: Children, Culture and OurCommunity.

Politicians increasingly talk about invest-ing in human capital, and childhood hasmoved to the forefront of Australiandomestic economic and social policy.Scientists and scholars are asking: Why isthis intense interest in children arisingnow? What is the idea of intervention?What are the meanings of child develop-ment and family functioning in multiculturaland postcolonial society? How do thesebecome significant for families, for the sustainability of child-centred interventionsand programs, and for research?

The 2005 Charles Darwin Symposium inAlice Springs wants to bring an inter-national debate on childhood to theNorthern Territory and invites the public, practitioners, policy-makers and intellectualsto engage closely with specialist scholars attending from the USA, UK and Australia.

desert

25

All Australian governments face a chal-lenge to achieve water policy and management that accounts for regionalsocial and cultural factors and meets international and national commitmentsand policy. Of the scattered work acrossthe country about Indigenous connectionto freshwaters, little was produced andapproved by the custodians or traditionalowners and little was used to buildcapacity or improve the outcome withregard to the management of freshwater.

As a consequence, a Charles DarwinUniversity led team has commenced a$340,000 Commonwealth Governmentfunded three-year project to explore howIndigenous water rights and values couldbe formally recognised. The majority offunds are from Land and Water Australiawith the Desert Knowledge CooperativeResearch Centre matching funds providedfor the participation and training ofIndigenous people.

“As water rights and management is in aperiod of flux in Australia, the situation forIndigenous people is unclear. There is aneed to distil from International andNational law, what are the actual respon-sibilities of governments and to seewhether there is a generic way forwardthat suits the many Indigenous Nationswithin Australia,” Chief Investigator andlecturer in resource management, Dr Naomi Rea, said.

“Concerns about water - whether it bepoor water quality or supply, over use,desecration of sacred sites or lack of consultation - being expressed byIndigenous people and landowners arewidespread across the Territory.”

“It is now recognised that consideration ofcultural issues with regard to waterresource management has much room forimprovement. This project is timely andcan place cultural values, laws and rightsinto clearly articulated mechanisms thatenable Indigenous people to express their

views and wishes, engage in decisionmaking and have improved autonomy overhow surface and groundwater is used ontraditional lands.”

The Project, which also involves the Centrefor Environmental Law at MacquarieUniversity, the Central Land Council, theAnmatjere Council and the Department ofInfrastructure, Environment and Planning,is focused some 200km north of AliceSprings in the Anmatjere Region.

Irrigated agriculture is firmly establishedaround the township of Ti-Tree and isslowly extending up and down the StuartHighway. The 2002 Ti-Tree WaterManagement Strategy states that the cultural and environmental significance ofephemeral streams, swamps and water-holes are currently unknown and recommends surveys to determine thesevalues as part of the management of waterresources in the region.

“This Project provides significantresources to Aboriginal people to do this,”explained Lucas Jordan, a ResearchAssociate with Charles Darwin University,who will spend the next three years work-ing on the project following similar culturalheritage work on Cape York Peninsula.

“The first stage is a collaborative effort toestablish what cultural values of watermeans to Indigenous people in theAnmatjere region and how they would liketo participate in regional water issues,” Dr Rea explained.

“Concurrently, an Indigenous Water RightsReport is being prepared that provides theformal backing for recognition of values.The second stage is a negotiation phasebetween all partners and government withthe aim of instating cultural values of waterand traditional and contemporary rightsinto institutional structures and NaturalResource Management procedures.”

24

r i g h t s a n d v a l u e s

FREE SYMPOSIUM:THE LIVING DESERT

the living desertl i v i n g d e s e r t

C

C

waterwater

waterwwater

As water rights and management is in a

period of flux in Australia, the situation

for Indigenous people is unclear.

26 27

The hundreds of artefacts recovered so faroffer evidence of the various site occupants but the most prolific material evidence relates to the second house.

“For example, numerous intact beer bottles, a naval button, 1940s coinage anda few bullets, hundreds of nails and otherfastenings. Nineteenth century artefactsare infrequent, but locating two tiny opiumbottles and a 19th century Minié bullet fora top end loading rifle were welcomefinds,” Ms Mastin explained.

Ms Mastin, who has undertaken similar historical excavations in the last sevenyears, wants the ‘Knight’s Folly’ site to beleft open for assessment and interpretation.

“It is a wonderful landscape that looks outupon Darwin Harbour. There are matureshady trees, sea breezes and an atmosphere that lends itself to having apicnic area for people to sit and learnsomething about the old Darwin.”

“It’s going to be a wonderful thing fortourism - a link between Darwin’s admin-istrative centre and the new waterfrontdevelopment. I want the site to be there forthe people. This man did so much forDarwin and I’d like it to be retained as amemorial for him,” she said.

As this excavation season nears comple-tion, and the analysing of the artefactsbegins, Ms Mastin is looking forward to thesecond archaeological season next yearand to build on the features that have beenlocated so far.

It is envisaged that after next year’s excavation, all features will be leftexposed, with interpretive signageinstalled which offers the visitor the opportunity to step back into the past.

“This is Northern Territory’s history shapedby a man of vision.” C

Julie Mastin with former resident of Knight’sFolly and former Northern TerritoryAdministrator, Austin Asche.

kAn archaeological excavation of a grandMoorish style building designed by one ofthe Australia’s leading 19th century architects is creating a history portalbetween the old Darwin CBD and the city'ssoon to be constructed $600 million dollar waterfront development.

Historical archaeologist postgraduate student, Julie Mastin, is excavating thesite of the former home of GovernmentResident, John George Knight, as part ofher Master of Arts degree at CharlesDarwin University.

Knight, who arrived in Melbourne fromEngland in 1852, designed a number ofpublic buildings in Victoria includingMelbourne’s Parliament House, MelbourneCustoms House and several other commercial buildings and many private houses.

In 1873, Knight relocated to Port Darwin andsettled into a life of distinguished public service, holding a variety of government positions, the final one being that ofGovernment Resident. He died in theGovernment Residence on 10 January 1892.

“Knight has been described as a remark-able man and designed many of earlyDarwin's - then Palmerston - culturallyimportant buildings, including the TownHall, Brown’s Mart, the Infirmary of Fannie

Bay Gaol, Court House, Police Station andthe reconstruction of the GovernmentResidence,” Ms Mastin explained.

“He even constructed a fenced swimmingpool at the end of Fort Hill that allowed forthe high tidal fluctuations.”

“The home he erected in Darwin in 1884was below Government House and nestled against a cliff face with panoramicviews of the waterfront. The house wasknown by different names - generally as‘Knight's Folly’, the ‘Mud Hut’, or in correspondence from Knight himself,Mudville on the Sea.”

The building was Darwin’s first two-storeyhouse, and its construction was possiblythe first use of concrete in the NorthernTerritory - this is at a time when theAustralian use of concrete in houses was at an embryonic stage. Knight was fascinated by building materials and hadhoped that his home would eventuallybecome a museum. The architectural styleof his residence, reflected his knowledgeof flow through ventilation, large verandahs to keep the inner core cool andthe entire house painted white to reflectthe sun.

“He was referred to as an eccentric man,but he sounds to me, practical and inno-vative,” Ms Mastin remarked.

Unfortunately Knight’s house was destroyedby fire in 1933 with a second house constructed on the same site in 1938 whichstood until devastated by Cyclone Tracy in1974. This house, also two storeyed butsmaller, was constructed of fibro cementwith louvre windows and elevated on shortconcrete piers. During World War Two thehouse was requisitioned by the Navy andoccupied from 1943 until 1960.

“This excavation is exciting as well asbeing frustrating. Knowing that two houseshave occupied the same site, the amountof concrete slabs unearthed in such varying depths is a puzzle. The answer to the puzzle, is finding how to link theseslabs to cover the known occupants that lived here.”

One definitive known feature from Knight’shome is the embedded pillar in the cliffface. This is verified from photographicevidence showing the pillar as a supportpart of the upper storey verandah that surrounded the house.

“Excitement mounted when we locatedtwo levels and also three steps constructedof roughly dressed porcellanite rocks. Thismasonry work there is unlike any otherfeature on the site, and writings of the timestate that Knight used at least one localprisoner from the gaol skilled in masonryto construct his home.”

kn ight ’s fo l ly kknight ’s fo l lyk n i g h t ’ s

f o l l y

continued>

d

29

“Thus it was determined not only who shotfirst, but the chronology of shots and howmany time each shooter fired their gun, aswell as the time between shots.”

In that instance the defendant shot firstand the threat of a criminal case againstthe police officers evaporated.

“In a civil case, a disgruntled employeesurreptitiously recorded her employer. Nothappy with the lack of incriminating evidence, the plaintiff tampered with thetape-recorded evidence. Dr Yonovitz produced a very damaging report (againstthe plaintiff), at which time the case settledand the trial was called off.”

Other cases only involve tape-recordedevidence indirectly, as Dr Yonovitz alsodeals with linguistics, phonetics, acoustics,noise measurement and analysis.

“One case involved the authenticity ofaudio recordings alleged to be that of ElvisPresley. In addition to voice/speaker identification via singing, research and analyses of the old taped medium washelpful in the authenticity analyses.”

Despite the exotic attraction of ‘crime-busting’, Dr Yonovitz believes that the challenge of a court case and establishing a scientific basis for truth is as exciting as anacademic pursuit in applied or basic science.

At Charles Darwin University, Dr Yonovitz’sprimary research is in the area of providingthe best possible hearing for Territorianswith a focus into better hearing for bothIndigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

As a clinical audiologist as well, he continues to inform about the difficultieschildren and adults experience with hearing impairment. His research withIndigenous children has inspired a keyelement within the NT Department ofEmployment, Education and TrainingLiteracy and Numeracy Strategy.

“It is tragic how the consequences of thishearing loss affect the personal, social andeducational potential for so many childrenin the Territory.”

“Indigenous Australians have the highestincidence of hearing loss compared to anyother population. On Bathurst Island morethan 50 per cent of the children haveactively draining ears with consequenthearing impairment as well. Enough hearing loss so that hearing their friends,their family members and their teachers is nearly impossible.”

“Our Indigenous population comprises 28percent of the Territory and owns over 50percent of the land and yet we face thisnexus in health and education from acountry that inspired the world with thebionic ear.”

His research and teaching includes working as the Unit Head in Ear Healthand Education at the Menzies School ofHealth Research and the District Managerfor Australian Hearing.

Interestingly, his credits also include having mentored the first African AmericanAstronaut to ‘walk in space’.

“Like many students that I am mentoring atthe Charles Darwin University, Bernardwalked into our hearing research laboratory in Houston, Texas as a secondyear University student interested in hearing science.”

“Bernard needed a job and a friend as welland the funds raised from a few acousticforensic cases paid for Bernard's workeventually led to significant publications inhearing aid studies.”

When Dr Yonovitz came to Australia forwork in Indigenous hearing they lost touchuntil their friendship was reunited with ane-mail:

To: Al Yonovitz,

…Well, you missed (as you were inAustralia) my graduation from medicalschool, my research fellowship at theNRC, and my two space flights and walks.BUT, I have always wanted to tell you howimportant those years in your lab and yourfriendship has meant to me. In fact, youare part of the equation for mysuccess...and I THANK YOU! I hope thatwe can get together some time in the nearfuture. Besides, I think I owe you somemoney (from my poor college studentdays)…

Bernard Harris

After flying his inaugural space mission in1993, Dr Harris flew as payload commander for the first flight of the jointRussian-American program in 1995.During this mission, he visited the Mirspace station, conducted more extensiveresearch on humans in space and conducted a five-hour space walk outsidethe shuttle Discovery thus becoming thefirst African-American to walk in space.

“I hope that at some stage in the nearfuture that Bernard can visit Australia and,through the work I do in remoteIndigenous communities, we can bothrealise a dream of helping to inspireIndigenous and non Indigenous youthabout the possibilities that life can hold,”Dr Yonovitz said.

28

Making sense of the confused conver-sations of a suicide cult, the desperation ofan emergency call and evaluating theauthenticity of ‘lost’ recordings by the Kingof Rock and Roll or terrorist broadcastscan all be in a day’s work for Dr AlYonovitz.

Holding a doctorate in psychologicalacoustics, Dr Yonovitz is a psychology lecturer at Charles Darwin University andhas been involved in the area of forensicaudio and video for over 25 years.

Dr Yonovitz’s involvement in forensicaudio and video analyses was fortuitous.As a lecturer and associate professor atthe University of Texas Medical School, healready had the academic background andcredentials to analyse and testify aboutthe forensic analyses of tape-recorded evidence. Various law enforcement agencies and criminal defence attorneyswould seek his assistance in cases thathad tape-recorded evidence. His ‘bigbreak’ was a very high profile murder-for-hire case, after which he gained muchattention to this unique area of the forensicsciences.

Since then he has been involved in thehigh profile David Koresh/Branch Davidian(Waco, Texas) criminal case and providedanalysis of tape recordings for Fortune500 companies including the MotorolaCorporation, United Parcel Service, Inc.

and Shell Oil Company. His work has alsoincluded various United States agencies,including the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation, the Drug EnforcementAdministration, the U.S. Customs Service,the Internal Revenue Service and theDepartment of Alcohol, Tobacco andFirearms.

“Recent voice identification cases that Ihave been involved in include the authen-ticity and voices of the alleged Osama binLaden audio recordings and, more gruesomely, the Islamic beheadings ofAmerican civilians captured on video andplaced on the World Wide Web via Islamicwebsites,” Dr Yonovitz remarked.

He explains that there is no ‘typical’forensic case although some are moreintriguing than others.

“In one recent criminal case a suspect lefta message on the answering machine ofthe decedent. The voice on the answeringmachine was compared aurally and spectrographically with a known exemplarof the defendant. Such evidence was usedto gain a first-degree murder conviction.”

“In another criminal case, an informantwas paid marked money to buy illicit drugsand surreptitiously tape record everytransaction. However, the informant decidedto go in cahoots with a friend, pocket themoney, fake a transaction and implicate

people that the two did not like.Subsequent arrests of innocent peoplesought to have their voices compared, asthey knew they were not parties to thosemade-up transactions.”

Dr Yonovitz got ‘eliminations’ of the exemplars - the defendants were not onthe taped evidence. The court compelledDr Yonovitz to send his data to the FBIand, before trial, the U.S. Government dismissed the entire case against all co-defendants.

“In another criminal case, a hotel roomwas rigged by local police to record bothaudio and video a drug transaction. Butthe buy and the video equipment wentawry, as gunshots were exchangedbetween the undercover officers and thedefendants.”

“However, the acoustic percussions of thegunshots were incidentally recorded, and it was critical to know whether thedefendants or the police officers fired thefirst shot.”

Dr Yonovitz determined that because thedefendant and the police officer had different calibre handguns - and henceyielding different acoustic ballistic signatures - then it was a matter of reveal-ing the acoustics of each shot and matching it with the known gun.

“Recent voice identification

cases that I have been

involved in include the

authenticity and voices of the

alleged Osama bin Laden

audio recordings...”

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r o o s tn e wr o o s t

OIL

3130

Tea Tree oil is being used as an effectivetreatment for people suffering severe scabies at Royal Darwin Hospital as aresult of research undertaken at MenziesSchool of Health Research - a ResearchSchool in Charles Darwin University’sInstitute of Advanced Studies.

Laboratory studies found tea tree oil to behighly effective in killing the scabies mite,leading researchers to believe it may helpthe problem of the mite’s increasing tolerance to current standard treatments.

Up to 60 per cent of children in remoteAboriginal communities in northern andcentral Australia are infected with scabies- a skin disease caused by a tiny burrowing mite. It is further estimated 300million people worldwide suffer from scabies at any one time.

Scabies causes intense itching, resultingin skin damage through scratching. Thesesores often become infected with secondarybacterial infections which can lead to lifethreatening illnesses such as kidney and heart disease. Someremote communities in theNorthern Territory have thehighest rates of kidney andheart disease in the world.

Preventing the spread of scabies has now become a priority for many communities.

Successful community based ‘healthyskin’ programs involving mass treatmentof all residents with permethrin has beenintroduced in a bid to reduce the preva-lence of scabies.

Dr Shelley Walton from the MenziesScabies Laboratory says there are only afew effective treatments for scabies, andit's feared the scabies mite, like head lice,will become highly resistant to them.

“We have evidence of increasing toleranceof the scabies mites to permethrin, the current treatment used in community con-trol programs, over the last five years. Wehave also recently reported the firstevidence of resistance to oral ivermectin.This is of great concern as ivermectin isthe treatment of choice for crustedscabies, a very severe and debilitatingform of the disease.”

“With limited effective drugs available forthe treatment of scabies, it is important toavoid the development of drug resistance

in scabies mites,” she said.

“In order to extend the effectivelife of the available treat-ments, we've been looking foralternative therapies to complement the existingdrugs, and laboratory studies

show tea tree oil to be an effective treatment,” she said.

Dr Walton and the Scabies lab team arenow extending their studies to identify thescabies mite genes involved in the development of resistance to existingtreatments. It is hoped their work will helpavoid the current global problems of resistance to treatment observed in otherorganisms such as head lice.

the good oil

C

A $2 million Northern Territory Governmentgrant is funding the new home ground forthe Palmerston Magpies football team atCharles Darwin University’s PalmerstonCampus.

The grant forms the basis for a partner-ship between Palmerston’s AustralianRules Football team - which plays in theNT Football League - and the University.

“Partnerships such as this are the way ofthe future for the development of sportsfacilities in the Territory,” NT Minister forSport and Recreation, John Ah Kit, said.

“It gives greater economies of scale andgreater capacity to leverage improve-ments and expansion through joint construction projects, volunteer and sponsorship commitments. Other sportinggroups in the Palmerston area, as well asstudents from the University’s Palmerstoncampus will all be beneficiaries.”

Vice Chancellor Professor Helen Garnettsaid that the partnership was an importantstep forward for the Palmerston campus.

“For the students at the Palmerston campus, it will mean greatly enhancedaccess to a good sports ground-it is some-thing that will be available to other sporting groups in the city of Palmerston.We have undertaken consultations withthe surrounding community to ensure thatthe new developments will harmonise withcommunity expectations.”

“We will also continue to work closely withthe Palmerston Magpies in developingdetailed plans for improvements to whatwill be a joint venture between thePalmerston Magpies and the University.”

The funding will go to the University, whichis committed to expanding sporting facilities for students on the Palmerstoncampus. It is expected the $2 million willgo a long way towards priorities such asproviding improvements to the oval, andthe construction of a fence, scoreboard,change rooms and kiosk, as well as carparking and limited spectator facilities.

A new virtual reality based learning environment focused on the travel industry has been opened at CharlesDarwin University’s Palmerston Campus.

The Travel Gateway Practice Firm is a simulated business environment whereCharles Darwin University business andtourism students ‘virtually’ sell travel pack-ages to the Northern Territory and Borneoas well as Royal Brunei airfares. The practice firm is a result of a newly forgedpartnership between Charles DarwinUniversity and Northern Gateway Pty Ltd.

“Tourism is one of the Territory's biggest industries,” Northern Gateway ChiefExecutive Officer, Penni Tastula, said.“Reality based training for students is afantastic opportunity for us to help growthe professionalism, capacity and repu-tation of the Territory’s travel industry intothe future.”

The Practice Firm is a learning centrewhere students can complete a Certificateone and two in Business and Certificatethree and four in tourism. The University’sSchool of Tourism and Hospitality is head-quartered at the Palmerston Campus.

“It's the ultimate learning environmentwhere theory meets practice,” Head of theUniversity’s School of Tourism andHospitality, Morag McGrath, stated. “Inaddition to learning how to run a businessfrom a textbook or conventional classroom,students run a virtual business.”

“While no money or products are actuallyexchanged, the students market and selltravel products, keep accounts, negotiatecontracts and post profit and loss statements in a virtual environment thatreflects the actual business operations ofNorthern Gateway. The students makehard business decisions and are paid

virtual salaries. They will also learn otherimportant skills like work and businessethics, skills that might otherwise soundvery abstract coming out of a text book,”Ms McGrath remarked.

The Travel Gateway Practice Firm complements the highly acclaimedCrocodylus World Practice Firm that hasoperated at the University’s CasuarinaCampus for the past seven years. Apartnership between the University andCrocodylus Park, the Crocodylus WorldPractice firm was recognised with aJudges’ Encouragement Award during thePrime Minister’s Awards for Excellence inCommunity and Business Partnershipsthis year. C

putting practice into study

Photo courtesy Scabies Laboratory, MenziesSchool of Health Research

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33

Jill ByrnesCompleting a Master of DevelopmentManagement at the University in 1993, Iestablished a management consulting business, specialising in non-profit, community-based organisations. I moved toKununurra in 1994 and continued the consulting business there for nine years,

gaining a great deal of experience withIndigenous organisations and governmentdepartments.

My work includes community developmentfacilitation, corporate governance trainingand facilitation, strategic planning, conduct-ing consultations on behalf of government

departments, preparing culturally appro-priate training/information materials, and writing funding submissions and annualreports. Last year I moved to the HerveyBay area of Queensland, and have continued the consultancy business which Ifind very rewarding and worthwhile.

32

Herbert HowellGraduating in 1999 with studies in TeachingEnglish to Speakers of other Languagesfrom Charles Darwin University, I spent therest of the year at Warburton Ranges, aremote Indigenous community in WesternAustralia's Gibson Desert which had beenmy home since the 1960s.

When the year was completed my wife andI shifted to Esperance where I took up ateaching position in a non-government allIndigenous school. Wongutha CAPS is aVocational Education and Training schoolfor years 11 and 12 students most of whomcome from the Kimberley region with several coming from the Eastern Goldfields,the Pilbara and a small number from theWA's south west. I teach a Scaffolding literacy program (known as AcceleratedLiteracy in the NT) as our students are allEnglish as a Second Language speakersand most have very low literacy levels.

It is very encouraging to have studentsincrease their literacy levels, in some casesdramatically, as they are all in their lastyears of school and are considered ‘at risk’.I really appreciated the studies I completedin Darwin and have now commenced aMasters in Applied Linguistics and trust thiswill also help the students at the school inthe long run.

Charleston WangI completed my LLM in Comparative Lawfrom Charles Darwin University in May2002. I chose the University because of itsunique program in South East Asian Lawwhich includes the Islamic law of the region.I earned my first law degree, a Juris Doctorfrom the Salmon P. Chase College of Law,Northern Kentucky University in 1982. I alsohold a MBA in International Business fromXavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio (1979).

Since graduation, I have continued to practice U.S. immigration law and am admitted before the Federal and Ohio statebars. Given the turbulence in the world,immigration law gives me little rest and great

challenge, especially in the areas of Asylumand the Torture Convention. My practiceallows me the opportunity to professionallycompare the human right conditions in various parts of the world and to use U.S.immigration law to help people escape persecution and torture. The comparativelaw study at Charles Darwin certainly hasimproved my ability to help my clients forwhich I am grateful.

I now live in Cincinnati with my wife, Shirley,and we are the proud parents of Vivian, 21 who studies at Stanford University, andArthur, 17 who attends Sycamore HighSchool in Cincinnati.

Grace FombadAs a 45 year old medical doctor (G.P), I completed a Master of Public Health withCharles Darwin University's MenziesSchool of Health Research this year. My choice of Charles Darwin was influenced by the fact that they offeredmixed mode of studies which allowed me towork and pay for my course and ultimately,my studies have allowed me to expand mycontinued interest in and contributions tothe United Nations.

Married with four children, I have served asMD in my home country of Cameroon for 14years and also as a UN Volunteer medicaldoctor in Timor Leste for 23 months. For thepast three months I have been working withthe UN peace keeping force in SierraLeone, a place of current conflict but alsogreat hope, where I am currently serving inthe capacity of Medical Officer and admin-istratively assisting the Chief MedicalOfficer in his absence. Already, we havehad to live through an outbreak of Choleraand Lassa fever.

With the United Nations I have the opportunity to assist those who have gonethrough periods of agony and are in need. I treat local staff working with the UN while living under the same conditions they doand with my salary, I sometimes go into the communities for philanthropic activities.

For example, in Timor Leste we, the volunteers, organised clean up campaignsand provided trash bins for the streets andalso bedding for the maternity ward of thenational hospital. We also organised monthlyconsultations and feeding for one of themany orphanages in the country.

Vince ChampionAt age 30 I decided to return to school. As I hadn't completed year 12, I needed to do atertiary bridging program and was verythankful I had completed that course prior todoing degree studies as it prepared me brilliantly for what was to come. The skills I learned during that one semester made thesubsequent six years of study more enjoyable, less stressful, and more success-ful. I completed a BA in 1999 majoring inanthropology with a double in psychology.

I gained employment as a psychiatric rehabilitation worker with TEAM Health. Thiscommunity based mental health organisationwere very supportive of me undertaking further studies and I undertook and com-pleted Psychology Honours in 2000.

Clinical staff at TEAM Health are fortunateto receive clinical supervision from a seniorpsychologist at Top End Mental HealthServices (TEMHS). It was therefore easyfor me to adapt that work supervision to theformal two year supervision required tocomplete my registration as a psychologistwith the NT Health Board, which occurred in 2003.

I am now the psychologist to the ‘AdultTeam’ at TEMHS outpatient clinic at theTamarind Centre - a job which I love andwhich allows me to further develop myskills. I provide psychological interventioninto a broad range of mental health issuesas well as clinical input into the psychiatricinpatient unit at the hospital. I plan on oneday undertaking a Masters in psychologyon an external basis to complete my registration with the AustralianPsychologists Association.

A research team led by Professor KerinO’Dea, Director of the Menzies School ofHealth Research (MSHR) has been awarded over $7 million over five years toaddress the serious health problem of diabetes, kidney and heart disease inIndigenous people.

The prestigious program grant, funded byAustralia’s National Health and MedicalResearch Council (NHMRC), is thebiggest ever grant awarded to MSHR, aresearch school in Charles DarwinUniversity’s Institute of Advanced Studies.

Professor Kerin O’Dea said the programwill pull together leading Australianresearch teams in diabetes and renal disease among Indigenous Australianpopulations in a collaboration betweenMenzies School of Health Research,University of Queensland and theUniversity of Melbourne.

“We have assembled a multidisciplinaryteam of experienced and talentedresearchers with strong and diverse back-grounds in Indigenous health in an effort toreduce the impact of chronic diseasesoccurring in epidemic proportions amongIndigenous Australians.”

“The program will focus on diabetes, kidney and heart disease all of which occurat a much higher prevalence and earlierage of onset among Torres Strait Islanderand Aboriginal people than among thebroader Australian population,” she said.

Relative to the overall Australian population, Indigenous Australians have15 - 20 years shorter life expectancy.Diabetes and related conditions, such asheart disease and kidney disease, aremajor contributors to this reduced longevity.

Disturbing statistics reveal Indigenous people experience up to four times greaterprevalence of cardiovascular disease,more than 10 times the prevalence of diabetes in the 20 - 50 year age group, anddevelop end-stage renal disease at up to30 times the rate of non-Indigenous people.

While these chronic diseases are known tocause suffering and premature death in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, there remain knowledge gaps.

For example, little is known about howthese conditions develop over time in different populations. Probably the greatest knowledge gap is in the area ofeffective interventions - both to preventdiabetes, kidney and heart disease inyoung people, and to treat existing caseseffectively.

According to Professor O’Dea, the aim ofthe research is to better understand thedevelopment of chronic disease acrossthe lifespan, and to guide the developmentof diet, lifestyle and clinical interventions.

“Our research will continue to study patterns of disease and seek to identifymajor determinants and casual pathwaysto chronic disease in Indigenous popu-lations from many communities andregions across three states and territories.”

“We will also be looking at the most effec-tive community based interventions - bothto prevent diabetes, kidney and heart disease in young people, and to treat exist-ing cases effectively. Most importantly,these interventions need to be simple,effective, acceptable to Indigenous peopleand sustainable over the long term.”

“We are hoping the results of our researchwill inform policies in areas such as quality and affordability of the food supplyin remote communities; infrastructure topromote physical activity; and provision ofhigh quality primary health care focussingon early intervention and care of people atrisk of chronic disease,” she said. C

C

indigenous health research boosted

continued>

indigenous health

LEFT - RIGHTHerbert HowellCharleston WangGrace Fombad (far right)Vince ChampionJill Byrnes (back row, far right)

boostedresearchindigenous health research boosted

35

“Earlier this year, in March 2004, anotherimportant acquisition was made of a painting by Franck Gohier - a Darwin-based artist and printmaker. It is not onlyvisually compelling, but represents an historic link with Northern Editions.”

Created in December 2003, Falling theway flowers do, to die an honourabledeath, (as shown on page 1) is a power-fully resolved work in acrylic on aluminiumpop rivet, inspired by the artist’s interest inthe hidden history of war. Mr Gohier saidhe was intrigued by the fact that ‘civilisa-tion’ and the development of the humanities usually arise from an affluentculture where its people are strong andsecure. This position of advantage is usually achieved via politics, economicsand war. He said that the Japanese, dur-ing World War II, called their pilots whodied in combat ‘Falling Chrysanthemums’.

“In this painting, I was trying to capture thepoetic side of humanity, even in war. It is ahomage to all men and women in the worldwho have an artistic and poetic element intheir nature, people who have arrived fromall the great civilisations and cultural back-grounds that history has recorded - the

same people who, ironically, can also be sobrutal and merciless when the call arises,”Mr Gohier explained.

French born Gohier graduated with a BA(Fine Arts, majoring in printmaking) fromthis University in 1991, where he alsoworked as a studio printmaker/lecturerbetween 1993-96.

During this time, Mr Gohier co-founded(along with Leon Stainer and GeorgeWatts) a series of ground-breaking print-making workshops involving Indigenousartists from remote communities through-out the Top End and Desert regions ofNorth Australia.

“The important links forged by this team ofprintmakers, between the University andseveral key Indigenous art communities,formed the foundation of Northern EditionsPrintmaking Studio, recently described byformer Chancellor Nan Giese as ‘the jewelin the crown’ of Charles Darwin University,”Ms Angel explained.

In 1997, Mr Gohier co-founded Red HandPrint Studio together with Shaun Poustie,an ideologically radical and independently

spirited venture, which continued Gohier’sinvolvement with the tuition of printmakingskills to Indigenous communities, laterextending this to prisoners at Berrimah Jail.

In April 2004, the Charles DarwinUniversity Art Collection acquired, by donation from the artist, 79 poster prints by Mr Gohier dating from 1997-2002, emanating from the pioneering printmakingstudio of Red Hand.

“They comprise a significant component ofthe University's holdings of locally-inspiredprints and posters, alongside a consider-able range of other art works by Gohier,either as principal artist or printer/collaborator at the University PrintmakingStudio.”

With temporary exhibitions from the collection having already been staged during 2004 in conjunction with Universityevents, future exhibitions on highlights ofthe collection are planned and promise toprovide important insights into theUniversity, the Northern Territory and theregion in which we interact.

34

Anita Angel has dedicated most of 2004 todiscovering, cataloguing and assessingmany of the 1200-plus art works that comprise one of the Northern Territory’smost significant art collections.

Appointed Curator of Charles DarwinUniversity’s permanent art collection inFebruary, Ms Angel was confronted with acollection that was fairly scattered, itsscope and depth little known in theNorthern Territory and beyond.

“Established as a ‘University Collection’ in1989, it drew together the disparate collections of the University’s precursorinstitutions: the University College of theNorthern Territory, the Darwin Institute ofTechnology and the Darwin CommunityCollege,” Ms Angel explained.

In late 2003, management of the collection became the responsibility of theUniversity’s Northern Editions PrintmakingStudio - the largest publisher ofIndigenous prints in Australia - and, shortly afterwards, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Helen Garnett,accepted the role of Patron.

Ms Angel, who is currently completing herdoctorate in Art History and NorthAustralian History at Charles DarwinUniversity, said that with re-assessment ofthe collection well underway, the collectionis gaining increased notice.

“Many art works, formerly in storage, havenow been displayed throughout theUniversity's Casuarina Campus, withplans for other works to be re-hung at thePalmerston Campus and displayed inAlice Springs, as well as other campusesof the University. A number of art worksare also currently on temporary loan toGovernment House in Darwin.”

The Collection comprises approximately200 paintings, works on paper, sculptures,ceramics and a number of textiles andmixed-media works by non-IndigenousAustralian and South East Asian artists.There is also a small collection of earlyIndigenous bark paintings, sculptures andartefacts, contemporary Indigenous paintings and works on paper as well as asignificant archive of more than 1000 limited edition prints by AustralianIndigenous and several South East Asianartists produced at Northern Editions and

its predecessor print making studio workshops from 1993 to the present.

Ms Angel said that future acquisitions tothe collection are assured, via the generous on-going donation of workshopproofs of limited edition prints fromNorthern Editions.

“In recognition of the collection’s importance to both the University and the broader community, the UniversityFoundation recently sponsored the acquisition of two significant paintings byPintupi artists Bobby West Tjupurrula andGeorge Ward Tjungurrayi, represented byPapunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, AliceSprings. George Ward Tjungurrayi wasthe recipient of the Wynne Prize for landscape art this year at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.”

Other recent acquisitions include threewoven fish-traps and a stunning fibre fishfence by artists from Maningrida Arts andCulture, and a fine painting by FionaSivyer, a promising artist and post-graduate student in the University’sSchool of Fine Art and Design.

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LEFTPainting by George Ward Tjungurrayi (2004)

BELOWLarge fish trap by Jack Marnbarra (2004); two small fish traps by Bonnie Burarn.garra (2004)

a r t Aaa r t art matters

sThe shipping yards in the small NorthernTerritory town of Elliott, located half waybetween Katherine and Tennant Creek,were the focus of a busy two weeks whena group of nine Indigenous students,including two future stockwomen, begantraining under the tutelage of lecturersfrom Charles Darwin University’s NorthernTerritory Rural College and localIndigenous stockmen.

“Organised through the efforts of many,the training was particularly successful,”Director of the Katherine located RuralCollege, Dr Brian Heim said.

Potential jackaroos and jillaroos are oftenfrustrated by a lack of basic level skills thatare needed to gain employment on a cattle property in the Top End and stations

are often unable to train new employees inbasic skills such as horse riding becauseof the busy mustering schedule. Added tothis, safety concerns for unskilled ridersprevent them from hiring people who maybe keen to work but have never had theopportunity to gain proficiency in thesemost basic requirements.

“Due to this vicious cycle, stations such asNewcastle Waters and Hayfield encour-aged the Rural College to deliver this training and offered to take on some of thestudents when they gain basic competency,” Dr Heim explained.

Though it took some time to get the projectoff and running, the results were well worththe efforts. Strongly promoted by localtraining consultant David Green, the project took on a life of its own and eventually included assistance from theElliott community, the NT Department ofBusiness, Industry and ResourceDevelopment, Newcastle Waters Stationand Consolidated Pastoral Company,Hayfield Station and many community volunteers and helpers.

The project is just the start of what isexpected to be a tremendously successful

program across the Territory. Conductedover a two-week period, the students started their first week learning the basicsof horsemanship under the guidance ofRural College lecturer Sam Tapp andAlister Trier from DBIRD. As the week progressed, they moved out of the confines of the shipping yards in Elliot andinto the bush for more adventurous ridingand experience.

In the second week, the students were ledby Rural College lecturer Alison Haineswho was assisted by well-knownTerritorian Bill Fordham. As would beexpected, each of the students beganshowing talents in various areas. Aftergaining confidence in their riding skills,some of the students showed real promisein horseshoeing while others began

developing and perfecting their skills inmarking cattle. The students were giventhe opportunity to travel to nearbyNewcastle Waters for some on-the-jobtraining and skill building. They wereengaged in basic station skills includingmustering/walking cows and calves, marking, branding, tailing weaners, andfence repair. All of the students loved thepractical work experience and profitedfrom the exposure to real-life work.

“After the two weeks were over, the students expressed a desire to come tothe Rural College for more training as wellas participate in further offerings in theElliott community. A trip up the StuartHighway to the College in Katherine isbeing scheduled for the near future andwork is also commencing to develop further opportunities for training in Elliottand in other remote locations.”

Plans are being laid for more training inrural production and also in areas such asbusiness, computer information systems,automotive and small engine repair, andother areas through Charles Darwin'sKatherine Regional Centre in concert withthe Rural College. These opportunities arebeing extended into other remote locations

including Lajamanu, Beswick, HodgsonDowns, Timber Creek and Barunga.

“We have a tremendous opportunity tooffer training in numerous areas not onlylimited to rural production,” Dr Heim said.

“Collaborative efforts involving theUniversity, relevant NT governmentdepartments and community groups resultin a win for all parties, most especially at-risk youths who desperately need thechance to develop a lifelong skill.”

“We look forward to continuing andexpanding these programs and thank all ofthe participants and supporters who havemade this become a reality.”

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