Education & training

Duncan Taylor can’t wait for the Cooktown university hub to open and for local people to realise its potential ... Mr Taylor said there were many challenges that regional Australians faced that were different to their city counterparts and having a university hub in Cooktown would help the local community.

Pam Dillon. Teachers became students for a day when the Barkly Region Sport Education Coordinator, Pam Dillon visited to present professional development in the form of First Aid, CPR Update and Physical Literacy training. Staff members worked hard after school being assessed for First Aid and CPR after completing an online component.

David Bruce, Natural Hazards Research Australia. Fire and Climate 2022 (Pullman Melbourne, Albert Park, Monday 6 to Friday 10 June 2022) is an International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) conference on Fuels and Fire Behaviour, Human Dimensions and Safety Summit, in the tradition of past IAWF conferences.

Dr Jennifer Lavers. Since 2007, the Adrift Lab research team based in Tasmania has been fortunate to visit Lord Howe Island in Apr/May to study plastics ingested by two mutton-bird species, Wedge-tailed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters. The database contains a wealth of information on the origin of items (e.g., bottle caps, balloon clips) and amount consumed by each bird species. Over time, it’s become one of the longest-running plastic monitoring programs in the world (certainly in the Southern Hemisphere).

Maldon Auskick Centre was lucky enough to have Maddy Pieper, AFL Central Vic Auskick Champion, run a session with the group last week. The kids, though always well behaved, were extra attentive to Maddy.

Narrandera’s first ever three day Narrungdera Earth Festival will start Friday 20 May with a welcome event at the Narrandera Fisheries Centre ... Saturday’s activities include a Cultural Day at the Narrandera Showground featuring animal encounters by Taronga Zoo, a rock climbing wall by Base Zero and weaving with Nioka Dupond. Aboriginal Elder Uncle Michael Lyons will deliver a Cultural Talk and celebrity chef The Black Olive will talk on bush foods.

A Charles Sturt University early childhood education expert asks where in the 2022 election campaign is the commitment to big investment and to big policy ideas that ensure free and accessible early childhood education for the long-term? Dr Leanne Gibbs tells ARR.News how the challenges in workforce supply and retention in the ECE sector are even greater in rural, regional and remote areas within Australia.

Joan De Bondt. Young Jack Thomas from Koondrook has landed a dream job in England as a performance engineer with the Aston Martin F1 team based in Silverstone, around a hundred kilometers from London. Jack has been in his new job for three months. He is a graduate performance engineer, motivated to learn, contribute and win in fast-paced, team environments.

Nicoli Barnes, UTas. It has been suggested that biochar improves animal health and liveweight gain. It has also been suggested that biochar reduces enteric methane and, by increasing carbon content in the manure, may improve soil carbon over time. Together these effects would theoretically reduce whole farm emissions. In an MLA-funded research programme, we are testing this theory using in a farm experiment near Deloraine, Tasmania.

A mother-of-two from Parkes has made the move to Orange to pursue a career in medicine to help address the doctor shortage in rural Australia. Ms Hannah Hawker tells of how she balances study and home life with two children as the University celebrates all its mothers ahead of Mother’s Day on Sunday 8 May.

Serena Kirby. This month’s ‘Knowing Nullaki Festival’ is an opportunity to learn and explore, create and celebrate what makes the Wilson Inlet special. The month-long festival, organised in partnership with Denmark’s Greenskills and artist and biodiversity educator, Angela Rossen, will feature 26 free community events.

Scientists have uncovered evidence that suggests the diet of saltwater crocodiles has shifted away from marine prey towards land-based animals. Researchers at Charles Darwin University compared bone samples from saltwater crocodiles killed around the 1960s, held at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, to those of contemporary saltwater crocodiles.

Two new studies led by Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS, UTAS) scientists provide an approach for accurately assessing the carbon storage capability of seaweed before it is factored into carbon offset initiatives, and highlight the need for further research into the impact of extending seaweed forests offshore into oceanic ecosystems.

Gabrielle Duykers. A young Naracoorte wool classer has claimed top honours at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. Twenty-year-old Sarah Haynes won the 2022 Australian Wool Exchange/TAFE National Graduate Woolclasser competition on April 12, making her the first South Australian to receive the prestigious award.

Some of the country’s leading scientists have taken to the skies in a bid to inspire students across Central Queensland to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Science Minister Meaghan Scanlon said this year’s Flying Scientists trip would be led by former Australian of the Year Professor Ian Frazer AC.

Research conducted by the Centre for Organic Research & Education (CORE) has developed recycled content technologies that can turn cities and farmlands into Sponges that can adapt to more frequent flooding and drought events to reduce the risk they present to our communities ... May 1st to 7th marks International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) in Australia.

One of Professor Zylstra’s core beliefs is that withholding fire from south-west Australian eucalypt forests for at least four decades will make those forests less flammable, even in a warming climate. This idea must bring joy to those who have long claimed that frequent, deliberate (prescribed) burning is ‘harmful to biodiversity’.

Serena Kirby. The Denmark seed library has given out 1300 seed packets since it began in November 2020. Instigated and run by the Denmark Library, there is a biannual Seed Library gathering held at the start of autumn and spring where library members can meet and access free seeds.

The Narrandera High School agricultural show team has followed up on their recent success of champion school at the National Angora Trophy Show in Goulburn by taking out the champion school title in the Angora Goats section at the Sydney Royal Easter Show for the second year in a row.

A Charles Sturt University agribusiness expert suggests Australia can anticipate an increase in wheat exports to countries affected by the Ukraine-Russia conflict and should target those importing nations’ requirements.

Careers education in Australia’s schools is grossly inadequate, according to a new report by the National Youth Commission Australia. The report cites young people's negative experiences, such as not being provided with adequate classes or information on career options or pathways post-secondary school education.