Echuca Village, Victoria, Australia
PhD candidate: Latrobe University Bendigo studying… * the hydrology of the 2016 Murray River flood * effects of geomorphology on flood behaviour * CPOM mobilisation during floods Kayaking the inland rivers of South Eastern Australia to better understand the dynamics , diversity and resilience of lowland riparian ecosystems. 13 years expat experience living in Germany. Worked in Australia, Africa, Antarctica and Germany. Enjoys the environment, my family, people, travel, cultures. Inclination towards adventure. In 2012 (low river), and 2016 (flood) completed a kayak journey of 2,400 km on the Murray River from its headwaters to the sea and continue to explore, document and share expeditions on the rivers of the Murray Darling Basin. Uses these experiences to understand rivers, river ecosystems and the communities that depend on them and encourage people to discover and share what they value about their environment. Rivers bring life and connect people. Education should be like that too.
At St. Joseph's College I encourage learning about our environment. Our school is based in Echuca, a river town. We are only 100 metres from the Murray River and half way between two Murray River icon sites, the Barmah-Millewa and Gunbower-Perricoota-Koondrook Forests. Understanding how ancient movements in the earth shaped the landscape, and how wandering river channels and floods drive biodiversity and economic opportunity enriches and empowers our community. It is core to my teaching. I have begun a PhD investigating the effect river regulation, land practices and the way we use our river are having on its health. I hope to be able to pass on the knowledge and teach some of the skills I will be learning during this investigation, including GIS, aerial photography and fieldwork, to students and make our school a centre of excellence in river ecology. Aiming to build confident, informed students, I established a school kayaking team at St. Joseph's to compete in the 404 km Murray River Canoe Marathon in 2005, which improved student fitness, resilience, leadership skills, connection to community and sense of place and in 2007 was recognised with a Campaspe Youth Award. This experience helped me to realise that education is a communal activity. It takes a village to raise a child. At St Jo's we have developed a learning mentor program which focusses on building positive links between families, students and teachers. Applied to the technological age, this means laptop programs, learning management systems, and the creative application of technology to enhance local learning using global benchmarks. Our challenge as teachers is to make our students ready to be successful in the global community by building a strong belief in self, an understanding of where they come from and the ability to solve problems locally.
My PhD project is a longitudinal study of the connectivity of the Murray River to its floodplain during the 2016 flood event, carried out using photography from a canoe every 250m for 2140km, leveraged using hydrological records, satellite imagery, analysis of floodplain, geology and flood modelling. I am working on describing the mechanisms of connectivity, spatially, temporally and in reference to the flood wave, including the process of exchange of organic material between the river channel and the riparian zone. In a nutshell, a first hand, hydroecogeomorphological account of how floods work.
At Kyabram Secondary College I got to know the expertise, dedication, idealism, resourcefulness and sense of community shown by many teachers in the state education system. It was my first teaching post. I learnt here that what matters most is that students see themselves as young people with a positive future. I saw great leadership under Lindsay Cooper, Judy Greer and MIchael Walsh, and inspirational initiatives. I found that good teamwork is more important than great facilities and the value of a healthy work-life balance. I taught Maths to year 7's, Science to years 7,8, 9 and 10 and IT to year 10s.
Designed and taught Business English lessons personalised to reflect client need and experience to engineers from FESTO and other German companies.
Completing an apprenticeship and working as a tradesman gave me an appreciation of the hard work, skill, abilities and artistic talent necessary to excel in a trade such as landscape gardening. Working at 'Arnolds' was a privilege. Old Mr. Arnold was an artist. He had a down to earth way with people. When you spoke with him and walked through a garden, it was like accompanying Monet. His sketches were, at times, wild. They always showed feeling and his gardens enriched the lives of his clients. At times they were exotic japanese gardens (he was a fan of Zen), environmentally friendly and innovative roof-top gardens in the most unexpected places, often including natural looking water features such as ponds, creeks, natural stone paving and walls. It was a pleasure to work here.