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• Geography Writing Competition

  • Start
    Monday, April 21, 2025
  •  
    11:30 PM
  • End
    Monday, June 30, 2025
  •  
    11:30 AM
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  Geography Writing Competition

  

  This is your opportunity to write a short story set in Queensland using imagination, creativity and with a wide interpretation.

  Opening date: 21 April 2025
  Closing Date: 30 June 2025

  Entrance fee: $10.00

  This competition is open to all writers, nationally and internationally, at any stage of their writing career.

  Prizes:

  • First Place - $300 and publication in the RGSQ Bulletin and on the RGSQ website
  • Second Place - $150
  • Third Place - 1 year membership to the Queensland Writers Centre

  Length: Short fiction up to 500 words

  Download the Competition Terms and Conditions.

  Download the GWC Registration Instructions for further details about the registration process.

  Download the Competition Flyer if you want to publicise the competition.

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• Do Jellyfish taste like Chocolate?

  • When
    Tuesday, May 13, 2025
  •  
    7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom only
  • Spaces left
    78

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  Geography Matters

  Presenter: Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin

  

  Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin is a biologist based in Launceston, Tasmania, who has described over 200 species of jellyfish, and written and co-authored several non-fiction books about Cnidaria (jellyfish and allies) including Stung! (2013) and Jellyfish – A Natural History (2016). She provides independent advice related to jellyfish worldwide to the media, online and via The Jellyfish App. Lisa was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Australia, and awarded a PhD from James Cook University in Queensland in 2005. She is currently pursuing another PhD at the University of Tasmania. Dr Gershwin will be joined in conversation by Alexandra de Blas.

  Alexandra de Blas is an award-winning science journalist, broadcaster, film maker and communications professional. Her boutique consultancy, de Blas Communications, has a particular focus on the environment, climate change and agriculture. During the eight years she ran Earthbeat, ABC Radio National’s weekly environment show, she received gongs including the 3rd World Water Forum Journalist’s prize, Japan and the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Award. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree and First Class Honours in Environmental Studies. The SBS Dateline on the controversy surrounding Alexandra’s thesis on the Mt Lyell Copper Mine received a Walkey Award and the Peter Hunt Eureka Award for Environmental Journalism.

  Jellyfish. Cold. Jiggly. Spineless, brainless, with no visible means of support. Whether we wrinkle our nose in disgust or run with our arms flailing in the wind in fear, most of us react negatively to the sight of jellyfish. Considering how much time beach-loving Australians spend near the water, we are bound to interact with jellyfish at some point. And of course, some, like the world's most venomous animal, the deadly box jellyfish, and the Irukandjis, are well worth staying clear of. But is terrorizing humans the only arrow in their quiver?

  In November and December 2024, and January 2025, southern Tasmania experienced a cascade of three unprecedented back-to-back blooms of jellyfish and related species, followed by an unprecedented bacterial outbreak, crippling of the Tasmanian salmon industry. Are these related? What lessons can we learn about a warmer future?

  Some have suggested harvesting jellyfish. Is this a good idea? And what about the chocolate connection? Won't this be fun?

  When: 13 May 2025

  Time: 7:30 - 8:30 pm 

  Location: Zoom Only

  Please note: The ZOOM link for this event is included in the confirmation email which you will receive once you have registered. You will find it at the bottom of the notice Please keep this in a place where you can find it when needed. A reminder email will be sent with the link on the day of the event close to Close of Business hours.

  This event may be recorded. If you have any questions, please email us at info@rgsq.org.au.

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• State Library Visit

  • When
    Tuesday, May 20, 2025
  •  
    9:45 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    State Library Queensland, Stanley Place, South Brisbane, Queensland 4101
  • Spaces left
    0

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  Map Group Presentation
  

  

  If you find this 1692 map intriguing, think what's in store for you when we visit the Queensland State Library.  They have a treasure trove that we will be able to dive into at a "behind-the-scenes" visit with a Specialist Librarian.  We hope you will join us.  Meet at the entrance to the State Library at 9.45am. 

  Lunch will be optional after the library visit, at a venue to be confirmed.  Registrants will be advised of the lunch option closer to the visit.

  Cost:-   RGSQ Members $10:00.  Non-members $15.00.  Register and pay via the website.  Registrations close on Sunday 11 May 2025.

  Coordinator:-  Kay Rees

  Photographs and videos may be taken during RGSQ events for use in promotional materials including, but not limited to, the RGSQ website, social media channels, newsletters and other publications. By attending an RGSQ event, you consent to the use of your likeness for these purposes, unless you inform the event organizer or photographer otherwise. 
  

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• City Futures – Perspectives of Young and Emerging Urban and Regional Planners

  • When
    Tuesday, May 27, 2025
  •  
    5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Location
    Gregory Place, 1/28 Fortescue St, Spring Hill Qld 4000
  • Spaces left
    41

  Register

  Geography in Conversation

  Speakers: 

  

  Teah Hammet, a final year Built Environment and Science student at QUT and Junior Urbanist at Ethos Urban. She is passionate about planning for sustainable and inclusive communities, which has led her to studying abroad at TU Delft in the Netherlands and working for advocacy organisations such as Sweltering Cities. An advocate for the next generation of planners, Teah was on the QUT Planning Students Association Executive Committee from 2022-2024, and is the 2025 Student Lead of PIA’s Queensland Emerging Planners Committee. She believes in the pivotal role young planners play in driving meaningful, systemic, and sustainable change, and is dedicated to seeing this vision out throughout her career.

  Callum Rimer, a transport planner with Brisbane City Council. Callum is a young, passionate transport planner. Having grown up in the busy city of Sydney, Callum has always had a keen interest and passion for cities and the way people move around. This enthusiasm has led him to undertake a Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning at QUT, where he graduated in 2023. Currently, Callum is working on the development and implementation of the Brisbane Metro project, primarily involved in the network planning, community consultation and implementation of Brisbane’s New Bus Network. Working in this role has helped him gain a greater understanding of community engagement and education, and the importance of balancing community want and political desires to shape beneficial outcomes for the future.

  Georgia Bergin, Graduate Placemaking Consultant with Fourfold Studios. As a recent graduate of a Bachelor of Urban Development (Honours) (Urban and Regional Planning), Georgia is fascinated by the principles of placemaking and human behaviour; seeking to tailor the built environment to promote social and physical wellbeing. With a combined love for big-picture thinking, public speaking and collaborating with others, Georgia is enthusiastic about connecting communities to places through authentic engagement.

  Moderator: Dr Mark Limb

  Challenges facing the future city are as complex as they are serious. From the impacts of climate change to the social and economic effects of spiralling levels of inequality, sustainably and responsibly managing urban development is critical to future wellbeing. It is the young who will benefit or suffer from the decisions made today that shape the future city. However, their voices and visions for sustainable urban environments are often conspicuously absent.

  This seminar offers a unique opportunity to hear from young planners about the future of the city and its management. It brings together three young planners, two recent graduates and a current student planner, with experience in both public and private sector urban planning. The speakers will compare the idealised approaches of “textbook” planning, with their observations from early professional practice. They also offer their perspectives on key urban issues, their solutions, and how this compares with existing approaches to urban management.

  Each speaker will have 8 minutes to spotlight their work. During the Q&A forum the audience will have up to 60 minutes to ask questions of the experts on their research.

  Light refreshments are served on arrival. This is a chance to network with colleagues and friends interested in this topic.

  Please post your questions on notice to:

  Email questionsonnotice@gmail.com

  Date: Tuesday 27 May

  Time:  5:30 pm light refreshments – doors open @ 5:15 

               6:00 – 6:30 pm Presentations

               6:30 – 7:30 Q&A Forum

               7:30 – 8:00 Mingling 

  Place: Gregory Place, Level 1, 28 Fortescue St. Spring Hill 

  Cost: $5.00 for refreshments, included in registration. 

  Cost: $5.00 Members 

            $10.00 Non-Members 

            Free Students 

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• Mooloolah River Landcare and the University of the Sunshine Coast

  • When
    Tuesday, June 03, 2025
  •  
    8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    Sunshine Coast
  • Spaces left
    9

  Register

  RGSQ Traveller Event

  

  Join us for the opportunity to visit:

  • The Mooloolah River Land care, Native Plant Nursery and Sunshine Coast Bio control Facility.  with Jessica Raintree, Project Officer   2671 Steve Irwin Way Glenview
  • University of Sunshine Coast –Lunch with Uni SC Geographers

  When Tuesday 3 June 2025

  Bus   7.45 for 8.00 departure Bus stop 27 at 15 Park Ave Clayfield (near Eagle Junction Rail station)

  9.30 Landsborough Bring own Morning Tea

  10-11 Mooloolah Land Care See and hear where the community works together to improve the health of the river, its catchment and the natural ecosystems of the Sunshine Coast. Learn about current projects Bugs and Bio control   eg. control of Cat’s claw creeper and Madeira Vine. Cane toad

  
  

  12 Noon   Lunch    University of Sunshine Coast   Sippy Downs (Own cost not included)  

  Choice: BYO OR   pre order from Café C Menu (Sandwiches, Quiche and Salad, Burrito bowl with chips, Nachos, Burger and chips etc Max $15)

  12.30 to 2pm   :Theme:  Thinking Geography in Interesting Times

  • ·         Professor Patrick Nunn,-thinking with Large Ocean Geographies
  • ·         Associate Professor Harriot  Beasly- International Development and sustainable development
  • ·         Professor Jen Carter , The urgency of Geography
  • ·         Dr Theresa Ashford- Geography as an ethical practice-thinking through place and space relations.

  2.15 Depart

  3.45 Arrive Approx. Park Ave Clayfield

  Cost   ex Brisbane (Bus) $50 members   $60 non members

             Sunshine Coast (own transport) $10 members  $20 non-members  (join at Mooloolah or USC).

  The cost also includes a donation to Mooloolah Landcare.

  25 Registrants   from Brisbane

  5 Registrants from Sunshine Coast

  Register and Pay by 26 May 2025    

  Participants please note. The outing involves bus travel up to 90 mins. There is seating at the Seed Pod

  Please wear closed shoes, sun safe clothing, and hat. Bring water and camera.

  A wait list is available if fully booked. Vacancies often occur close to the event.

  Jeanette Lamont (Event Coordinator) and Chris Spriggs 

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• Thomson Medal Presentation and Thomson Oration: Business-as-usual: still-colonizing in the 21st Century - Why is it so hard for Indigenous people to exercise their rights to self-determination?

  • When
    Tuesday, June 03, 2025
  •  
    7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
  • Location
    Gregory Place, 1/28 Fortescue St, Spring Hill and Zoom
  • Spaces left
    87

  Register

  Thomson Oration 2025

  We are pleased to announce that the 2025 J P Thomson Medal will be awarded to Emeritus Professor Richard Howitt AM. The J P Thomson Medal is the most prestigious award given by The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland. It was established in 1900 to honour Dr James Park Thomson, the Society’s founder. The award recognises Iain's high qualities of scholarship and his contribution to the discipline of geography.

  Following the medal presentation, Richard will deliver the Thomson Oration -Business-as-usual: still-colonizing in the 21st Century - Why is it so hard for Indigenous people to exercise their rights to self-determination?

  The first United Nations Decade of Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004) produced much discussion of Indigenous rights – but the 21st Century has seen limited progress in securing, advancing and implementing those rights. Indeed, in many places understanding of and support for protecting Indigenous rights has reduced. Reflecting on extended engagement with Indigenous experience in Australia and Taiwan, I ask a fundamental question - Why is it so hard for Indigenous people to exercise their rights to self-determination.

  Dominant approaches to ‘business-as-usual’ in domains of education, planning, heritage, law and economy reinforce still-colonizing structures, practices and values. Rejection of ‘treaty, voice and truth-telling’ has been normalized in ways that reiterate the power of the still-colonizing state and still-colonizing settler society to determine what is best for First Nations citizens. In reducing such reforms as mere rhetorical flourishes, business-as-usual approaches to the internationally recognized ‘right’ to self-determination reinforce existing patterns of disadvantage, disenfranchising, erasure and marginalisation of First Peoples. In failing to support First Peoples’ right to self-determination and meeting the complex challenges of how to integrate it into our contemporary governance structures, reinforces, amplifies and renews the trauma of colonization and not only damages First Peoples but eats away at democratic values and our opportunities to learn to belong-together-in-Country. This presentation will argue that citizens, scholars and educators are all obliged to overturn ‘business-as-usual’ in order to secure more just, equitable and sustainable futures. First Nations exercising their right to self-determination threatens only those who imagine they should continue to colonize and rule in dangerously outmode and unjustifiable ways.

  Biography: Richie Howitt is Emeritus Professor of Geography at Macquarie University, Sydney and Yushan Fellow and Chair Professor in Geography at National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei. Since retiring from Macquarie University in 2018 he has been a Director of Dharug Strategic Management Group, a Dharug-led and managed not-for-profit that protects the heritage-listed Blacktown Native Institution in Western Sydney. Richie is a passionate geographer and a committed educator. In 1999 he was awarded the Australian Award for University Teaching (Social Science). He was appointed as a Fellow of the Institute of Australian Geographers in 2004, and received the Geographical Society of NSW’s Macdonald Holmes Medal for contribution to geographical education in 2011, a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate research supervision in 2013 and the Institute of Australian Geographers’ Australia-International Award in 2017. In 2023 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (General Division) for services to higher education and the Indigenous community.

  Photo credit: M Howitt (used with permission)

  Please note: If you registered to attend the lecture via Zoom, the meeting link will be emailed to you closer to the lecture date. This lecture may be recorded. If you have any questions, please email us at info@rgsq.org.au.

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• Why build an Atlas of Koala Food Trees?

  • When
    Wednesday, June 11, 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Gregory Place, 1/28 Fortescue St, Spring Hill, Qld 4000
  • Spaces left
    21

  Register

  Map Group Presentation
  

  

  Presented by David Staines

  With an aptitude towards natural sciences and drawing, David Staines commenced a career in Cartography with the Qld Department of Mapping and Surveying in 1976; not realising one day he would be utilising Geographic Information Systems (GIS) on a pilot research project in parts of Brisbane, Logan, and Redland City (SE-Qld) mapping koala habitat. This involved the technologies of remote sensing data, digital map information linked to biological analysis of koala faecal pellet counts under gum trees. The results was several datasets/maps of tree species used by the koala for food and shelter.

  The project was such resounding success the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) decided in 1995 to create a Koala Habitat Atlas over the entire koala’s geographical range which was completed in 2018. Today, David is living the dream maintaining the completed Koala Habitat Atlas for the AKF.

  Come along to listen to this presentation about the history and future directions of the AKF and its aims to save the wild Koalas and their habitat.

  Cost:-   RGSQ Members $5:00.  Non-members $10.00 which includes a special morning tea.  This presentation will be available on Zoom.  Register and pay via the website.

  Coordinator:-  Len Lowry

  Photographs and videos may be taken during RGSQ events for use in promotional materials including, but not limited to, the RGSQ website, social media channels, newsletters and other publications. By attending an RGSQ event, you consent to the use of your likeness for these purposes, unless you inform the event organizer or photographer otherwise. Click here for more information. 
  

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• Recovering nature for the benefit of people and planet

  • When
    Tuesday, July 01, 2025
  •  
    7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
  • Location
    Gregory Place, 1/28 Fortescue St, Spring Hill and via Zoom

  Register

  RGSQ Lecture Series

  Dr Michelle Ward, Griffith University 

  
  

  In her talk, Michelle will provide an overview of the current state of nature both globally and within Australia, focusing on the biodiversity crisis we are facing. She will explore the main drivers behind this crisis, including habitat loss, climate change, invasive species, pollution, and unsustainable land-use practices. From there, she will discuss potential solutions to these pressing issues, looking at conservation strategies, policy interventions, and innovative approaches that could help reverse the ongoing loss of biodiversity. Michele will conclude by outlining key future research endeavors that aim to deepen our understanding of biodiversity conservation, enhance restoration efforts, and secure a more sustainable ecological future.

  Bio: Dr Ward's research centres on combining remote sensing technology with political science, economic instruments, and systematic conservation planning to achieve the best solutions for the environment. In doing so, she has explored the effectiveness of environmental legislation in mitigating threats, developed advanced datasets to explore threat drivers and impacts, established novel, problem-based models for cost-effectively prioritizing conservation actions, quantified the cumulative impact of development on threatened species, investigated complex sustainability problems through scenario analysis, evaluated bushfire impact and recovery, measured ecosystem services under different policy pathways, and assessed global-scale structural connectivity of landscapes.  Michelle is currently working on a cost-effective business model to halt extinctions and recovery biodiversity. This research is cross-disciplinary, linking methods from remote sensing, ecological modelling, economics, monitoring, and political science. 

  Photo: Michelle Ward exploring post-fire recovery of brush tailed rock wallabies, QLD. (Shayan Barmand)

  Please note: If you have registered to attend the lecture via Zoom, the lecture link will be emailed to all registrants closer to the lecture date. This lecture may be recorded. If you have any questions, please email us at info@rgsq.org.au.

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• Self Drive Geotour through the Mary Valley - Expressions of Interest

  • Start
    Monday, July 28, 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM
  • End
    Thursday, July 31, 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM
  • Location
    Wide Bay - Burnett Region
  • Spaces left
    7

  Register

  RGSQ Traveller Event

  Have you ever driven the full length of the Mary Valley – from Booroobin (near Maleny) to River Heads (near Maryborough)? Are you aware of the Borumba Pumped Hydro project? Did you know the native fish are having to compete with an invasive species, Telopia?   How can the "punk" "bum-breathing" Mary River turtle be protected? What is happening with train manufacturing in Maryborough?

  Find out this and more with a self-drive/tagalong trip along the valley from 28 July to 31 July. It will finish with an optional whale-watching cruise in Hervey Bay.

  As part of the geotour, a forum is being organised in Imbil with a range of speakers talking about local issues of geographical interest.  The town of Imbil is near the southern end of the valley.

  See map of the catchment area below.

  The trip will start in Imbil on Monday 28 July and overnight in Gympie, Maryborough and Hervey Bay / River Heads. Accommodation will be in caravan parks with cabins

  The cost is expected to be up to $50 to cover coast of venue hire in Imbil plus other expenses.  The whale-watching cruise is additional and  may be up to $200, depending on whether it is half-day or full-day.

  Participants will pay their own accommodation, vehicle costs and meals. Also, participants will need to make their own accommodation bookings.  Preferred caravan parks with cabins will be advised when registration is opened.

  For insurance purposes, participants will need to be members of RGSQ.

  A final posting for the Geotour providing for registration will be available in May. If you are interested. please indicate now.

  Whale-watching cruise: 
  Please indicate on the registration form whether or not you would be interested in a whale watching cruise. Half Day (about $130) or Full Day (about $200).

  This registration for Expression of Interest only. No payment is due at this time.

  Geotour Coordinator for RGSQ Traveller: Ralph Carlisle

  
  

  

  The "punk" Mary River Turtle

  

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