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.

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 Richard'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.

Presenter Dr David Kendal
Dr Dave Kendal has an international profile on the social and ecologicaldimensions of nature-based solutions, urban forests and urban greening, climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation. He is currently a member of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, and a member of IUCN, European Commission and NATURA urban nature expert groups. Dave was a member of Australia’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee from 2015-2019 and has been an academic at the University of Melbourne, the University of Tasmania, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. In 2022, Dave started Future in Nature to have a greater impact on nature-related policy and programs in Australia and around the world. Dr Kendal will be joined in conversation by Dr Ruby Michael.

Dr Ruby Michael
Dr Ruby Michael, Griffith Univ. School of Engineering and Built Environment - Ruby is an Ecological Engineer and the founder of Green Infrastructure Research Labs (GIRLS).

Nature-based Solutions are being proposed as an effective approach to address societal challenges such as health, inequality, pollution, and food security, at the same time as aiding adaptation to climate change and contributing to positive biodiversity outcomes. Many of these challenges, and their solutions, occur in cities. Much of the thinking around Nature-based Solutions has emerged from Europe, which has a very different biodiversity and climate context. We will discuss what is needed for Nature-based solutions to be useful for nature-based projects and policy on Australian cities and the rich biodiversity they contain.

When: 10 June 2025

Time: 7:30 - 8:30 pm AEST     

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

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. 

Brisbane 2032’s Games delivery partners describe Elevate 2042 as “our shared 20-year vision for a lasting Games legacy” – a far-reaching strategy building upon opportunities accelerated by the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The stated mission of Elevate 2042 is “to make our region better, sooner, together through sport”, while its vision is that “by 2042, we will live in an inclusive, sustainable and connected society, with more opportunities in life for everyone.” [International Olympic Committee].

Speakers:
Professor Ali Chehmehzangi, Professor and Head of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning (ADP) at the University of Queensland, where he leads the school and researches across the fields of architecture, design, and planning/urbanism. He is among the top 30 global scholars in the urban sustainability research area. Ali is internationally known for his scholarly contribution and extended work on climate resilience and sustainable urbanism research. Ali is a member of the Committee for Brisbane's Games Legacy and Growth Sub-committee.

Mr Mark Sawatzki, Losee Consulting. Mark will present on his experience in leading and advising multidisciplinary teams in sustainability assessments under various frameworks, which have the aim to create buildings and infrastructure that go beyond traditional project assessment to considering assessments across the quadruple bottom line of the whole life cycle.

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

5:30 pm light refreshments
6:00 – 6:30 pm Presentations
6:30 – 7:30 Q&A Forum
7:30 – 8:00 Mingling

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 (Picture above)? 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 30 July. It will finish with an optional whale-watching cruise in Hervey Bay on 31 July.

As part of the geotour, a forum is being organised in Imbil with a range of speakers talking about local issues of geographical interest, particularly the Borumba Pumped Hydro Project.  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  $50 to cover coast of venue hire in Imbil plus other expenses.  A half-day whale-watching cruise is an optional addition.

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 to registrants.

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

Whale-watching cruise: 
A group booking will be made for a half-day whale watching cruise with the Pacific Whale Foundation (https://pacificwhale.com.au/ ) from Urangan (cost $119).  The registration process will provide for this option.  If you wish to do this cruise, please register as soon as possible, so a group booking can be made.

Geotour Coordinator for RGSQ Traveller: Ralph Carlisle

It probably wasn’t planned that Ipswich, one of the earliest towns in Queensland that first emerged as a limestone mining settlement in 1827, and at one stage a candidate to be the state Capital, sit  within the same local government boundary as Springfield, the adjacent master-planned greenfield city development which has been emerging  since 2000. A group of RGSQ members visited Springfield in July 2024 and heard and saw something of how that is being achieved.

Thursday, 21^st August 2025 offers the opportunity for members to visit Ipswich to see, and hear about how that city has navigated the intervening near 200 years, and developed to the city it is today, while maintaining linkage to it’s fascinating past and heritage. 

The visit will commence (and end) at the Ipswich Rail Station.  There is a half-hourly train service to Ipswich (one end of the Caboolture line) and it is suggested that participants use the service that arrives at Ipswich at 9.56am. (It’s about a 60 minute journey from Central Station.)   The Journey Planner tab on the Translink website is useful in identifying travel options.

A coach will be used to convey the group to various locations including:

• -          the Ipswich Visitors Information Centre in Queens Park, for a short introductory talk and a Devonshire Morning Tea,
• -          a one and a half hour Heritage Tour, with accompanying commentary, visiting many of the significant historical and geographic points of interest in Ipswich and immediate surrounds.
• -          Lunch* at the historic Prince Alfred Hotel
• -          the Cooneana Heritage Centre (talk by a Centre volunteer and conducted walking tour).  Additionally, the Centre houses a museum of mining history, and exhibits covering the Ipswich district’s wartime history.
• -          return to the Ipswich Station around 3.15 pm.

The Event will conclude at 3.15 pm in time for the rail service from Ipswich towards Central Station at  3.37pm (and half hourly services thereafter.)

The Ipswich Station is located within the Ipswich CBD, and participants might wish to spend more time in the city precinct.

No difficult terrain will be encountered, and the Event is suitable for Members with reasonable fitness and mobility.

Cost:  (covers: coach hire;  morning tea; lunch*; Heritage Tours and entry fees);    $80 per head (Members)     Non-members $90 per head

•      *Lunch selections will be obtained from participants closer to the day.

Please register on-line (by 25^th July 2025).   Numbers are limited to 20.   A wait-list will operate.

RGSQ Traveller Coordinator: Roger Grimley