News
New Zealand Region
It has been reported that in September 2004 HMNZS Resolution completed surveying the final areas of Shipping Lane One; the approaches to Tauranga, thus completing the single largest survey project in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Started in 1998, Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) tasked the hydrographic surveying of Shipping Lane One to the RNZN. The first part of the survey concerned an offshore corridor from Cape Reinga, the most northerly point of the North Island, to Tauranga, the significant forest, dairy and rural products export port at the western end of the Bay of Plenty. It was in depths over 100m; the STN Atlas Hydrosweep MD 2-30 multi-beam echo sounder was employed for this survey. The second part of the survey was the sub-100m work and included routes into Whangerei, Auckland and Tauranga. For this work the ship used STN Atlas Fansweep 20/200 MBES.
HMNZS Resolution is now continuing the Shipping Lane 2 survey, which includes areas of the Cook Strait, Wairaipa and Kaikoura Coasts. The ship will work out of Wellington for the remainder of the year before returning to Auckland for Christmas and recommencing the Shipping Lane 2 survey in February 2005.

Australian Hydrographic Service
Captain Bruce Kafer, The Hydrographer of Australia, hosted an excellent ‘Symposium 2004’ at the Sheridan Plaza Hotel in Cairns between 20th and 25th September 2004. Australia's Deputy Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Max Hancock gave the opening address. The first day and a half were exclusively for naval personnel, dealing with ‘in-house’ naval matters, after which the symposium was opened up to all interested parties. A very full programme, which daily ran from 08:20 to 17:00, included papers on a very wide range of forward-thinking subjects from New Zealand, the United States of America and Malaysia, as well as Australia. The speakers represented both uniformed and civilian naval personnel, defence scientists, government shipping administrations and industrial and commercial hydrographic enterprises, making for a most interesting and informative mix of topics. The final day was devoted to a workshop on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. This was not specifically related to any particular type or size of AUV but essentially to the philosophy for their employment and potential capability as a hydrographic facility for defence purposes. Special reference was made here to environmental assessment on the Continental Shelf and shallow water/‘over the beach’ operations of both an overt and covert nature. For this author, the World War II withdrawal at Dunkerque (overt) and planning for Operation Overlord, the Normandy Invasion (covert) came very much to mind. It would be difficult to single out any particular highlight of the symposium but for this author it was definitely the sessions on Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) which drew hydro-graphy, meteorology and oceano-graphy (Hydro/Metoc) into one cohesive unit, contributing continuously updated, environmental data to actual battlespace command. Such data has been available in the past, but has been provided by separate entities.
It may be recalled that it was a Captain, a Royal Navy meteorological specialist, who had the unenviable task of telling the Supreme Command that D-Day for the Normandy Landings would have to be postponed for a day due to his forecast of seriously, adverse weather and sea conditions. He really went out on a limb with his forecast that an eighteen-hour window would follow, during which the landing would be possible. Nowadays Hydro/Metoc specialisms network as a Force Element Group (FEG) alongside the ships involved in belligerent activities. This of course requires a change in the thinking of ‘the Old Hydrographers’. We took pride in being somewhat different from the rest of the Fleet, signified this by the hydrographic and oceanographic ships in peacetime being painted white with a buff funnel. We played almost the same role in peace and war; in the Napoleonic Wars both Britain and France allowed the other's ships to continue their work unchallenged. But that is all changed; ships of the HMFEG are now painted grey and are part of the battle-fleet, their specialisms networked to provide the Command with updated Maritime Military Geospatial Information and Support. Unchanged, of course, is the RAN's Hydro/ Metoc responsibility to provide data for national charting services and associated interests.

East Australia Region
The Symposium gave the EAR an opportunity to hold a General Meeting, which consisted essentially of administrative matters, no guest speaker being needed after our daily programmes! The meeting was held aboard HMAS Leeuwin, with some of the attendees taking the opportunity for a tour of the ship at the conclusion of the meeting. This was followed by an excellent, informal dinner at a nearby restaurant, for which Atlas Hydrographic very generously donated all the thirst-quenching requirements!

Contact
Australasian Hydrographic Society
Att. E.R. Whitmore
4/6 Carrington Street
Wahroonga, New South Wales
2076
Australia
Tel: +61 2 94892091
Fax: +61 2 94892048