Australasian Hydrographic
Article

Australasian Hydrographic

HYDRO 2007
The HYDRO 2007 Committee has been making steady progress on this significant international conference to be held at Cairns, Australia from 21st to 24th November 2007. That is, between the triennial Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Symposium (19th to 21st November 2007) and the Ocean Mapping Group Multi-beam Sonar Course (26th November to 1st December 2007).
The Australasian Hydrographic Society website (1) provides details of HYDRO 2007, and the convenors seek submission of abstracts by 30th June 2007.

West Australian Region
The annual Fugro Bursary was recently awarded to Michael Williams, currently in his third year of Bachelor of Surveying degree studies. Michael will be taking the Hydrographic option in his fourth year and impressed the judges as a committed and dutiful student who will fully utilise this bursary to ‘kick-start’ his career as a hydrographic surveyor.
After a recent successful trip to the Geomatics Career Night at Melbourne University, Fugro has also decided to extend its offer of bursaries to students in the eastern states who are interested in pursuing Hydrographic Surveying as a career. Helen Gosse, HR officer for Fugro Survey, who attended the event, was surprised at the number of students who had failed to consider Hydrography as an option when choosing their career. Consider–ing the current skill shortage in this particular market, the aim of these bursaries is to actively broaden awareness of the industry and the career options available within it.

AHS (WAR) is again planning partnership with the Society in Underwater Technology (SUT) for another AUV Workshop, the third combined AHS/SUT AUV Seminar, to be held on 1st November 2007. The programme is under development as we go to press and involves both national and international speakers. It will be released in due course. Contact details as per the flyer.

Some more great news: Greg Paton (WAR committee member and geomatics manager at Woodside) attended Melbourne University Careers Expo together with forty other industry representatives. By all accounts it was a great success, very professional and great exposure for the hydrographic community in general. But, most importantly, forty student members were attracted to AHS Student Membership via Woodside sponsorship.

New AHS Region
As the organisation formed to promote the 400-year anniversary of mapping Australia, “Australia on the Map 1606-2006”, winds up, a new AHS region has been formed to promote the history of mapping and hydrography. A well-attended meeting of AHS members, many of whom new AHS members who had recently served on the former Australia on the Map 1606-2006 committee, voted unanimously to form a region to be known as the “Australia on the Map division” of the Australasian Hydrographic Society, the “AOTM division”. The meeting elected Rupert Gerritsen as chair of the new division and Peter Reynders as secretary-treasurer.
“Like its ‘1606-2006’ predecessor,” Rupert Gerritsen explained, “the AHS Australia on the Map division will be outward looking and inclusive. We’d like as many AHS members and former Australia on the Map 1606-2006 members to be involved as possible. While initially we’ll be meeting monthly in Canberra, that shouldn’t put anyone off. Our experience with 1606-2006 shows that with email and internet, distance is no barrier to participation and organisation.”
Judging by the lively discussion at the inaugural meeting and the range of backgrounds and interests its membership already has, we can expect the AOTM division soon to be fostering many activities and individual projects ranging from serious historical research to events popularising the understanding of early maritime history.

To get involved in the AOTM division, or for more information, contact Peter Reynders on (02) 62820064 or via email at [email protected].

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