Australasian Hydrographic Society

News
West Australian Region
After six years in hibernation it is very pleasing to report that the West Australian Region has been revived as a result of the initiative of Mal Jones, the AHS Honorary Secretary. Although neither officers nor committee members have yet been appointed, the following are willing volunteers: Cass Castalenelli, Fugro; Karl Bauer, BHP Billiton; Steve Duffield, Fugro; Roger Loweth, Qsea Co and Bill Russell-Cargill and are likely to be appointed soon. It is noticeable that most of the above have been office-bearers in the past.
Scott Elson, sales manager acoustics, from the Fremantle Office of Nautronix, made a presentation on the Nautronix Acoustic Subsea Network at the meeting. NASNet is an implementation of Nautronix ADS2 (Acoustic Digital Spread Spectrum) signalling techniques to provide a highly accurate, global well-field solution that operates under one single continuous coordinate system and allows unlimited simultaneous users of one positioning service. The system is designed and developed out of the Nautronix Australian offices and provides for one grid to be laid, potentially for the life of the field, giving a common positioning service for multiple simultaneous subsea and surface users and operations. Six subsea stations could provide coverage of up to100sqkms. In essence, NASNet can do for subsea positioning what satellite GPS has done for surface positioning, provide a stable, long-term common reference for multiple users simultaneously. This technology promises significant cost savings and overall performance improvements in the operation of subsea oil and gas fields. A demonstration suite recently concluded successful trials at the BP Atlantis deep-water development site, where six stations were deployed in average water depth of 2,040 metres.

AHS and East Australia Region
On 16th November 2004 HSA Systems very generously hosted AHS and EAR in their North Sydney office for their respective AGMs, and later at an informal dinner. The EAR matters were dealt with quite quickly, incumbent office bearers being re-elected; namely, chairman John Maschke; honorary secretary, David Garforth and honorary treasurer, Roger Harvey. The following dates were provisionally selected for 2005 General Meetings: 8th February, 10th May and 9th August, with the Annual General Meeting scheduled for 8th November. Venues are to be announced closer to the respective dates, but likely to be centred on Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and Canberra. Those present had great pleasure in congratulating Venessa O'Connell, a hydrographer on the staff of Sydney Ports, on her winning the award of Young Surveyor of the Year, New South Wales, part of the Institution of Surveyors, Australia awards for Excellence in Surveying. Venessa is a 1998 graduate from Newcastle University and also serves as a Lieutenant, hydrographic specialist, in the Australian Army Reserves.
At the subsequent AHS AGM, incumbent officers were re-elected, namely president, Paul Hornsby; honorary secretary, Mal Jones and honorary treasurer, Ron Furness. The exciting part of the evening came at the conclusion of the routine AGM business, when President Paul Hornsby gave us his report on his attendance at Hydro 2004 in Galway, Ireland. Here, for the first time, all the national representatives of the International Federation of Hydrographic Societies (IFHS) came together and formally signed on the dotted line to facilitate the creation of the Federation, hereby bringing to fruition the efforts and ambitions of all those who had participated over seven years. This was a final act of devolution of The Hydrographic Society (THS) into autonomous, national societies and the creation of the IFHS as an overall allying umbrella.
THS has been laid to rest, but let us not forget that it was the vision and efforts of those who created it over three decades ago that gave us the foundation upon which we have been able to build IFHS. Its demise came about because the nature of hydrography as a profession and industry changed dramatically and this, coupled with increased national ambitions, reduced the relevancy and acceptability of the existent THS format and its ability to satisfy changed members’ needs. To this author, the most pleasing and exciting things about Paul's report were the great spirit of co-operation that emanated from the inaugural meeting of national representatives and the great amount of work accomplished with regard to the shape of the Federation and plans for its future way ahead.

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