Australasian Hydrographic Society

East Australian Region

The East Australian Region ran a very successful one-day seminar in Sydney on Monday 13 September 2010. The seminar was fully subscribed with 20 presentations given during the day. Presentations can be viewed on the Hydrographic Society webpage; www.ahs.asn.au.

During the seminar, awards were given to various industry individuals and companies for their contributions to the ongoing support and development of our industry.

West Australia Region

The AHS (WAR) has been honoured by the IFHS to host HYDRO11. This international hydrographic conference will be between 7 - 11 November 2011 at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle. Due to other major international events occurring at the same time, it is highly recommended that bookings be made as soon as possible.

Australia on the Map Region

On Sunday 31 October 2010, Australia on the Map Region (AOTM) members Rupert Gerritsen and Robert King attended a symposium to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Matthew Flinders' return to England, held at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour. The symposium was introduced by Her Excellency the Governor of New South Wales, Professor Marie Bashir, AC, CVO. The Mitchell Library's Paul Brunton spoke on 'Matthew Flinders through his private letters', and Australian map collector Emeritus Professor Robert Clancy, AM, spoke on 'Matthew Flinders, the mapmaker'. Flinders biographer (and AOTM member), Miriam Estensen, spoke on 'Some lesser voices in the life of Matthew Flinders', drawing on numerous minor but important sources of information about his life, including biographical sketches, journal entries, letters and books, many by people who knew him. These provided unusual personal glimpses of Flinders, reflecting the emotions of the writers and showing how attitudes have changed over the course of two centuries. As a physician, Professor Clancy was able to reveal to the audience that Flinders' demise was due to a urinary tract infection, consistent with a late stage of gonorrhoea, probably contracted in Tahiti in 1791 during the visit of HMS Providence, in which Flinders served as a midshipman under the command of captain William Bligh. The portrait which Paul Brunton drew from Flinders' private letters was of an engaging man, passionately devoted to his wife and his profession, witty, well-read, and in many ways high-minded, but nonetheless a man with more than a hint of arrogance and self-will, both of which were ultimately to have devastating consequences in his clash with Governor Decaen on Mauritius, leading to his incarceration there.

South West Pacific Region

The chair, Capt. John Maschke would like to make contact with practicing hydrographic surveyors or those who have been trained as hydrographic surveyors in the South Pacific region. John will be based in Port Vila until the end of 2011 and his contact details are:

J.W. MASCHKE
Captain, RAN
MA, FSSSI, AIMM, Cert Hydrographic Surveyor Level 1
Defence Adviser South Pacific

Tel: +678 22777 Ext 127
Mob: +678 777 7747

Email1: [email protected]
Email2: [email protected]

Department of Defence
Australian High Commission
PO Box 111
Port Vila VANUATU

SWPHC Capacity Training Course in Hydrography and Chart Production

During 11-22 October 2010, corporate member of the AHS, Bruttour International, provided technical support to the South West Pacific Hydrographic Commission (SWPHC) training course recently held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The SWPHC (chairman commodore Rod Nairn, RAN) is one of a number of Hydrographic Commissions around the world established and supported by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).

Each Commission aims to bring together member countries for mutual support and co-operation in the field of hydrography so that each member state is better able to meet its obligations to the international marine community. Where appropriate, this co-operation includes the building of capacities and skills in hydrography and chart production.

The Port Moresby course was intensive and covered a wide range of theoretical topics plus practical field work. The course was hosted by the National Marine Safety Authority of PNG (general manager Mr. Chris Rupen) and organised by Mr. Joseph Kunda, hydrographer. Thirteen students from nine countries (Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tonga, Fiji, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Vanuatu and PNG) attended the two-week course. Leut. Matthew Templeton RAN covered the subjects relating to planning a hydro survey, data acquisition, editing data for errors and anomalies, the application of tidal adjustments and the determination of resultant survey accuracies. Practical field work included levelling and use of single-beam echo sounders with SSS and hydrographic software for accurate data-acquisition. Lcdr. Ronan Prost SHOM presented the charting subjects from the receipt of new survey data from a survey organisation and the quality assessment of that data before using to update existing data leading to the publication of updated or new charts for the survey area. Topics included the transition from paper to digital charts and the introduction of ECDIS and AIS. Chart maintenance and distribution channels were also covered.

Bruttour International provided: two CEEDUCER Pro L1/L2 systems with OmniSTAR making their HP high accuracy differential correction signals available; an Odom Digibar Pro acoustic velocity meter to verify CEEDUCER Pro auto acoustic settings; a Starfish side-scan sonar; a CEETIDE acoustic tide gauge; and lap top computers including a Toughbook field computer running HYPACK Max which provides facilities for geodetic set-up, survey planning, track guidance, data-acquisition, data editing/tidal adjustment and production of contoured plans of a surveyed area; side-scan mosaicing and export of survey results in a wide range of formats.

The Papua New Guinea Navy provided a small dinghy with outboard motor and crew for the practical hydrographic survey data acquisition. Classroom facilities and some accommodation were provided by the Port Moresby Centre for Mediation in a building gifted to the people of PNG.

In summary, the course achieved its intended purpose of introducing students to the many factors involved when undertaking hydrographic surveys and associated chart production. The course showed that it is possible to produce survey results to IHO standards without spending huge amounts of money.

Thanks are due to the IHO, NMSA, RAN H.O., PNG Navy, Bruttour International, HYPACK and OmniSTAR for their tangible support of the course and the efforts made to make the course a success. Further thanks are due to the students themselves who showed enthusiasm, a high level of interest, coupled with some serious hard work in order to complete this intensive course.