Australasian Hydrographic Society

News
The East Australian Region (EAR) of the Australasian Hydrographic Society (AHS) held its Annual General Meeting on 12th November 2003. The meeting was kindly hosted by Waterways Authority in their headquarters at Rozelle Bay, Sydney. Elections for officers were held with the existing incumbents being re-elected namely: Chairman, John Maschke, Hon Secretary, David Garforth and Hon Treasurer, Patrick Roche.
Whilst not a member of the Regional Management Committee Ron Whitmore was confirmed in the post of Publicity & Liaison and has been co-opted as Director of Communications for the AHS, external to the Council. Most of the evening was devoted to discussions as to the approach that the Region and the Society should take with regard to the amalgamation of the related surveying and mapping organisations that we have in the state of New South Wales (NSW) and also nationwide.
It was agreed that the EAR should maintain a liasing contact with the Surveying & Mapping Industry Council of New South Wales (SMIC) and that it should actively pursue membership of the Land & Hydrographic Survey Commission, within the recently formed Spatial Sciences Institute (SSI). The SSI is an amalgamation of the Institution of Surveyors, Australia, the Mapping Sciences Institute, Australia, the Institution of Engineering & Mining Surveyors, Australia and others, at both National and State level. As one would readily imagine it is not an easy task to bring the amalgamation to happy fruition, as amongst other points requiring compromise the different organisations had differing membership qualifications, some requiring a minimum of baccalaureate plus accrediting experience, for some Diploma level was adequate, whilst others could best be described as interest groups.
The Society President gave details of a very pleasing development in that the AHS has been invited by the National Maritime Museum, located in Sydney, to join forces to stage a large exhibition in Hydrography within the museum, that will run for several months.

Annual General Meeting
Hydro 2003 gave a good opportunity to hold the 2003 Annual General Meeting of the Australasian Hydrographic Society. The President took the opportunity to apprise the membership of progress being made with regard to the closing down of the former Hydrographic Society and the emergence and further development of the International Federation of Hydrographic Societies. Many members had been concerned at what seemed to be the slow progress of the transition, but were reassured by the President when he explained the intricacies of the evolution with regard to satisfying the British Taxation Office and in particular the British Charities Commissioners, who have a very onerous task to ensure that no stone is left unturned in maintaining the integrity of the charity status enjoyed by the former society and its branches and to be enjoyed within certain aspects of the new organisation. This exercise is complicated by some nations either not having a recognised charity status policy, or having a different interpretation on such status; for example, the AHS is not allowed by law to be granted charity status, but operates under "Non Profit Organisation" status. Here I would like to pay tribute to the person who has the responsibility of undertaking these negotiations, namely Julian Grant, Chairman of the Residuary Body of THS and former Chairman of THS Council, who as well as having to earn an income to pay the household bills etc, is having to find the time and energy to deal with the lawyers and authorities. In addition to the reports of Officers of Council the most significant occurence at the AGM was the Election of Officers. Paul Hornsby volunteered and (without hesitation!) was re-elected as President, Michael Calder after many years of stalwart service relinquished the post of Honorary Treasurer, which was taken over by another indefatigable soul, Ron Furness and Mal Jones comes back into the Executive fold on taking over the position of Honorary Secretary from Wayne Jones, who has had to retire for health reasons. Ron Whitmore was confirmed in the somewhat hyperbolised title of Director of Communications, a non voting post, whilst Michael Calder will continue to keep the world electronically informed as Webmaster.

Certificate of Recognition
It gives me great pleasure to report that the FIG-IHO-ICA International Advisory Board on Standards of Competence for Hydrographic Surveyors and Nautical Cartographers have accreditted the Hydrographic Education Programme submitted by the School of Surveying, University of Otago, New Zealand, at Category A level, to date 1st September 2003. This is a very significant achievement by the university and all due credit must go to Peter Knight, the Course Leader.

East Australia Region, General Meetings
The following 2004 dates have been set for General Meetings of the East Australia Region. Tuesday, 10th February; Tuesday, 11th May; Tuesday, 7th September and Tuesday, 16th November. Visitors are always welcome. Venues are yet to be finalised, but I would expect them to be spread over Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and Cairns. Guest speakers are yet to be invited. Watch this space for the results of the decision making process!

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
[email protected]