With over 20 years of experience with GIS applications, Mike Gresham has worked in both the public and private sector and in a wide range of industry fields and disciplines, including forestry, energy, civil infrastructure, asset management, geotechnical engineering, environmental impact assessments, mining, oil and gas.

In this short lecture, Mike will share insights from his career and offer guidance on key areas of focus for students and early-career professionals pursuing a career in GIS within the infrastructure sector. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. Light refreshments will be provided.

When: 22nd May 2025

Time: 6pm - 7pm

Cost: $5 for members, $10 for non-members

Location: 28 Fortescue Street, Spring Hill, and online on Zoom

Please note: The Zoom link for this event is included in the confirmation email which you will receive once you have registered. You will find it at the bottom of the notice. Please keep this in a place where you can find it when needed. A reminder email will be sent with the link on the day of the event.

Photographs and videos may be taken during RGSQ events for use in promotional materials including, but not limited to, the RGSQ website, social media channels, newsletters and other publications. By attending an RGSQ event, you consent to the use of your likeness for these purposes, unless you inform the event organizer or photographer otherwise.

Speakers: 

Teah Hammet, a final year Built Environment and Science student at QUT and Junior Urbanist at Ethos Urban. She is passionate about planning for sustainable and inclusive communities, which has led her to studying abroad at TU Delft in the Netherlands and working for advocacy organisations such as Sweltering Cities. An advocate for the next generation of planners, Teah was on the QUT Planning Students Association Executive Committee from 2022-2024, and is the 2025 Student Lead of PIA’s Queensland Emerging Planners Committee. She believes in the pivotal role young planners play in driving meaningful, systemic, and sustainable change, and is dedicated to seeing this vision out throughout her career.

Callum Rimer, a transport planner with Brisbane City Council. Callum is a young, passionate transport planner. Having grown up in the busy city of Sydney, Callum has always had a keen interest and passion for cities and the way people move around. This enthusiasm has led him to undertake a Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning at QUT, where he graduated in 2023. Currently, Callum is working on the development and implementation of the Brisbane Metro project, primarily involved in the network planning, community consultation and implementation of Brisbane’s New Bus Network. Working in this role has helped him gain a greater understanding of community engagement and education, and the importance of balancing community want and political desires to shape beneficial outcomes for the future.

Georgia Bergin, Graduate Placemaking Consultant with Fourfold Studios. As a recent graduate of a Bachelor of Urban Development (Honours) (Urban and Regional Planning), Georgia is fascinated by the principles of placemaking and human behaviour; seeking to tailor the built environment to promote social and physical wellbeing. With a combined love for big-picture thinking, public speaking and collaborating with others, Georgia is enthusiastic about connecting communities to places through authentic engagement.

Moderator: Dr Mark Limb

Challenges facing the future city are as complex as they are serious. From the impacts of climate change to the social and economic effects of spiralling levels of inequality, sustainably and responsibly managing urban development is critical to future wellbeing. It is the young who will benefit or suffer from the decisions made today that shape the future city. However, their voices and visions for sustainable urban environments are often conspicuously absent.

This seminar offers a unique opportunity to hear from young planners about the future of the city and its management. It brings together three young planners, two recent graduates and a current student planner, with experience in both public and private sector urban planning. The speakers will compare the idealised approaches of “textbook” planning, with their observations from early professional practice. They also offer their perspectives on key urban issues, their solutions, and how this compares with existing approaches to urban management.

Each speaker will have 8 minutes to spotlight their work. During the Q&A forum the audience will have up to 60 minutes to ask questions of the experts on their research.

Light refreshments are served on arrival. This is a chance to network with colleagues and friends interested in this topic.

Please post your questions on notice to:

Email questionsonnotice@gmail.com

Date: Tuesday 27 May

Time:  5:30 pm light refreshments – doors open @ 5:15 

             6:00 – 6:30 pm Presentations

             6:30 – 7:30 Q&A Forum

             7:30 – 8:00 Mingling 

Place: Gregory Place, Level 1, 28 Fortescue St. Spring Hill 

Cost: $5.00 for refreshments, included in registration. 

Cost: $5.00 Members 

          $10.00 Non-Members 

          Free Students 

Join us for the opportunity to visit:

• The Mooloolah River Land care, Native Plant Nursery and Sunshine Coast Bio control Facility.  with Jessica Raintree, Project Officer   2671 Steve Irwin Way Glenview
• University of Sunshine Coast –Lunch with Uni SC Geographers

When Tuesday 3 June 2025

Bus   7.45 for 8.00 departure Bus stop 27 at 15 Park Ave Clayfield (near Eagle Junction Rail station)

9.30 Landsborough Bring own Morning Tea

10-11 Mooloolah Land Care See and hear where the community works together to improve the health of the river, its catchment and the natural ecosystems of the Sunshine Coast. Learn about current projects Bugs and Bio control   eg. control of Cat’s claw creeper and Madeira Vine. Cane toad

12 Noon   Lunch    University of Sunshine Coast   Sippy Downs (Own cost not included)  

Choice: BYO OR   pre order from Café C Menu (Sandwiches, Quiche and Salad, Burrito bowl with chips, Nachos, Burger and chips etc Max $15)

12.30 to 2pm   :Theme:  Thinking Geography in Interesting Times

• ·         Professor Patrick Nunn,-thinking with Large Ocean Geographies
• ·         Associate Professor Harriot  Beasly- International Development and sustainable development
• ·         Professor Jen Carter , The urgency of Geography
• ·         Dr Theresa Ashford- Geography as an ethical practice-thinking through place and space relations.

2.15 Depart

3.45 Arrive Approx. Park Ave Clayfield

Cost   ex Brisbane (Bus) $50 members   $60 non members

           Sunshine Coast (own transport) $10 members  $20 non-members  (join at Mooloolah or USC).

The cost also includes a donation to Mooloolah Landcare.

25 Registrants   from Brisbane

5 Registrants from Sunshine Coast

Register and Pay by 26 May 2025    

Participants please note. The outing involves bus travel up to 90 mins. There is seating at the Seed Pod

Please wear closed shoes, sun safe clothing, and hat. Bring water and camera.

A wait list is available if fully booked. Vacancies often occur close to the event.

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 J P Thomson Medal will be awarded to Emeritus Professor Richard Howitt AM. The J P Thomson Medal is the most prestigious award given by The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland. It was established in 1900 to honour Dr James Park Thomson, the Society’s founder. The award recognises Richard's high qualities of scholarship and his contribution to the discipline of geography.

Following the medal presentation, Richard will deliver the Thomson Oration -Business-as-usual: still-colonizing in the 21st Century - Why is it so hard for Indigenous people to exercise their rights to self-determination?

The first United Nations Decade of Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004) produced much discussion of Indigenous rights – but the 21st Century has seen limited progress in securing, advancing and implementing those rights. Indeed, in many places understanding of and support for protecting Indigenous rights has reduced. Reflecting on extended engagement with Indigenous experience in Australia and Taiwan, I ask a fundamental question - Why is it so hard for Indigenous people to exercise their rights to self-determination.

Dominant approaches to ‘business-as-usual’ in domains of education, planning, heritage, law and economy reinforce still-colonizing structures, practices and values. Rejection of ‘treaty, voice and truth-telling’ has been normalized in ways that reiterate the power of the still-colonizing state and still-colonizing settler society to determine what is best for First Nations citizens. In reducing such reforms as mere rhetorical flourishes, business-as-usual approaches to the internationally recognized ‘right’ to self-determination reinforce existing patterns of disadvantage, disenfranchising, erasure and marginalisation of First Peoples. In failing to support First Peoples’ right to self-determination and meeting the complex challenges of how to integrate it into our contemporary governance structures, reinforces, amplifies and renews the trauma of colonization and not only damages First Peoples but eats away at democratic values and our opportunities to learn to belong-together-in-Country. This presentation will argue that citizens, scholars and educators are all obliged to overturn ‘business-as-usual’ in order to secure more just, equitable and sustainable futures. First Nations exercising their right to self-determination threatens only those who imagine they should continue to colonize and rule in dangerously outmode and unjustifiable ways.

Biography: Richie Howitt is Emeritus Professor of Geography at Macquarie University, Sydney and Yushan Fellow and Chair Professor in Geography at National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei. Since retiring from Macquarie University in 2018 he has been a Director of Dharug Strategic Management Group, a Dharug-led and managed not-for-profit that protects the heritage-listed Blacktown Native Institution in Western Sydney. Richie is a passionate geographer and a committed educator. In 1999 he was awarded the Australian Award for University Teaching (Social Science). He was appointed as a Fellow of the Institute of Australian Geographers in 2004, and received the Geographical Society of NSW’s Macdonald Holmes Medal for contribution to geographical education in 2011, a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate research supervision in 2013 and the Institute of Australian Geographers’ Australia-International Award in 2017. In 2023 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (General Division) for services to higher education and the Indigenous community.

Photo credit: M Howitt (used with permission)

Please note: If you registered to attend the lecture via Zoom, the meeting link will be emailed to you closer to the lecture date. This lecture may be recorded. If you have any questions, please email us at info@rgsq.org.au.

Presenter Dr David Kendal
Dr Dave Kendal has an international profile on the social and ecologicaldimensions of nature-based solutions, urban forests and urban greening, climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation. He is currently a member of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, and a member of IUCN, European Commission and NATURA urban nature expert groups. Dave was a member of Australia’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee from 2015-2019 and has been an academic at the University of Melbourne, the University of Tasmania, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. In 2022, Dave started Future in Nature to have a greater impact on nature-related policy and programs in Australia and around the world. Dr Kendal will be joined in conversation by Dr Ruby Michael.

Dr Ruby Michael
Dr Ruby Michael, Griffith Univ. School of Engineering and Built Environment - Ruby is an Ecological Engineer and the founder of Green Infrastructure Research Labs (GIRLS).

Nature-based Solutions are being proposed as an effective approach to address societal challenges such as health, inequality, pollution, and food security, at the same time as aiding adaptation to climate change and contributing to positive biodiversity outcomes. Many of these challenges, and their solutions, occur in cities. Much of the thinking around Nature-based Solutions has emerged from Europe, which has a very different biodiversity and climate context. We will discuss what is needed for Nature-based solutions to be useful for nature-based projects and policy on Australian cities and the rich biodiversity they contain.

When: 10 June 2025

Time: 7:30 - 8:30 pm AEST     

Location: Zoom Only

Please note: The ZOOM link for this event is included in the confirmation email which you will receive once you have registered. You will find it at the bottom of the notice Please keep this in a place where you can find it when needed. A reminder email will be sent with the link on the day of the event close to Close of Business hours.

This event may be recorded. If you have any questions, please email us at info@rgsq.org.au

Presented by David Staines

With an aptitude towards natural sciences and drawing, David Staines commenced a career in Cartography with the Qld Department of Mapping and Surveying in 1976; not realising one day he would be utilising Geographic Information Systems (GIS) on a pilot research project in parts of Brisbane, Logan, and Redland City (SE-Qld) mapping koala habitat. This involved the technologies of remote sensing data, digital map information linked to biological analysis of koala faecal pellet counts under gum trees. The results was several datasets/maps of tree species used by the koala for food and shelter.

The project was such resounding success the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) decided in 1995 to create a Koala Habitat Atlas over the entire koala’s geographical range which was completed in 2018. Today, David is living the dream maintaining the completed Koala Habitat Atlas for the AKF.

Come along to listen to this presentation about the history and future directions of the AKF and its aims to save the wild Koalas and their habitat.

Cost:-   RGSQ Members $5:00.  Non-members $10.00 which includes a special morning tea.  This presentation will be available on Zoom.  Register and pay via the website.

Coordinator:-  Len Lowry

Photographs and videos may be taken during RGSQ events for use in promotional materials including, but not limited to, the RGSQ website, social media channels, newsletters and other publications. By attending an RGSQ event, you consent to the use of your likeness for these purposes, unless you inform the event organizer or photographer otherwise. Click here for more information. 

Brisbane 2032’s Games delivery partners describe Elevate 2042 as “our shared 20-year vision for a lasting Games legacy” – a far-reaching strategy building upon opportunities accelerated by the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The stated mission of Elevate 2042 is “to make our region better, sooner, together through sport”, while its vision is that “by 2042, we will live in an inclusive, sustainable and connected society, with more opportunities in life for everyone.” [International Olympic Committee].

Speakers:
Professor Ali Chehmehzangi, Professor and Head of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning (ADP) at the University of Queensland, where he leads the school and researches across the fields of architecture, design, and planning/urbanism. He is among the top 30 global scholars in the urban sustainability research area. Ali is internationally known for his scholarly contribution and extended work on climate resilience and sustainable urbanism research. Ali is a member of the Committee for Brisbane's Games Legacy and Growth Sub-committee.

Other panellists TBC.

Each speaker will have 8 minutes to spotlight their work. During the Q&A forum the audience will have up to 60 minutes to ask questions of the experts on their research.

Light refreshments are served on arrival. This is a chance to network with colleagues and friends interested in this topic.

Please post your questions on notice to:
Email questionsonnotice@gmail.com

5:30 pm light refreshments
6:00 – 6:30 pm Presentations
6:30 – 7:30 Q&A Forum
7:30 – 8:00 Mingling

Have you ever driven the full length of the Mary Valley – from Booroobin (near Maleny) to River Heads (near Maryborough)? Are you aware of the Borumba Pumped Hydro project? Did you know the native fish are having to compete with an invasive species, Telopia?   How can the "punk" "bum-breathing" Mary River turtle be protected (Picture above)? What is happening with train manufacturing in Maryborough?

Find out this and more with a self-drive/tagalong trip along the valley from 28 July to 30 July. It will finish with an optional whale-watching cruise in Hervey Bay on 31 July.

As part of the geotour, a forum is being organised in Imbil with a range of speakers talking about local issues of geographical interest, particularly the Borumba Pumped Hydro Project.  The town of Imbil is near the southern end of the valley.

See map of the catchment area below.

The trip will start in Imbil on Monday 28 July and overnight in Gympie, Maryborough and Hervey Bay / River Heads. Accommodation will be in caravan parks with cabins

The cost is  $50 to cover coast of venue hire in Imbil plus other expenses.  A half-day whale-watching cruise is an optional addition.

Participants will pay their own accommodation, vehicle costs and meals. Also, participants will need to make their own accommodation bookings.  Preferred caravan parks with cabins will be advised to registrants.

For insurance purposes, participants will need to be members of RGSQ.

Whale-watching cruise: 
A group booking will be made for a half-day whale watching cruise with the Pacific Whale Foundation (https://pacificwhale.com.au/ ) from Urangan (cost $119).  The registration process will provide for this option.  If you wish to do this cruise, please register as soon as possible, so a group booking can be made.

Geotour Coordinator for RGSQ Traveller: Ralph Carlisle