Field notes
We’re catching up with some of our sponsorship recipients so you can see how your contributions help conserve our natural history and keep the Aussie spirit of adventure alive.
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS first used homemade gear to explore the submerged systems of the Blue Mountains’ Jenolan Caves in 1951.This year the Society is supporting the most challenging dive yet to a part of the system known as Slug Lake, where Sydney University Speleological Society divers have already started to explore down to almost 100m – they believe it could go much deeper and open into an enormous underwater reservoir. Keep an eye out for a story on this in future editions of this journal. In April, 14-year-old Jade Hameister, from Melbourne, trekked her way into the record books by becoming the youngest person in history to ski to the North Pole.The AGS-sponsored adventurer travelled more than 150km, enduring an average temperature of –25C. Jade’s journey was meant to take 21 days, but cracks in a temporary runway at a RusJade Hameister. sian ice base caused delays and forced her to complete the whole trip in just 11 days. Look out for a bigger story in a future issue. The Umpila people, traditional landowners in the central Mcilwraith Range on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, have expressed concern about the future of the area’s cassowaries.With Society funding, researcher Wren McLean will work on the initial stages of a three-year monitoring project during which she will work closely with the Umpila on a program to monitor the area’s endangered southern cassowaries.
The society is also supporting the Goulburn Science and Engineering Challenge on 29 July. Part of a NSW-wide competition, this program encourages Year 9 and 10 students to consider careers in science and engineering. Students advance by participating in a series of challenges, such as the Helter Skelter Shelter, in which basic materials are used to construct earthquake-proof model towers.