NEWS

6 STRADDIE ISLAND NEWS — 10 YEARS OF LIVING IN SIN SUMMER 2011-12

Sin BRIEFSTRADBROKE ISLAND.COM

All you need to know about Straddie – and alot you didn’t know you needed to know – isnow available online at a website launchedby the North Stradbroke Island Chamber ofCommerce. “Several commercial websiteoperators have Stradbroke Island websitesthat offer selected information based onadvertising revenue,” Chamber spokespersonCol Battersby said. “This site offersindependent and up-to-date information onall of the Island’s accommodation,attractions and tours as well as the varioustransport options available from ToondahHarbour and on Island buses. Most visitorsknow about Point Lookout … but they mightnot realise how much they’ve been missingby not visiting Amity Point and Dunwich.”

MELVA FOR MAYORMelva Hobson will stand for mayor in nextyear’s March election. “I’ve got enthusiasmand energy for the job and I’ve still got a lotmore to give,” she said. “One thing I willcontinue to do is refuse to buy into the partypolitical argument over the mining end date.“Regardless of who forms the next stategovernment, our job will be to get the bestdeal for residents on whatever closuretimetables are set.”

MUSEUM TAKES STOCKHistoric North Stradbroke Island has beenreprinted and is on sale at the NorthStradbroke Island Historical Museum shop inWelsby Street, Dunwich for $20. Also instock the illustrated children’s book, FatherSky, Mother Earth, by Oodgeroo Noonuccal($25) and the two-part QueenslandMuseum publication, Wild Guide to MoretonBay ($50), as well as t-shirts, tea towels,hand-made hand-towels, notelets and jars oflocally-made cumquat marmalade. Itemsalso sold at the Point Lookout Markets onSundays. Discounts for museum members.

MINISTER VISITS ISLANDJan Jarratt, Minister for Tourism,Manufacturing and Small Business, visitedStraddie recently and was guided aroundthe Island by Quandamooka representativesDarren Burns and Aunty Joan Hendricks, aswell as officers from the Department ofEnvironment and Resource Management. Theminister met with small business owners,members of the new Chamber of Commerceand members of the economic transitiontaskforce.

FERRY MERGER APPROVEDThe Australian Competition and ConsumerCouncil (ACCC) has approved the takeover ofStradbroke Ferries Limited, operators of theStradbroke Water Taxi and Stradbroke VehicleFerries (the blue ferries) by Transit SystemsPty Ltd (operators of the Big Red Cat).Stradbroke Ferries CEO David Thomson saidthere would be no major changes tooperations over the summer holiday period,other than more flexibility between thevehicle ferries. “If one barge is full then staffcan send customers to the second onewhere their tickets will also be accepted.”

Dunwich high school teacherJan Connolly has been recog-nised as an OutstandingTeacher of Science for herwork with students of the

Dunwich State School & Secondary Depart-ment (DSS&SD).

Mrs Connolly was the school’s science andmaths for 10 years until ill health forced herretirement this year.

The Peter Doherty Awards for Excellencein Science and Science Education—namedfor a Brisbane-born Nobel Prize-winning sci-entist who was educated at IndooroopillyState High School—recognises students,teachers, schools, leaders, volunteers, men-tors and organisations that have made out-standing and innovative contributions to

science and science education in Queens-land. Jan Connolly was one of seven teachersfrom across Queensland, recognised fortheir outstanding work in this area.Bernadette Mollison of the DSS&SD toldSIN: “Jan actively sought partnerships toenhance her teaching, including partner-ships with scientists, mathematicians, scienceand maths teachers, curriculum leaders, andspecial program facilitators and sponsors.

“Jan’s commitment, leadership and will-ingness to share all aspects of math and sci-ence has been invaluable in fostering stu-dents’ curiosity, imagination and enthusi-asm, as well as enhancing scientific literacy.”

Mrs Connolly has moved to Toowoombawith her husband Barry to be close to herchildren and grandchildren.

Astealth plane used for combat mis-sions by soldiers in Afghanistanand Iraq was deployed from PointLookout recently – to monitorhumpback whales.

The ScanEagle unmanned aircraft vehi-cle (UAV) made more than 50 flights overStraddie waters to capture video footageand still images of whale pods, as part of trialresearch being conducted by Murdoch Uni-versity and Insitu, manufacturer of ScanEa-gle and a Boeing subsidiary.

Researcher Amanda Hodgson, from theMurdoch University Cetacean ResearchUnit, told SIN Straddie was ideal location for the trial because whales pass by so closeto the Point Lookout coast.

The ScanEagle quietly surveyed whalepods for periods of up to an hour, at lowaltitudes of above 2000 feet, without dis-turbing the whales or affecting theirbehaviour.

Ms Hodgson aims to develop new meth-ods for using the UAVs to assess the abun-dance and distribution of other marinemammals in the future.

“The objective is that eventually we’d beable to use the UAVs for surveying allmarine mammals, so I’m hoping that wecan do a survey of Moreton Bay and get apopulation estimate for dolphins as well asdugongs.”

— Maria Tan

War planes over Straddie

Jan’s outstanding contribution