Spring 2013

Buried treasure Spring 2013

In brief 6 News from Australia’s national university. 20 Safe house One of Australia’s nearest neighbours is facing Pride of place 9 a nation-wide crisis of violence against women. The Research School of Earth Sciences received a very special present on its 40th birthday. 22 Untraceable ANU researchers have created a crack-proof encryption Pedal power 10 system that's got the nod from NASA. The Scicycle is a one-man show taking science to some unusual audiences. 24 Mystery island Five hundred years ago, the rock islands off Palau were A plus 11 thriving with human life. So why are they now abandoned? Emeritus Professor Rodney Baxter has been honoured by the world's oldest science academy. 26 Water tables OPEN DAY 2013 Australia is making the first splashes in water accounting, Buried treasure 12 helping individuals and countries alike manage their water. ANU geologists have discovered a giant fossil fish on the NSW South Coast. 28 Growth, destruction, rebirth The historic Mount Stromlo Observatory Director’s Forty winks 15 Residence is getting a new lease of life. People are heading online to discover the secret to a good night’s sleep. 30 Poetry and punishment Caribbean PhD student Melissa Jogie is shaking up Rumble in the jungle 16 the reading curriculum in Australian schools. A deadly battle between nature and capitalism is being 32 The power of nature waged deep within the forests of Cambodia. Two and a half billion years of experimentation by nature may provide us with a solution to the global energy crisis. Politics by numbers 18 Voter behaviour expert Professor Ian McAllister 33 Chasing dreams says the polls don't always add up. An ANU student has established a foundation to give Canberra teenagers the chance to realise their full potential.

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ISSN 0727-386X CRICOS Provider No. 00120C

ANU Reporter Spring 2013 3 Vice-Chancellor’s introduction

fter the announcement of major government cuts to university funding A earlier this year, ANU and our sector face difficult times ahead. Difficult times force us to make a choice. They can mean the beginning of a decline: if we choose to do nothing, we begin a decline that would see our university become a shadow of its former self, abandoning the ambition of our founders. Alternatively, difficult times can be the catalyst for change, renewal and growth. Renewal that will ensure this great institution remains one that we can all be proud of. With input from our community, we have shaped a budget solutions package that will get us through these difficult times and ensure we have the ability to invest in the research and education that has, in less than 70 years, seen ANU grow from an idea to one of the finest universities in the world. WEAVING BRIAN SCHMIDT’S UNIVERSE In this edition of ANU Reporter we celebrate our Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt and Head of Textiles excellence in education and research in articles Valerie Kirk with the newly unveiled Schmidt Tapestry. such as ‘Untraceable’ (p. 22) and ‘The Power of The Schmidt Tapestry, which celebrates Professor Nature’ (p. 32), and the strong community spirit Schmidt's work, was unveiled in June. and rich history that characterise the University in More than one metre wide and two metres long, the tapestry ‘Chasing Dreams’ (p. 33) and ‘Growth, Destruction, took nine months to weave and is based on a Hubble Telescope Rebirth’ (p. 28). image that Professor Schmidt selected as the photograph By the time you finish reading, I’m sure you’ll that best sums up his work. agree with me that the ANU community has the But the tapestry isn’t just a view of the stars. The digital resourcefulness and resilience to turn our budget technology that played an important part in Professor Schmidt’s challenges into opportunities. research is also woven into the image, with pixels of varying sizes overlaying the supernovae, and in the lower section there is a Professor Ian Young AO small sliver of the Earth with equations on it. Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Schmidt says he never expected to inspire art with his research. “One of the things I love about ANU is how we are able to mix science and art and music – all of the things that ANU does well, and this is an expression of that,” he says. The tapestry hangs in University House next to tapestries celebrating Nobel Prize winners Rolf Zinkernagel and Peter Doherty, John Eccles, and Howard Florey, as well as one acknowledging the work of Frank Fenner.

4 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 5 Indigenous health Queen’s honours on agenda Three ANU academics A new scheme that were included on rewards high school the Queen’s Birthday students who undertake Honours List in June. Indigenous studies will Associate Professor start next year. Timothy Kain (pictured) All secondary school from the School of students who Music was made a successfully complete member of the Order the course will receive of Australia in recognition of more than 30 five bonus ATAR points when they apply years raising the profile of classical guitar in to study at ANU. Australia and nurturing the next generation of musicians. Last month the University also launched the Peter Sharp Scholarship for medical students Professor Graham Farquhar from the studying in the Indigenous health stream. Research School of Biology was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his Danielle Dries (pictured) was the inaugural contribution to the field of biophysics and recipient of the $50,000 scholarship, which is funded by the ACT Government. his role in creating a strain of water-efficient wheat. Graham Tuckwell with scholarship applicants. PHOTO BY STUART HAY. Heritage specialist Dr Michael Pearson from Triple launch at the Research School of Humanities and the Arts was also appointed an Officer of the Crawford School Order of Australia, for his work on cultural The Crawford School of Public Policy Tuckwell Scholars welcomed heritage conservation and management, has been busy lately. In May, the Federal and as an educator and researcher. Government announced a $3 million Chris Grange speaking at a budget forum. wenty-five of Australia’s brightest young The scholars will receive $20,000 a year for PHOTO BY STUART HAY. Sixteen ANU alumni were also honoured endowment to set up a Tax Studies Institute students have been selected for the the length of their undergraduate degree on the list. in the School. Graham & Louise Tuckwell Foundation T and accommodation on campus so they can scholarships. June saw the launch of the School’s new pursue community service and extracurricular Food Policy Institute, which will look at the The Tuckwell Scholarship Program was activities. They will also have the advice and New Head of challenges posed by the growing world established by ANU alumnus Graham Tuckwell support of the Tuckwell Fellows: human rights Art population. and his wife Louise in February. law expert Professor Simon Rice, biochemist Budget package Denise Ferris took up And last month at the ANU China Update The scholars were chosen from a shortlist Associate Professor Susan Howitt and historian the position of Head conference, Minister for Trade Richard of 72 students who spent a weekend at the of Southeast Asia Dr Mary Kilcline Cody. of the ANU School of Marles announced a $305,000 program University undertaking interviews and getting Art in May. to bring Chinese and Australian to know the campus and Mr Tuckwell. Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young said the researchers together to confront the students would bring a great deal to ANU. announced Since she arrived at challenges of climate change policy. “We were after a highly talented group of ANU in 1987, she has students from all around Australia – from the “We are delighted to welcome such an been a Senior Lecturer city, from the country, from private schools, outstanding group of talented and passionate in Photography, from Catholic schools, from government young people to our community,” he said. Post Graduate Coursework and Honours ARC grants schools. That’s what we’ve got,” said he University has developed a plan to in the budget forums held over the first two solve the challenges presented by the weeks of June. Four times as many visited Convenor and Associate Dean (Education) Funding of more than Mr Tuckwell. Video: http://bit.ly/rep_Tscholars of the ANU College of Arts and Social $10 million out of an TFederal Government’s recent cuts to the website and over 300 submissions were university funding. received. Sciences. She is also an elected member of Australia-wide total the University’s Academic Board. of $47 million has The cuts mean ANU faces a reduction in “When you face a challenge of the magnitude been granted to four income of $23 million in 2014 and $28 million that confronts ANU, you have a choice. As a Australian Laureate Founding in 2015. In response, Executive Director, community we have chosen change, renewal Painting the campus green Fellowship Scheme Administration & Planning, Chris Grange, held and growth. It is clear from the forums and the projects at ANU – 17 forums to hear solution suggestions from submissions how much our staff and students An app to help students be energy- and staff and students across campus. are committed to the future of this university.” more than any other father water-wise has gained ANU first prize at the Australian university. The final package, drawn from these Professor Young also announced an immediate 2013 ACT Sustainable Cities Awards. suggestions, includes a voluntary early pay increase of two per cent for all ANU staff, remembered ANU Green Key is a smartphone app The successful recipients include Professor retirement scheme, a major overhaul of and a further two per cent increase to be paid designed for residents of halls and colleges Nicholas Evans for his project on linguistic administration, increased parking fees, in 2014. to collect data on lighting, electricity, heating diversity; Professor Hugh O'Neill (pictured), statue of ANU founding father the a student recruitment drive and an energy who is studying the properties of naturally “Investing in the people that make this and water use in their rooms. late Professor Frank Fenner was savings plan. institution great is essential to investing in occurring minerals; Professor Kim Sterelny, A unveiled at University House in June. In a meeting of more than 1,200 staff and our future, and I believe this is a timely and The University also won an award in the who will investigate the origins of human Master of University House, Professor students in Llewellyn Hall last month, Vice- appropriate measure to recognise the ongoing Sustainable Buildings category for the new cooperation and inequality; and Professor Lawrence Cram, said that the statue goes Chancellor Professor Ian Young said the contribution our staff make to this institution. Lena Karmel Lodge. Xu-Jia Wang for his project on nonlinear part of the way to honouring the Fenners’ University was choosing to approach the partial differential equations. “We are committed to ensuring that ANU In other sustainability news, the Department commitment to the University community. Peter Corlett with the bust of Frank Fenner. challenge as a catalyst for change, renewal returns to a firm financial footing. Each and growth. of Applied Mathematics will receive at least ANU researchers will receive a further “One of Frank’s favourite places on campus PHOTO BY STUART HAY. and every member of the ANU community – $5 million to research Carbon Capture $5 million for ARC Linkage Projects, was Fellow’s Garden, so it seems only fitting “The package is a comprehensive one that staff, students and alumni – is rightly proud and Storage as part of the Australian including improving young driver training that his statue will be placed there, looking “I had a suite of photographs that showed firstly looks to grow income for the University, of the excellence in research and education Government’s Clean Energy Future package. and protecting Australia’s unique orchids over at Black Mountain.” him smiling,” Corlett said. “There was this and then seeks to make savings in a way that for which we are renowned. This package will enhance our academic excellence,” he said. from extinction. The copper bust was created by Peter Corlett whimsical naughty boy side, and I thought, will enable us to invest in that excellence.” OAM, a leading Australian figurative sculptor, that’s what I want to catch, because that “This package has been a community effort. For more information visit and funded by 43 donors. seemed to me to personify the man’s spirit.” More than 1,000 staff and students took part http://budgetsolutions.anu.edu.au

6 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 7 word watch AMANDA LAUGESEN puts pollie talk under the microscope.

n the tumultuous lead-up to another federal scandal involving the donation of a ute (utility election, it is perhaps an opportune time to vehicle) to Rudd’s 2007 election campaign. look at some of the contributions of politicians, I Adding '-gate' is a reference to Watergate, and is especially the recent Labor Government, to Australian English, or pollie speak (also pollie talk, commonly used to denote a corrupt or scandalous first coined in the 1980s to refer to the style of activity, especially when there is an assumed speech of politicians, usually long-winded and filled attempt to cover up such activity. with jargon). Will there be words or idioms that Gillard’s prime ministership was marked by debates we will remember and associate with the prime over the level of sexism in Australian politics. In ministerships of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard? October 2012, she famously attacked a culture of Rudd’s time as prime minister has contributed to misogyny in Australia, in what is now known as or popularised a number of terms in our Australian ‘the misogyny speech’. Earlier this year she talked of political lexicon. His use of Australian colloquialisms men in blue ties, referring to conservative males in was memorable, particularly when in 2009 he positions of power. The Gillard government’s Gonski used the phrase fair shake of the sauce bottle in education reforms have given rise to the phrase to deposing of Rudd as prime minister. The term has a television interview. He was taken to task by the (not) give a Gonski, meaning ‘to (not) care about proved to have considerable durability in Australian Opposition for using ‘dated’ colloquialisms and education’. English; whether any of the terms we heard during being ‘inauthentic’; others criticised him for getting The Rudd/Gillard period has also seen a revival of the last few years of politics will have the same the idiom wrong – he should have said fair suck of the Australian term faceless men, a term referring durability remains to be seen. the sauce bottle, they argued. However, the variant to those who wield power behind the scenes. The Australian Dictionary Centre is a joint fair shake is found in rural Queensland. First used in 1963 by the Liberal Party of ALP venture between Oxford University Press Also in 2009, Rudd faced utegate. This was a powerbrokers, it was used in reference to the and ANU.

Denise Hales with the portrait of Anton. PHOTO BY DAVID PATERSON. Pride of place

The Research School of Earth Sciences received a very special present on its 40th birthday. By TEGAN DOLSTRA.

life sentences his is very much how I remember him office, with no mobile phone, I used to have – the man who loved his dogs, was a to throw stones at his window to let him know BRIAN WIMBORNE explores the life of a rabbi who devoted his life to countering prejudice. Tchain smoker, and wore crumpled tweed If you look very carefully, our dinner guests had arrived.” sports jackets that never matched his ties,” Current RSES Director, Professor Ian Jackson, says Denise Hales, looking up at the portrait there is actually a safety was a second-year PhD student when Anton of her late husband. pin holding his glasses joined the School. “If you look very carefully, there is actually a nyone who heard Herman Max Sanger community, which had been struggling for In 1942 Sanger founded the Association of safety pin holding his glasses together – it was together. “Within a few weeks as foundation director, speak could not but be impressed with survival since its foundation in 1930. Taking Jewish Refugees and expressed his opposition there for years because he never had time to Anton seemed to know what every PhD student his eloquence and erudition. Sir Robert up the challenge, Sanger arrived in Australia in to refugees from the Nazis being designated A fix them.” in the School was doing,” he says. “That level Menzies considered him to be Australia’s August 1936 and was soon conducting services ‘enemy aliens’. His encouragement of of commitment and interest was a hallmark their integration into the wider Australian Denise presented the portrait of Professor “Back then there was no email, no mobile greatest orator. Yet English was not his and raising money for a synagogue. phones; so he sent me letters. In one he of Anton’s directorship and his selflessness in native tongue. community helped to ensure their acceptance Anton Hales, foundation director of the mentoring young scientists.” With a wide vision, Sanger resolved to build and they were eventually classified as ‘friendly Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES), to described RSES as ‘an incredible place – they Sanger was born in Berlin in 1909, the only a relationship between Christian and Jew in aliens’. During and after World War II he the School on its 40th anniversary in July. come in at 9, go home at 5, play bridge at Professor Jackson says he was honoured to son of Rabbi Jacob Sanger and his wife Australia. He forged links with the Anglican campaigned for Australia to take more lunchtime, and still produce the most incredible accept the portrait on behalf of the School. and Catholic archbishops of Melbourne, and Painted on an old wooden door by the couple’s science’,” she recalls. Hilda. Ordained a rabbi 1933, he was to Jewish refugees. “When Denise first approached me, I was the Methodist leader, Reverend Irving Benson, granddaughter Megan two years after Anton’s spend the next three years at a synagogue “He loved it here. Everyone was so incredibly overwhelmed and honoured by her offer,” invited him to preach from Melbourne’s Wesley In 1962 Sanger was appointed to the Order death, it is a blend of memory and a photo in Berlin ministering to the city’s persecuted generous in welcoming us. We had a terrific he says. “The portrait is fantastic. We’ll Church. This was the first time a rabbi had of the British Empire. He died in 1980 and taken by Denise in the eighties. Jews and attacking the Nazis from his pulpit. was buried at Springvale cemetery. time and made lots of wonderful friends.” probably hang it in the Director’s suite, so preached in an Australian church. In return, Originally from South Africa, Anton moved Interrogated and hounded by the Gestapo, The Herman Sanger Hall at the Temple Beth Anton can look over the shoulder of all our Christian groups (Catholic and Protestant) from the US to Australia in 1973 to take up Anton and Denise lived with their two children he eventually acted upon the advice of an Israel commemorates his lasting contribution future directors.” were invited to attend sabbath services at the the position of foundation director of RSES at in the house that is now the Heritage Early anonymous caller and fled the country. to the community. Temple Beth Israel. Prime Minister Menzies was the age of 62. Denise wasn’t to join Anton in Childhood Centre, where they often hosted It looks like Anton – with the company of his Once in London, the World Union for to say of Sanger, ‘no man could have done The Australian Dictionary of Biography is Australia until six months later, but she shared dinner parties. ashtray and his favourite dog – will continue Progressive Judaism suggested that he assume more to cause men to shrug off the absurdities edited by staff at the National Centre of a sense of his excitement well before she “I wasn’t allowed to have a key to the School, to take an interest in RSES for a long while leadership of Melbourne’s non-orthodox of prejudice’. Biography at ANU. arrived. for security reasons, so when Anton was in his to come.

8 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 9 Dr Graham Walker and the Scicycle. PHOTO BY BELINDA PRATTEN. Emeritus Professor Rodney Baxter. PHOTO BY BELINDA PRATTEN. Pedal power A plus Graham Walker has created an eye and balloon-popping Emeritus Professor Rodney Baxter has been one-man show to take science to some unusual audiences. honoured by the world's oldest science academy, CASEY HAMILTON was in the crowd. writes TEGAN DOLSTRA.

hat has three wheels, “Balancing these kinds of things committee, the ACT Government, loud explosions and is with the more exciting experiments is and his colleagues at ANU – who rofessor Rodney Baxter almost mistook the “I was beavering away in particle field theory Wfollowed by a crowd? The Scicycle shows important, especially for people who are also able to book the Scicycle to letter informing him he had been awarded for my PhD,” he says. “But I happened to read a one of the world’s most prestigious science paper by Andrew Lenard in which he’d solved a The Scicycle is the brainchild of Dr don't choose to engage with science. help with their science engagement P I was carrying the news prizes for junk mail. Graham Walker from the Australian are designed to be You have to make it fun.” activities. The performances have one-dimensional model in statistical mechanics around for a couple of hours of a Coulomb gas of electrons and protons – in National Centre for the Public Walker had the idea for the Scicycle been a huge success. “The news came in the form of a letter from the a buffet of science. the paper he made an intriguing remark that he Awareness of Science, who designed when applying for a recent round “When you see someone who clearly Royal Society and when I saw it on my desk I just before I actually read it. was having trouble with electrons in a neutralizing the three-wheeled cargo trike to of Inspiring Australia grants which doesn’t give two hoots about science put it in my pocket thinking ‘oh, it’s just another charge background. That really sucked me in, so I peddle science to the masses. encouraged applicants to think and you find a way to get them circular’,” he says. “So I was carrying it around for a it likes to huddle together in the form of a solid, sat down and solved it. It took a couple of months.” outside the box. interested, I know it’s worked. After couple of hours before I actually read it.” and when you boil water it expands. “I created the Scicycle to take science chemistry, but Walker is keen to shows I’ve had great conversations Baxter, who retired in 2003 after almost 35 years at into places it might not otherwise “You needed to be proactive. Rather The letter contained the news that Baxter was one “So I’ve spent my career trying to come up with make some modifications to the with seniors, questions from a bunch ANU, says he is looking forward to travelling with be seen,” he says. “I can ride into a than asking people to come to me, of three academics selected for the Royal Society’s models that explain such phase transitions. I’m bike to include more everyday of skaters who looked like they his wife to London – his birth place – for the Royal venue, quickly set up and start doing I decided to take science to them, Royal Medals. Also known as the Queen’s Medals, trying to provide a pathway between the theory science in the shows. probably should have been in school, they were founded by King George IV in 1825, and Society Awards presentation in November. It will not little activities or shows. whether that’s in Garema Place, in a and the experimental evidence. business men and even drunks. Michael Faraday and Francis Crick rank among the be his first time at the Royal Society headquarters – “The Scicycle shows are designed to “I want to promote science with a library or at an arts festival – it’s about recipients. “I came up with the ‘Hard Hexagon Model’ in 1984 he was admitted as a Fellow there in 1982. be a buffet of science. People come deeper relevance than blowing stuff new venues and new audiences. I’ve “If you set up in the middle of and go and in the five minutes they up with liquid nitrogen – although even been asked to take the trike to Garema Place with no one watching Baxter was chosen for his “remarkable” to explain how helium is absorbed onto graphite, “It does ring nice bells,” he says. “I’m writing to my stop they might see some liquid that is fun. I’m looking at installing the Denny Ute Muster in Deniliquin!” and then by the end of a 30-minute contribution to the field of statistical mechanics. which was later compared with experimental data old director of studies at Cambridge to say I’d like show you’ve got 150 people crowded and found to be quite accurate.” to come and see him while I’m over there.” nitrogen experiments or a little a generator on the bike to After kitting the bike out with a “Statistical mechanics is about the way atoms around you, that’s success.”  explosion.” demonstrate renewable energy smorgasbord of hands-on science, behave when they’re together,” the mathematical Baxter says he ended up in statistical mechanics Baxter has no plans to stop “doing his sums” These bites of science generally and there is already a solar panel Walker took it to the streets with the Video: See the Scicycle in action physicist explains. “Water is water is water, but it’s by chance, when an intriguing question caught his anytime soon, but he is planning to be more careful address concepts in physics and to charge the PA system. help of the National Science Week http://bit.ly/rep_Scicycle also steam and ice. The only difference is if it’s cold attention. with his mail in the future. 

10 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 11 Buried treasure

CASEY HAMILTON packed her hammer and joined a group of ANU geologists as they set out to unearth the missing body of a giant fossil fish on the NSW South Coast.

Dr Gavin Young with Edenopteron in the background. PHOTO BY BELINDA PRATTEN.

f you saw me trekking through coastal working with living plants to fossilised ones to 360 million years ago, this ‘Age of Fishes’ of fossilised fish. Some are little more than bushland carrying a sledge hammer and in his retirement, is in the driver’s seat; former was when lobe-finned fish like Edenopteron grey strips of crushed bone running in lines Ia crowbar, you might think I’m up to no ANU Geology Department staff member Dr first appeared, and armoured placoderm fish through the red rock, but others are in good, but I am actually off to see an old friend. Keith Crook (for whom the Edenopteron fossil crowded the waters. But the most exciting This group is closely related to the ancestors of the first exceptional condition. A really old friend. was named) and his wife Dr Anne Felton, thing about the Devonian Period is that it saw land animals whose fleshy fins evolved into legs. “There was a lot of geological movement in an ANU geology graduate, are along for I’m joining a research team from the ANU marine life first start to explore land. this area so it’s a miracle they haven’t been the ride too. Research School of Earth Sciences as they “The rocks here on the south coast span a time of Crook’s in the sixties and leader of the “The fossil bones at this site are quite destroyed,” explains Felton, pointing across the search for the fossilised body of Edenopteron Throughout the sixties and seventies, Crook when marine animals like fish were beginning Edenopteron team – is here, along with his son spectacular, but years ago we decided to keep bay at the distinct coloured layers in the cliff supervised ANU geology student fieldwork, keithcrooki, a 360 million-year-old giant to use their fins to crawl out of the water and Ben, Professor Tim Senden from the Research the locality secret and leave the fossils in place. face which warp closer to the shore, showing mapping much of the coastal geology from predatory fish. The team uncovered the skull move around on land. It was a time when plant School of Physics & Engineering, and Bega We couldn’t dig them out for study because the immense forces at play. We follow the the Victorian border right up to Ulladulla. In of the new species and is returning to the site life on land diversified and atmospheric oxygen Valley Shire Councillor Liz Seckold. they would break into tiny pieces, so we traced sound of a power drill up the hill, signalling that in the hope of uncovering the rest of their 1978 they came across something unexpected. increased. From those points of view, this is a the other half of the team has started the dig. “We originally visited this site in 1979 using the fossil layer into the tea tree scrub and fossil friend. “We were finding objects in the shale that scientifically significant and challenging place one of Keith’s student’s maps but then lost it discovered a new excavation site.” Digging fossils is not like you see in the movies, clearly were not modern material – they were to study,” says Crook. Wearing borrowed hiking boots and layers of – there wasn’t GPS back then,” Gavin says as As we reach the site, I can see why they want with fine layers of dirt painstakingly removed animal fossils,” says Crook. polar fleece and enthusiasm, I bundle myself As we pull up in a clearing at the end of a we begin the trek to the site. “Luckily we had to keep it secret. The martian-red rocks that with a paintbrush. These fossils are buried into the car in the NSW town of Eden. Bob They had discovered a hotbed of fossils from fire trail, we meet the second carload of the photos of us working at the site, so we were once formed an ancient riverbed have been within a thick layer of rock, and power tools Dunstone, a plant scientist who moved from the Devonian Period. Spanning from about 420 research team. Dr Gavin Young – a student able to relocate it from landmarks. thrust out of the ocean, exposing hundreds are the only way to reach them.

12 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 13 Dr Gavin Young in the field (left) and a complete bone of an extinct armoured fish embedded in red mudstone (right).PHOTOS BY CASEY HAMILTON.

John Gosling. PHOTO BY BELINDA PRATTEN. The team is drilling holes in which to pour After several minutes of discussion, we drive expanding cement in order to crack the slab a little further, stopping beside an innocuous along its weakest points, a new technique These were perhaps the first rocky outcrop. they are testing after the method they used “The Devonian plant beds in this area have to excavate the skull of Edenopteron in 2006 forests to have evolved on hardly been studied, but this is an exceptionally didn’t cut it. Or rather it did – it cut right the planet. important fossil site,” says Gavin. “There is through it! evidence here of some of the oldest known Unaware of the remnants of the scaly giant land plants and even some creepy crawlies that Forty winks beneath their feet, the research team was lived among the leaf litter – these were perhaps cutting through the rock with a circular saw the first forests to have evolved on the planet.” People are heading online to discover the secret to to extract a placoderm specimen with the tail near Forbes, and in similar-aged rocks in Dunstone hands me a hammer and encourages still intact. When the block was lifted out, Ben Australian Antarctic Territory.” me to have a go. Feeling out of place, I pick up a good night’s sleep, writes EMILY DUNCAN. made the surprising discovery. Back in Devonian times these areas of Australia a likely looking rock and gently tap it with the “We pulled out this big bit of rock and saw a and Antarctica were joined together as part of hammer. It reveals nothing. I pick up another large tooth. Placoderms don’t have teeth, so the supercontinent Gondwana. and it crumbles in my hands. I keep picking up we knew we were onto something,” he says. rocks for a few minutes, beginning to wonder n our 24/7 cycle, ultra- The GoodNight Study utilises fell asleep 40 per cent faster, “It was always assumed that the Devonian fish what all this fossil fuss is about. caffeinated times, a bit of shut- typically in under 20 minutes, and Back at the lab, the team realised the circular a program developed by found in Australia were immigrants from the eye can be hard to come by. experienced 55 per cent less time saw had cut right through the jaws, making The next rock I pick up looks just like the rest. I researchers at the University A person with Northern Hemisphere. Now we have identified of Virginia. Small-scale trials awake during the night. the task of piecing the bones together more a group of lobe-finned fish that actually I give it a half-hearted tap. I turn to Felton: But the toll of sleepless nights have been promising with 60 to insomnia is difficult than usual. evolved here and were closely related to the “I think I have something”. could be more than just tired eyes Internet health interventions and a bad mood. 70 per cent of participants with have become increasingly popular, “It was huge,” exclaims Gavin when I ask him ancestors of the first land animals whose fleshy She inspects the rust-coloured impressions much more likely severe and moderate insomnia with treatments popping up to about the skull. “The bottom jaw was about 50 fins evolved into legs.” in my rock. “A person with insomnia is nine reporting a full recovery after to experience address everything from potty times more likely to experience centimetres long. Initially we thought it had a Today the team has lifted a large section of “You’ve found an impression of some reed-like completing the program. training to dementia. flat skull, because things of this size that have rock, revealing a patchwork of placoderm plant stems,” she says. “This site is full of plant depression than a member of the depression or anxiety. Now Gosling and his team will Gosling believes the internet has been found overseas have crocodile-shaped fossils beneath, but no trace of the two- or fossils; it used to be a still lake. The vegetation wider population, and 17 or 18 build on this research by tracking huge untapped potential skulls. However Edenopteron was a high and three-metre-long body of Edenopteron. It nearby would fall into the water and settle, times more likely to experience 1,600 insomniacs as they use for mental health treatment. narrow fish. It was probably out in the main will be a few days before the next expanding leaving impressions like this.” an anxiety disorder,” says PhD river channel as ‘top predator’ gobbling up student John Gosling from the the program, and following The program uses cognitive cement slab cracks, so we pack up and trek It turns out my own discovery was a dime “I don’t think it’s a matter of placoderms for lunch.” ANU Centre for Mental Health completion, for at least 18 months. behavioural therapy to encourage back to the cars. a dozen, but that doesn’t bother me: I now replacing face-to-face therapy,” he Research (CMHR). They hope to establish a link healthy bedtime routines. Compared to similar Devonian fish fossils in says. “It’s about filling an unmet The team wants to show me another fossil site understand the team’s passion. The thrill of between treatment and a decrease the Northern Hemisphere, Edenopteron had “Insomnia has also been shown to Participants keep a daily sleep need. on the way back to town. The track is rough, the find. The wonder of how old something is. in symptoms related to depression. a few unusual features, including extra bones have a large burden of disease and diary and perform activities and with collapsed drains and branches covering Piecing together the clues of how we came to “There are a lot of people who in its palate and strange ornamentation on be standing on this land as it is now. causes about as much disruption “We think it’s a really good way exercises related to sleep hygiene, the road and Gavin is trying to find the site simply don’t seek help, and are the scales. to a person’s life as generalised to target people who are at risk the sleeping environment, more willing to engage with by memory. “You always think, ‘maybe tomorrow, maybe anxiety disorder.” of developing depression,” and challenging thoughts and “The Eden site is only the fourth place in over that ridge, we will find something’,” something online. Something like “We could pull out a map, but that’s says Gosling. behaviours that contribute to the world where Devonian fish show these Dunstone had said to me earlier in the day Gosling is part of a team this is perfect for them.”  cheating,” he jokes. sleepless nights, such as drinking unusual features,” says Gavin. “They were and now it rings true. I turn back to the of researchers implementing “Obviously it’s better to identify The CMHR is recruiting participants first identified in fish from another fossil site We’re soon pulled over, crowded around outcrop with my hammer. Maybe the next a web-based program to and treat something before it or exercising before bedtime. for the GoodNight Study. Find out in central NSW, then at the Jemalong Range a map on the bonnet of the Hilux. rock I pick up will be the next big find. tackle insomnia. becomes a major problem.” Early trials found participants more at goodnight.anu.edu.au.

14 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 15 Rumble in the jungle

A deadly battle between nature and capitalism is being waged deep within the forests of Cambodia, writes JAMES GIGGACHER.

Members of the Kompong Thom community map out their natural resources with Dr Sarah Milne (top right). PHOTO BY PHEAKDEY SORN.

n the lush, green forests of It is on this forest frontier that to Cambodia’s 30-year civil war. Modern day Cambodia has been hydropower dam that will flood In April 2012 Wutty, who Milne possible. But the future is uncertain Cambodia, two worlds are Dr Sarah Milne, a post-doctoral They were deriving their livelihoods labelled a “country for sale”. their ancestral lands and see them describes as a soldier for nature and unpredictable, especially because Icolliding. researcher and conservation specialist almost entirely from the forest and According to the latest data, more Local people relocated,” says Milne. and humanity, was shot dead while there is a lot of fear in Cambodia – subsistence agriculture, using unique than half of Cambodia’s arable land – escorting two journalists from The fear of conflict, of violence, and of On one side are capitalists, tycoons from the ANU College of Asia and Milne hopes donors, NGOs and traditional knowledge, and they were 2.6 million hectares – has been now face a bleak Cambodia Daily through a forest speaking out. and powerful multinational the Pacific, can often be found. She ‘ordinary people’ will respond, by beginning to face incredible threats to leased to concession holders by conservation area in Koh Kong corporations, backed by the all-too- regularly makes the trek through applying pressure on the Cambodian “In the future I hope that a way of their land and way of life,” she says. Cambodian authorities. future of labour in province to expose illegal logging. willing Cambodian state. Driven Cambodia’s thick jungles. Government to re-think its actions. non-conflict and social transformation by the promise of wealth, they are “I have always been driven by a “At times, when I’m doing fieldwork Milne says this has had an enormous rubber plantations “The murder of Chut Wutty is a can be found, but there may be a responsible for massive land grabs, in remote villages, I feel like I’ve cost for ordinary Cambodians, “That is the ideal scenario, but tragedy. He offered hope to so many long road ahead. There has been no love for nature, and a desire to find or factories. domestic political action is becoming illegal logging and projects like ways for people to co-exist with and stepped back two centuries into an around 80 per cent of whom rely people: villagers, environmentalists, proper investigation into the murder dams and rubber plantations, now ancient Asia – a world governed by on rural livelihoods. Often it leads increasingly hard for communities young Cambodians, those who are of Chut Wutty and the government connect to nature, especially in a way and advocacy groups in Cambodia: sprouting up over what was once that gives rise to social justice,” says the whims of spirits and the natural to the displacement of farmers, in striving to be heard, and those who has closed his case, which sends a But some people are banding they frequently face government wild and inaccessible rainforest. Milne. “This led me to do volunteer world. But then I turn around and most cases without warning. Any are daring to stand up against the strong message to other activists.” together to fight back. Villagers in the suppression and threats.” Facing off are Cambodia’s indigenous work in the Cardamom Mountains in see new roads, excavators, chainsaws, resistance is usually met with violence powerful forces that are dominating And even though hope may be company workers and military and coercion. Cardamom Mountains are beginning Cambodia. He also inspired those peoples and their subsistence Cambodia with remote communities And in some cases, the threats are fragile, Milne will keep on fighting. policemen. On the sidelines of this are to work with monks to ordain trees facing similar struggles elsewhere in economies, long removed from over 10 years ago now, and I haven’t “In many areas local people now not idle. The dirty war being waged She is back in Cambodia, working at local villagers, who also have great publicly – an act of defiance which the forested, and often forgotten, the modern world. Now, their stopped since.” face loss of land and alienation, with in Cambodia’s forests has claimed the frontier, bearing witness to what is has drawn international attention. traditional worldviews, knowledge aspirations about modernity and a bleak future of becoming labourers its fair share of victims, none less regions of the world,” says Milne. happening there, and trying to make What Milne witnessed inspired her and livelihoods are not only being ‘development’. on rubber plantations or in factories. “In particular, they are hoping to than Cambodia’s most high-profile “Hope can only be maintained if sure that these two colliding worlds to action. challenged, they are radically under “It’s a place of fusion, as well as This has affected tens of thousands draw attention to the impending environmentalist, and Milne’s people continue to support each can live together for the sake of threat. “People were incredibly poor due violence and dispossession.” of villagers,” says Milne. construction of a Chinese-backed collaborator and friend, Chut Wutty. other and believe that change is everyone’s future.

16 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 17 Politics by numbers

Professor Ian McAllister has been researching voter behaviour for more than 40 years. ANN JONES discovers that the polling numbers don’t always add up.

he voter stands, hunched at a cardboard In fact, he confesses that he is not party political. booth, pressing pen to paper, marking out Even though McAllister has dedicated his whole his version of democracy. T Polling is about 30 per cent professional life to the study of political behaviour, The booth is a bit wobbly and it means that he he does not profess a love for it. can’t press too hard and despite his awkward science and 70 per cent “I started my PhD on politics in Northern Ireland, posture these final pen marks are a manifestation judgement. not because I was engaged with either side, but of the grace of democracy, the end point of the because I wanted to know why people used thought process of one citizen in the lead up to Australia operates in the months leading up political violence to try and achieve goals. Why did a federal election. to a federal election. some people choose between the constitutional Australia has one of the highest satisfaction Of course, data alone does not have a voice. means of getting political goals and physical force? levels with democracy in the world. Australians Political scientists act as interpreters and with “And then I got interested in political parties believe that their marks on paper mean the such long-term data they can understand voter as the process by which democracy works, and same as the next person's, which is surprising to movements to a very sophisticated degree. political parties are the building blocks anyone who uses the tone of the media as their of democracy.” political barometer. Trends, says McAllister, can be cyclical and that doesn’t show up in one-off election polls. For McAllister, it is a science, and he baulks at the ANU political scientist, Distinguished Professor idea that a political poll could come anywhere Ian McAllister, has noticed the gap between public “When a new party comes into government near the same type of in-depth longitudinal discourse and public feeling. He leads the longest people trust them and like them, then after three understanding that a political scientist can achieve. running statistical study of voter behaviour in or four years they realise that the party's not as Australia. good as they thought, and their trust goes down. “The types of polling that political parties do are about 30 per cent science and 70 per “Journalists phone me up and they say ‘everything “Then, there are secular trends, which are to do cent judgement. is going to hell and it’s all falling apart’ and I say, with generational change and changes in social ‘well, actually: no’, which isn’t what they want to structure. Really, you can only pick things like “Some people are good at the judgement, but hear,” he says. that up if you are looking at long time periods.” it is not science; it’s not what I do.” “Australians’ satisfaction with democracy is It is the long-term trends that really interest After studying voting and political behaviour among the highest in the world, surpassed only McAllister, in contrast to the desires of campaign over decades, his own behaviour as a voter has by Denmark. managers and politicians. remained remarkably stable and McAllister still hasn’t made a decision on who he is voting for “Trust in politics across a whole range of countries “Political parties do come and ask me things this year. has declined, but our trust in politics has remained periodically, but what they want to know is what is quite high, relatively, and our sense of efficacy going to happen in the next two to three months “I talk about politics a lot, but I never place myself remains quite high – that’s our sense that we and what I say, based on the last ten years or in the middle of it. I’m sort of detached in terms would be treated as well as anybody else.” whatever, is of no interest to them whatsoever.” of numbers and so on.” Since the Australian Election Study started in The data collected by McAllister and his colleagues Soon, on a Saturday morning, perhaps at a 1987, McAllister has been running the mail-back clearly show that the influence of the swinging primary school gymnasium, walking past the survey which asks participants hundreds vote is not as great as you’d think. sausage sizzle and towards the ledgers and cardboard booths, McAllister will mark his vote. of questions. In fact, people who genuinely oscillate between The resulting conglomeration of numbers voting for one party or the other are very few. But he won’t be caught up in the romanticism represents a comprehensive picture of how Ironically, McAllister himself is one of them. of democracy.

Professor Ian McAllister. PHOTO BY BELINDA PRATTEN. ANU Reporter Spring 2013 19 Safe house

One of Australia’s nearest neighbours is facing a nation-wide crisis of violence against women. SOPHIA CALLANDER reports.

Dr Kamalini Lokuge. PHOTO BY BELINDA PRATTEN.

ifty per cent of Papua New Guinean “The day of the proposal meeting, there was have not been so fortunate. This is what repeating the same mistakes if we don’t take women have been raped in their own a case of a young woman who had been initially led Lokuge to conduct an evaluation that knowledge and make sure it’s available Fhomes. Sixty-eight per cent have been abducted at the age of 17,” says Lokuge. “She of the FSC to see what could be done to help. to the next set of doctors, nurses and health subjected to physical violence of some kind. had been held captive in a room for two years The majority of women had been injured, raped or assaulted by workers trying to deliver that program in a “From that evaluation I found that the 12,000 Few receive proper medical care and even and had been regularly beaten and raped. She similar setting,” says Lokuge. clients the FSC has treated – mostly women their partners or family. fewer receive the counselling, support and had escaped and come to Lae’s Family Support While service delivery in the community is intervention they need to obtain protection, Centre (FSC) and after receiving medical care and children – had received good quality essential for reducing the impacts of violence let alone justice. was transferred to a safe house; but there medical care and counselling,” she says. “But the thing I couldn’t let go of was that the against women, Lokuge stresses the need for was little security there and very quickly the them deal with those problems, often services are under-resourced. That’s what Working to protect these women is Dr majority of women that presented had been policy improvement and advocacy to end it. Kamalini Lokuge, an epidemiologist in the perpetrator became aware that she was being what you do will not make a difference,” we’re trying to address with the CMC – injured, raped or assaulted by their partners “If you can communicate your research in a ANU National Centre for Epidemiology held there and he came with a gun. she says. “It may seem like it will work, it helping the community build on what they or family.” form that policymakers can use, then you are and Population Health. “For all of us at that meeting, the may change things at a policy level, but in have already achieved.” Having worked in war-torn and poverty stricken terms of what mothers and children will get, the best doctor you can be to patients because Together with Professor Stephen Howes, preoccupation quickly became about what parts of the world since the age of 26, Lokuge nothing will change. Lokuge hopes the Lae centre will open later you are not only giving them care, you are Director of the Development Policy Centre was going to happen to her that night – the knows what it takes to make a real difference this year. She and her team will continue making things change for the future.” at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, FSC staff were at risk, the man running the “The people working in Papua New Guinea to people’s lives. to monitor the program and hope it will To get involved in the project visit Lokuge recently returned from Papua New safe house was at risk and the police didn’t are doing more than their best, at their own eventually be adopted as a national model. http://bit.ly/rep_PNGCMC Guinea, where she proposed a family and know what to do.” “Unless you engage all the way through the personal cost. But despite their heroic efforts, sexual violence Case Management Centre While the young woman was able to settle process with the people and communities living the outcomes for survivors of family and sexual “People delivering programs know why they’re Video: Dr Lokuge talks about her research (CMC) for the city of Lae. safely back into her home village, many others the problems and the health workers that help violence are all too often tragic because most successful or why they fail, but we’ll keep http://bit.ly/rep_kamalini

20 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 21 Untraceable

ANU researchers have created a crack-proof encryption system that's got the nod from NASA. TEGAN DOLSTRA reports.

Dr Thomas Symul and Dr Vikram Sharma. PHOTO BY DAVID PATERSON.

our bank account details and medical The first step involves generating a truly The next step is to transmit those random destroy it in the process. So it’s impossible “There are only a few groups in the world records might be safe from prying eyes random number sequence. This is more difficult measurements from one place to another, for somebody else to make the same working with ‘bright lasers’ – most others use Ynow, but who might be able to hack We can apply it to virtually than it sounds: it’s been proven theoretically using a laser and an optic fibre. The unique measurements and therefore have the same single-photon generators and detectors,” says your secrets in 5, 20 or 50 years’ time? that it’s impossible to purposefully create properties of the system mean anyone trying secret key as you,” explains Symul. “That Sharma. “By using bright lasers, we can use In the digital age, encryption is crucial for every domain that uses a string of random numbers. to tap into the signal will leave behind means you can be confident that your data off-the-shelf components and integrate straight incriminating ‘fingerprints’. keeping private information private. From electronic information. “You always need to start from somewhere will be safe forever.” into existing infrastructure.” major military and government records to – a time of day, your birthday, the date,” “Quantum mechanics tells us that you cannot Earlier this year, QuintessenceLabs co-founder These advantages have attracted interest from email correspondence, encryption – disguising explains Symul. “And if someone can work out measure perfectly both the amplitude and the and CEO, and ANU alumnus, Dr Vikram near and far. messages with a code – protects information what that initial sequence was, your string of phase of a laser beam,” says Symul. “You can Sharma, took the cutting-edge technology to from eavesdroppers who may have less-than- random numbers suddenly isn’t random at all.” make a perfect amplitude measurement, but it New York for the IBM SmartCamp competition. “We can apply it to virtually every domain that honourable intentions. adds a lot of noise to the phase measurement The company outshone 3,000 competitors uses electronic information. We’ve had interest But this theoretical impossibility proved no from government agencies and some of the “If two people share a perfectly random code, and vice versa. So if somebody tries to listen in from around the world to finish in the global Current encryption systems have flaws – as obstacle for Symul, who developed a truly largest defence contractors in the world, such they can communicate in total privacy. But how on the transmission they’ll leave a mark.” top three. ASIO and Sony can no doubt tell you. But random number generator a couple of years as Lockheed Martin and Boeing,” says Sharma. QuintessenceLabs – a cyber security company do you transmit that secret code in the first ago. The trick was to look at the problem on a These tell-tale signs of interference enable the “It took a little while for the result to sink developed by ANU researchers – has invented place?” he says. quantum scale. receiver to select only numbers that definitely in,” says Sharma. “But when it did, I was “I’m also very pleased to say that we received a crack-proof encryption system that has been haven’t been intercepted. They can then an invitation from NASA to open an office at “Spies used to write down a random number “What we do is measure quantum processes really proud of the fantastic team we have at attracting attention from some of the world’s key in a notepad, which they carried in a use them as a key to code and decode later QuintessenceLabs and the fact that Australian its Ames Research Park in Silicon Valley.” that occur inside vacuum. Most people think transmissions. largest organisations. briefcase to a secret location. They’d use the vacuum has nothing in it, but it actually innovation was on the world stage.” As the makers of a truly unsolvable coding Secret codes have come a long way in the past key to decode a message, then rip out the page contains a little bit of energy. Pairs of particles Just like Cold War spies burning their secret The judges were impressed by the technology’s system, it’s no surprise QuintessenceLabs 50 years, says QuintessenceLabs co-founder and burn it.” and anti-particles are popping in and out of keys after use, the QuintessenceLabs keys innovative laser usage – which gives it cost, size is attracting attention – and the more they and ANU College of Physical and Mathematical QuintessenceLabs’ breakthrough technology existence all the time, resulting in a randomly are unrecoverable. and performance advantages over conventional attract, the safer your data will be from prying Sciences researcher Dr Thomas Symul. is essentially similar, but a little more complex. fluctuating field,” he says. “When you measure a quantum object, you single-photon approaches. eyes.

22 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 23 Mystery island

Five hundred years ago, the rock islands off Palau were thriving with human life. So why are they now abandoned? JENNIFER TANNER reports.

Dr Christian Reepmeyer. PHOTO BY STUART HAY.

arge stone platforms are these islands to try and find some “So people were getting their Reepmeyer and his colleagues tradition says that the integration scattered around, providing answers. water supply through a freshwater to sketch out the timeframe of of the communities once they Lshelter and housing. Men “The rock islands are beautiful layer that ‘swam’ on top of the the abandonment. moved to the mainland gave a are fishing, hoping to catch their places,” says Reepmeyer, who People all of a sudden salt water. But this source was fed “There was a European packet ship big boost to the Chief of Koror,” family’s next meal. Women are has visited several times. by rainwater, and when the rain on its way to China in 1783 that says Reepmeyer. doing the washing in the nearby found themselves stopped, their once-constant water wrecked off the outer reef of the well, while the children are having “They are uplifted, very sharp, The island group may still look competing for supply turned brackish rock islands,” explains Reepmeyer. an afternoon splash. limestone islands — imagine a and undrinkable.” like a sun-kissed paradise, but its coral reef that is sitting on top freshwater. “The crew ended up camping on idyllic appearance is deceptive, This was the scene only 500 years of the ocean. There are about 300 This change in climate caused one of the islands, where they built ago on the islands off mainland as Reepmeyer has discovered for islands in total, spanning an area distress for the rock island natives a new ship so they could continue Palau. Today, the only indications himself. of around 40 or 50 kilometres.” in more ways than one, says their journey, but we know that that there was ever any human Reepmeyer. when they were there, there was “For me, as an archaeologist, it’s activity are the massive stone The team think colonisation started a perfectly suitable environment? “The main reason for the no one living on the islands. So fascinating,” he says. “You visit platforms. Made from coral rubble, happening a few millennia ago. “Our argument has always been abandonment was climate change, the abandonment must have been and see the beauty of the place, they are the only certain sign that “There was a medieval warm that it has something to do with but once you spend a night out period around 1,000 to 1,500 but the social impacts that come before this European contact.” permanent settlement existed here. water,” says Reepmeyer. there you actually see the problems years ago, when the climate with that were also a factor. The good news is that the Dr Christian Reepmeyer, a first hand and how difficult it was optimal for human occupation “The climate records tell us that “Yes, the water resources were inhabitants of the rock islands post-doctoral researcher in the would be to live there.” and there was a lot of rainwater,” there was a period where the getting sparse, but this also did not meet their deaths by ANU School of Culture, History says Reepmeyer. climate got drier, resulting in caused an increase in conflict as this change in climate; instead, The rock islands may be & Language, is investigating less precipitation coming in and how these islands came to be “So we think this is when people well. People all of a sudden found realising their water supply was uninhabitable now, but the rainy periods becoming less completely abandoned. Along with started moving from the mainland themselves competing not just for diminishing, they chose to move to Reepmeyer’s research has shown frequent and more unreliable. his colleagues Associate Professor to the islands and settling the freshwater, but for the marine Koror on the Palau mainland. just how quickly a rock can Geoffrey Clark, Ms Jolie Liston permanently.” “These islands are very porous, resources as well.” “While this lack of water forced become a nirvana. Perhaps a future and Ms Ella Ussher, Reepmeyer which means that water seeps Interestingly, it was a shipwreck the people to leave and was a change in climate will see these Uchel-rois rock island. PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN REEPMEYER. So why did these people abandon has delved into the history of what appears to have been through the limestone. from the 1700s that led source of conflict, at the same time islands inhabited once more.

24 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 25 Water tables

Australia is making the first splashes in water accounting, a burgeoning field that helps individuals and countries alike manage their water. By TEGAN DOLSTRA.

hances are, the first thing Australia is leading the world auditing standard is due out you did when you woke as the only country with a water later this year. up this morning was make accounting standard,” she says. C I think we’ve seen “There is no international mandate yourself a cup of coffee. You might “I was there to share our expertise for auditing yet,” says Godfrey. then have put some porridge on with the international community how important water “The rest of the world is going to cook and gone off to take and show people what can to wait and see how it pans out a shower. be done.” accounting could be because Australia is recognised All three of these activities have Godfrey met with academics, in the Murray Darling as leading the way, not just in a common, crucial component, public policymakers, engineers, Basin. terms of accounting but also the importance of which is often hydrologists and major water management.” underappreciated. authorities to give them an insight into how water accounting Unfortunately, Godfrey missed Aside from how hot it was, how can help them manage this out on seeing any dams or other many of you spared a thought for precious resource. That’s going to cause tension. water infrastructure during the the water you used – where it was “Water accounting allows conference, but did witness the sourced, how much you used and “Latin America has pretty much countries to ask, ‘are we receiving natural wonder that is the mighty how much it cost? every water issue that we have in Australia. It has the driest deserts pure water but exporting Amazon river. Professor Jayne Godfrey, Dean in the world, but also some of the contaminated water; if so, what “The Amazon is amazing,” she of the ANU College of Business do we need to do about it?’” wettest areas in the world. It has says. “I was there just at the tail and Economics, thinks about the absolute extremes. So water accounting is also about end of the wet season and saw these questions all the time. She keeping countries and companies the river drop by two metres in is one of the world’s foremost “If you think about Chile, for accountable for their blue gold. four days. And that was just a experts in water accounting – an example, it’s such a long country that it passes through several But what incentives are there for tributary – it was phenomenal.” “embryonic” discipline that’s countries to report accurately? all about providing decision degrees – it’s got mountains with Godfrey’s trip down the Amazon makers with thorough, accurate rain shadows, dry plains, desert “That’s where auditing would reinforced her passion for water information about water. and rainforest. How do you come in,” explains Godfrey. accounting and the difference manage excess water and flooding “Water exports should marry up it could make to people’s lives. “Every person on the planet in some places at the same time as to another country’s imports and has an interest in water,” says areas that don’t receive any rain at vice versa, just like dollars. “It really struck me how crucial Godfrey. “Water accounting is the Amazon river system is to all for years at a time?” “I think we’ve seen how important about providing data that can everyone’s lives. We saw people Water accounting is not just about water accounting could be in the help people make incredibly volumes, prices and geography; Murray Darling Basin. We saw a lot bathing, fishing and mining – both important decisions about their it’s also about water quality, an of issues around water and who legally and illegally – in the water. water usage.” important parameter when it held it, how much had actually It’s also the only form of transport Godfrey has recently returned from comes to health and been delivered from one state through the jungle, for food, South America, where she gave the environment. to another. It’s really important people, everything.” a talk on water accounting at the “Imagine water is being to have a standardised approach So tonight when you’re doing the inaugural Latin America Water contaminated by a mine in one across Australia so we can avoid dishes or making a cup of tea, try Week in Chile. country and when it flows through these discrepancies.” a bit of your own water accounting “Mine was the only paper to another country it puts human The current auditing system in – you might be surprised by the on water accounting because health or agriculture at risk. Australia is voluntary but an numbers.

26 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 Professor Jayne Godfrey. PHOTO BY ANDREW TAYLOR. ANU Reporter Spring 2013 27 Growth, destruction, rebirth

The historic Mount Stromlo Observatory Director’s Residence was destroyed in the 2003 bushfires. Ten years on, it’s getting a new lease of life. By GEORGIA NIELSEN and STACEY POST.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young AO and Member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann outside the Residence during the funding announcement in May. PHOTO BY EMILY DUNCAN.

erched on top of Canberra’s architecture in Canberra. That is until now. With a grant of “My mother was a great gardener “As the smoke cleared we could witnessed the growth, destruction Mount Stromlo, keeping But when the firestorm of January almost $500,000 from the Federal and while the house was being see the Woolley's home [the and rebirth of Mount Stromlo watch on the city below, Government, the house will be P 2003 ravaged the nation’s capital, built, she would potter around the As the smoke cleared we could see the Director’s Residence], so we went Observatory,” says Colless. the Director’s Residence had stabilised to allow members of the garden. We’d all help. Across the across, made tea for the men and much of the two-storey brick “Thanks to this generous funding, long been regarded as one of public to explore its history. road from the Director’s house we Woolley's home [the Director’s Residence], carried it back to the Observatory.” home was destroyed – seemingly we can take the final step in the the finest examples of federation beyond repair. Originally known as ‘Observatory also made an orchard.” so we went across, made tea for the men and The Residence witnessed many reconstruction of Stromlo.” House’, the Director’s Residence After just 10 months in the more cups of tea as it housed was built in 1929 for Mount Residence, Mr Duffield, a chronic carried it back to the Observatory. subsequent directors and their The restoration project will take Stromlo Observatory’s founder and asthmatic, passed away from guests, such as Prime Minister about 18 months, including first director, Walter Duffield, and pneumonia. Joseph Scullin and the Prince stabilisation of the ruin, his family. stretched on for almost a decade. when fire first threatened the of Siam. weatherproofing and landscaping. Miss Duffield remembers coming mountain. Its completion in 1928 was long- When the search finally ended in home from school in Melbourne While it still bears the scars of the “It will really add to Stromlo’s role awaited by the Duffields, who 1939 with the appointment of “It was calm at first but then with just in time to farewell her father. Sir Richard van der Riet Woolley, 2003 fires, the Your Community as a centre for public education had been residing in the Canberra a whoosh the workshop caught Heritage Federal Grant will provide Hotel (now the Canberra Hyatt) for “It was absolutely freezing. It was progress was further halted by alight when a spark from the and outreach,” says Colless. teeming with snow and the roads the Second World War. safe public access to the building. four years. encroaching fire caught on some “We’re very glad that the Director’s in Canberra were all slush. I have A second government grant of “He was appointed on the eve leaves in the guttering,” said Mrs Residence will bear witness to The family made the most of the never seen anything like it. The $25,000 will be used to develop wait by establishing an extensive of the war. Instead of being Hogg. an exciting future as well as an mountain was covered with snow, able to do observatory work, an interactive heritage trail and garden around the Residence, pure white. My father was much “We were all stamping out odd smartphone app for visitors, to illustrious past.” he had to turn all this into an sparks on the lawns. The workshop which even included a croquet too ill to be moved to the hospital. communicate the scientific and lawn. Mr Duffield’s daughter Joan optical munitions establishment,” was well alight and destroyed at The Residence awaits its I arrived and he died that night.” cultural heritage of the site. remembers helping her mother explained Miss Duffield. the cost of one hundred thousand restoration with a great responsibility weighing on its plant the gardens. Mr Duffield was buried not far While it was the 2003 firestorm pounds or more – valuable, almost Research School of Astronomy from the Observatory, a quiet and Astrophysics Director Professor beams. Like a phoenix rising from “The garden was really quite that destroyed the Residence, it irreplaceable delicate machinery location that during the day Matthew Colless says the project lovely,” she said in an interview was not the first to cause damage with it.” the ashes, it will emerge with a has spectacular views of the ties together Stromlo’s rich history for the Mount Stromlo to the Observatory. Doris Hogg, Mrs Hogg remembers the part the new purpose: to share its once- The Director’s Residence in 1928. Brindabella Ranges to the west. Observatory Precinct Conservation wife of astronomer Arthur Hogg, Director’s Residence played in the with future plans. private stories with all lovers of PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES. Management Plan in 2004. The search for his replacement wrote in 1977 of the day in 1952 aftermath of the fire. “The old Director’s Residence has history and the stars.

28 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 29 Poetry and punishment

Caribbean PhD student Melissa Jogie’s first encounters with English literature have inspired her to shake up the reading curriculum in Australian schools. By EMILY DUNCAN.

Melissa Jogie. PHOTO BY EMILY DUNCAN.

orporal punishment was still a big teaching in a PhD thesis on the way identity is particularly in high-achieving schools. I’d get into a book and I’d be like, ‘I really about teenage experiences of sexuality. thing in Trinidad and Tobago when represented in the texts taught to high school “What happens is students stop learning from want to go to that place.' I was reading Orhan Between a full-time study load and a part-time I was in primary school. We would students from diverse cultural backgrounds. C Year 10 and they start training to take exams. Pamuk, reading about Istanbul and Turkey job at the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens get lashes if we couldn’t recite, for example, You’d get lashes because you and Transylvania. Just reading about all these This research stems from the disjuncture she “I think our literary fictional world is alive, Association, Jogie still finds time to indulge her Wordsworth’s Daffodils,” recalls ANU PhD observed in her own schooling days as well as couldn’t recite a poem about a different places got me thinking widely. and it’s growing and changing, and I think love of literature. student Melissa Jogie. her observations of the Australian and British flower you’d never seen. our education systems should match the “In university I was lucky enough that I went “It was so funny. You’d get lashes because education system. Recently she received a presentation award at changes and incorporate for greater scope on to continue English and learn so much you couldn’t recite a poem about a flower an international conference in Hong Kong and “In Australia I was so excited about the and engagement, so that our students aren’t more about our own Caribbean authors. you’d never seen. After years in the Caribbean “like any diligent literature student” she spent discipline, but then when I did the teacher learning to the test, they’re actually learning education system I began seeing that our “I started understanding a lot more about all the prize money on books. training, it didn’t quite match up with my to engage.” the struggle of identity and having a voice upbringing was very much teaching to the “A friend of mine just introduced me to expectations,” she says. meaningful discussions?’” in society and I realised there’s a wealth of test; teaching to what you needed to know; Her own experiences reciting poems about Goodreads [an online reading wish-list site] information that can be engaged with. teaching the British curriculum.” “I realised there were huge gaps in teacher Jogie’s research involves a combination of English roses and rolling meadows while and I told her it would be the ruin of my PhD,” training. We were only looking at the texts we classroom observations, interviews with surrounded by the palm trees and golden Despite this potentially traumatising “Cultural texts are often treated as tours of she jokes. were given and the texts we were given in NSW teachers and student questionnaires. She is sands of the Caribbean was the catalyst for introduction to English Literature, Jogie’s exotic places. I’d like us to stop looking at were very old. interested in the way texts are selected and an ongoing interest in literary treatments of One day Jogie hopes to set up a not-for-profit love for reading blossomed through school cultural texts as exotic tours and start engaging taught and how this helps students from both ‘exotic’ cultures. group to teach literary skills to children in and university, eventually taking her overseas “Texts like Great Expectations have been on more with what it means to belong to different European and non-European backgrounds refugee camps or detention centres. to study a Master of Arts in English Literature the curriculum since the High School Certificate “Growing up on an island in the Caribbean, cultures.” started in 1967, and while it’s a great novel, I engage with contemporary issues around “I think reading is the golden ticket to and a Graduate Diploma in Education. you didn’t really have much to do and it was For Jogie this could mean anything from wondered, ‘is it really the best novel to discuss belonging and identity. education and emancipation,” she says. very difficult to think of the world as a bigger teaching about war-stricken countries from Now, armed with postcolonial theory, she issues like cultural identity? Will it engage She is concerned by what she describes as a place,” she says. the perspective of local authors to exploring “Once you can read and write you have a start has combined her passion for reading and our contemporary students in these deeper tendency towards exam-orientated teaching, “My ticket out of the world was reading. refugee communities and asking questions in life that other people can only dream of.”

30 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 31 The power of nature

Two and a half billion years of chemical experimentation through evolution may be about to provide us with a remarkable solution to the global energy crisis, writes SOPHIA CALLANDER.

arth is facing a problem. As our population rises and our impact on Ethe planet grows, we can no longer rely on oil or coal to power our cars, provide our electricity and generate our heating. The search is on for a clean, renewable fuel. One of our most promising renewable fuel sources is hydrogen, which is completely sustainable and clean because it produces only water vapour when burned. Unfortunately, current methods of generating hydrogen are Albert Patajo and Carl Figueiredo. PHOTO BY STACEY POST. inefficient and expensive, and its development has fallen behind cheaper options like solar and wind power. But Professors Robert Stranger and Ron Pace from the ANU Research School of Chemistry have been researching a natural process that could hold the answer to our energy needs. Chasing dreams “We now live in an electric world but we still need storable fuels to do lots of things because batteries are not good at storing energy,” says Pace. That’s something that ANU student Ben Duggan has established a foundation that most people don't realise. gives Canberra teenagers the chance to realise their full potential. “Things like gasoline are great for storing energy, but the problem is that when you STACEY POST reports. burn gasoline you generate a lot of carbon dioxide as well. That’s why we’re really interested in hydrogen: when you burn it, you don’t get carbon dioxide – only water Associate Professor Ron Pace and Professor Rob Stranger. PHOTO BY CASEY HAMILTON. ost kids usually have big enjoys building things and has personal skills along the way. vapour and plenty of energy.” dreams for their future grand plans to be an engineer after “To have an impact on someone’s life Together with their colleague Simon Petrie, Mcareer – a nurse, a fireman, To have an impact on school. He jumped at the chance is really rewarding,” he says. Stranger and Pace have been looking into a scientist, or a professional football to be involved in the one-on-one “The experience has helped me photosynthesis – the process by which plants “The idea is not that you produce a sort of player. For some – through hard work mentoring program. someone’s life is really better define myself, by gaining great convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen giant mechanical plant. A functioning artificial and maybe a bit of luck – that dream “I am fairly certain about what I want leadership and communication skills, and energy using the power of the sun. It just photosynthesis industrial entity might look in many actually becomes reality. rewarding. Nature has developed the most to do when I get older and what path and shown me the real worth of so happens that a critical step in this reaction parts like a wind farm or a voltaic field and uses the highly efficient engine you could But for most of us, that childhood I want to take, but before talking helping others.” involves splitting water to produce hydrogen. cheapest available source of water – seawater – to profession lives on only in our to my mentor about my choices, I Raising Hope is proving that just generate hydrogen,” says Pace. memories. school and life in general. thought it would just be a case of if “Nature has developed the most highly possibly have. because you can’t bend a football “We can build factories, we can run pipelines and I didn’t get the marks then that was efficient engine you could possibly have to split ANU undergraduate student Ben “It is important for students to believe quite like David Beckham, or unpack know what important bits of it we need to powerlines, which means that we can combine the it and I would have to try something water and produce hydrogen. If we can mimic Duggan established the Raising that they can be whatever they want the theory of gravity like Sir Isaac build a mimic of it. In other words, we know secrets that we learn from nature with our own else,” says Figueiredo. it, we’ve got a fantastic mechanism to have a Hope Education Foundation in 2010 to be – to have the confidence to Newton, doesn’t mean you can’t how to create artificial photosynthesis,” strengths, to produce an outcome that is better renewable energy source,” says Stranger. as a way of instilling confidence in chase their dreams and the self- The program was introduced into ACT have a successful career. And that says Stranger. than either.” The team have discovered not only the Canberra teens to make sure they belief to keep trying when things get schools in January, and more than 40 sometimes a chat once a week with molecular structure by which plants split water “That’s the key to this – stealing nature’s Not only does photosynthesis provide the oxygen reach their full potential in life after tough,” says Duggan. ANU staff and students have trained someone might be all it takes to during photosynthesis but also the mechanism, secret. It’s got the perfect machine, so let’s we breathe and the food we eat, it may also hold the classroom. “Mentors help encourage self-belief to be mentors. change a life. the key to sustaining the energy needs of our using computational chemistry. copy it!” The Foundation’s Boom! Mentoring because without it it’s too easy for Second-year ANU student Albert To find out more about Raising future. “Now we know what the molecular structure For those conjuring up images from Day of program buddies ANU students with students to give up, or turn down a Patajo is Figueiredo’s mentor. Patajo Hope, or to get involved in the Boom! looks like. Now we know how it produces the Triffids, the reality of this power plant Video: Learn more about artificial photosynthesis Canberra high-school students once great opportunity.” joined Boom! Mentoring to help Mentoring program, visit hydrogen. And through doing so, now we is something quite different. http://bit.ly/rep_artphot a week to chat about career paths, High-school student Carl Figueiredo others, but also picked up some http://bit.ly/rep_boom

32 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 33 catch up

Been a while since you visited the ANU campus? That doesn’t mean you should miss out on the many events taking place at the University. Watch the latest videos at: youtube.com/ANUchannel bookshelf ANU E Press was established in 2003 to explore and enable new Tuckwell Scholars announced modes of scholarly publishing. Watch: http://bit.ly/rep_Tscholars ANU Reporter looks at one of the Meet some of the country’s best and brightest students hundreds of titles that readers can as they look forward to starting their studies at ANU either download as free eBooks or as Tuckwell Scholars. order as print-on-demand copies. The Tuckwell Scholarship Program was established by To see more visit epress.anu.edu.au ANU alumnus Graham Tuckwell and his wife Louise in February. Their $50 million gift to the University was the largest ever donation to an Australian university by an Australian citizen.

Growing solutions, harvesting answers Professor Tom Kompas, Director of the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy Watch: http://bit.ly/rep_foodpolicy How can we ensure there is sufficient food for all? And why does climate change policy sometimes come into conflict with food policy? In this video, Professor Tom Kompas sheds some light on those questions as he discusses the new Food Policy Institute.

France in the South Pacific: Power and Politics By Denise Fisher Putting the chicken before the egg France is a Pacific power, with three Alex Bruce, ANU College of Law territories, a military presence and Watch: http://bit.ly/rep_AlexB extensive investments. Once seen by many as a colonial interloper in the South Alex Bruce, Associate Professor at the ANU College of Pacific, by the early 2000s, after it ended Law, Tibetan Buddhist monk and recent PhD graduate, nuclear testing in French Polynesia and speaks about the emerging field of animal law. negotiated transitional Accords responding His research delves into how animals are represented, to independence demands in New or underrepresented, in law, and how these laws differ Caledonia, France seems to have become generally accepted as a regional partner. from east to west. Combining historical background with political and economic analysis, this comprehensive study offers vital insight into the intricate history – and problematic future – of several of Australia’s key neighbours in the Pacific. Official ANU merchandise

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34 ANU Reporter Spring 2013 Roy Jackson: Retrospective 1963-2013 27 September – 3 November

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