SYDNEY ALUMNI MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 — SEMESTER ONE 2021

Going viral

STRATEGIES FOR VACCINATION Women’s cricket and tennis teams, 1890. Archive photo G3_224_0005. CONTENTS

04 07 18 Heart failure research Creating the next Uncovering the dark side goes molecular generation solar cells of supply chains

University update Welcome 02

Newsbites Information 03

On my desk – Jude Philp Perspectives 10

Taking your best shot – Julie Leask Health 12

Thereby hangs a tail – Peter Banks Environment 15

Nothing by chance – Rebecca Peters Legislation 21

Timelines – the SILLIAC computer Historical profile 24

Classnotes Community 26

Just the facts Knowledge 28

Managing Editor: Alicia Simes Produced by Marketing and Distributed to more than 155,000 SAM AS A PDF Publishing Editor: George Dodd Communications, the University members of our community. of Sydney. Printing managed 21/8575 ISSN 1834-3929 To download complete, Advancement Portfolio by Publish Partners. PDF copies of SAM and SAM The University of Sydney Design: Fábio Dias and Heritage, past and present, Level 2, F23 Administration Katie Sorrenson visit:sydney.edu.au/sam Building, NSW 2006 ©2021 The +61 2 9036 9222 Cover: Julie Leask with viruses University Download links are on the sam @sydney.edu.au controlled by vaccination. of Sydney right side of the page.

01 UNIVERSITY UPDATE

RISING TO CHALLENGES

 As I was delighted to announce in so far. Had they felt part of a learning March, the University has appointed community? Did they have access Mr Mark Scott as our 27th Vice- to the resources they needed? And Chancellor and Principal. Mr Scott had they developed the critical and will take up the role in July, and I analytical skills that are so important in look forward to working with him to a university education? help shape the future of Australia’s I am proud to report the survey first university. responses gave the most positive I also wish to express my sincere indication of student satisfaction that thanks to Professor Stephen Garton we have had since 2015, reaffirming for his steady leadership as Vice- that the University continues to achieve Chancellor since the departure of Dr one of our key goals: educating the most Michael Spence in December 2020. promising young minds of today to Professor Garton returns to his role become the leaders of tomorrow. as Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Of course, not all change has been with the gratitude of the whole in response to the virus. During 2020 University community. we opened the Chau Chak Wing Mr Scott arrives at a time Museum, which has already been hailed of tremendous change for the as a tremendous addition to Sydney’s University, and indeed the world. cultural life. As well, colleagues The circumstances of the COVID-19 moved into the new Susan Wakil pandemic over the past year have seen Health Building. us adapt to an unpredictable global Made possible by the largest-ever gift environment; we have had to find ways to the University of $35 million from not only to survive, but to innovate the Susan and Isaac Wakil Foundation, and to thrive. this innovative building has put the For example, even though our University’s health and medical institution has a long history of face-to- disciplines under one roof, enhancing face teaching, we were able to transition multi-disciplinary research and quickly to an online learning model, a learning and readying our graduates for feat that may have seemed improbable the 21st century health workforce. to some at the outset. But through the The ancient Greek philosopher, incredible resourcefulness of our staff Heraclitus, once said “change is the only and the determination of our students, constant”, and it has never been more we made this massive change while also true. But we are certain of this: a central continuing to provide our students with aspiration of the University of Sydney an excellent education. community will always be to improve This continuation of our high the lives of others, around the world and standards was borne out by a student in the communities we serve.  satisfaction survey carried out last year. At the height of the COVID-19 lockdown that had made online teaching necessary, we asked students Belinda Hutchinson AC to reflect on their learning experiences (BEc 76), Chancellor

02 NEWSBITES

SUSTAINABILITY We need to talk about cement

Its the second most used commodity after water but cement sucks in massive amounts of sand and water and spews out enough CO2 to make it the third largest carbon emitter after China and the US. But the Waste Transformation Research Hub might have a solution. Using fl y ash and other waste materials to create cement the Hub team have laid a test eco-pavement. It will be monitored for 12 months but laying it saved 752kg of dredged sand and 327kg of emitted carbon dioxide.

SCIENCE MEDICINE Earth to Mars Giving a sucker an even break

To examine the surface of Mars the To see the positives in a blood-hungry tick youd Perseverance rover has an aptly named really have to be a medicinal chemist like Professor SuperCam which itself is equipped with a Richard Payne who just opened the ARC Centre fragment of Australian sedimentary rock. Called for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science. a chert its from the Pilbara in Western Australia Ticks have won him over with their impressive which is geologically similar to the exploration arsenal of biologically active salivary proteins area. To maintain its accuracy the SuperCam pumped into their hosts as painkillers along recalibrates itself using 22 calibration points with some of the best blood-thinning of which the chert fragment is one. University molecules known. They also produce geoscientist Associate Professor Patrice Rey powerful anti-infl ammatory excavated the rock fi ve years proteins called evasins which ago and forgot about it Professor Payne hopes only hearing last year can treat respiratory that it was o€ to Mars. illnesses that feature lung infl ammation like COVID-19.

SuperCam

03 RESEARCH

The effects are profound, yet surprisingly, heart failure isn’t well understood. Now Dr Sean Lal is finding new knowledge with help from the world’s largest bank of heart tissue samples right here on the University campus.

MATTERS OF THE HEART

Written by Elise Webster Photography by Louise M Cooper

04  When Dr Sean Lal was 10 years old, his dad developed acute While treatments have come a long way heart failure from a viral infection. A heart transplant, performed in the past 30 years, advances lag behind by renowned cardiac surgeon Dr Victor Chang (BSc(MedSci) ’61, cancer research. Today, heart transplant is MBBS ’63), gave his dad a few more years, but it wasn’t enough still the only treatment for end stage heart to save him from a condition some medical experts have called failure, but with 60,000 new heart failure ‘more malignant than cancer’. cases diagnosed in Australia each year, only Today, Lal is a consultant cardiologist at Royal Prince Alfred about 100 to 200 transplants are performed. (RPA) Hospital and the Director of Acute Heart Failure Services. “We urgently need new treatments. I He’s also an academic in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at hate seeing families go through what my Sydney, where his lab studies the mechanisms of heart failure family went through,” says Lal, who has just at the molecular level. recommended his latest patient at RPA be This means he’s looking beyond the usual named causes of considered for the heart transplant waiting heart failure, such as a heart attack, high blood pressure or list: a 41-year-old with a young family. diabetes, to find its more fundamental drivers. As they work to slow the progression of The most common cause of heart failure is blocked arteries heart failure, Lal’s team has access to an which creates a particular problem for women. Only one in extraordinary resource: the largest bank three women has the classic heart attack chest pain, instead of heart tissue in the world. Located on most experience shortness of breath, nausea, and pain in one campus, it has helped give new insights into or both arms. This means women are often misdiagnosed, with why heart failure occurs and how it differs a recent Sydney study finding they are twice as likely to not in men and women. receive the most appropriate treatment. This could delay their The hearts have been donated by heart failure diagnosis. patients from St. Vincent’s Hospital who “My patients ask me all the time why heart failure happened to have suffered from all kinds of heart failure them. I can’t give them an answer right now, but I’m doing my best that necessitated a heart transplant. to find out,” Lal says. Now, for the first time, heart failure Full of energy, with a wide smile, Lal’s youthful demeanour samples are being collected from patients belies his impressive resume, which includes fellowships undergoing all forms of heart surgery at at world-renowned research facilities, the Massachusetts Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, where he showed that the human heart has the potential to regenerate following a heart attack. “This goes against all the textbooks,” says Lal, whose work is supported by donors to the University. “We had no idea that the human heart had this potential and we think this drive to regenerate could be the key to reversing heart failure.” “We had no idea that The term ‘heart failure’ conjures images of the heart suddenly the human heart had stopping. However, it actually refers to a failure of the heart to pump enough blood around the body. In essence, the heart is still this potential… this beating, but not well enough, causing shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations and many other effects that limit quality of life. drive to regenerate The condition is incurable, with death a possibility. If you were diagnosed with heart failure in the 1970s, your chance of surviving could be the key to beyond five years was 30%. Today, with new treatments and faster diagnosis, the five-year survival rate is around 60% for the reversing heart failure.” 30 million people worldwide, including half a million Australians, who currently have heart failure. — Dr Sean Lal

05 Liquid nitrogen vapour pours off one of the heart bank racks. Each rack contains about 1000 cryopreserved heart samples, with the bank having about 20,000 samples in all. Photography by Stefanie Zingsheim

There are also healthy hearts of various ages which were not used for heart transplantation for logistical reasons. These healthy hearts allow researchers to compare diseased with non-diseased tissue. The Heart Bank, of which Lal is now Director, was created in 1989 by Sydney Emeritus Professor Cristobal dos Remedios and the aforementioned, Dr Victor Chang. Their visionary idea was to snap freeze hearts at -196°C using liquid nitrogen, preserving the DNA, proteins and enzymes within the heart tissue for future analysis, “When my dad died, it was difficult when advancing technology might make for my mum to put me through uni. But I more possible, as it has. knew from the age of 10, when my dad got Today, the Sydney Heart Bank, which is sick, that I wanted to be a ‘heart doctor’. completely not-for-profit, shares tissue “So I applied for an academic samples and data with some of the best scholarship at Sydney and got it. I heart researchers in the world, including completed my four degrees here, met those at Harvard, Oxford, Imperial College my wife here and now I work here. I don’t London and Johns Hopkins. think I can ever leave,” laughs Lal. Which Dr Sean Lal Lal’s team recently drew on the heart is just as well because there is still so bank to analyse what makes the heart tick much for him to do. DEGREE at the molecular level. They found changes Lal and his team are now hoping BMedSc (Hons) ‘03 in many important processes in the heart, to embark on the Heart Bank’s most MBBS ‘07 MPhil ‘09 including mechanisms that generate energy ambitious project to date – analysing the PhD ‘17 for the heart, pathways that deal with injury, genome and protein profile (proteome) of clotting mechanisms, and processes that all 20,000 heart samples. This equates to WHAT ELSE maintain structural integrity. more than 260 million pieces of data. YOU MIGHT The team were also surprised to discover It would be the most comprehensive HAVE BEEN that the thyroid hormone, which is present study of human heart failure ever A tennis player in every organ and is crucial for metabolism, undertaken and will almost certainly but that would was ‘switched off’ in the hearts of heart lead to world-first discoveries of what have meant having failure patients. causes heart failure and new therapies enough talent! All this has resulted in a much more to treat and cure it. layered and sophisticated view of how the FAVOURITE heart maintains itself. CHILDHOOD “We’re really excited about these TV SHOW discoveries. Now we know more about the Blinky Bill basic science underlying some of these KEEPING HEARTS processes, we can use them to design new STRONG YOUR LEAST therapies that could treat or even prevent FAVOURITE BIT heart failure in the future,” Lal said. For more information or to help Dr Lal OF HOUSEWORK Born in Brisbane to Fijian immigrants, Lal advance his ideas, please contact the That would imply is bursting with drive, and single-minded alumni team on +61 2 9036 9222. that there is a about curing heart failure. Email: [email protected] favourite!

06 ENERGY

Photography by Stefanie Zingsheim

Written by HERE George Dodd CO M TH E E S S U N

The fight against climate change might be gaining pace, but it seems green energy silicon solar cells are running out of puff. The good news? Professor Anita Ho‑Baillie is researching a substance that might be cheaper, easier to handle and even more efficient.

07  There is an enormous fission reactor in our planet’s sky. In just one hour, this “It used to take me four weeks to reactor bathes the Earth’s surface in make a silicon cell in the lab. With enough energy to supply all humanity’s electricity needs for a whole year. The perovskite, it takes only two days.” problem is, the Sun’s energy arrives as solar radiation but we need to turn it — Professor Anita ho-Baillie into electricity. The most direct way to make the conversion right now is with solar panels, but there are other reasons why they’re the great hope of renewable energy. Their key component, silicon, is the “Solar panels need silicon that’s their natural characteristics, a laborious second most abundant substance on 99.9999% pure, but you start with process. For her undergraduate thesis, Earth after oxygen; since panels can be an impure rock called quartzite. The Ho-Baillie created an algorithm that put where the power is needed – on purifying has to be done in four steps allowed mixed cells to be connected and homes, factories, commercial buildings, and each step involves heating to 1000 still achieve maximum output. road vehicles – there’s less need to degrees Celsius. When I realised that I “Imagine a factory that produces transmit power across landscapes; and went ‘wow. That’s a lot of energy’.” hundreds of cells a minute, and mass production means solar panels are Still, a solar panel will produce many my goodness, that’s a lot of sorting now so cheap the economics of using times more emissions-free energy in its they don’t have to do anymore,” them are becoming inarguable. lifetime than was used in its manufacture. Ho-Baillie says. If you’re expecting a but, here it is: You might not expect a world expert in Now Ho-Baillie has turned her mind to but silicon solar panels are reaching materials engineering, semi-conductor creating the next renewable evolution. the practical limits of their efficiency physics, applied physics and chemistry The substance that has become the because of some quite inconvenient laws to be playful and outgoing, but that’s focus of her research, and research of physics. Commercial silicon solar cells how Ho-Baillie is. Hearing her talk about around the world, is part of a class of are now only about 20% efficient (though her career (including stints at British crystalline compounds called perovskite; up to 28% in lab environments. Their Aerospace, the telco Alcatel Australia specifically, metal halide perovskite. practical limit being 30%). and various solar-related organisations), Like silicon, this crystalline substance This means that solar panel technology you get the sense of someone who is is photoactive, meaning that when it’s must soon evolve. A world leader in quickly recognised by industry people as hit by light, electrons in its structure helping that evolution take place is an asset worth having. become excited enough to break Professor Anita Ho-Baillie who was One of her early solar contributions away from their atoms (this freeing of recently appointed the inaugural John concerned another little-known aspect electrons is the basis of all electricity Hooke Chair of Nanoscience — a position of using solar panels; not all solar panels generation, from batteries to nuclear supported by a $5 million donation are compatible. power plants). Allowing that electricity to the University. Talking to her at the To get maximum output from a solar is in effect, a conga line of electrons, University’s Sydney Nano labs, she points panel array, all the solar cells must be when the loose electrons from silicon out another problem with using silicon. connected to other cells that match or perovskite are channelled into a wire, electricity is the result. An immediate benefit of perovskite for Ho-Baillie is that it saves time. “It’s just easier to handle than silicon,” she says. “It used to take me four weeks to make a Removing a perovskite cell silicon cell in the lab. With perovskite, it from a ‘inert box’, takes only two days.” which protects the cell from That’s because perovskite is a moisture and other contaminants. simple mixture of salt solutions that is heated to 100-200C to establish its photoactive properties. But the real excitement is around perovskite’s energy production potential.

08 Down to the wire The fi rst perovskite devices in 2009, industry-critical heat and humidity test converted just 3.8% of sunlight into set for solar panels by the International All the methods electricity. By 2020, effi ciency was Electrotechnical Commission. The of electricity 25.5%, close to silicon’s lab record of Ho-Baillie device was the fi rst to pass, generation are 27.6%. There is a sense that its effi ciency and it passed comfortably. about freeing could soon reach 30%. “It took people The innovation that made it possible electrons from 40 years to double the effi ciency of was to laminate the perovskite cell with their atoms. silicon,” say Ho-Baillie. “Perovskite glass and the sort of polymers used in caught up with silicon in just ten years.” double-glazing windows. It was cheap and Solar cells do this If you’re expecting a ‘but’ about easy to do and, as it turned out, eff ective. with the energy perovskite, well, there are a couple. A This has given a huge boost to the in sunlight. component of the perovskite crystalline prospects of perovskite and seen lattice is lead. The quantity is tiny, but Ho-Baillie become highly cited by Sunlight hitting the potential toxicity of lead means it is researchers internationally. The timing is layers of silicon or a consideration. The real problem is that good too because the last few years have perovskite knocks unprotected perovskite easily degrades off ered something that could produce electrons loose. through heat, moisture and humidity, the best solar cell effi ciency ever seen. unlike silicon panels which are routinely It’s called silicon perovskite tandeming The electrons are sold with 25-year guarantees. where the two substances are layered channeled away It’s the work Ho-Baillie and her team into the same cell to give a higher voltage to the external are doing in this area that has recently than either could give on its own. circuit. captured world attention. The goal This works because silicon is better was for a perovskite cell to pass the at dealing low energy light waves, and perovskite works well with higher energy HIGH ENERGY visible light. Perovskite can also be PEROVSKITE It’s tricky: Responds to high energy photons tuned to absorb diff erent wavelengths (ultraviolet to visible light). of light – red, green, blue. With careful a silicon/ Absorption threshold can be tuned aligning of silicon and perovskite, this LOW to red, green or blue wavelengths perovskite ENERGY means each cell will turn more of the light solar cell SILICON spectrum into energy. Responds to low energy, The numbers are impressive: a single 1. Sunlight strikes invisible photons like infrared. the solar cell. layer could give 33% effi ciency; stack two cells, it’s 45%; three layers would give 51% effi ciency. These sorts of fi gures, if they can be realised commercially, would 6. Electrons are revolutionise renewable energy. Anti-refl ection layer channeled up to an electron-specifi c Asked about the most fun part of her 2. A textured surface Electrode electrode then job, Ho-Baillie doesn’t hesitate, “The reduces refl ection and sent to the traps light inside the cell. external circuit. students,” she says. “I love working with 3. Light energy hits such bright young people. They’ll be able the perovskite and slicons Electron selecting layer layers causing electrons (e-) to go out and change the world.” and holes (h+) to break away from their atoms.

4. Freed electrons (e-) Perovskite in the perovskite and silicon are negatively charged. An electric fi eld within the solar cell attracts them Hole selecting layer to the electron selecting HELP GREEN-POWER layer and repels them from hole selecting layer. Electron selecting layer THE FUTURE 5. Holes (h+) in the perovskite 7. Rear surfaces and silicon are positively textured to For more information or to help charged entities – left refl ect light back Professor Ho-Baillie take solar energy behind by freed perovskite Silicon into the cell. electrons. They are attracted to the next level, please contact the to the hole selecting layer 8. Holes recombine alumni team on +61 2 9036 9222. and repelled from the with electrons electron selecting layer. completing the circuit. Email: alumni.offi [email protected] Hole selecting layer

Electrode

09 PERSPECTIVES

ON MY DESK:

Photography by DR JUDE PHILP Louise M Cooper

SENIOR CURATOR OF THE MACLEAY COLLECTIONS AT THE Jude Philp’s actual desk has the usual computer and notebooks. If there’s CHAU CHAK WING MUSEUM the occasional set of Papilio butterflies or cyclopic horse skull, they’re only in digital form.

“When I studied art history and anthropology in the 80s, there wasn’t a huge exploration of other cultures,” says Dr Jude Philp who always wanted to be a curator. “But I was curious about what was art in societies outside the European tradition.” With the Macleay Collection now housed in the Chau Chak Wing Museum, a space made possible by benefactors, including Dr Chau Chak Wing, Philp can fully indulge all her art and history impulses. In her warm but precise way, Philp notes that to be a curator you need a good visual sense and to be a magpie for EVIDENCE OF THE BUNYIP? knowledge, which is why a For eons, Aboriginal peoples have spoken of the bunyip, which lived in watery places bellowing favourite part of her job is out its call. In 1847, the press reported a strange the visitors. “They bring one-eyed skull found in a river as evidence their own knowledge of of the bunyip. William Sharp Macleay refuted butterflies or 19th century this by using this very skull. He said both were European animals born with a skeletal variation, taxidermy,” she says. “It’s our skull being a one-eyed horse: in effect, a valuable information.” cyclopic horse. The river skull is now lost.

10 THE ALIMENTARY CANAL OF AN ECHIDNA If I had to choose a favourite this would be it (today anyway!). It looks like lace but it’s a meticulously presented alimentary canal of an echidna. In 1860s Germany, a zoologist, philosopher, physician, and artist called Ernst Haeckel (and others) changed how science was presented to the public. His work, (and specimens like this) was graphically powerful, and inspirational for the art nouveau movement. For me this is where science crosses over into art in the creation of intriguing PARRYING SHIELD aesthetic forms. ATTRIBUTED TO THE BANGERANG PEOPLE OF THE EARLY STUDIO MURRAY RIVER PHOTOGRAPH All we have in writing Photography was volatile and about this is a label complex technology in the from 1851 that says ‘N. early days and mostly carried S. Wales’, which is more out indoors by photographic than we know about businesses. It meant a lot of some other Indigenous sitting still for a long time and pieces we have. They sometimes babies were tied were just taken with no in place. The Macleay has a record kept. It’s a terrible big photography collection shame that Indigenous representing the evolution people looking for their of the technology. This heritage objects can glass plate positive image is be disappointed, even incredible in its detail. Every angry, because we know bead on the magnificent gown so little about what we is in sharp focus. In modern have. But today we’re terms it’s about 110 megabytes working with Aboriginal of visual information, but it peoples to know and was taken in the 1890s. understand more.

THE WHISTLE CRICKET The Macleay has everything from scientific instruments to fossils. But it was started as an insect collection by Alexander Macleay in 18th century London. It became one the most celebrated insect collections in Europe, and Macleay brought it with him to Australia in 1826. His descendants in NSW kept collecting before donating everything to the University in 1874. This is a Gryllus spinulosus, or the whistle cricket and the oldest dated specimen in the collection. Its label says “A curious insect from Barbary, the only one known of its kind in England. Geo Edwards, 1756”.

11 HEALTH

COVID-19 is now one of the super-villain diseases like smallpox and whooping cough tackled by vaccination. Though some people still wont be vaccinated their reasons might not be what you think. Taking your best shot

Written by Illustration by Photography by George Dodd Sam Bailey Stefanie Zingsheim

 Know your enemy and know yourself. This piece of advice behavioural and social drivers of vaccination she infl uences written 2500 years ago by military strategist and philosopher global strategies. She also co-wrote the WHO„s COVID-19 Sun Tzu now applies to the global battle being waged vaccine safety communication plan. As COVID-19 vaccines roll against COVID-19. out the plan is shaping how countries maximise uptake. On the ƒknow your enemy„ side of the equation is one of ŒFor some time my team has been interviewing people the most concentrated and goal-driven medical endeavours about COVID-19Ž she says. ŒPeople from culturally and ever undertaken with thousands of researchers working linguistically diverse groups˜ people living in less wealthy to understand a virus that before January 2020 was areas of Sydney˜ people in other parts of New South Wales unknown to science. and in Melbourne„s hot spots. We„ve asked how COVID-19 has As a range of vaccines are produced and rolled out a› ected their lives. the ƒknow yourself„ element comes into play. That„s where ŒWe„ve also looked at why some people who get symptoms Professor Julie Leask works. She is a social scientist and don„t get tested and why some might not accept the vaccine.Ž world authority on why people are and are not willing to be Once the information is assessed the fi ndings are vaccinated. Currently she is applying her expertise to the fed through to state health departments to assist them emerging data on COVID-19 to fi nd new and useful insights. with planning and producing information in a way that„s ŒIt„s an area of huge complexityŽ says Leask. ŒIt incorporates most likely to be e› ective. sociology psychology cultural studies implementation It„s important work and Leask„s 23-year public health science public health ethics and other disciplines.Ž contribution hasn„t gone unnoticed. In 2019 at the Australian Leask doesn„t do this thinking just for Australians. As chair Financial Review 100 Women of Infl uence awards she won the of a World Health Organisation (WHO) working group on the Global category then went on to become the overall winner.

12 COVID19

Smallpox

Whooping cough

Measles

Ebola

Polio

Antivaxxers aren’t the problem. Professor Julie Leask takes extensive research data and uses it to understand the actual reasons people might not be vaccinated.

13 And the work continues. Leask has ŠBecause my grandmother refused With the limited resources she a small team at the University and vaccination I went into the topic has Leask doesn’t waste too many of also works closely with former PhD seeing it as just an issue of personal them trying to convert the refusing students now at the National Centre for belief‹ she says ŠSo when I started my groups. Instead she focusses on Immunisation Research and Surveillance. PhD I made the assumptions most people what are called ‘the hesitant’. Still a Together they recently came up with make about why people don’t immunise. relatively small number of people they possible negative scenarios around the ŠProblem was the research didn’t are the largest group of people not COVID-19 vaccine rollout and how to support my preconceived ideas. It just vaccinating though it would be unfair deal with them. Scenarios like: what if didn’t. There were other forces at play. and even counterproductive to label a stress-related fainting spell among a This was a slightly inconvenient fact for them anti-vaxxers. group of people in a clinic is blamed on me and I had to reframe my PhD.‹ So what will be the post-vaccination the vaccine? What if people feel unwell Leask now calls this moment an future of COVID-19 in Australia? There is after the jab and start putting their epiphany where she started seeing no predicting how a virus will behave friends o‡ having it? And what if reports people who weren’t vaccinating as a or how a vaccination program will emerge linking the vaccine to a medical much broader group. play outœ Leask certainly won’t syndrome? That scenario has since In reality most are people faced with commit to an outcome instead become real with reports of a very small day-to-day logistical barriers. They she emphasises the need for more number of vaccinated people a‡ ected might be single parents or families with knowledge and education which is by blood clots from a condition called multiple children where vaccination another element of her work. cerebral venous sinus thromboses (CVST). drops down the to-do list or people with Originally studying to be a nurse (ŠI ŠThere are some key things in questions about vaccination who don’t found it too chaotic and I’m not a very dealing e‡ ectively with anything have easy access to health professionals practical kind of person in that way‹) around vaccination uptake‹ says Leask. they can talk to. Leask is glad that her road away from ŠYou must communicate honestly For Leask the answer is developing nursing eventually led her back to it. and transparently and communicate systems that address these obstacles. She now shares her knowledge about uncertainty where it exists. ŠWhere this is done there is vaccination and evidence-based ŠChoosing the right messengers is success‹ says Leask. ŠWith practice with nursing students also critical because people will usually busy parents a simple at the University’s Susan ask ‘who is telling me this and can I trust reminder or a home Wakil School of Nursing them and their motivations?’ before they visit can do the trick. and Midwifery. She is even begin to listen.‹ And for people with also a member of the A great advantage for Leask in questions well- Marie Bashir Institute for understanding those who refuse trained health Infectious Diseases and vaccination is that her own grandmother professionals can Biosecurity and she has a was against it believing instead that encourage them connection to the School healthy living would prevent and cure to be vaccinated with of Public Health through an diseases. ŠShe said it was the worst empathic questions and a¡ liate appointment. day of her life when her grandchildren a recommendation.‹ ŠThere’s a shared value of working were vaccinated‹ remembers Leask. ŠI Based on Leask’s research she for the benefi t of communities and know those perspectives. They’re not anticipates the majority of Australians will society‹ she says. ŠPublic health is a shocking to me.‹ welcome the COVID-19 vaccines really constructive world to be in.‹  In a world where so-called anti- as long as there aren’t any vaxxers get a disproportionate major safety or other amount of media attention hurdles. Some people will considering their small be unsure because they EVEN STRONGER infl uence (vaccination don’t believe such a new vaccine PROTECTIONS rates in Australia have held can be safe. A smaller number will between 91% and 93% since refuse it outright for any number To learn more about this story or to 2003) Leask admits that of reasons. An even smaller group support the work please contact the early in her studies she also still will grab their keyboards to loudly alumni team on +61 2 9036 9222. started down the wrong path. campaign against its use. Email: alumni.o‚ [email protected]

14 ENVIRONMENT

As the  rst Europeans set foot on Australian soil, the  rst European rats weren’t far behind. These rats were the start of a tsunami of feral animals that has engulfed many native species. Professor Peter Banks has an ingenious idea that could bring the odds back in favour of the natives.

15  As COVID-19 closed down New York’s restaurants and fast food joints, food waste quickly disappeared from gutters, dumpsters and garbage bins. Within days, there were stories of rat gangs €ghting in alley ways for scraps. There were stories of rat cannibalism. Though New York has the Norway or brown rat, similar scenes possibly played out with Sydney’s black rats which have the rakish scienti€c name of Rattus rattus (brown rats are Rattus norvegicus). While rat populations are less dense here, the recent spike in rat-control callouts to suburban homes can probably be explained by people spending more time at home, post-COVID-19, and seeing the rats they’ve always lived near. An interested and informed observer of all this has been Professor Peter Banks. He leads the Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Lab in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences. Rats are one of his things. Though considering the bad-guy reputation of Rattus rattus, he o‘ers a more nuanced insight. “They’re not very good competitors. Normally, He doesn’t want his work to be about documenting the decline of the natural world. Professor Peter Banks they’ll shy away from a €ght,” he says. (above) wants to be a voice for plants and animals and do Banks remembers as a youngster, standing in something positive. Photography Stefanie Zingsheim front of his high school and talking about conserving forests. An interest in science soon emerged; €rst physics and chemistry, then biology came into focus. His honours research was on the biology of native This is clearly demonstrated in the interaction of Australia’s small mammals. His PhD was on the impact foxes feral rats and its native birds. The story starts with the arrival had on native wildlife. of the First Fleet in 1788. A key question for Banks, that frames much of As the €rst European foot touched Australian ground, the his work, is this: why don’t native animals in their foot of the €rst European black rat wasn’t far behind. In fact, own environments actually have an advantage they entrenched themselves so quickly, some settlers thought over new arrivals? The main answer is often they were natives. Rats have since damaged agriculture, infested habitat destruction but there’s more to it. One buildings and spread disease, bringing little of value to these element is naivety. shores, except perhaps the inspiration for that quintessentially “Naivety has many aspects but it can be as simple Australian remark, šash as a rat with a gold tooth. as a native not recognising an introduced animal Those €rst rats soon realised they had family in their as a predator,” says Banks, who travels Australia new home. Australia already had numerous species of local observing animal interactions in the wild. “It’s an rodents, evolved from two previous rodent arrivals; one four element of animal behaviour that shapes outcomes. million years ago (perhaps a single rat family clinging to a But with the right knowledge, it can be manipulated palm frond), the other one million years ago, both facilitated in favour of the natives.” by land bridges created as oceans rose and fell.

16 “We put out a fake nest with a tiny amount of bird nesting odour. Within a day, rats had found the nest and eaten the egg.”

— Professor Peter Banks Professor Peter Banks

The key dierence between most native Rattus “I’ve done a lot of work in feral pest DEGREE and the 18th century arrivals was that the newly management,” Banks says. “But to conserve BSc 92 PhD 97 arrived black rats were good climbers. This meant some things the ideal would be to not necessarily the nests of Australian native birds were now up kill other things.” FAVOURITE for pillaging by a new, egg-eating marauder. There Allowing that the phrase ‘eradication program’ PIECE OF haven’t been any denitive studies on what eect is often used in pest control circles, a reticence to TECHNOLOGY introduced rats have had on native bird populations eradicate seems perhaps anti-intuitive. Certainly, Wildlife cameras. so, as a scientist, Banks can’t commit. there is a long list of animals most Australians They
ve opened That said, he does note that rat-populated urban would happily see pushing up the native daisies: up the unseen areas have very few small, native birds. He has also cane toads, feral pigs, feral carp. world of nocturnal tested the proposition. Things get a bit more emotional with the cute wildlife. We “We put out a fake nest with a tiny amount of ones, like the brumbies of Kosciusko. Sure, they’re couldn
t do bird nesting odour,” he says. “Within a day, rats a numerous and destructive pest in a fragile anything without had found the nest and eaten the egg.” environment, but no-one really wants to see them these little devices A saving grace for native birds in the regions is being shot from helicopters. that black rats tend to prefer disturbed landscapes “We haven’t killed anything in the New Zealand OCCUPATIONAL near urban areas. Also, as mentioned earlier, bird experiment at all, but we reduced the impact HAZARD black rats aren’t really up for a ght, “We did an of the invading species so the native species could Being bitten. experiment that showed if you remove the black return. It’s understanding the ecology that makes The worst was the rats and bring back the native rats, the black rats that possible. It can be applied in other places.” cutest - a sugar nd it harder to get back in,” says Banks. Places like Sydney itself. In a reversal of usual glider. Or when I With the insight into nesting odour and rat outcomes, one native animal has made something had 120 ticks down behaviour, came a perhaps game-changing idea: of a comeback; the bandicoot, which is a small my pants. Or the what if you sprayed bird nesting odour all over an marsupial sometimes mistaken for a rat, and often mosquito that gave area where birds like to nest so rats aren’t able to mistaken for a dinner by foxes and cats. me ross river fever. actually pinpoint the nests at all? Banks has had a long-time interest in helping “We tested that idea round Sydney, then took bandicoots hang on and he’s worked with local land HIDDEN TALENT it to New Zealand, working with people from the managers at Sydney’s North Head to nurture the I like to cook. Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research facility. natural population and protect it. I wanted to be a The paper has just been published and notes that “Again, it’s about understanding biology so chef in year 10. the method saw a doubling of breeding success for you can look after bandicoots better,” says Banks. My mum changed endangered shore birds in the areas where it wasn’t “National Parks has had really encouraging success my mind. possible to actually remove the predators. with it. The numbers have grown, the population is “I didn’t believe it really,” says Banks still stable and slowly moving back into the suburbs. It’s excited by the idea. “But it was there in the results. a good news story.” It was amazing.” In eect, this is a form of disruptive thinking. Identify how invading species nd their food or prey, know where they like to take shelter, DEFEND OUR NATIVE SPECIES understand why the native species don’t cope, then come up with ideas to disrupt all that and tilt the To learn more about this story or to support the work of Professor game back in favour of the natives. This game plan Banks please contact the alumni team on +61 2 9036 9222. plays to one of Banks’ key goals. Email: alumni.o‡ [email protected]

17 WORLD TRADE

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5 2 7 4

8 3

Chain 9

Written by George Dodd reaction

Photography by Louise M Cooper 10

They bring us the goods we want and The rise of green investments has made these insights important to more need but hidden in the world’s supply people with financial advisors now competing to offer the greenest possible chains can be unethical or destructive investment portfolios to their clients. practices. Dr Arne Geschke uses data At the same time, companies want to find any dark dealings in their supply to illuminate supply chains because chains before someone else drags them into the light. you can’t fi x what you can’t see. There are two main ways of gathering supply chain information. The first is called lifecycle assessment which uses a bottom‑up approach. You start  Over the past few years, there has been an aggressive gathering information about a company and sometimes corrupt agricultural push into the then move to its suppliers. “This is Cerrado region of Brazil. labour‑intensive. What happens is Since 2001, nearly 300,000 sq km of biodiverse forest, you quickly run out of puff or funds,” grassland and scrub has been cut down or burned, with says Geschke, noting that supply some of the land being used for the lucrative production of chains can have millions of data points soybeans that are exported for animal feed. to interrogate. A recent investigation in the UK found that chicken sold The other method, and the one 11 in major supermarkets were fed using these destructive mostly used at the University, is a top‑ soybeans. The question was asked, should consumers be down approach called input‑output made aware of this, especially since some of the chicken analysis and it’s based on the fact would have been labelled as sustainably produced, based that governments and organisations only on how the chicken was raised in the UK? all around the world publish their It’s up to regulators, producers and retailers to answer economic data. That is certainly the that question, but scrutinising supply chains so there are case in Australia where businesses are facts to inform the discussions is the task of researchers obliged to report in great detail to the like Dr Arne Geschke. 12 Australian Bureau of Statistics which “We essentially look at and assess the elements in the then publishes the information in about supply chains operating in countries and industries. We 120 categories. look at all relevant details,” Geschke says. One challenge is ensuring that the Companies are often unaware of the complexity and information has integrity. For example, implications of their own supply chains, but they may the laws of some countries might allow well assess the larger elements that might allow them to products to be called sustainably maximise profits by say, consolidating factories, reining produced that would never be allowed in energy use or moving production to a country where that label here. Other countries simply labour costs are lower. manipulate their figures. The ISA team, The analysis done by Geschke has other goals. working out of the School of Physics, Working with the University’s Integrated Sustainability puts a lot of effort into finding the most Analysis (ISA) team, Greschke crunches huge supply reliable sources. chain numbers that can reveal hidden environmental “You can ask a commercial data devastation, worker exploitation, child labour provider for the carbon footprint of a big and corruption. company, but different providers will “It’s so easy to open a can of worms with this,” says have different numbers because there Geschke who now, thanks to COVID‑19, mostly works isn’t a universally‑agreed way to compile from his home in the Sydney beachside suburb of the information,” says Geschke. Coogee. “Australia imports of a lot of carbon‑heavy tech “Here at the ISA, we’re working goods. We might want to reduce our carbon load but on a system that would allow for a we don’t always have control over it. There are hidden unified global approach that compares interdependencies with other economies.” apples with apples.”

13 19 “If you look at data on corruption, you start to understand inequality and how 17 much our western bubble relies on cheap labour from elsewhere.”

— Dr Arne Geschke

15

Helping with the mathematical and hardware Take the rare earth metals used in design legwork is Geschke’s long‑time colleague, mobile phones. They might be mined in Manfred Lenzen, who is Professor of Sustainability Uganda or Mongolia, taken to another

16 Research in the School of Physics. Any other names country for processing, sent on again on the many papers they produce together are usually to become components, and again to experts from the fields they are analysing; for a study wherever the phones are assembled. on the impact of fishing, a fisheries expert would Then there are the phones’ other join the team. metals, plastics, glass and constructed Using the right information and mathematical components to consider. modelling, you can stitch together the information Geschke has recently become one of two or more countries to get a sense of how of the most internationally cited they feed into supply chains for various products researchers in his field, especially and commodities. This, and dealing with the through a study that investigated Dr Arne 18 Geschke hugely powerful computers they use, is the the effect of COVID‑19 on the fun part for Geschke. international economy. He is also passionate about developing ways to see “That was massive,” he says. “A lot of DEGREE environmental and social problems that are hidden by news outlets ran it as a story.” PhD ‘13, MEd ‘20 complexity, distance or outright deception. Drawing on the findings of another of Still, seeing can be difficult, and sometimes people their studies that looked at the carbon HIDDEN TALENT don’t want to see at all. footprint of international tourism, I’m an avid remote 14 “Carbon footprint should be the star of full supply the ISA was able calculate that pre‑ control car driver chain studies and we’ve been raising the alarm for COVID‑19, international tourism was of average talent maybe 25 years,” says Geschke. “But people are still responsible for between 7% and 10% who likes setting umming and erring about it. There are times when I of carbon impacts around the world, speed records think, ‘Why am I doing this?’ either directly or indirectly. That’s a in parks. “But there are other important issues to pursue. sizeable proportion. 19 Like if you look at data on corruption, you start to “These effects are certainly FAVOURITE understand inequality and how much our western interesting to look at scientifically,” BAND bubble relies on cheap labour from elsewhere.” Geschke says. “But really, it all comes Foo Fighters Without doubt, the modern world is held together down to how can we actually survive forever. We by supply chains, but the ISA also looks at other areas. on this planet?” are getting old “We’re currently running simulations for the together. United Nations’ (UN) sustainable development goals,” says Geschke. “There are seventeen and we THING YOU are officially tracking the global progress for a few FIND WHAT NEVER WANT of them. We use pretty serious computers to run NEEDS FIXING TO DO AGAIN: programs but for each year they have to run non‑stop Migrate to a for 48 to 50 hours.” For more information or to help different country. Obviously, a sustainable development goal is a Dr Geschke dig even deeper, Once is enough large enterprise to map. But even the supply chain of please contact the alumni team and Australia is a a single consumer product can quickly reveal a vast on +61 2 9036 9222. great place. landscape of inputs. Email: [email protected]

20 “If you look at data on corruption, you LEGISLATION start to understand inequality and how 17 much our western bubble relies on Written by George Dodd cheap labour from elsewhere.” Photography by Louise M Cooper

— Dr Arne Geschke

15

Helping with the mathematical and hardware Take the rare earth metals used in design legwork is Geschke’s long‑time colleague, mobile phones. They might be mined in Manfred Lenzen, who is Professor of Sustainability Uganda or Mongolia, taken to another

16 Research in the School of Physics. Any other names country for processing, sent on again on the many papers they produce together are usually to become components, and again to experts from the fields they are analysing; for a study wherever the phones are assembled. on the impact of fishing, a fisheries expert would Then there are the phones’ other join the team. metals, plastics, glass and constructed Using the right information and mathematical components to consider. modelling, you can stitch together the information Geschke has recently become one of two or more countries to get a sense of how of the most internationally cited they feed into supply chains for various products researchers in his field, especially and commodities. This, and dealing with the through a study that investigated Dr Arne 18 Geschke hugely powerful computers they use, is the the effect of COVID‑19 on the fun part for Geschke. international economy. He is also passionate about developing ways to see “That was massive,” he says. “A lot of DEGREE environmental and social problems that are hidden by news outlets ran it as a story.” PhD ‘13, MEd ‘20 complexity, distance or outright deception. Drawing on the findings of another of Still, seeing can be difficult, and sometimes people their studies that looked at the carbon HIDDEN TALENT don’t want to see at all. footprint of international tourism, I’m an avid remote 14 “Carbon footprint should be the star of full supply the ISA was able calculate that pre‑ control car driver chain studies and we’ve been raising the alarm for COVID‑19, international tourism was of average talent maybe 25 years,” says Geschke. “But people are still responsible for between 7% and 10% who likes setting umming and erring about it. There are times when I of carbon impacts around the world, speed records think, ‘Why am I doing this?’ either directly or indirectly. That’s a in parks. “But there are other important issues to pursue. sizeable proportion. 19 Like if you look at data on corruption, you start to “These effects are certainly FAVOURITE understand inequality and how much our western interesting to look at scientifically,” BAND bubble relies on cheap labour from elsewhere.” Geschke says. “But really, it all comes Foo Fighters Without doubt, the modern world is held together down to how can we actually survive forever. We by supply chains, but the ISA also looks at other areas. on this planet?” are getting old “We’re currently running simulations for the together. United Nations’ (UN) sustainable development goals,” says Geschke. “There are seventeen and we THING YOU are officially tracking the global progress for a few FIND WHAT As Australians grappled with the horror of Tasmania’s NEVER WANT of them. We use pretty serious computers to run NEEDS FIXING TO DO AGAIN: programs but for each year they have to run non‑stop Port Arthur massacre in 1996, Rebecca Peters was at Migrate to a for 48 to 50 hours.” For more information or to help different country. Obviously, a sustainable development goal is a Dr Geschke dig even deeper, the epicentre of the push for tougher gun laws. With Once is enough large enterprise to map. But even the supply chain of please contact the alumni team the 25th anniversary of the shooting, Peters still can’t and Australia is a a single consumer product can quickly reveal a vast on +61 2 9036 9222. great place. landscape of inputs. Email: [email protected] quite believe how it all came together.

20 21  In the immediate aftermath of the PASSION Port Arthur massacre Rebecca Peters (MAppSci(Res) 20) spent long frustrating PROJECT hours in her kitchen sending out faxes on the same phone line she was telling Of the many who journalists to call her back on (this was helped, four in before the internet or mobile phones). particular stood The other volunteer members of Australias Coalition for Gun Control (now strongly with Gun Control Australia) mostly had full Rebecca Peters AO. Julia Tsalis time jobs making it hard for them to be NOW: Nearly 25 years Program Manager, fully on the front line to help and where Writing NSW. Stephen Leeder AO later, they are BSc(MedSci) ’64, MBBS ’66, could they all work together anyway? THEN: PhD ’75, MD ’06 As Peters was swamped by media photographed in Various arts jobs after returning from the US. demands she knew there would only NOW: the Edward Ford Long hours in the Edward Emeritus Professor in the Menzies Ford Building. be a brief window when the horror of Centre for Health Policy Building where Port Arthur might be used to enact real STRONGEST MEMORY: THEN: change. Then an offer of space came Peters (centre), Standing at the front of Dean, Faculty of Medicine. the Domain rally with from the University. Peters and two team National President Public Tsalis and Giles people arriving in the rain Health Association of Australia. members moved to a basement room to support gun control. Provided the room at the put in long hours. After six years in the US, Edward Ford Building. in the Edward Ford Building which was I didn’t want to live in a walking distance from the share house place where kids had to go STRONGEST MEMORY: through a metal detector Colleagues arguing that gun where Peters was living. to go to school. control was not a matter of public There the small team worked round health. The courageous advocacy of Rebecca, her team and Simon the clock with meagre resources to help a Chapman. (Prime Minister) John shocked and distraught nation understand Howard’s extraordinary strength and courage. (National Party the legislative failings that had led to such children and their teacher were killed leader) Tim Fisher’s guts. a catastrophe and to know that there were in Scotlands Dunblane massacre. With clear steps to be taken that would make so many British-connected people in Australia a safer place. Australia the horror of it felt closer to In the following weeks Peters had to be home than massacres in the USˆ and very reminded to eat to sleepˆ one colleague significantly John Howard OM AC (LLB 61 In her early career as a journalist and noted that at times she was so tired she DLitt 16) had just won an election. radio producer Peters had a strong could barely walk. Unflinching Peters ”If an election had been coming up social justice bent. She soon decided became the face voice and driving force Howard might have worried about a pro- to study law with a view to helping for the vast majority of Australians who gun backlash that could cost him seats › shape the issues that were important wanted tougher gun laws. says Peters. ”But an election was a long to her. This she did while still working Despite the horrifying numbers – 35 way off so he could do more.› in the media (Peters is an audacious dead 18 injured - it would have been There was another factor. As multi-tasker). easy for Port Arthur like the many mass Australians confronted the shock of Port During her first year at law school in shootings before it to have had no effect Arthur the Coalition for Gun Control was 1991 there was a mass shooting in the on gun laws at all. It only led to change already primed and ready for the fight inner west Sydney suburb of Strathfield. because of the specific chemistry of to toughen gun laws. To a large extent Seven people were killed. Though not part Port Arthur. Peters can easily list off the this was because when Peters had first of the gun control movement at this time interactive elements. volunteered for the organisation five the furious community response to the ”Being a tourist spot people from years previously her first project was to Strathfield massacre made Peters curious every state in Australia were killed and assess its resources and priorities. about the New South Wales gun laws. injured in the shooting. It wasnt personal Savvy strategic tireless and She found they were at best vague for just one state. The whole country felt determined Peters influence and patchy ”You want to believe that itˆ six weeks before Port Arthur 16 small was transformative. laws have been thought through so

22 “Being a tourist spot, people from every state in Australia were killed and

Jennifer Giles injured in the LLB ’85, BA ’94 Simon Chapman shooting. It wasn’t NOW: NSW Magistrate. PhD ’86

THEN: NOW: personal for just one Emeritus Professor, School of Lawyer loaned to the Edward Ford Public Health, plus other projects team from The Women’s Legal state. The whole Centre, so the only person being paid. THEN: Associate Professor, School of Public Health. Co­convenor of STRONGEST MEMORY: country felt it.” the Coalition for Gun Control Everyone across the nation was (1994­1996). Wrote “Over our desperate for something to be dead bodies: Port Arthur and — Rebecca Peters done about guns. Rebecca was a Australia’s ‹ ght for gun control.” focus to pour out their grief and energy. I’ve overheard Australians STRONGEST MEMORY: overseas skiting about our gun Doing lots of media work; laws. But it was touch and go the overwhelming community there for a long time. importation. Each State had its own laws support; political unity; and relentless advocacy to around the purchase and use of guns. safeguard the reforms. Luckily most state governments at the time were of John Howards Liberal party they at least have the basic things says so his election victory gave him great Peters. But reading the gun statutes powers of persuasion and to his eternal I actually thought a page was missing. credit he used them. She laughs at this remark but the Once established those uniform laws expression in her eyes is still disbelieving. needed to ban all semi-automatic rifles Significantly her investigations gave The problem was the NSW gun laws shotguns and assault weapons. The guns Peters her first contact with Australias at the time didnt require that guns be that were allowed had to be registered small gun control movement. But it was registered so the police didnt know how by their owners. And those owners be the Central Coast massacre in 1992 at many the gunman had. They confiscated they farmers hunters collectors or Terrigal that first introduced her to the the five they found. He owned six. sportspeople had to provide proof of news-watching public. Peters could speak In the years after the Central Coast their reasons to have a gun. knowledgably to the media about the massacre Peters and her colleagues at As Australia was deciding what to do gun laws because she was writing her law the Coalition for Gun Control laid out a after Port Arthur the Coalition for Gun thesis on the New South Wales gun laws game plan for the next mass shooting. As Control had already looked at every after Strathfield. Terrigal demonstrated part of Peters review of the organisations states gun laws saw what worked and one of the laws greatest failings. strategies she put together a shopping list didnt work and fashioned a proposal for In the beach town of Terrigal about of essential tasks. The trickiest part was broadly acceptable national standards. 95 kms north of Sydney a man went on a the specifics of the changes they were On May 10 1996 just 12 days after the shooting spree killing six people. asking for. The list had to be short so the Port Arthur outrage Australias state and The murderer now serving life in media could easily report it and politicians federal governments agreed to make their prison was known to police as a violent could more easily say yes to it. gun laws uniform. Over the following year man who owned guns. After a domestic First and foremost: uniform gun laws each parliament enacted the laws that are dispute the police raided his home across the country. But the Federal now a source of some international envy to pre-emptively confiscate his guns. government could only regulate gun and true national pride. 

23 On another scale. The charismatic Professor Harry Messel (main photo) championed both super-computer technology and the conservation of alligators and crocodiles. (Inset) The once mighty SILLIAC computer. Now only fragments remain. (Archive photo G77_1_2117) HISTORICAL PROFILE

TIMELINES: The machine that advanced Australia into the computer age: SILLIAC

 It’s a story that’s easy to love. In Sir Frank asked what he would get by 3 metres wide and 0.6 metres deep, the early 1950s, the University wanted out of the deal. “Absolutely nothing,” SILLIAC took up most of a room in the to build one of the first and most answered Messel. Messel got his money. Physics Building, plus a room for a power powerful computers in theworld, which In establishing the Nuclear Research plant, plus a room for cooling. became SILLIAC. But funds were short Foundation, Messel knew his research In contrast, and by modern standards, and it was only built because the race ambitions for the place would need its performance was modest. The horse of a prominent donor had just serious computing power (or at least, information it could store would amount won the Melbourne Cup. No Melbourne the best that computers in the 1950s to less than a second of an MP3 music Cup win, no SILLIAC. could offer). He estimated that just one file and what SILLIAC did over its 14 The truth is a little less cinematic. The of the necessary calculations would year life, could probably be done by a donor, Adolf Basser, wasn’t a ‘colourful take people using desk calculators smartphone in under a minute. racing identity’. He was a man of modest 2000 man years. The first scientific calculation using disposition who happened to love horse At that time, there were just a dozen SILLIAC was carried out by PhD student racing: even more so when his horse, computers in existence worldwide, and Bob May in June 1956, three months Delta, won the Melbourne Cup in 1951. But the Illinois Automatic Computer (ILLIAC), before the official opening. The machine this was two years before he contributed built by the University of Illinois, was would be a seismic advance in the to SILLIAC. In fact, Basser, who’d made his considered the best. That said, it was Australian and world computer scene, fortune through the jewellery business, a beast that comprised 2,800 vacuum and government and industry started was a long-time philanthropist supporting tubes and weighed nearly 5 tonnes. asking what it could do for them. many causes, but he had a particular Like all the computers at the time, it SILLIAC ran Australia’s first interest in science. was ‘developmental’. Ideas around computer payroll system for the SILLIAC was just the sort of thing that intellectual property were more relaxed Postmaster-General’s Department would catch his eye, especially since then than now, and Illinois University was (now Australia Post). It was used by the project was pitched to him by one happy to share their ILLIAC blueprints, organisations like Woolworths, Snowy of the University’s most charismatic if Sydney shared its own advances on Mountains Hydro-electric and banks, and spirited characters, Professor ILLIAC with them. who then went on to buy their own Harry Messel. Basser gave the modern There was a great deal of information computers. It also saved University equivalent of $4 million. exchanged in both directions as ILLIAC researchers many thousands of hours Hailing from Canada, the cigar- became the Sydney version of ILLIAC, of laborious calculation. smoking Messel became head of the or SILLIAC. Along with all this, some of Australia’s School of Physics in 1952, when he was All this was never going to be cheap. earliest IT professional developed their just 30, little knowing his tenure would At the time, a Sydney suburban house craft by working on SILLIAC. last 35 years. He was to completely cost about £3,500. It was estimated that As computer advances accelerated, transform the department, but one of SILLIAC would cost ten times more, or SILLIAC was left behind. It was turned his first adventures was meeting the £35,000. Though, as is the way with these off in 1968 and dismantled. Only a couple fearsome media mogul, Sir Frank Packer things, SILLIAC eventually cost £75,000. of fragments can be found in museums. (father of Kerry and grandfather of For that money, the world welcomed Still, it ran a great race.  James), to ask for money to establish probably the most powerful computer it the Nuclear Research Foundation had ever seen; it was certainly an advance (now the Physics Foundation) within on ILLIAC. There was little in the way of Written by George Dodd with thanks to Associate Professor Robert Hewitt, previous Director of the the School of Physics. miniaturisation though. At 2.5 metres high Science Foundation for Physics.

25 COMMUNITY

CLASSNOTES

ALAN HOPPE CAROLINE BOATENG JESSICA WILLIAMS JULIET DONALD AdvDipFarmMan ’86. BEc (Hons) ’11 MIPH ’11 BPsych ’01, DCPsych ’09, With 30 years in corporate Corporate strategist by With experience across a MSc ’09 agriculture, Hoppe has day, sustainable jewellery number of industries including Living in Canada for the last worked in diverse locations designer by night, Boateng oil/gas, retail, financial services ten years, Donald has worked from the Riverina to Central has leveraged the skills and manufacturing, Williams as a clinical psychologist Brazil. Starting with 13 years learnt in her Economics has developed high level skills in Australia, Canada and as a farm manager, he has degree to pursue personal in human resources. After internationally with Doctors overseen the production and professional endeavours finishing her undergraduate Without Borders/Médecins and sale of beef, dairy, focussed on positive studies at Stephen F. Austin Sans Frontières. Having seen horticulture, grains, pulses, change. Since graduating, State University in the US, firsthand the mental health oilseeds and beef feed lotting. Boateng has worked in Williams went on to complete impact of detention for He’s had operational roles corporate strategy, helping a Masters to extend her skills refugees and asylum seekers, with Macquarie Agricultural organisations carve out and knowledge in community in 2019 Donald and University Funds Management in competitive advantage and health management, health of Toronto professor, Laura Australia and Brazil growing achieve growth aspirations. promotion, qualitative Beth Bugg, co-founded the not almonds, wine grapes and She is currently a Senior health research and public for profit Australian Diaspora grains. With ICM Agribusiness, Manager at CommBank with health ethics. She is now Steps Up Canada (ads-up. he was responsible for a primary focus on customer at TimelyMD, a telehealth org/canada). The organisation annual production including experience strategy. Boateng provider in Fort Worth, Texas, provides permanent more than 20,000 metric has also channelled her that has a focus on helping resettlement in Canada tonnes (MT) of wheat, creative passion into her students thrive. Williams is for refugees in indefinite 10,000MT corn, chickpeas, eco-friendly jewellery brand, the Associate Vice President detention, including those in sweet corn, and barley. In Created by Culture. The of People & Culture, using her Nauru, PNG and Australia’s Rwanda, Central Africa, he brand is working to create value-driven leadership and onshore immigration detention developed a successful rice social and environmental creative problem solving for system. Through the Private business. Hoppe is now CEO change, as it addresses strategic talent acquisition, Canadian Refugee Sponsorship with Gunn Agri Partners, Ghana’s systemic waste performance management, Program, they have submitted an Australian agricultural management issues. Created diversity/inclusion and applications and formed investment manager running by Culture collects discarded policy development. resettlement support teams farms for third parties, glass bottles from Ghana’s for over 40 refugees in 2020 currently managing over streets and coastlines, and will continue providing 2.5 million acres. and cleans, melts and resettlement pathways for moulds them into upcycled, those in need. hand-crafted jewellery.

26 More stories of alumni at work around the world. We love hearing what our alumni are doing. Help us keep track by updating your details at sydney.edu.au/alumni/update-details

DR CHRISTINE ASMAR HENRY YAO JOAN ROSS LAVENNIAH ANNADORAY BA ’69 M.Com ’00 BSc ’53 BSc(Hons) ’15 Ongoing enthusiasm for With careers in both Leaving Broken Hill in 1949, After an epiphany where engaging with cultural Australia and Asia, Yao is Ross loved first year medicine she saw human beings as difference marks Asmar’s now Vice President of Dian except for the realities of walking molecular machines, career. Indonesian Honours Diagnostics Ltd, a listed practical anatomy. Changing Annadoray pursued science took her first to Australia’s independent laboratory to Science (she met her future research. A two-year research Jakarta Embassy, then to a in China that conducts husband in the Chemistry assistant role at Singapore’s lectureship at London’s School diagnostic tests including lab), Ross joined the first Agency for Science, of Oriental & African Studies. for COVID-19. Starting at Science Pharmacology group. Technology and Research Eleven years teaching English PricewaterhouseCoopers’ On graduation she worked (A*STAR) and the Genome in the Arabian Gulf (Dubai, Tax and Legal division, Yao at the Repatriation Dept of Institute of Singapore (GIS), Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) also worked for KPMG’s the Commonwealth Public garnered her the skills to sparked compassion for the Risk Advisory Services in Services in Haematology, then engineer DNA/RNA for use dispossessed leading to a Sydney. He is a Certified becoming a bacteriologist, in disease therapies. In 2017, PhD in Australia in Palestinian Public Accountant having mostly testing for TB in Annadoray pursued her PhD politics. Authoring Australia’s had a number of corporate ex-servicemen. After a break at the Foo Lab in NUS Yong first national study of Muslim leadership roles across to have children, Ross became Loo Lin School of Medicine students, Asmar gained the Asia Pacific, including a chemistry demonstrator (NUSmed), with a deep- international recognition over nine years with GE, at the University, then at dive into the advanced RNA post-9/11. Drawn, finally, starting in Australia as SOX UNSW, a chemistry tutor, a therapeutics, leading to the towards issues of race at Leader of GE Commercial lecturer, a coordinator for development of an entirely home, Asmar has worked Finance, then promoted bridging and revision courses new circular-microRNA with Aboriginal colleagues on to CFO of GE Capital Real and the HSC examination interference technology Indigenous issues, including Estate’s ANZ business with committee representative. platform. On being published Australia’s first national study over $1.6 billion under Ross continues as a casual in Molecular Therapy journal, of Indigenous academics. management. He also worked academic in foundation interest came from venture She was awarded a National for Roche Diagnostics global studies teaching overseas firms in both USA and UK. Teaching Fellowship for her pharmaceuticals as Head of students. She also supports Annadoray will use an award achievements in Indigenous Compliance for China. Yao an endowed scholarship for from the NUSmed Kickstart teaching. Now retired, is a Certified Internal Auditor rural and remote students Initiative to commercialise Asmar volunteers at Tranby and a Certified Anti-money to study science. her innovation. Aboriginal College. Laundering Specialist.

27 KNOWLEDGE

Dealing with vast amounts of information is just JUST another day at the office for University researchers and academics. Here, three researchers explain an THE FACTS idea at the centre of their current work.

ON BREAKFAST CEREALS AND QUAKES How might breakfast cereals help predict earth and ice collapses? It is well known that cereals are easily crushed and that they become soggy when soaked in fluid. But what if they are loaded and soaked at the same time? The result is ‘ricequakes’ where the sudden collapses of wetted, crunchy media produces clicking sounds. As capillarity drives fluids upwards through the cereal against gravity, micro-pores weaken and gradually crush. Similar forms of gradual collapse were observed in larger scale environments like stockpiles, sinkholes, and ice shelves which are, in effect, under concurrent load and partial soaking. So, the next time you listen to your cereal bowl snap, crackle and pop, think about global warming and Antarctic icequakes.

Professor Itai Einav It’s the little things. Despite our reliance on it, we don’t yet fully understand the mechanics of sand. Einav works to define how particles like grains of sand or lumps of rock behave under varying conditions; knowledge which can, for example, reduce energy wastage in mineral processing.

ON RE-ENLIVENING POLLUTED ESTUARIES ON NUTRITION FOR CHICKENS Estuaries surrounded by urban settlements such as Sydney Chicken-meat is the most consumed meat protein Harbour are highly vulnerable. Humans are replacing in Australia with 90% of us having chicken at least their natural habitats with human-made structures and once a week. Despite what is sometimes suggested, dumping high loads of contaminants into their waters. This chickens are never raised with added hormones and results in high accumulation of contaminants in sediments their fast growing is the result of selective breeding. followed by biodiversity loss. To improve the health of these Their diets are also much more healthy than for most waterways, I am reintroducing sediment dwelling animals human beings. Poultry nutritionists like me, formulate such as worms, clams and crabs and harnessing their poultry diets to include more than 20 nutrients for natural capacity to remediate contaminants. Much like earth energy, essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins. worms in a garden bed, these marine animals oxygenate The diet also changes with the chickens as they age. I’m sediments through their burrowing activity, boosting the particularly interested in poultry nutrition because it is capacity of sediment microbes to process contaminants. My part of sustainable and resilient animal production and research focusses on understanding the best conditions for supports global food security, reintroduction to maximise their capacity to kick-start the healing process of urban estuaries.

Dr Ana Bugnot Dr Sonia Liu Out of sight is not out of mind for Dr Ana Bugnot. Poultry nutrition isn’t just about what goes Using quantitative ecology and advanced into a chicken. It’s also about what comes out. statistics she assesses the sometimes-hidden human Dr Sonia Liu’s research looks at sustainable poultry impacts on environments and works widely with industry production that improves gut integrity, reduces nitrogen and environmental managers to develop solutions. and phosphorous excretion and optimises feed efficiency.

28 University of Sydney Women’s 1st XV winning the Jack Scott cup in 2020 for the third consecutive year. Photo AJF photography. It can take a lifetime to decide on your legacy

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