3April/May 2009 / Vol 5 / Iss 4
There was a time when JulieLander thought she wouldnever realise her dreamof becoming a teacher, letalone achieving the goalwith one of her daughters.
But in March, Mrs Lander, 48, and her22-year-old daughter Marisa Johnson graduatedrom Murdoch University with teaching degrees.Graduation completed a remarkable careerchange or the mother-o-our, who chose toleave her work in business management tobecome a mature-age student ater attending auniversity open day with her daughter in 2004.Mrs Lander said teaching was a passion shehad had since she was our, but one she hadbeen discouraged rom pursuing at an earlyage.She said her daughter had been keen tostudy and pushed her to give the career changea go.“It was very, very tricky, but without thesupport o amily I wouldn’t have been able todo it because they were really good at pullingtogether,” Mrs Lander said.“I it wasn’t or that I would have probablyburnt out by the end o second year.”Mrs Johnson, who studied secondaryteaching in Perth at the same time, said she wasexceptionally close to her mother.The pair exchanged notes and encouragedeach other, particularly during their nal yearat university, at a time when Mrs Johnson wasplanning her wedding around ull-time studyand teaching practicals.Both have ound teaching positions inKalgoorlie since completing their degrees.Mrs Johnson said she had loved everymoment o sharing the university experiencewith her mother and encouraged others tobecome qualied teachers.“We really need country people to go andlearn teaching and go back home because wereally need the teachers that are going to stickaround, more or the kids’ sake than anything,”she said.
Article and photograph courtesy o The West Australian.
Teaching dream comes true or mum, daughter
Julie Lander and Marisa Johnson celebrate ater getting their teaching degrees at Murdoch University.
Coral ree map a world frst
In a world first, MurdochUniversity’s Dr Halina Kobrynand her research team arecreating a hyperspectralmarine habitat map of theentire 300 kilometre
-
long Ningaloo reef system.
This airborne survey method has enabledresearchers to map connected underwater reeenvironments over large areas o coastal water,as well as classiying the habitats and calculatingocean depth.“Previously there were no detailed marinehabitat maps or the area, which are needed toappropriately monitor and manage the marinepark,” Dr Kobryn said.“What we have undertaken is thelargest coral ree survey in the world usinghyperspectral instruments, covering 3400 sqkm.”Dr Kobryn’s hyperspectral mapping projectis one o ve linked components in the CSIRO’sNingaloo Collaboration Cluster and the CSIROWealth rom Oceans Flagship research, whichis investigating the ecological, social andeconomic values o the Ningaloo Marine Parkand adjacent regions.“Creating this detailed baseline habitat mapo Ningaloo Ree (to 20m depth) and coastalareas has been challenging as habitats are verydiverse,” she said.“Our results show that hyperspectralremote sensing techniques oer an ecientand cost-eective approach to mapping andmonitoring coastal habitats over large, remoteand inaccessible areas, which are typical oAustralia’s vast marine domain.”BHP Billiton unded the initial $250,000data-acquisition project, and the CSIRO FlagshipCollaboration Fund has unded Dr Kobryn’steam in urther research, a postdoctoral positionand eld trips.The CSIRO will now be able to create modelsrom the Murdoch University data to maphabitats and biodiversity along the 3400 sqkmo ree.
The detailed hyperspectral mapping o Ningaloo captures a birds-eye view (let), the depth o the water(centre) and the varied underwater habitat types.
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