newsletter dec 2009 pdf

Survey House, 14 Shepherd Street Darwin GPO Box 417 Darwin NT 0801 Director Bronwyn Russell Telephone 08 8981 4137 Fax 08 8981 3449 Email [email protected] Website: www.engineersaustralia.org.au

Annual Meeting Elected Committee Members

Partners

The Division’s annual meeting was held on Thursday 3rd December . The meeting followed the Make It So launch by Director of Communications and Marketing, Jamie Penrose to the Division’s PDP Partners (see details page 2). This was the final meeting for the 2008/09 President, Pe-ter Hagan (in his capacity as President) and the introduction of our incoming President, Len Chappell. The Division would like to thank Peter for his contribution over the past two years. The Division’s annual donation of $200.00 was paid to Palmerston YMCA Youth Drop In Centre. Rebecca Tilley from the centre explained that the Youth Centre is for young people aged up to 25 years of age who may be at risk in their home envi-ronment. Rebecca thanked the Engineers Australia for their contribution. Certificates were also presented to our valuable Sunchase sponsors. Jacinta Kelly accepted the certificate on behalf of Daly Kelly with Rana Everett and Adam James accepting their certifi-cates. A further 10 certificates will be sent to those who were unable to attend on the evening. The new committee was announced (listed right) with some new faces for 2010/11 to include Carolyn Gertz from Aure-con, James Dugdell and Captain Tim Hajenko from Defence Peter Tonkin from GHD (who incidentally is leaving us) was also presented with their sponsorship certificate of apprecia-tion. Our numbers were low at this year’s meeting. This could be attributed to the Chief Minister and the Institute of Architects hosting their end of year events on the same day.

Engineers Australia Northern Division NEWS

December 2009

Position Name President/Electrical College/Engineering Technologist Representative

Len Chappell

National Council/Civil College Representative Dave McHugh

Women in Engineering Nerida Beard

Committee Member Sumesh Dhir

Mechanical College National Representative Capt Stephen Menschelyi

Engineering Heritage Australia Vacant

Structural College/Building Advisory Committee

Peter Russell

Young Engineers National Representative Adam James

Young Engineers President Northern Division James Dugdell

Defence Representative Capt Tim Hajenko

Centre for Engineering Leadership & Management

Kevan Blake

Engineering Associate National Representative Vacant

Ocean & Coastal Committee/Water Engineering National Committee

Eric Valentine

Engineers Without Borders

Rana Everett

Alice Springs Representative Steve Sawyer

Nhulunbuy Representative Cameron MacDiarmid

Committee Member Carolyn Gerdtz

Charles Darwin University Representative David Lilley

Northern Division were de-lighted that the National Director of Marketing and Communications, Jamie Penrose visited Darwin to officially launch the Make It So campaign to the Division’s PDP partners and interested organisations. This session was held

before the Annual Meeting on 3 December 2009. Jamie outlined the campaign which was being rolled out on a national basis. The campaign will be officially launched to the general public in February 2010. Marketing has come up with some interesting and innovative ideas for the Make It So campaign to include social sites such as facebook, twitter and youtube. He also outlined that mainstream media such as na-tional newspapers would not be included and have targeted lifestyle magazines and mediums. Members are encouraged to be involved in the Make It So Campaign. For details please visit the Make It So website - www.makeitso.org.au/ This is an awareness campaign to raise the profile of En-gineers. Please support this campaign in the lead up to the launch to the general public in February.

We are about to close off 2009, and what a year it was! With the help of industry we launched the Co-op pro-gram in Engineering this year. This is a sandwich program where students undergo a 6 months industrial placement in ad-dition to their normal program of academic study. Our first stu-dents were placed in the first half of 2009 and they came back very excited about their future in engineering practice. If you are interested in placing students in the future, please contact us. We had a very successful accreditation visit by Engineers Australia in March, which resulted in the maximum accredita-tion period of 5 years for all our specialisations – Civil, Electrical and Electronics and Mechanical Engineering. A very big THANK YOU to all the members and staff of the Northern Divi-sion for making this happen. In total, we have now 265 students in Engineering, up 30% from last year on top of an increase of 20% the year before. Applications for 2010 indicate that we will grow by at least an-other 30% next year. 2010 will see the launch of the distance learning mode for the Bachelor of Engineering. This means that students can com-plete their degree even if they cannot attend on campus classes on a regular basis. We will also launch our brand new two year Master of Engineering course. This course is ideal for Bachelor of Technol-

ogy graduates to upgrade their skills. We wish you all a very well deserved Christmas break and look forward to working with you again next year to strengthen Engineering at CDU and in the Northern Territory.

A/Professor Friso De Boer Head of School

Would you like to help shape the future graduates of CDU? Would you like to contribute to the strategic directions, course development, content design of units, etc of Engineering at CDU? Then become a member of the Industry Engagement Group! We meet about 3 times per year – with drinks and nib-bles afterwards. Get involved - help us to ensure you get the graduates you require. For more information, please contact Friso De Boer on 8946 6994 or [email protected]

Northern Division PDP Partners recently were paid a visited by Lyndley King from Engineers Australia South Aus-tralia. The purpose of Lyndley’s visit was to ensure that our PDP Partners were up to speed on the program and to see if they required any further assistance to ensure that the program is well supported.

The following PDP partners took advantage of the visit: • Department of Planning & Infrastructure • Power and Water Corporation • Charles Darwin University • Cardno (NT) • Defence - Army • Macmahon Contractors Pty Ltd • GHD Pty Ltd And a prospective new PDP Partner • Sitzler We trust that Lyndley’s visit was beneficial for our PDP Partners and prospect. During her visit Lyndley attended the Young Engineers and Northern Division Annual General Meeting.

Launch of Make It So Campaign

Youth Partner

Charles Darwin University Update

Charles Darwin University Shapes our Future Graduates

PDP Partners Visited

Do you have some spare time to Volunteer in 2010? Northern Division always requires assistance with their

many events throughout the year. Register your interest and call 8981 4137 or email to [email protected] [email protected]

Survey House, 14 Shepherd Street Darwin GPO Box 417 Darwin NT 0801 Director Bronwyn Russell Telephone 08 8981 4137 Fax 08 8981 3449 Email [email protected] Website: www.engineersaustralia.org.au

President’s Report

Partner

This is the culmination of my two years as your president. How quickly time has flown and what a busy period it has been. The theme this year has been looking forward looking back, celebrat-ing our 90 years as an organization. This was reflected in our gala dinner with Doug Walters as guest speaker and at our excellence awards. This has been a busy year for me. As well as your President I have repre-sented the Division on the National Committee on Transport Engineering, I

have been on Council’s Regional Committee and I chaired the Division’s Engineering Excellence Awards Judging Panel. The Divisional Engineering Excellence Awards were a huge success. Great projects and great people, culminating in a wonderful awards dinner. I thank all the entrants, the attendees and the staff that made the awards such a success. It was my great honour to attend the National Engineer-ing Awards. As well as seeing a fabulous array of engineering projects from across Australia, I saw Tom Maher proudly accept his award as Engineers Australia’s Technologist of the Year. The Works Section of the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force while not winning a major prize were specifically men-tioned by the National President for their work in Uruzgan Prov-ince, Afghanistan. I want to congratulate Dave McHugh on his election to the Engineers Australia Council. Just reward after his out-standing service on Congress, the Civil College Board and at Divisional level. Well done. I also want to recognize and con-gratulate Paul Tyrrell who was awarded an AO in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. This year has seen some other firsts. Your Deputy Presi-dent Len Chappell when he takes over the reins at the AGM will be the first Technologist Divisional President. This year has seen Charles Darwin University appoint Professor David Lilley to the new Chair of Structural Engineer-ing. Engineers Australia has been most supportive of this and this has also enabled Charles Darwin University get its full ac-creditation approved by National Office. As President I have attended meetings of three standing consultative groups of the university, the Industry Engagement Group, the Course Advi-sory Group Engineering and the Course Advisory Group Infor-mation Technology. These forums provide the opportunity to assist the university in producing graduates educated to meet the needs of industry. As well as Engineers Australia representa-

tion there is a need for more industry representation. It is pleas-ing to note an increase in engineering enrollments in both the degree and diploma areas. The Electrical College Board met in Darwin for the first time and the Chair gave a presentation to a well attended gathering of interested members on the board’s role. This year saw visits from Engineers Australia’s Eminent Speakers Ron Cox (Civil College), David Skellern (ITEE) and Keith Crews (Structural College). While they were only able to present in Darwin within the Division, their slides and video presentations are available on the web. National President Peter Godfrey and his wife Jayne vis-ited the Division and had the opportunity to see Alcan Rio Tinto’s plant at Gove, Bushlight installations at Bawaka, SIHIP projects on the Tiwi Islands as well as various projects around Darwin. A highlight was attendance at the Dawn Service on AN-ZAC Day especially poignant with Jayne’s father having served in Darwin during WW2. Engineering Week was launched by Deputy Chief Minis-ter Delia Lawrie. There were a number of events including spon-sorship of a race on Darwin Cup day which gave wide publicity to Engineers Australia and Engineering Week. CPD delivery remains a challenge both in Darwin and in the regions. Our numbers are small, our budget limited and the chal-lenges significant. CPD delivery is a challenge in all regions, some of which are as big as our Division. Not surprisingly this has been the top issue in the considerations of the Regional Com-mittee. Electronic solutions will help but are only part of the ac-tions needed. 2012 is proposed to be the Year of Regional Engi-neering and should add focus to addressing regional issues. We are losing some of our long term members Peter Tonkin to Perth, David Rolland to Melbourne and Barry Cham-bers to the Sunshine Coast. In conclusion I wish to recognize the efforts and support of the Divisional Management Committee members and Divi-sional staff . Without the team there would be little to report. I hand over to Len Chappell, offer him my support as Immediate Past President and wish him all the best for 2010 and beyond.

Peter Hagan President 2008/2009

Engineers Australia Northern Division

Annual Report 2009

Engineers Australia Northern Division Team wishes all our members a merry Christmas and a

very happy and safe 2010

In 2009 we have had a few staff changes. Justine returned to work part time but in recent times has decided to be a full time Mum and so we have said good bye once again. Tara Keogh joined us and Karen and Rosemary continue the good work they have done for a few years now. This year we chose to theme our events around the 90th birthday with a great deal of enthusiasm start-ing with the Gala Dinner early in the year. I would have to say the building skills of members and guests were varied but all of the “tank” concoctions

held water which was impressive. Doug Walters and Minister Delia Lawrie had the unenviable task of judging the winners but spirits were high and everybody joined in and had some fun. Sadly this year the heritage committee has fallen into a bit of a hole. We have had excellent articles for the newsletter how-ever which I am sure you will agree and we intend to have the two remaining plaquing ceremonies for the Stuart Highway in Katherine and Tennant Creek early in the New Year which will also mark the 150th anniversary of Stuart coming to the NT. I hope to regain the enthusiasm of our members in 2010. We have been awarded funds to reprint our heritage brochures which are very popular with tour operators in the Top End. In addition to the NT Business Council we have taken on the secretariat for the Built Environment Design Professions (BEDP) during 2009. These two groups help us keep in close contact with Government and other agencies on topics that affect the membership. We continue to have representation on various Govern-ment advisory groups, committees and boards that affect mem-bers. Thanks to those members who donate their valuable time to these functions that assist other members of the Division. Next year is the Year of Engineering Leadership and we plan to highlight activities that relate to the theme. We have had a quiet time with CELM this year so we hope that you will sup-port these activities with enthusiasm in 2010. Engineering Week has been nationally set to occur during the first week in August for the next few years. This presents some challenges for us as schools have just returned from 4 weeks holiday and they won’t commit to events prior to going on leave. In addition it is the Darwin Cup and a public holiday that week every year so gaining any media activity is impossible. This year we decided to raise the profile by joining with the rac-ing community and sponsoring a race. We certainly had more than 20,000 people see the race and our banner plus the race day publicity. We supplemented this with our banners around town. Other events included a launch by the Minister at Parliament House for the first time, Excellence Awards technical presenta-tion for the public sponsored by the Lord Mayor at Darwin City Council and a Fellows lunch. The week is then followed by sci-ence week which we continue to support with the assistance of some of our younger members. We welcomed home some of our members after a tour of

duty in Afghanistan and they went on to win the President’s Prize with their work at our Engineering Excellence Awards and also received a “Special Mention” at the National Awards. We have many members in the Defence Force in the NT who we enjoy working with although they get posted and deployed and we don’t usually have them for very long. Many of our members have served in a range of locations and we are always glad to have them back safely. Our Youth Programs expand each year. This year we added more remote locations to our SMART tour in the bush as well as running the usual events such as Sunchase, Science and Engineering Challenge and EngQuest. Our volunteers are very important to the success of these events so again a big thank you to you. The Excellence Awards were a great success thanks to the energy of the companies that put in their entries. The judges al-ways have a difficult task separating the projects and are always grateful to the companies that arrange the site visits to enable them to see the challenges that each of them face in this difficult climate and terrain. Congratulations to Tom Maher who won the National Technologist of the Year Award. A big thank you this year to the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT who loaned us items for the “looking back” segment of the night and a special mention to Leo Izod who prepared and built a replica Oldsmobile that he was willing to loan us! We topped this off with a new Lexus convertible to showcase the “looking forward” segment of the theme. Our second most sen-ior member won a weekend with the car so he was seen driving around with the roof down and waving to all and sundry! Northern Division continues to pull its weight in many aspects of Engineers Australia and I look forward to another exciting year in 2010.

Bronwyn Russell Director

Engineers Australia Northern Division

Director’s Report

Youth Partner

1. Public Role and Professional Standing

Partner

Engineering Excellence Awards celebrating Engineers Australia’s

90th Birthday The 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards dinner was held on Friday, 18th September with the following projects entered for consid-eration. This year’s entries included:

People in Engineering Award Winners

Project Title Submission Arnhem Land Fibre Project Telstra Corporation

Ben Hammond Complex—Power & Water Corporation

GHD Pty Ltd and Power & Water Corporation

Bonaparte High Pressure Natural Gas Pipeline

APA Group

Bradshaw ICTC Towers Macmahon Contractors Pty Ltd

Crowne Plaza Alice Springs—Solar Array

CAT Projects Pty Ltd

Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre

CAT Projects Pty Ltd

Darwin City Waterfront Pedestrian Bridge

Macmahon Contractors Pty Ltd

Darwin City Waterfront Recrea-tion Works

Sitzler Pty Ltd

Report for Nationally Significant Infrastructure for the Northern Territory

GHD Pty Ltd and Department of Planning & Infrastructure

Leanyer Recreation Facility Upgrade

GHD Pty Ltd and Department of Planning & Infrastructure

Works Section of the 1st Mentor-ing 7 Reconstruction Task Force, Afghanistan (MRTF1)

Australian Defence Forces (MRTF1)

Thank you to our sponsors of the Engineering Ex-cellence Awards. Nilsen; Northern Territory Gov-ernment (Department of Planning and Infrastruc-ture, Department of Housing and Local Govern-ment, Department of Business and Employment); Townes, Chappell, Mudgway; GHD Pty Ltd; BMD; Macmahon; WorleyParsons; ERA; Wallbridge & Gilbert; Airducter; Hays Engineering; ANZSES and Darwin City Council. Judging Panel Thank you to our team of judges for 2009 - Peter Hagan, Damien Hill, Evelyn Robinson and Bob Calaby

2009 Winners

2009 Engineering Excellence Award ANZSES Sustainability Award

Crowne Plaza Alice Springs “Solar Array” CAT Projects Pty Ltd

Research, Development and Innovation

Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre CAT Projects Pty Ltd

Reports, Procedures & Systems

Report for Nationally Significant Infrastructure for the Northern Territory GHD Pty Ltd

President’s Award People’s Choice Award

Works Section Afghani-stan Mentoring & Recon-struction Task Force (MRTF1)

Highly Commended Project Management

Instrumented Air Weap-ons Range Bradshaw Training Field Area Macmahon Contractors

Highly Commended Community Engagement

Broadbanding the Top End Arnhem Land Fibre Project Telstra Corporation

Highly Commended Environment & Sustain-ability

Ben Hammond Complex Redevelopment Stage 2 GHD Pty Ltd and Power & Water Corporation

2009 National Award Winners

National Engineering Technologist of the Year

Tom Maher, TMIEAust Darwin City Council

Special Mention Works Section Afghani-stan, Mentoring & Recon-struction Taskforce

Professional Engineer of the Year Lindsay Monteith MIEAust GHD Pty Ltd

Engineering Technologist of the Year Tom Maher TMIEAust Darwin City Council

Young Professional Engineer of the Year Captain Michael Thompson GradIEAust Australian Defence Forces

1. Public Role and Professional Standing Division Liaison

The President, Director and members of Northern Division represented Engineers Australia at many events and meetings on many occasions during the year. These include

Government and Ministerial liaison: • Hon. Paul Henderson, MLA Chief Minister of the NT • Hon. Delia Lawrie, MLA, Depty Chief Minister of the

NT, Minister, Department of Planning and Infrastruc-ture

• Hon. Terry Mills, Leader of the Opposition • Hon. Kezia Purick, Deputy Leader of the Opposition • Hon. Malarndirri McCathy, MLA, Minister for State-

hood and Indigenous Policy • Hon. Robert Knight, MLA, Minister for Housing and

Local Government • Hon Kon Vatskalis, MLA Minister for Racing, Gam-

ing and Licensing, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources

• Department of Planning and Infrastructure, Richard Hancock, CEO

• Building Industry Reference Group • Building Advisory Board • NT Building Practitioners Board

• Museum and Art Gallery NT • Defence liaison, Army & Navy • Defence Support Industry Skills Network Secretariat: • Northern Territory Business Council • Built Environment Design Professionals Media: • NT News, ABC Television, Mining Advocate, Imparja

Television, ABC Television and ABC Radio (Alice Springs and Darwin)

2. An Inclusive Professional Team

Partner

Gala Dinner - 90th Birthday Celebrations

Engineers Australia Members and Doug Walters reconstruct a piece of Darwin History Over 150 guests enjoyed Legendary Cricketer Doug Walters speak at the Engineers Australia Gala Dinner at SKY-CITY Grand Ballroom on Thursday, 19th March to help Engineers Australia celebrate their 90th birthday. Doug entertained guests with anecdotes of his cricketing history and his visit to Camooweal where he reminisced about one of the patrons at the local drinking establishment “Daryl” and his experience with the local water tower in that town.. Each table was given the mission to reconstruct a model of Darwin’s World War Two Water Supply Tower with each table given 30 seconds to explain their expertise behind their Engineering feat. Doug and the Deputy Chief Minister, Delia Lawrie were the judges, with Wallbridge & Gilbert and guests team taking top honours as overall winners. They were pre-sented with mini cricket bats duly signed by Doug. The Judges comments included “bribery will always work” and Daryl hang-ing from the water tower sealed their fate as winners. A good evening was by enjoyed by all who attended with the grand finale being an auction of a cricket bat signed by Doug and Mr Bryan Stapley being overjoyed that he was the highest bidder.

You may recall the water tower featuring in our Febru-ary issue of the newsletter with an article by our Heritage repre-sentative Peter Poole. Peter was delighted that the tower was chosen as the activity at the Gala Dinner.

2. An Inclusive Professional Team Colleges

Northern Division was again represented by Peter Russell on both panels and has attended numerous meetings and several sub-committee meetings. Representation to the Northern Territory Gov-ernment committees by structural engineers and the division is good with representation on Building Appeals Board, Building Advisory Committee, Builders Registration Board, Power & Water Corpora-tion, Cyclone Subcommittee and Building Industry Representative Group. A draft comment on the revision of the wind code was dis-tributed to Structural College Board and others for comment during 2009. The New Chair of Structural Engineering has taken up his position at CDU. The Director of Northern Division was instrumen-tal in obtaining funding for Prof David Lilley. It is the intended to maintain the close relationship with CDU and Engineers Australia. Northern Division was not successful in securing the 2012 ASEC conference however Darwin will be considered for the 2014 conference—a decision made at the recent Structural College Board meeting held in November this year.

Peter Russell Structural College and Building Advisory Board Representative

Civil College

Mechanical College

Structural College and Building Advisory Board

Electrical College

Sponsor

The National Electrical College Board met twice this year with the first meeting taking place in Brisbane o 4th and 5th June. The sec-ond meeting was held on 6th and 7th November in Darwin. The main functions of the electrical college are to:

. Promote electrical engineering

. Promote CPD

. Nominate and award prizes to eminent and out-standing electrical engineers and graduates . Promote research and development . Review and comment on policy documents.

The June meeting was held in Brisbane in conjunction with the MA Sargent Medal award dinner. This year saw Brisbane take out all of the top awards with the MA Sargent medal being awarded to Dr Keith Hilless and the Professional Engineer of the Year being awarded to Simon Bartlett. One interesting statistic to come out of this meeting was the news that out of 455 electrical CPD audits carried out to June 2009, only 303 were deemed to be satisfactory. The November meeting in Darwin was a first for the Electrical College Board as they have never held a national meeting here before and many of the delegates had never been to Darwin previously. One of the highlights of the visit was a meet and greet evening held on the Friday evening. It was good to see so many of our young electrical engineers turn up to meet the College Board members and to hear a short presentation, on the Board’s function and aims, from our chair-man Albert Koenig. The ECB has expressed thanks to the Northern Division office staff who helped make their Darwin visit and meeting such a success. They commented that the Darwin hospitality was second to none.

Len Chappell

Electrical College Board Representative.

The Mechanical College Board nationally conducted two face-to-face meetings during 2009 with a number of teleconferences to discuss mechanical engineering issues such as:

• Strategic Planning 2010-2015 • Joint Agreement with IMechE • MOU with IMechE • JSME • Competency Standards & NPER • Continuing Professional Development • Awards for Young Mechanical Engineer, George Julius

Medal & AGM Michell Medal • Year of Engineering Leadership • Governance Workshop

Also emerging trends/issues were on the agenda in the past year:

• Mandatory reporting • Energy and sustainability

The members of the College Board attended the 2009 War-man Design-and-Build Student Competition National Final on Sun-day 27th September 2009 and dinner. Young Mechanical Engineer Award was presented to Mr Derek Mulder from Queensland to acknowledge his achievements as a young mechanical engineer and his contributions to the activities of Engineers Australia. Stefania Fikus

Mechanical College Board Representative

The Civil College Board met twice this year with our March meeting in Sydney and October meeting in Brisbane. The main focus of the board this year has been: 1. The combined international conference with the structural col-

lege in Sydney in August 2010 – known as the CECAR 5 and ASEC 2010 Conference. A number of key members of our Board are managing the delivery of the conference.

2. Civil Engineering awards presented to individuals this year were:

• Sir John Holland Award for Civil Engineer of the Year 2009 to Christopher Dann.

• Warren Medal 2008 to Brian Burnam, David Ticcolo and Gary Moyston.

• Rod McGee Medal 2008 to Elisabeth Smolinska.. 3. Support for the many learned Societies and Engineering Committees that report to the Board on their conferences, conferences papers and CPD presentations. 4. Monitor and encourage divisional CPD presentations to assist

members with their efforts to maintain there competency in the field of engineering in which they practice to ensure they retain their CP Eng status.

5. Encourage and sponsor the eminent speakers programme to regional centres as well as the major cities.

6. Stage 2 Competency matters were work-shopped at our last meeting with follow-up action by some us prior to the next meet-ing in March 2010.

7. David McHugh was appointed as the Civil College Board Repre-sentative on the National Coastal and Water Engineering Com-mittee.

Dave McHugh Civil College Board Representative

Regions

Nhulunbuy was privi-leged to host a visit by the Na-tional President in April. A Fel-low’s certificate was presented at a special function which was at-tended by local engineers to Steve Petrofis. I am also looking for a replace-ment for myself on the Northern

Division’s Management Committee. This representative does not necessarily have to be a senior engineer, it can be young engineer who may wish to enhance their skills.

Cam MacDiarmid Nhulunbuy Representative

2009 was again a relatively quiet year with few activities for members who live in the Alice area. In August, the Engineering Excellence Judging Panel visited to assess entries from the region. A function at the

Crowne Plaza and presentations were made to local members of some of the entries. Several local entries were to receive awards (see the report on the Engineering Excellence Awards). In April, members participated in the annual Science and Engineering Challenge held at Alice Springs High School to help develop interest in these areas in our upcoming youth. September’s highlight was another Youth program, Sun-chase, a model Solar Car and Boat Challenge where school stu-dents build solar powered cars and boats and race them. This leads to a National Championship, this year it is being held in Melbourne in late November. This promotes an interest in sci-ence and engineering as well as renewable technologies. Thank you to our sponsors Power and Water Corpora-tion, Alice Solar City, Desert Knowledge, Lee Point Electrical, BP Solar, Eco Engineering, Alice Springs Town Council, Mban-tua and Stuart Rotary Club. In 2010 we hope to have more events so helpers and

suggestions are most welcome. Steve Sawyer

Alice Springs Represemtatove


I was pleased to be able to represent Northern Division Engineering Associates in 2009. Although the Associates represent only around 8% of total membership, across the Territory and region, all are equally supported

and catered for as the Technologists and Professional grades. Luccio Cercarelli from Darwin City Council is the National Associates Representative on Civil College. National Committee for Engineering Associates meetings were held in Sydney during April and Canberra in November. The April meeting was held in conjunction with a visit to RAAF Base Richmond, hosted by Associates National Chair Wing Commander Ross Magno. Highlights from the National Committee for Engineering Associates for 2009 were the implementation of an Engineering Reg-ister and support from Engineers Australia to have Associates and Technologists included in ‘Regulation of the Engineering Profession’ proposals in WA. National Congress has endorsed a review of the Bye-Laws including consideration of equal voting rights for all grades. A personal highlight this year was to be included on the Judging Panel for the Northern Division Engineering Excellence Awards. There were no candidates for Engineering Associate of the Year. My two-year term as Division Representative expires at the

Northern Division AGM on 03 December 2009. Due to work commit-ments I will not be seeking re-election. Associates have been well supported by the Division Presi-dent Peter Hagan, Director Bronwyn Russell and her team. We are grateful for that assistance.

Bob Calaby OFIEAust Associate Representative

Membership Groups

Alice Springs

Nhulunbuy

Associates

Membership

Sponsor

Engineer Amol Gupta helps the Braitling Car Team

Senior Member 1

Fellow 42

Member 203

Companion 3

Graduate 101

Student 171

Tech Fellow 2

Tech Member 5

Tech Graduate 3

Tech Student 1

Officer Fellow 3

Officer Member 17

Officer Graduate 10

Officer Student 9

Affiliate 2

Honorary Fellow 1


Sponsor

Engineering Heritage Committee (Northern Division) Division membership has decreased slightly in 2009. This is possibly due to the data cleansing program which was initiated by National Office in 2009 to ensure that all members records were accurate and up to date. Student numbers have increased by 11. Skilled migration enquiries have definitely increased in 2009 with the division staff assisting those with their applications.

Although relatively quiet on the local division front the National Committee for Engineering Technologists has been relatively busy this year, meeting face to face three times plus two telecon-ferences. The committee was determined to maintain the momen-tum of the 2008 ‘Year of the Engineering Team’ to ensure that Engineering Technologists maintained a high profile in both Engineers Australia and the general engineering public. The national committee came of age this year obtaining representatives from the Victorian, Sydney and Newcastle EA Divisions to back up the existing members from Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern division. We now have As a national committee we provided comment and in-put into a number of very important issues affecting all mem-bers of the engineering team. These included: • The Accreditation Management System draft document.

This document is updated every 5 years and defines the role of Stage 1 competency levels applicable to all levels of the Engineering Team.

• The EA Draft Policy Statement on the Engineering Profes-

sion. We were disappointed that both the Engineering Technologists and Associates were left out of this docu-ment, especially following the year of the engineering team. The committee thoroughly reviewed this document

and put forward a number of comments and proposed inclusions.

• Discussion Paper on the Regulation of Engineers in WA.

A considerable amount of time was spent reviewing and formulating a response to this document to ensure that Engineering Technologists views were catered for.

On the local front I wish to again congratulate Tom Maher, from Darwin City Council, on winning the Engineering Technologist of the year. The award could not have gone to a more worthy recipient. Len Chappell

Northern Division Representative

I took over the role of Women in Engineering representa-tive from Louise McCormick. Due to her workload with Tiger Brennan Drive, Louise hesitantly resigned from the position. I take this opportunity of thanking Louise for her contribution . Our vision is that engineering is an inclusive profession which values, supports and celebrates the contributions of women in the engineering team.. Some key initiatives nationally include GirlTalk which originated in the ACT Division WIE Group. This program was developed and is run by women engineers to encourage more women into enegineering. It consists of a PowerPoint presenta-tion that explains engineering as a career, the options available, subject choices and brief profile of the presents. These programs are mainly targeted at schools to encourage more women to study engineering. You can visit Women in Engineering on FACEBOOK under: Engineers Australia—Women in Engineering. An up to date flyer was also produced in 2009. I look forward to continu-ing my involvement with Women in Engineering in 2010.

Nerida Beard Women in Engineering Representative

The Darwin chapter of Engineers Without Borders main-tained its contingency plan of building a solid and active mem-bership which is now ready to act in early 2010. EWB stalls were seen at the CSIRO Science Fair and the Tiger Brennan Drive Open Day talking to kids about education and sanitation in un-derdeveloped communities, and both parents and kids on ca-reers in engineering. Local members also represented EWB on a few other occasions in meetings throughout the year. EWB has just hosted its annual conference in Melbourne, from 26-28th November, called Engage 2009. This was EWB's 4th annual national conference aimed at representing the pre-mier gathering of engineers working or interested in interna-

tional aid work, sustainable development, design and technol-ogy. 2010 has many exciting opportunities on offer for those like-minded people wanting to get involved. Every 6 months an intake is established for working in developing communities for EWB. Visit their website for further information or phone Rana Everett for local chapter involvement: 0416 320 498.

Rana Everett Engineers Without Borders Representative

Engineers Without Borders

Women in Engineering

Technologists

Membership cont…..

Young Engineers Australia (Northern Division) has enjoyed another successful and fun year that included numerous social and educational events. The year began with a ‘meet and greet’ at the Beachfront Hotel in March with approximately 20 people attending including a few new faces. In June we held our GenX trivia night at the Larrakeyah Officer’s Mess. Simon Turner and his team from GHD proved themselves to be experienced in pub trivia, convincingly win-ning on the night.

Towards the end of July the Young Engineers Australia Northern Division (and possibly Darwin’s!) premier social event, the ‘Golf Day’, was held at the Palmerston Golf Course. Beauti-ful Darwin dry season weather prevailed and the chance of a ‘round of 9’ with an early knock off and a few casual beers meant engineers and others attended in abundance. In the end, the golf side of things was dominated by players from Douglas Partners, but all had an enjoyable day no matter how many shots it took some of us to get around the course!

With August came the CSIRO ‘Top End Science Fair’ and our chance to excite budding young engineers from Years 3 to 8 about some of the more interesting and exciting problems engineers deal with on a day to day basis. Not the easiest gig! But with a few keen committee members we managed to enter-tain the young ones and may have even influenced a few to be-come Darwin engineers!

On behalf of Young Engineers Northern Division, I’d like to express thanks to all our sponsors for the year, as many of our events wouldn’t be possible without your support. We look forward to your continuing cooperation in 2010 and hope to see you all at our events in future. I’d also like to take the opportu-nity to thank the YEA and Engineers Australia committee mem-bers plus other volunteers throughout the year for all their sup-port, ideas and help!

Report produced by Adam James On Behalf of Andrew Gane President Young Engineers

Young Engineers

National Congress Meeting

Sponsor


National Congress met twice this year with both our July meeting and November meeting in Canberra. The main focus of National Congress this year has been:

• The development and adoption of our new strategic plan for the next 5 years

• The launch of the “make it so” campaign and a report on progress to date

• Reform of our Royal Charter and Bylaws and report on progress

• Review and rework of our Code of Ethics and a report on progress

The following reports were provided to congress:

• Council Report to Congress

• Complaints Commissioner’s Report

• Young Engineers Australia Report

• Report on 90th Anniversary Commemorations

• Congress Engagement Report

• Electronic communication committee Report

• Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council Report

• Report from the President of WFEO (World Federa-

tion of engineering Organisations).

The following matters were raised by congress delegates: • Nuclear Physics and Engineering - Encourage Uni-

versities to develop courses in these subjects

• Australian Engineering - Dictionary of Biography and Centenary 2019

• Division Committee Members be 2 years Congress meets twice per year

• Review of Ethics Practice

• Congress elect the Chair of Congress separately from the Deputy President Electoral process.

The following people were elected to the new National Council:

• New Deputy President – Merv Lindsay

• New Councillors – David McHugh, Bronte Strout and Alex Baitch

Dave McHugh

Congratulations to Dave McHugh for being

appointed to the National Council of Engineers Australia

Supporter

National Committees Transport Committee

The year kicked off with the CELM Leadership Seminar held in conjunction with the National Committee for Women in Engineering on 03 March. Dr Julie Hammer past president of EA gave an inspiring key note address outlining her career in what was then a very male dominated profession. The seminar was interactive with participants taking on some role play in Leader-ship situations and the day was finished with a panel discussion This was followed on 11 March by a breakfast meeting with Grant Behrendorff as the guest speaker. Grant won the Northern Division Technologist of the Year in 2007 and went on to win the National title at the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards. He spoke about his career and his involvement in the 'Bushlight indigenous' renewable energy project. The project won awards at the Northern Division and the Australian Engi-neering Excellence Awards. The CELM joint Chair Board Meeting was held on the 26 August, 2009 at the University of Sydney. Unfortunately due to work commitments the Northern Division did not have a repre-sentative in person at the meeting. The board reviewed Doug Roser’s paper on “a roadmap for Engineering Executive” and a second paper detailing more background information about En-gineering Executive. We look forward to the release of these pa-pers next year.

Kevan Blake, CELM Representative

Centre of Engineering Leadership and Management - Northern Chapter


3. Youth Appeal

In 2009, the School of Engineering and Information Tech-nology at Charles Darwin University had a successful year. We achieved full accreditation of our Civil and Mechanical Engineer-ing programs from Engineers Australia and continue with electri-cal and electronics degrees In Collaboration with NT Government and local compa-nies, CDU started a Cooperative program aiming to train and prepare engineers compatible with the requirements of industry. Thank you to the support of industry during this process. The school continued external delivery of engineering units as well as presenting diploma of engineering as a new pro-gramme. In future years, we will extend these activities in addi-tion to proposed new programs for the Masters of Engineering. Engineers Australia continues to support the University by holding student BBQ’s and offering them the opportunity of free membership at these events.

Due to the outstanding way EngQuest was managed last year, the registrations for the Northern Territory doubled this year as thirty schools entered the program for 2009 and enjoyed the rich resources provided to them on the web.

Charles Darwin University SMART/SMART Remote (Science Maths and Real Technology)

The committee held two meetings during the year. There is now representation from all Divisions. Key activities include planning for a Transport Engineer-ing Conference in 2011 likely to be in conjunction with the Aus-tralian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management, develop-ing a paper on the benefits to society of transport based engi-neering studies, refining a paper on a series of key issues for discussion at a political level including road safety, port conges-tion, congestion management, the rail network, transport impli-cations with – climate change, global warming, ETS etc and transport infrastructure funding. This year saw the publication of one edition of Transport Engineering Australia and the presentation of further papers on TEA Online 2009. The 2009 Student Paper Prize was awarded to Sarah Mahmoud studying at Monash University.

Peter Hagan National Committee on Transport Engineering Representative

EngQuest

Congratulations to Tom Maher TMIEAust for winning

National Technologist of the Year

In semester one 2009 over 700 regional primary school students in the Northern Territory enjoyed a Science, Maths and Real Technology (SMART) road show in conjunction with the Science and Engineering Challenge. Thanks to the additional help from ALPA, and the De-partment of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR), this year the program was delivered to a much wider remote audience. It took a team including: one Engineers Australia Youth Coordinator, one ALPA host, a pilot and 2 University of Newcas-tle SMART Show presenters over 800 km of air, sea and road travel, hauling 100 kilos of equipment and 10 school days to reach over 500 students spread over 10 community schools. The schools included: Gapuwiyak CEC (Lake Evella), Shepherdson College (Galiwinku, Elcho Island), Milingimbi CEC (Milingimbi), Ramingining School (Ramingining), Belyuen School (Delissaville), Xavier Community Education Centre (Nguiu, Bathurst Island), Pularumpi School (Pirlangimpi, Mel-ville Island), Mamaruni School Minjilang (Croker Island), War-ruwi School (Goulburn Island), Gunbalanya School (Oenpelli) ALPA have indicated that they would be keen to help again next year and Newcastle are in the process of looking for fresh support from the Federal Government.

Congratulations to the following members on achieving Chartered Status

• Bryan Mower MIEAust CPEng • Jarrad Simpkins MIEAust CPEng • Brent Offer MIEAust CPEng • Daryl McKenzie MIEAust CPEng

Supporter

Science & Engineering Challenge Sunchase

3. Youth Appeal

This year 350 students from Darwin and Alice Springs competed to win the privilege of traveling to Bendigo to attend the National Science and Engineering Challenge. Alice Springs conducted a one day event at Centralian Senior Secondary College and Darwin competitions ran over two days at the Charles Darwin University. Once the results were tallied, the outright winner was Darwin High School with a score of 1819.27 followed very closely by St Philips from Alice Springs with 1693.36. Acknowledgement must be paid to the wonderful sup-port received by the Faculty of Health, Education and Science at the Charles Darwin University and the Bendigo Bank (Darwin) for assisting Darwin High School to send the 20 students to the National competition.

Supported by major sponsor, Power and Water Corpora-tion and event partners, BP Solar and Lee Point Electrical, Ecoenergy, Alice Springs Rotary Club Mbantua and Alice Solar City, two regional events were held. Alice Springs ran their event in September at Centralian Senior Secondary College where 80 students competed in 3 cate-gories: Model cars, boats and kit cars. The results were: St Phillips High School (first all girl team) in the model cars, St Phillips High School in the boat race event and Ross Park Primary in the kit car event. The Darwin event was held in October in conjunction with the Global Green Challenge (previously World Solar Car Chal-lenge) scrutineering event at the Darwin Show Grounds. The day was cloud free which allowed two hundred primary school stu-dents to compete for middle and upper primary championships. Only solar kit cars were raced this year with the plan to include boats in 2010. Overall winner on the day was Larrakeyah Primary School. A poster competition was also conducted on the day with St Andrew Lutheran School the outright winner on the day. Thank you to our Sunchase major sponsor Power & Water Corporation and our friends BP Solar and Lee Point Electrical.

Ewan Hazeldene, National Assessor visited the Top End on two occasions in 2009. The first visit was in March. Ewan visited Alice Springs, Gove and Darwin and held a successful professional interview and visited many of the PDP partners. The second visit was in November and during this time Ewan facili-tated a professional interview assisted by chartered members. He also conducted six Workshops with a total of 29 mem-bers focusing on Writing Career Episode Reports(CERs) and the process for achieving Chartered Status. Attendees came from Worley Parsons, Aurecon, GHD, Department of Planning & Infra-structure, Conoco Phillips, Lucas, two sole practitioners and the Charles Darwin University. Ewan also promoted the benefits of belonging to a Profes-sional Development Program(PDP) in order to receive ongoing assistance from an Assessor.

The Department of Infrastructure and Planning signed a PDP agreement at the launch of the Engineering Excellece Awards at the Darwin Convention Centre and a PDP agreement was also signed with Charles Darwin University at the student BBQ in March. The Make IT So Campaign was also launched on 3 December by Jamie Penrose, Director of Communications and Marketing, to our PDP partners.

National Assessor Visits in 2009

4. Chartered Status/Professional Development

The Division currently has 160 CPEng members and 61 NPER members.

5. Continuing Professional Development

6. International Reach & Influence

7. Internal Communications Our newsletter continues to grow with the distribution

being wide spread. A query from a Katherine reader who was interested in Poole’s Ponderings and the telecommunications are article quoted “what a fun bunch engineers are – who would

have imagined”. We always try to make the newsletter interest-ing for members and if you have any articles of interest or ideas, please feel free to contact Karen at the office or email to [email protected].

Month Topic Speaker January Low Maintenance Bridges - Jakarta Golder Associates

February Charles Darwin University Industry Engagement—Coop Degree Charles Darwin University—Engineering and IT

February Young Engineers—meet n greet Beach Front Hotel

February Four Models in Vietnam David Meigh—Jakarta

March CELM Breakfast Grant Behrendorff

March National Assessor visit—CPEng—PDP workshops Ewan Hazeldene

April Department of Infrastructure & Planning—stimulus package Mike Chiodo

April Bridge Building Contest—Jakarta Jakarta Engineering Members

June National President - Technical Presentation Gove Peter Godrey

June National President—Meet n Greet luncheon Darwin Peter Godfrey

May The Inspiring Story of Sir John Monash Peter Thomas

June Eminent Speaker—Recasting the internet of things and the future of the digital economy

Dr David Kellern

June Eminent Speaker - Climate Change Impacts & Adaptation for Settlement and Infrastructure

A/Professor Ron Cox

June Jabiru Technical Presentation Anthony Verna

June Technical Presentations - 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards—Alice Springs Project Entrants - Alice Springs

June Wave Pool Site visit Darwin Waterfront Developments

July Technical Presentations – 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards—Darwin Project Entrants August Code of Ethics Seminar Bob Nairn

September Darwin River Dam Site Visit Power & Water Corporation

October Eminent Speaker - Environmental Scan Keith Crews

October Eminent Speaker— Climate Change Impacts & Adapation for Settlement and Infrastructure

A/Professor Ron Cox

November Electrical College Board—Meet n Greet Alfred Keonig/Len Chappell

November National Assessor visit—CPEng—PDP workshops Ewan Hazeldine

Technical Sessions/Seminars/Site Visits

The division continues to send its newsletters to its overseas members. A series of workshops were also held in Jakarta for our members which included technical sessions on Low Maintenance Bridges, A Bridge Building Contest and a Four Models in Vietnam semi

-nar with keynote speaker

David Meigh. Thank you to Dino Sarac for informing the division to circulate the information on the technical presentations and seminars. It is great to see the Divi-sion continuing to communi-cate with our overseas mem-bers.

Friend

8. A Capable Organisation

Friend

Position Name President/Transport Committee Peter Hagan

Women in Engineering Louise McCor-mick/Nerida Beard

Civil College/Congress Representative Dave McHugh

Electrical College/Deputy President Len Chappell

Committee Member Sumesh Dhir

Committee Member Capt Stephen Menscheyli

Engineering Heritage Australia /Heritage Committee ND

Peter Poole

Structural College/Building Advisory Committee

Peter Russell

Mechanical College National Representative Stefania Fikus

Young Engineers National Representative Adam James

Young Engineers President Northern Division Andrew Gane

Defence Representative Capt Stephen Menscheyli

Northern Division Fellows Congratulations to

Northern Division newest Fellows • Mike Burgess • Prof David Lilley • Reginald Connors • Steve Petrofes •

and to our Division’s newest

Campanions • Chris Edwards • Jean Luc Revell

2009 Committee We would like to say thanks to our committee. We would not be able to function without your assistance.

Month Topic

February Meet and Greet Night – Young Engineers March Welcome New Students Chales Darwin University BBQ

April ENGQuest

May Gala Dinner—Guest Speaker Doug Walters (Cricketer)

May Sponsors/Supporters Cocktail Function May National Presidents Visit—Darwin/Nhulunbuy May Students Thesis Presentations

May Charles Darwin University Prize Giving May GenX - Larrakeyah Barracks

July SMART (Science, Maths & Real Technology Program Alice Springs

July Science & Engineering Challenge—Darwin & Alice Springs

July Young Engineers Golf Day

August SMART Program Darwin, Arnhemland

August Engineering Week—Darwin Cup Day Race

August Fellows Luncheon

August Launch of Engineering Week

Month Topic September 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards

September Sunchase Model Solar Car Challenge—Alice Springs

October Sunchase Model Solar Car Challenge - Darwin

October Charles Darwin University Students Thesis Pres-entations

December Make It So Campaign Launch

Division Activities 2009

Position Name

Centre for Engineering Leadership & Management

Kevan Blake

Engineering Technologist National Representative

Len Chappell

Engineering Associate National Representative

Robert Calaby

Ocean & Coastal Committee/Water Engineering National Committee

Eric Valentine

Engineers Without Borders/CDU Student Representative

Rana Everett

Alice Springs Representative Steve Sawyer

Nhulunbuy Representative Cameron MacDiarmid

Committee Representative Kirsty McInnes

National Excellence Awards

Friend

Northern Divi-sion was very pleased with the outcome of the 2009 National Engineer-ing Excellence Awards. T o m M a h e r (Northern Division overall winner for Engi-neering Technologist of the Year) won the na-tional Engineering Tech-nologist award. Tom began his

engineering career as a technical assistant with the Northern Ter-ritory Department of Transport and Works in Katherine in 1983 where he was employed to carry out compliance testing on civil engineering projects. In 1996 Tom moved into the local government area with a two year stint on Christmas Island as Management of Technical Services. He also spent six years as a technical officer with Isis Shire Council in Childers, Queensland. Tom started his engi-neering career with no formal qualifications. In 1990 he com-pleted an Advanced Certificate in Civil Construction Supervision. He then embarked on a lifelong learning program which included completion of a range of tertiary programs to formally address areas that would be beneficial to his professional development including an Associate Degree in Civil Engineering, a Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Civil) and a Certificate in Project Man-agement. Tom’s current goals include a Masters of Engineering Practice. The winner of Northern Division’s President’s Award and People’s Choice Award, The Works Section Afghanistan Mentor-ing & Reconstruction Taskforce MRTF1 also received a “Special Mention” at the National Awards. Congratulations to Tom and MRTF1 - we are very proud of you all.

Do you have some spare time to Volunteer in 2010? Northern Division always requires assistance with their

many events throughout the year. Register your interest and call 8981 4137 or email to [email protected] [email protected]

Staff Profile - Tara Keogh I came to the Territory from the east coast and have now been here nearly 3 years and although you can’t swim at the beach and it’s ridiculously hot, I love it! After working on a Pearl boat for four months straight, I de-cided it was time to find a job closer to land (and one that didn’t require 5am starts in a tinny). Having 2 years experience working as a fast-track officer for an insurance company, I decided to find something similar as I really enjoyed my previous admin job. I started

working for Engineers Australia in March and would have been a great poster person for our current Make It So campaign, as I had no idea what Engineers actually did! We had an engineer on our Pearl boat who fixed things and that was about the ex-tent of my knowledge of engineers! Since then I’ve learnt a lot about Engineers and some of the amazing work they do. My role at Engineers Australia isn’t your typical admin job and it’s definitely not what I expected when I started back in March. So far this year I’ve been a group leader at the Science and Engineering Challenge, played my first game of golf with the Young Engineers, and helped organise a number of events including a Gala Dinner, Race Day, and our annual Engineering Excellence Awards. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and thanks to the talented ladies here in our tiny Northern Division I have broadened my skills and opened doors to a number of future possibilities I hadn’t even considered before.

2010 Calendar of Events

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Date Event Speaker/Venue

February Excellence Awards Due date for Registration of Interest Form

N/A

February Engineering Excellence Awards Due date for Engineering Excellence Awards Registration for Project Only

N/A

March Engineering Excellence Awards Due date for lodgement of Submissions

N/A

March Gala Dinner to celebrate Engineering Year of Leadership Holiday Inn

27th—28th April Science and Engineering Challenge/SMART Darwin

7th May Science and Engineering Challenge Alice Springs

10th May National President’s Visit Prof. Doug Hargreaves

13th May Sponsor’s Cocktail Function N/A

22nd July 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards Darwin Turf Club

2nd—6th August Engineering Week TBA

16th August Science Week TBA

19 August Sunchase Darwin

30th November Young Engineers AGM TBA

10th September Sunchase Alice Springs

September SMART (remote) Island communities

1 December Annual Meeting - Engineers Australia 14 Shepherd Street, Darwin

2nd August Engineers Australia Corporate Race Day Fannie Bay Racecourse

26th May Eminent Speaker—National Transport Professor Rod Troutbeck

For more information on any of these events and registration forms please go to http:11www.engineersaustralia.org.au/about/divisions/northern-division/community-activities/community-

activities_homecfm and click on the event

Engineers Australia Office closure

14 Shepherd Street, Darwin

The office will be closed from 24 December 2009

commencing back on 4 January 2010

newsletter dec 2009 pdf

Documents

divisions annual meeting

years meeting

national basis

national director of

new committee

final meeting

youth centre

divisions pdp partners