Cathy Allen
Cathy has had a life surrounded by nature whilst growing up on Lakefield National Park, Cape York Peninsula. With dedicated park rangers as parents, Cathy started to realise that other children were not aware of the amazing environment which surrounded them. This led to a commitment to the Wet Tropics Volunteer program, leading a youth group and assisting with on-park activities to raise awareness of our environment. Following this, Cathy was a participant on the National Youth Roundtable, focusing on policy development for the environment, and has completed her Bachelor of Education with a vision for influencing the environmental education standards on a national level. She is currently busy raising her two most promising students, Sam (4) and Emily (3).
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Leonard Andy
Leonard is a true ambassador of Rainforest Aboriginal culture. For many years he has helped to manage the Clump Mountain Community Education Centre in Mission Beach. Sharing his traditional knowledge, he helps to educate the local community about World Heritage values. He is passionately devoted to cassowary conservation and has assisted scientists with their cassowary research. Leonard is also a talented artist who has produced a range of art work for public display in Mission Beach. He received a Cassowary Award for Rainforest Aboriginal Culture in 2008.
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Mike Berwick
Mike has a degree in biological science and a long history of working to conserve the Wet Tropics rainforests, particularly in the Daintree. He was mayor of Douglas Shire from 1991 to 2008 and led the way for local councils in achieving a balance between tourism, industry, agriculture and the environment. In 2008 Mike was awarded the Order of Australia for Service to conservation and the environment through initiatives supporting the preservation of the Daintree rainforest and far north Queensland, to local government, and to the community of Douglas Shire. He won a Cassowary Award for conservation in 2008. He is currently the Chair of Terrain NRM, Queensland’s representative on the National NRM Working Group, Chair of the Cape York Peninsula Regional Advisory Committee and Chair of the Tropical Landscape Joint Venture.
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Mia Brennan
Mia has been a student at Wonga Beach State School since 2005 and is a delightful peer and school member. She likes the rainforest because it has lots of animals and the colour green.
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Ciara Bridgland
Ciara grew up on a farm in Victoria and then moved to Cairns with her family when she was five. She has always loved Mother Nature and enjoys the outdoors, meditation, cycling, dancing and people. Ciara is passionate about the environment and understanding change. She has now worked with Conservation Volunteers Australia for 18 months and would like to work in environmental conservation and travel the world.
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Brian Clarke
Brian is originally from Sydney and migrated to Cairns in 1969. During that year he was fortunate to develop a working relationship with a group of remarkable bushmen who were professional crocodile hunters. The following years enabled him to embark on extraordinary wilderness adventures over much of Cape York Peninsula as one of the last professional crocodile hunters who saw out the end of the era. In 1982, before World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics rainforests, he started one of the region’s first interpretive tropical rainforest tour companies which he continues to operate and manage. His profound knowledge and understanding of the Wet Tropics is based on his personal observations, study, experience and interaction. He has been living in the rainforest of Kuranda for the past thirty eight years.
See Brian's website..
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Campbell Clarke
Campbell grew up in Victoria and moved to the Northern Territory in 1986. He worked primarily in outdoor education, tourism, Aboriginal training and land management. In 2000 he moved to Cairns and has worked with the Wet Tropics Management Authority as a planner and in community relations.
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Dr Martin Cohen
Martin has worked as a biologist and wildlife commentator in Australia’s tropics for over 20 years. After completing a PhD in zoology, Martin has concentrated on presenting fascinating information about wildlife and the natural world to people from all walks of life. A renowned writer, photographer and wildlife advocate, Martin is also still involved with research and presents information about wildlife and the tropical environment on television and radio. Based in Cairns, Martin’s extensive experience and knowledge of tropical Australia and its wildlife means that there is no one better to guide people through this mystical world. See Martin's website.
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Bill and Wendy Cooper
Bill and Wendy built their home on the Atherton Tableland in 1987 and have a passion for rainforest flora and fauna. Together they produced their comprehensive and unique ‘Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest’. Wendy is a botanist who wrote the text and devised a system of keys to the tropical rainforest plants using their fruits as the primary means of identification. Bill provided hundreds of detailed illustrations of plants and animals. He was the first Australian to win a prestigious award from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for his ‘artistic contribution to mankind’s better appreciation of living things’. Both Wendy and Bill have received Cassowary Awards to honour their work in the Wet Tropics. See Bill and Wendy's website.
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Bruce Corcoran
Bruce grew up on a cane farm in Aloomba and attended Gordonvale High School where he took a keen interest in biology. When his university studies were completed in Brisbane he returned home to become one of the first truly green farmers in the Mulgrave area. Bruce is passionate about trees, rivers and sustainable farming practices and has worked long and hard to promote conservation amongst farmers and others in the community. For over 10 years he has worked with the local community to rehabilitate the Mulgrave River catchment. This has included river and wetland restoration, weed control and tree planting. His current mission in life is to promote responsible use of the groundwater systems that underpin many Wet Tropics environments. Bruce continues to lead the way as the Coordinator for the Mulgrave Landcare and Catchment Group.
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Anna Curtis
Anna was born in Wangaratta, Victoria, in 1960. She completed a Diploma of Fine Art at Bendigo College of Advanced Education in 1981. She has travelled extensively through Australia and overseas and now lives in tropical north Queensland. Anna has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries around Australia and has won awards for her fine linoprints. Her work is represented in private and public collections. Anna has extensive teaching experience in printmaking, fabric painting, drawing and design.
See Anna's website.
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Daryl Dickson
Daryl was born in London and has lived in Australia since 1961. She was educated and raised in South Australia and has lived in north Queensland since 1993. She now works full-time producing original artworks and a range of wildlife cards and prints. Most recently Daryl completed the illustrations for a children’s book about the endangered mahogany glider. Daryl and her husband, Geoff Moffatt, live in the Kennedy Valley and devote much of their time to caring for injured and orphaned native animals. In 2001 Daryl received an Australia Day Award for her work in environmental education, wildlife rescue and her pioneering work in rearing endangered mahogany gliders. She was honoured with a Cassowary Award in 2008. See Daryl's website.
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Gordon Dixon
Gordon grew up in a coach and transport family and is General Manager of the Down Under Tours Group. He oversees the Cairns and Alice Springs branches and has 20 years of industry experience and professional training. In 2003 Gordon was honoured with the award of ‘Most Outstanding Contribution by an Individual’ at the Tourism Tropical North Queensland Tourism Awards. Gordon’s wife, Helen, is also actively involved in the sales department and together they have three children – Jesse (20), Charlie (18) and Mollie (13). Gordon is also an avid road cyclist. He and his brother, James – a co-director of the business – train regularly with their team to participate in events such as the 250km Victorian ‘Around the Bay in a Day’ race. See Gordon's website.
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Liz Downes
Liz came to north Queensland from the UK in 1970 and found that involvement with local conservation and natural history groups was an excellent way to adjust to a radically new environment. Through the Townsville branch of the Wilderness Preservation Society of Queensland she became involved in many campaigns, including those directly related to rainforest conservation such as the Downey Creek, Kennedy Bay and Cape Tribulation campaigns. Her own experience has taught her the immense value of wilderness and the natural world for our imagination, creativity and artistic lives. Liz is employed at the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library at James Cook University and has two grandsons, Max and Ben, whom she hopes will be able to explore and discover the riches and rewards of the rainforest long into the future.
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Kym Dungey and Jane Whytlaw
Kym and Jane are enthusiastic walkers and keen environmentalists. Their interest in the region and their passion for publishing led them to research and publish books on the walking trails of the region. They hope the books help promote awareness of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Kym and Jane received a Cassowary Award for Nature Based Tourism in 2007.
See Kym and Jane's website.
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Kim Forde
Kim has a degree in Environmental Science and Education and has worked for over 15 years to train and educate infrastructure workers about environmental issues. In 1996 Kim worked on the ‘Code of Practice for Design and Maintenance in the Wet Tropics’ – a joint project between WTMA, the Rainforest CRC and Main Roads. She then developed a ’glovebox’ edition and delivered a training package. In 1998 she also developed the ‘glovebox’ edition of the Electricity Industry Code of Practice (the QESI Code) with John Peeters from Ergon. Kim has also been employed by Stanwell Corporation and now works in her own consultancy business, The Missing Link Resource Coordinators. See Kim's website.
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Dr Clifford and Dr Dawn Frith
Talented writers, photographers, publishers, researchers and nature lovers of the Wet Tropics, Cliff and Dawn have spent 30 years presenting the Wet Tropics to the world. They are world experts on bowerbirds and birds of paradise and have photographed and written books on tropical birds, orchids, butterflies, reptiles and frogs. Initially without external funding, they produced some of the first publications depicting the World Heritage values of the Wet Tropics. Their publications include The Birds of Paradise: Paradisaeidae by Clifford B. Frith and Bruce M. Beehler (1988); The Bowerbirds: Ptilonorhynchidae by Dawn and Clifford Frith (2004); Bowerbirds: Nature, Art & History by Dawn and Clifford Frith (2008); and Australia’s Wet Tropics Rainforest Life by Dawn and Clifford Frith (1992).
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Margaret Genever
Margaret is a professional artist who has lived in the Cairns region for 20 years. For 13 years she was director of programs and lecturer in Visual Arts at James Cook University, Cairns. Her work most often addresses issues of concern to the community and has been shown in many exhibitions (www.margaretgenever.com). As the president of Kuranda Conservation Community Nursery she is deeply engaged with actions which aim to preserve the cassowary and its habitat. See Margaret's website.
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Manraj Ghuman
Manraj is a 10 year old student at Gordonvale State School. Every time she sees rainforest she sees birds, butterflies and lots more. She drew a picture of the rainforest so it would be like seeing the rainforest every day.
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Alan Gillanders
Alan is a wildlife guide and educator. He grew up in rural and remote Queensland and travelled away from home for high school and teachers’ college. Teaching in schools from the far south to the far north of Queensland provided him with access to a variety of extracurricular wildlife activities. He met his wife, Maria, while planting trees. Alan is active in local and national conservation efforts. See Alan's website.
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Andrew Graham
With majors in botany and geology and a Masters degree in plant ecology, Andrew was a CSIRO project scientist working on rainforest ecology in far north Queensland. His research and bushwalking interests led to a Churchill Fellowship in the Pacific Northwest of USA and Canada examining recreation management in World Heritage forests. After leaving CSIRO in 2003 he worked on recreation planning in southeast Queensland until 2006 and then retired. Andrew received a Cassowary Award for Science in 2005.
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Ron Haines
Ron joined the Cairns Bushwalking Club in 1977. In the following years the club grew in membership, scope and social activities. During this time Ron took part in many great walks with the club in the Wet Tropics and further afield. These included a 400km Cape York walk in 1980, the Mossman Falls walk in 1981, a 150km walk from Portland Roads to Moreton Telegraph Station in 1982, and a walk from Mount Lewis via Half Ton Creek and McLeod River to Mount Carbine in the early 1980s. In 1988 Ron was a tour guide at Mossman Gorge and is grateful to the late Charlie McCracken for teaching him about the natural and cultural history of the gorge.
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Dr Rosemary Hill
Rosemary is a senior scientist for CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems in Cairns. She has a background in environmental science and planning, with an emphasis on biodiversity conservation and Indigenous approaches to environmental management in tropical Australia. Rosemary has published over 30 scientific papers in these fields of study. She is a co-author of a book written with Kuku-Yalanji Traditional Owners on Aboriginal fire management which won the Cooperative Research Centres Association National Award for Excellence in Innovation in 2005. Rosemary is a member of IUCN’s World Commissions on Protected Areas and Economic, Social and Environmental Policy and Vice President of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
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Helen and Tony Irvine
Helen and Tony came to Atherton in the early 1970s so Tony could work at CSIRO. Soon after they purchased 2.86ha of a subdivided dairy farm at Mountain View close to Atherton and spent the first year clearing Timber-Lea of rubbish, old rainwater tanks and car bodies. Over the next three decades they converted a tangle of guinea grass, para grass, glycine and lantana into a garden of lawn and predominently north Queensland native trees. As agile wallabies, water dragons, a lace monitor and birds moved in, they were constantly encouraged. It felt like Paradise Lost when Cyclone Larry worked its destruction but their garden is slowly regaining some of its former beauty.
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Dr Betsy Jackes
Betsy has travelled extensively and completed a PhD in botany at the University of Chicago. She has taught plant ecology and systematics at the University of New England, University of Queensland, James Cook University and Illinois State University. She has been awarded a number of scholarships including a Fulbright post-graduate award, and recently a Cassowary Award for Science in 2006. She has written a number of books on plants of the north, particularly ones for use by members of the public interested in plants.
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Rhys Jones
Rhys is a student at Bentley Park College. When he looks at the rainforest it makes him feel like going for a hike. Rhys says it’s breathtaking and you get to see lots of plants, vines, trees and animals. It is a good place to draw with its many waterfalls, rivers and reptiles.
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Karanba (Bennett Walker)
Kuku Yalanji elder, Karanba, was born in Mossman in 1948 to Wilma Buchanan and Norman Walker. Karanba spent his first 15 years at the Daintree Mission until Norman fell ill and Karanba took over his job at the Daintree slaughteryards to support the family. He did not have the opportunity to return to school, but he went on to manage cane farms around the Daintree and Mossman districts for many years, during which time he also married Louise. In 1983 he began 18 years of employment as a much valued ranger with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Today, Karanba works closely with his children, Linc, Brandon, Larissa and Juan, in their Cooya Beach business, Yaba Yabaju (Cultural Habitat Tours), and spends as much time as he can with his many grandchildren.
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Dr Aila Keto
Aila co-authored the 1984 report on the conservation values of the tropical rainforests of north Queensland that led to the listing of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area. She co-authored the nomination with Dr Keith Scott and is recognised for her expertise in World Heritage matters. She led the national campaign for protection and listing of the Area.
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John Lane
John was in Cairns for some years from the early 1990s. He worked with the Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy Taskforce and then with the Wet Tropics Management Authority where he was involved with implementing the Daintree Rescue Program and later the Wet Tropics Management Plan. He has been a keen bushwalker since his teenage years. His favourite walking haunts are southern Tasmania, the Southern Alps of New Zealand, the Australian Alps and the Wet Tropics. He currently lives in Brisbane.
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Jeremy Little
Jeremy is originally from Sydney and has spent the last 11 years in the Wet Tropics. He completed a science degree in ecology at Wollongong University with Honours in fire and landscape ecology. He also holds graduate certificates in photography and public sector management. Jeremy has spent 10 years working for the National Parks Services in New South Wales and Queensland on bushfire research and biodiversity surveys and as a ranger. He is currently completing a PhD at James Cook University on the impacts of climate change on fire and forest boundaries in the Wet Tropics. In his spare time he works closely with local conservation groups and likes to make time for bushwalking, camping, exploring, adventuring, photography, spirituality, music and friends.
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Robert Marshall
Robert was born in Western Australia but, until recently, lived in South Australia where he studied art. Robert has travelled much of Australia observing wildlife and its habitats. His eye for detail has led him to paint. Robert has settled in north Queensland because he loves the rainforest and its wildlife and he has since discovered a diverse range of habitats within easy reach. His ability to accurately portray wildlife comes from extensive research on the subject before he starts a painting. Robert uses oil paint over acrylic washes on primed watercolour paper.
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Bill Mason
Bill has been a student at Wonga Beach State School since 2006 and is a valued and respected member of the school. He thinks that the rainforest is an awesome, wondrous and spectacular place.
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Jessica Moore
Jessica is a student at Bentley Park College. She thinks that the rainforest is an inspiring place when you look at it. It is a magnificent area of trees and wildlife – one of the most wonderful things in life.
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Murrai (Ann Wonga)
Murrai is a Yidinji elder who has been a committed volunteer at the Babinda Visitor Centre for over 10 years. She has personally contributed to the greater natural and spiritual understanding of the region through guided walks and sharing information with scientists and educators. Murrai is the last of her clan and, therefore, feels it important to share her knowledge of Aboriginal lore with others. Her commitment to World Heritage Area values through her volunteering is unparalleled. Murrai published Bunna Binda – Babinda Stories in 2008.
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David Nelson
David is the chairman of the Management Committee of Ravenshoe Visitor Centre and has been a willing volunteer there for many years. He is also a delegate to the annual Queensland Information Centres Association. David and his partner, Anne, moved to Ravenshoe in 1996 after 15 years of running pubs in Papua New Guinea and they set up The Pond Cottage B&B on Tully Falls Road, Ravenshoe. David has been president of the Bed and Breakfast and Farmstay Association of Far North Queensland since 2002.
See the Ravenshoe Visitor Centre website.
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Steven Nowakowski
Steven is a professional photographer who specialises in Australian wilderness. His collection also includes images of environmental destruction and degradation, along with conservation initiatives to preserve and protect our dwindling wilderness. Steven has his own photographic publishing business in Cairns and publishes wilderness posters, postcards, bookmarks, calendars and photographic prints. In 2003 Steven launched a wonderfully elegant and powerful photographic art book about Hinchinbrook Island. In 2004 he worked with the Kuku Yalanji people on a book promoting Aboriginal culture and fire management. During 2005 and 2006 Steven was invited to perform photographic assignments in Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea highlighting the development of the Millenium Development Goals. See Steven's website.
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Mike Prociv
Countless numbers of Mike’s photographs have been reproduced in a wide variety of publications, bringing Wet Tropics wildlife and landscapes to prominence. In 2006 Mike commenced publishing a series of his own books about the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The first won the Queensland Multimedia Awards and the second was taken up as a high school text, which for Mike is his greatest personal achievement. He now looks forward to producing more books to further showcase the beauty and natural history of this very special corner of the Australian continent.
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John Rainbird
Born and raised in South Africa, John now lives in Kuranda with his artist wife, Fiona, and two girls, Ruby and Jorgie. His passions include bringing people together to progress conservation and sustainability, natural history, art, photography, music and his family. He has served on the WTMA board and was coordinator of Cairns and Far North Environment Centre for five years. He currently works for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
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Buck Richardson
After pursuing a professional career in Adelaide, Canberra and Brisbane, Buck ‘dropped in’ to live in Kuranda with his partner, Eve Stafford, in 1980. They built their own timber-framed house in the rainforest. Buck has published an annual calendar since 2004 featuring images from Buck’s Backyard. He has also published two illustrated children’s books, a travelogue and a well-reviewed analysis of the Lindy Chamberlain case - Dingo Innocent. Clearly his current passion is mothology which can be found at www.leapfrogoz.com.au. Buck has exhibited his moth-based art in ten exhibitions since 2005. See Buck's website.
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Phil Rist
Phil is a Nywaigi Traditional Owner who for over 20 years has raised the awareness of traditional knowledge in the southern Wet Tropics. He is one of the founding members of the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation and works to help Traditional Owners coordinate management of their land and sea country. As the Chief Executive Officer of the Girringun Corporation, his patience, articulation and teaching style has helped government agencies understand Aboriginal cultural issues. Phil was instrumental in the signing of the Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreement and setting up the Cardwell Indigenous Ranger Unit. He received a Cassowary Award for Ranforest Aboriginal Culture in 2006.
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Rupert Russell
Working in a north Queensland sawmill using logs from a rainforest, Rupert saw waste occurring daily, yet he supposed the Forestry Department was overseeing a sustainable operation. Then, about 1979, Rupert heard the ABC’s Science Show play the soundtrack of Give Trees a Chance, a documentary by Jeni Kendell and Paul Tait on the logging of big trees at Terania Creek. The documentary prompted him to start asking questions of Queensland’s forestry officers. Their answers were so unsatisfactory that he could no longer remain passive. In those days road-making and logging on Windsor Tableland was at its peak, so in 1981 Rupert initiated a picket of loggers on the road to Windsor. Later he joined the 1983 and 1984 blockades on the road to Bloomfield, graduating as a greenie – an epithet he is fond of because the same description is used for the cheerful scaly-breasted lorikeets.
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Steve Russell
Steve has been an active force behind cassowary conservation in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area for over a decade. He was a member and interim chair of the Community Consultative Committee and a member of the Wet Tropics Cassowary Advisory Group for seven years, five as the chair. Steve’s tenacity and expertise in local government and community understanding has helped him rally to decrease cassowary deaths on roads and limit the destruction of their habitat through urban development across the Wet Tropics region. He has also implemented and financed a number of cassowary projects in the Mission Beach area and is an ongoing sponsor of the Young Cassowary Awards. He received a Cassowary Award in 2005. Steve lives a reclusive life at Mission Beach with his wife, Meredith, where they operate a small tourism venture.
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Allen Sheather
Allen has been a dedicated and enthusiastic worker with the Daintree Cassowary Care Group and Daintree Rainforest Foundation for over 15 years. He has spent endless hours organising and implementing revegetation works around the Daintree and Mossman areas. Allen has been a member of various WTMA advisory groups for many years and currently chairs the Cassowary Advisory Group. Allen and his partner, Barbara Maslen, are currently replanting rainforest and rehabilitating wetlands on their Daintree property, Wild Wings and Swampy Things Nature Refuge. See Allen's website.
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George Skeene
George grew up in two Aboriginal Camps and Reserves in Cairns from 1948 to 1959. He is a descendant of the Yirrganydji, Wakaman and Birri Gia tribes. In 1998 George travelled to Germany and researched Aboriginal artefacts from the Cairns area, collected during the 19th century and stored in museums across Germany. In 2003 George received a Cassowary Award as an Unsung Hero for documenting his culture. He currently volunteers at the Cairns Historical Society, schools and James Cook University, and still works with government agencies for the betterment of the Yirrganydji people. In September 2008 he published his biography – ‘Two Cultures: Children from the Aboriginal Camps and Reserves in Cairns City’.
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Claire Souter
Claire was born in Toowoomba Queensland in 1950, but grew up in the mallee scrub outside of Dimboola in rural Victoria. She moved to Cairns with her husband in 2002, having already established herself as an artist in the south, exhibiting her work widely over the last 20 years. Claire’s paintings and exhibitions are a continual reflection of her personal life which has involved family life (3 children), women’s issues, spiritual themes and a close observance of the natural world. She has received numerous awards for her work. She has also lectured in visual arts at TAFE for many years. Claire has found inspiration in the plants and animals of the tropical rainforest and now runs her own gallery in Kuranda.
See Claire's website.
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Peter Stanton
Peter was born in Brisbane in April 1940. In a career with the Queensland Forestry Department he worked in north Queensland intermittently from 1960 to 1975. In 1979, two years after joining the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, he took up residence in Cairns. After retiring from the service in 1997 he has, together with his son, David, spent a large part of his time working with the Wet Tropics Management Authority to produce vegetation maps of the Wet Tropics bioregion, a task now completed. He is currently working as a land manager with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
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Shane Starr and Liam Wrigley
Shane and Liam are in Grade 7 at Kuranda District State College. They drew their picture to show the flora and fauna that many people outside the Wet Tropics don’t get to experience.
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Margaret Thorsborne
Margaret and her late husband, Arthur, have long been champions of the natural environment in the Wet Tropics, including the campaigns for Cape Tribulation and Oyster Point on Hinchinbrook Channel. They co-wrote ‘Hinchinbrook Island: the land time forgot’ and the Thorsborne Trail is named for Arthur. Margaret and Arthur initiated the annual counts of pied imperial pigeons on the Brook Islands over 40 years ago. For services to conservation, two mosses, a crab, a spider and a vine have been named for them. Margaret lives in a recycled cottage in the wetlands and rainforest near Meunga Creek, handed over as part of Edmund Kennedy National Park. She is a patron of the Wildlife Preservation Society (WPS) of Queensland and has received numerous awards including the ACF Peter Rawlinson Award in 1995, the inaugural Serventy Award of the WPS of Australia in 1998, a Cassowary Award in 1999 and the Queensland Natural History Award in 2006.
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Kerry Trapnell
Kerry is a documentary photographer who has worked in northern Australia for many years. His major body of work has a strong focus on the Cape York Peninsula region where he has photographed the landscapes and documented the lives of local people. Kerry has extensively photographed the landscapes of the Wet Tropics and recently documented the final year of growing tobacco in north Queensland. He is currently photographing for a book on the Mitchell River.
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Mike Trenerry
Growing up in Cairns, Mike developed a keen interest in ecology and photography. After various jobs and a stint as a tour guide he began work at the Environmental Protection Agency where he still works assessing development proposals. Mike’s natural history photos have appeared in more than 200 books and other publications worldwide – in posters, postcards, bookmarks, newspapers, magazines, brochures and advertising. His photos include now extinct species and the first photos of particular Wet Tropics animals. Mike has assisted in the discovery and description of new species and published scientific papers in a variety of fields. He is a generalist with expertise in disciplines such as aquatic ecology and terrestrial vertebrate animals. His other interests include tropical fruits, fish, biogeography and climate.
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Nigel Tucker
Nigel was born and raised on the Atherton Tableland and educated at the University of Queensland and James Cook University. He worked as a field assistant to CSIRO rainforest ecologist, Geoff Tracey, before joining the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service in 1984. Up until 2003 he managed the QPWS Lake Eacham Nursery where he was involved in a number of rainforest restoration projects in close cooperation with the community tree-planting group, Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands (TREAT). In 2003 he left the public service and is now the Principal of Biotropica Australia, an environmental consultancy based on the Atherton Tableland. Nigel received a Cassowary Award in 1999. See Nigel's website.
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Linda Venn
Linda grew up mostly in Townsville. Trips to the mountains as a teenager were the beginning of a life-long interest in the Mt Spec area and its wildlife, vegetation and cultural heritage. Upon graduating as a teacher in 1973, Linda married her childhood sweetheart, Bill, and moved for five years to Longreach. They returned to Townsville in the late 1970s and bought the Ivy Cottage Tearooms in Paluma as a family business in 1981. They ran it for five years until the first of their two sons arrived. In 2000 Linda became the Principal at Paluma Environmental Education Centre. She was involved in ground-truthing the World Heritage boundaries around Paluma and has now completed two terms on WTMA’s Community Consultative Committee. Linda received a Cassowary Award in the Unsung Hero category in 2008.
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