© QUT 1998 Produced by QUT Publications 170480 2875
SUMMER 1998/99 Volume 2 Number 5
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• Bill Robinson: extraordinary landscapes, extraordinary life
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• All our Outstanding Alumni
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• Merrilee Melville – Townsville Business Woman of the Year
Bruce Alvey, Helen Angelos, Nicholas Assaf, Kaylene Baker, Peter Ballin, Ramani Balarajah, Terence Booth, Paul Brown, Matthew Bulat, Philip Cameron, David Cantwell, Leith Careless, Andy Chen, Richard Coggins, Valerie Colaso, Bradley Colledge, Malcolm Cope, Brian Cordiner, Sherry Corfield, Noel Covey, Edwin Davis, Brian Durrand, Raylee Elliott, Michael Enders, Garth Everson, Steven Friedrichs, Ian Froome, Pat Galligan, Stephen Gapsa, Simone Garske, Bruce Gaylor, Lurline Gedge, Peter Hadgraft, Laureen Harris, Denis Henricks, Patricia Hersant, Ching-Yeun Huang,
Glenda Hunter, Graeme Hyland, Paul Inglis, Eunice Isles,
Kathrine Jacobsen,
Francine Johnson, Ruth Kerr, Richard Klysz, Sandra Law, Audrey Lawrie, Mark Le Pla, Simon Letizia, Carmel Lindsay, Theo Livanos, Gregory Lowe, David Lutz, Jonathan Martin, Peter May, Eleanor McDonnell, Lee McLean, Leith Meyers, Carmel Mischlewski, Anthony Morton, Michael Murphy, Gary Nash, Robert Neilsen, John Nelson, Lynette Nicholson, Peter Noakes, Rowland Noakes, Sharon Norris, Valerie Parkin, Peter Pemble-Smith, Lisa Pendall, John Purcell, David Rankin, Vadim Ribinsky, James Rice, Esma Ross, Geoff Rowbotham, Beverley Ruscoe,
Supakit Sakarindr, Craig Schloman,
Michael Shackley, Keith Smart, Joy Smith, Glenice Spender, Brian Stanway, David Stewart, Delma Stollznow, Mollie Strong, Mitsuharu Terada,
Jonathan Tunny, Louisa Van De Meene,
Leesa Watkin, Geoffrey Wheeler, Diana Whitaker, Bronwyn White, Merla Wollstein and all those who gave but wish to remain anonymous.
ALUMNI FUNDALUMNI FUND
The QUT Foundation would like to thank the following The QUT Foundation would like to thank the following people who generously contributed to the 1998
people who generously contributed to the 1998 Alumni Fund:
Alumni Fund:
Many thanks, your donations have helped to:
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• provide bursaries for socially and financially disadvantaged students;
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• build the university’s endowment fund which will provide for university priorities in the future; and
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• further develop library collections and services.
Contact:
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alumni@qut.edu.au Thank you for making your cheque payable to:
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QUT’s deep roots
http://www.qut.edu.au
A university for the real world
QUT recently announced the winners of the 1998 Outstanding Alumni Awards. I was delighted to congratulate overall winner Dale Gilbert and the individual award winners from each faculty.
These awards represent significant milestones in the careers of these alumni and this is a great annual celebration.
Next year QUT will celebrate a great milestone of its own – the 10th anniversary of the founding of the university, and the 150th anniversary of our earliest predecessor institution, the Brisbane School of Arts.
For 150 years the different educational institutions that eventually became QUT have served business, industry and government with great distinction, and our alumni have notched up historical achievements in many diverse fields.
The Outstanding Alumni Awards winners reflect the diversity of QUT and its predecessor institutions. They include people of vastly different ages and professional backgrounds, who have achieved success in their chosen occupations.
This year’s winners, and winners from past years, are testimony to the enduring success of both older programs such as optometry and chemistry, and relatively recent courses, such as those in law and the performing arts.
QUT competes against established universities that count many of the country's political, scientific and business elite as their alumni.
But this young university’s roots are deep, and our alumni more than hold their own.
Professor Dennis Gibson Vice-Chancellor
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Coming up...
1 1
Bill Robinson - a serious artist with a twinkle in his eye
2 2
QUT’s 10 - 150 Anniversary Celebrations
In brief...
4 4
Alumni who have made their mark in 1998
5 5
Stakes are high in Brett’s globetrotting work
Dilrika has a passion for pollution control
6 6
Alumni’s Singaporean software company has soared
Janet’s career in counselling has given her new direction
7 7
Transport Minister’s vision for quality of life
8
Optometrist, businesswoman Merrilee gives back to the community
10 10
Nuno is the toast of the town
11 11
Last word...
CONTENTS
Cover and opposite page:
William Robinson, Eagle Landscape 1987, oil on canvas, QUT art collection.
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b y C o l l e e n R y a n C l u r
C
elebrated Queensland artist William Robinson is well known for the ironic portraits he has submitted for the prestigious Archibald Prize.In 1987 he won with Equestrian Self- Portrait. The work was a parody of this artistic style and, in submitting it, Bill Robinson was also taking a gentle dig at the ritual Archibald exhibition held annually in Sydney.
This 62-year-old QUT alumnus and former teacher at the university has a humorous side, but at heart he is a serious man whose passion for preserving the bush finds full expression in his acclaimed, distinctive landscapes, for which he has twice won the Wynne prize.
He regards his Archibald submissions, which have won on two occasions, as diversions – wry reflections on the nonsense of pomp and ceremony.
Six years ago Bill entered the Archibald with a portrait of his brother, University of Sydney academic
Professor John Robinson, in his academic gown and the artist in his dressing gown. The portrait made a statement about honorary degrees, and the joke might now be on the artist – in September he received an honorary doctorate from QUT.
Bill laughed when reminded of this portrait, and conceded that he had expressed reservations when the
prospect of the honorary degree was first raised with him.
“I did resist, but on reflection I realised that the honour was important and something I could not refuse. To have done so would have been a great discourtesy,” he said.
Bill’s regard for his QUT links is genuine, and he has a similar respect for the institution which has endured his jabs – the Archibald and the artistic establishment which it represents.
“The Archibald is the best-attended show in Sydney. It has been criticised by various groups, but it’s an important tradition which should continue,” he said.
Bill’s comments help explain this artist, teacher and pianist. He has chosen, as all artists do, to stand back and offer a commentary on the world.
But he has also been profoundly involved in the world and in life, particularly as a teacher.
He graduated from the Central Technical College in 1956 and taught at a number of QUT’s predecessor institutions until he retired in 1989 to become a full-time artist.
He said he had enjoyed teaching.
“I like working with young people because they have humour. As I got older, we used to joke more,” he mused,
“but I have no regrets about giving up teaching.”
He paints at his two studios, one in the mountains in Queensland, and one at the sea in New South Wales.
Accepting the honorary doctorate and giving the graduation address, Bill made particular mention of his wife Shirley, whom he met at the Central Technical College, and his children,
“who helped produce this artist”.
“I like working with young people because they have humour.”
Bill Robinson with then Acting Chancellor, Mr Lionel Ledlie AM.
Collections of his works
are held by the state galleries in each of the major states, as well as Canberra’s National Gallery and Parliament House, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. QUT has one of the largest public collections of his work – 23 paintings, drawings, prints and ceramics, many of which he donated.
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In brief...
DEBORAH MAILMAN RADIATES SUCCESS
QUT drama graduate Deborah Mailman has won the 1998 Australian Film Institute’s Best Actress Award for her role in the widely acclaimed film Radiance.
“Deborah carries joy around with her,” said head of acting at QUT’s Academy of Arts Dianne Eden.
“She turned up at auditions and her presence stunned us all. We grabbed her with gusto and she became a leader in her class,”
said Ms Eden.
Other QUT Academy of the Arts graduates are also on a roll. Plum roles have been landed by Paul Bishop (in Blue Heelers), Kelly Cawley (Home and Away), Sam Healy (All Saints, Wildside), Wayne Blair (Wildside), James Stewart, Hseuh-Ling Tang, Louise Crawford (Breakers) Gigi Edgley (Day of the Roses, Kill Everything You Love), and T’mara Buckmaster and Sally Strecker (Water Rats). T’mara In 1999, QUT will
celebrate 10 years as a university, but its origins go back to the
beginnings of vocational and technological education in Queensland from the mid-1800s. The different institutions that eventually became QUT have evolved in the city of Brisbane beside, and serving the needs of, business, industry and government over 150 years.
To celebrate our anniversary, a program of enhanced regular and special events is planned, some of which will be of particular interest to alumni.
Calendar highlights include:
• April to May: Australian and international graduation ceremonies.
• May: QUT history book launch.
• June to November: Alumni events associated with the QUT Academy of the Arts production of “Cosi”.
• June to September: QUT history photographic exhibition at the Queensland Museum.
• August: Science and Technology train.
• September: Outstanding Alumni Awards.
• November: An anniversary lecture to commemorate the inaugural lecture at the Brisbane School of the Arts in 1849.
• Some major capital works at Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses will be opened in 1999 and exciting events are being organised by faculties.
An updated program will be available in the next issue of QUT Links.
QUT’s 10 -150 Anniversary Celebrations
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has also recently finished filming Jane Campion’s new film Holy Smoke with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel.
ARTISTS EXCEL
Five of QUT’s leading art graduates are benefiting from overseas and local study after securing top scholarships.
A 1998 winner of a Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship, visual arts honours graduate Chris Howlett, was awarded a
$30,000, 12-month scholarship to study at the California Institute of Arts.
A 1999 Samstag
Scholarship has been awarded to 1997 visual arts honours graduate Peter Alwast.
Visual arts graduate and keen lithographer Dian Darmansjah has secured an internship with the Tamarind Institute at the University of New Mexico.
Lecturer in visual arts Jill Barker has received the Australia Council’s Visual Arts/Craft Fund Barcelona Studio Residency.
Master of Arts graduate Margaret Baguley is spending a month at Arthur Boyd’s Bundanoon Estate in New South Wales.
CARSELDINE UPGRADE QUT’s Carseldine campus is set to be refurbished and extended following the recent approval by the university’s Council of a $23 million development plan.
The university’s northern- most campus will also soon have its own Pro-Vice- Chancellor for at least two years during the upgrade,
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which will see the capacity at Carseldine rise to around 2,500 students over the coming five years.
SPRING START A FIRST QUT has become the State’s only public university to introduce an October intake for its international students, allowing entry for some courses after the end of the northern hemisphere academic year.
The October start has been offered to international students wanting to
complete diploma and degree courses in business and information technology as well as the MBA program.
International students will also be eligible to enrol in QUT International College’s English language programs.
FIRST ‘FRIENDS’ VOLUNTEER QUT is on the look out for “friends” and has officially appointed its first two.
The search is part of a new initiative called the QUT Friends program, where people are offered
opportunities to contribute meaningfully to the current and future activities of the university in a voluntary capacity.
Program co-ordinator Emeritus Professor Ron Gardiner said the functions of Friends might include organising alumni and former staff reunions, compiling alumni-related databases, contributing to course development, mentoring students and assisting those with special problems.
Professor Gardiner said the aim of the program – the brainchild of Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson – was to match the skills, interests and availability of participants with a range of university activities.
Architect and town planner Basil Veal and landscape architect George Williams, close associates of the university, have become the first of QUT’s newly accredited Friends.
More information on the QUT Friends program can be found at http://
www.qut.edu.au/draa/friends or by phoning (07) 3864 2821.
FUN RUN PROVES POPULAR A record 632 runners took part in the annual QUT 10km Fun Run at the end of September. This was twice as many as in 1997.
Organised by the QUT Student Guild, this year’s event raised more than
$1,200 for Queensland’s paralympians.
Runners received a free breakfast and a T-shirt supplied by sponsors SSL Education Services.
PROFESSOR EYES OFF AWARD The School of
Optometry’s Associate Professor Dr Jan Lovie- Kitchin is to be awarded the prestigious 1998 Garland W.
Clay Award from the American Academy of Optometry, the world’s largest optometry organisation, for a paper published in its journal Optometry and Vision Science.
The paper explored ways of improving the reading
performance of people with age-related eye diseases by increasing magnification beyond that usually recommended.
Dr Lovie-Kitchin, who wrote the paper with colleague Professor Stephen Whittaker from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, will receive her award at the end of 1998.
HONORARY DOCTORATES ANNOUNCED
Artist, graduate and former staff member Bill Robinson was one of three people to receive honorary doctorates recently from QUT.
An honorary doctorate was also presented to Taiwanese dancing legend Tsai Jui-yueh for her
distinguished service to dance, the community, QUT and to academic scholarship.
A doctorate was also awarded to former Australian Research Council head Professor Max Brennan.
EMERITUS PROFESSOR NAMED Outgoing head of QUT’s School of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Medical Engineering Professor Walter Wong was recently given the title Professor Emeritus.
Professor Wong will soon take up his appointment as vice-chancellor of a new university in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.
CALL FOR WOMEN ENGINEERS A QUT researcher and academic says the anti- affirmative action movement and the rejection of political correctness is having a serious effect on the employment
culture and, consequently, the number of women entering and remaining in engineering.
As a result, Faculty of Built Environment and
Engineering lecturer Deborah Messer said the National Women in Engineering Committee of the Institution of Engineers Australia had established a Careers Review of Women in Engineering which will examine the career paths of female professional engineers.
Ms Messer said the project was seeking to locate women graduate engineers to assist them in their research. For further details, call (07) 3864 2849 or (07) 3864 5317.
ALUMNI RELATIONS UNIT COMMENDED
The Alumni Relations Unit of QUT’s Development Office won through to the finals in three categories of the National Association of Development and Alumni Professionals in Education (ADAPE) Awards.
QUT was a finalist for the 1998 publication award, Tertiary Alumni Community Magazine, for QUT Links, and the alumni community award for the Central Technical College (CTC) Reunion, which was held earlier in 1998.
The Gardens Point Cultural Precinct brochure also made the national finals.
The ADAPE awards were presented at the biennial national conference held in September. A certificate of commendation was presented to the Alumni Relations Unit for the CTC Reunion.
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Alumni who have made their mark in 1998
QUT’s Outstanding Alumni Award winner for 1998 is leading Queensland public sector engineer Dale Gilbert.
The award is an initiative of QUT Convocation/Alumni, and nominations come from members of the university and the wider community. Nominees are measured against set criteria on the basis of alumni
contributions to the local, state, national and international community.
D
ale Gilbert – who over his professional career has built a considerable reputation in the area of sustainable development – is a leader in the areas of energy management and building health.A 1971 graduate from the former Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT), in 1992 Dale Gilbert became the only engineer in Australia to have won a World Health Organisation Fellowship.
His work in solving indoor air quality problems led to his appointment as chairperson of the National Building Health Environment Task Group in 1989. Dale was then elected the inaugural chairperson of the National Indoor Air Quality Group of the Clean Air Forum.
Dale is currently part of a
collaborative research project with QUT’s Environmental Aerosol Laboratory that is looking at the exposure and health risk assessment of occupants of Brisbane houses to airborne pollutants.
Dale’s research, working with senior lecturer Dr Lidia Morawska, has attracted Australian Research Council (ARC) Strategic Partnership Industry Research and Training (SPIRT) funding.
Addressing a recent Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering seminar, Dale outlined the State Government’s moves to make public buildings, such as schools, more ecologically sustainable.
QUT research into areas such as air pollution and alternative lighting sources had potential to save thousands of dollars in the working and capital costs of business and government, he said.
He said it was essential that
government, communities and industry – including universities – came to a consensus about the need for
environmental sustainability in buildings and found ways to achieve this.
Other faculty winners at this year’s award include:
Arts: Tracey Carrodus, a professional dancer since graduating from QUT in 1991, has spent six years with the Expressions Dance Company under the direction of Maggi Sietsma and is currently with the Sydney
Outstanding alumnus for 1998 Dale Gilbert.
Dance Company. Tracey has toured throughout Australia and performed in Germany, India and Papua New Guinea.
Business: Len Scanlan, who graduated from QIT in 1975 with a Bachelor of Business, has carved out a distinguished career as a Queensland public sector auditor and, since 1997, has been the State’s Auditor-General.
Len is a past president of the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants.
Health: Colin Waldron, who completed his Diploma in Applied Science (Optometry) at QIT in 1968, is a partner in Waldrons Optometrists. He was named Queensland Optometrist of the Year in 1996 by his peers in the Australian Optometrical Association (See Last Word, page 11).
Information Technology:
Associate Professor James
McGover n completed his Bachelor of Applied Science (Computing) at QIT in 1980 and since then has practised as a computing professional and
academic, specialising in programming, systems analysis and project
management. He is Associate Professor of Computing at RMIT.
Law: Associate Professor Brian Fitzgerald, Dean of the Law School at Southern Cross University, graduated from QIT with a Bachelor of Laws in 1989. He has subsequently worked in the High Court for then Mr Justice William Deane (who is now Governor- General), completed studies at Oxford and Harvard and published widely in the areas of law and computer technology developments.
Science and special award for professional excellence: Nuno D’Aquino (See story on Nuno, page 10).
“As a manager, I work through people and always try to see the big picture of where we should be in the future.”
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W
orking at a fast pace overseas as an expert evaluating oil and gas wells has become a way of life for QUT graduate Brett Schafer.A Bachelor of Applied Science graduate, Brett has worked in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands, and before the end of the year he will take up a new position in Islamabad, Pakistan, as a district manager.
Brett graduated from QUT in 1990 (physics major and micro-electronics sub-major), and his first job out of university was with a Coles supermarket as a cash clerk.
“It was when a manager asked what do I really do and I said that I was a physicist, that I was stung into actually looking for a job,” Brett said.
The careers department at QUT was his first approach and, luckily, the office
had received a recruitment fax from BPB Wireline Services the day before.
“Two days later I had an interview, three days later I had a job, four days later I started work and 10 days later I was over 1,000 kms away from home, in outback Queensland, working at a mining location,” Brett said.
A year later he was promoted to the oil field exploration department and began his travels abroad.
His job as senior field engineer involves running measurement tools into oil and gas wells on a cable.
“All this sounds deceivingly simple but when you consider putting a computerised digital measurement tool worth $1million five kilometres underground at 150 degrees Celsius, then the problems go up exponentially,”
Brett said.
“Pressures can be immense due to the sheer costs involved in the pursuit of oil and gas reserves, but with planning and good management, most jobs pass uneventfully and you get a deep satisfaction of a job well done.”
Stakes are high in Brett’s globetrotting work
Dilrika has a passion for pollution control
H
aving researched first-hand the effects of water pollution and biological wastewater treatment, civil engineer Dr Dilrika Abeysinghe is determined to enlist the hearts and minds of children to change the future.Buoyed with a love of the environment and a dedication to stem pollution, QUT graduate Dilrika is teaching pollution control and conservation.
“I firmly believe that solutions to most of the environmental problems lie in pollution control and pollution prevention.
“Environmental education can serve as a foundation to carry this out,” she said.
Dilrika, originally from Sri Lanka where she studied to become a civil engineer, completed her PhD in 1996 at QUT and is now based at
Northwestern University in Illinois Dr Dilrika Abeysinghe with baby son Dilina.
where she has become an active member of several US environmental and public education programs.
In a bid to turn the environmental tide, she recently joined a team of consultants to develop a 10-day water-environmental curriculum for US high schools.
Taking a break from her full-time career to be with her one-year old son, Dilrika said she takes her son to public education events in which she
participates, because motherhood is her
“current first priority”.
Dilrika was offered a scholarship from the Australian Government to complete her PhD at QUT’s School of Civil Engineering.
In her thesis, she developed a biofiltration system to remove nutrients from waters to prevent algae blooms.
She then took a research scientist position at Northwestern University.
“At the moment, I am taking a career break to be with my son at home.
Not a complete break – I still continue my research work from home.”
b y N o e l G e n t n e r a n d A m a n d a O ’ C h e e
Brett Schafer.
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b y N o e l G e n t n e r a n d P h i l l i p p a H a n r i c k
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bsolutely passionate is the only way to describe how Moses Hee feels about his work as a partner, director and systems analyst of a medical software company in Singapore.Mr Hee interrupted his working career in Singapore to study at QUT and in 1981 he graduated with a Bachelor of Information Technology.
He said he chose to study at QUT because it offered him the best combination of subjects and teaching.
Since his return to Singapore he has helped develop Corporation Computer into one of the market leaders of the medical informatics industry in Singapore.
“In 10 years we have progressed from a DOS-based system to successfully implementing Windows versions for clinics and medical centres, called Clinic Manager on Windows.
“The system has on-line, interactive, knowledge-based capabilities that detect various drug interactions and contra- indications and provide allergy warnings.
“Our new system even incorporates electronic case notes, is Internet and e-mail embedded and has electronic procurement (eCommerce) and many other features,” he said.
Corporation Computer now has two teams of workers developing software – a medical and a non-medical team.
Other medical products marketed by the company include Pharmacy Mgr for pharmacy dispensaries and Lab Mgr for recording laboratory results. Mr Hee’s company also takes on turnkey projects, such as inventory warehousing systems.
Mr Moses has a special management philosophy that has contributed to the success of the company.
“I treasure every contribution and failure with my team and most importantly, we work like a family where every single person is well respected and appreciated for their contribution,” he said.
Mr Hee started out as an employee of the company, but six months before he came to QUT he became a partner.
Alumni’s Singaporean software company has soared
Janet’s career in counselling has given her new direction
N
early 30 years after qualifying as a teacher at Kelvin Grove College of Advanced Education, a woman with a passion for helping others returned to QUT to set off in another career direction – counselling.Describing herself as “the second oldest in the class of ’91”, Ms Janet Ham enrolled for a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in Human Service.
Janet experienced no difficulties as a mature age student and enjoyed “being back at uni”.
“There were some school leavers in the course, and we got on really well.
“I still meet with some of those young people that I got to know, and it is just fabulous.”
After the first two years of study, Janet experienced ill health, but that did
not deter her and she finished the course part-time over the next three years.
Even before she graduated, Janet began working in counselling.
“I always had an interest in people and what makes them tick,” she said.
Janet teamed up with a friend and opened a counselling practice from a shop front at Kelvin Grove.
The business proved successful and, after a while, she decided to branch out on her own. Today she has her own private practice.
She deals with people who have suffered abuse or trauma and also conducts recovery group sessions.
“From my point of view you have to offer yourself long-term, you can’t deal with these sorts of problems on a short term basis.
“If a client wants something short and quick for immediate relief then I offer it, but to me that is only ‘band aid’
therapy, and they get into trouble further down the track,” Janet said.
Client demand, according to Janet,
“ebbs and flows with some weeks quiet and other weeks very busy”.
Janet Ham.
Moses Hee.
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Queensland’s Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Steve Bredhauer.
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A
s a student, Steve Bredhauer spent one of his vacations stuffing carregistration certificates into envelopes at the Department of Main Roads.
Twenty years later, Steve leads the Department as Queensland’s Minister for Transport and Main Roads.
The for mer teacher and graduate of Kelvin Grove College of Advanced Education – a predecessor institution to QUT – is one of three QUT associates to have marked political milestones this year.
Two former QUT staff members took their first leap into Federal Parliament at the October election.
Former QUT Justice Studies lecturer Brett Mason was successfully elected as a Liberal Party Senator, while marketing graduate and former QUT Student Guild welfare director Bernie Ripoll was elected to the Federal seat of Oxley, for the Australian Labor Party.
Steve was first elected in 1989, to the seat of Cook in Far North
Queensland. By then, he had worked as a physical education teacher and a regional organiser for the Queensland Teachers’ Union.
Soon after taking on his new portfolio under the Labor Beattie Government, Steve, who had been Shadow Education Minister from 1996 to 1998, told his Department of his commitment to social justice and vowed to improve access to public transport.
“Transport and Main Roads is often seen as an economic or infrastructure portfolio, but a particular focus of mine will be to look at the social justice issues that are involved in Transport and Main Roads,” he said.
“I’m talking about quality of life, the quality of the environment, particularly in terms of air quality, and about such things as providing people with access, not just to employment, but also to other services, be they medical, educational, recreational and a wide range of community pursuits.
“We need to be single-minded in the pursuit of getting more people on to public transport, or cycling and walking instead of using cars.
“This means we’ve got to have transport services that meet the needs of the community.”
Senator-elect Brett Mason, 36, is an honours graduate in law and a barrister by profession.
Brett has worked at QUT since 1991. During this time he also served for nine months with the United Nations in Cambodia and was a visiting fellow at Oxford University for one semester.
Federal ALP member Bernie Ripoll, 33, worked for the Student Guild from 1990 to 1994, during which time he also completed a QUT Bachelor of Business (marketing) degree.
From 1995 until his pre-selection Bernie worked with the State Public Services Federation of Queensland.
Transport Minister’s vision for quality of life
b y A m a n d a O ’ C h e e a n d A n d r e a H a m m o n d
“We need to be single- minded in getting more people on to public transport, or cycling and walking, instead of using cars.”
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Above:
Merrilee Melville, Townsville Business Woman of the Year for 1998.
“Fred Hollows was this dynamic man who worked from six in the morning and operated through to midnight in communities where 99 per cent of the population had eye disease, getting the waiting lists down, getting the job done.”
“My work is a passion and I love it immensely. I love country life and being involved in the community in places like Charters Towers, which is one of the special places in my life.”
Her missionary and outreach work, through occasional visits to places like Palm Island, is also very important to her.
Until recently Merrilee worked four times a year with indigenous people through the legendary Fred Hollows Foundation program, which has worked to almost halve curable blindness among Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.
“Fred Hollows was this dynamic man who worked from six in the morning and operated through to midnight in communities where 99 per cent of the population had eye disease, getting the
M
errilee Melville focused on studying optometry at QUT, partly because of her need to wear glasses as a teenager. Her studies set her on track to become one of North Queensland’s most successful businesswomen.There are three thriving Merrilee Melville Optometry practices – in Townsville, Charters Towers and Ingham.
Merrilee has worked extensively with indigenous people and has helped introduce the very latest in sports optometry, behavioural optometry and vision training into the region.
She has also owned optometry practices in Bowen and Ayr, and was chosen from 55 nominations as 1998 Townsville Business Woman of the Year.
“I was thrilled to be named the winner – I felt it was a huge honour,”
Merrilee said.
Optometrist, businesswoma
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“I was thrilled to be named the winner – I felt it was a huge honour.”
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waiting lists down, getting the job done,”
Merrilee said.
“I worked beside Fred Hollows’
surgeons in the Torres Strait and Cape York in what were quite primitive conditions doing optometry work in a co-management field.
“They (the surgeons) did all the surgery and we worked with them, supervising pre-operations and post- operations and getting glasses to the people in need.”
Merrilee said it was her own need for glasses and regular check-ups as a studious 16-year-old that had focused her interest on venturing into what was then a male-dominated field.
She graduated in 1979 with a Diploma in Applied Science
(Optometry) from Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) – QUT’s
predecessor institution – the only woman in her graduating class.
QIT played an important role in her life in other ways. It was there she met her future husband, Steve Melville, a civil engineering student who was from her hometown of Bundaberg.
Today Steve works as Merrilee Melville Optometrists’ business manager and helps care for children Joshua, 16, Heidi, 15, and Stewart, 9.
Merrilee said optometry had given her a “terrific life” that had allowed her to successfully balance work and family responsibilities.
After graduating, she worked at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Her husband’s work as a civil
construction engineer meant a number of moves in New South Wales where she worked in a range of country practices.
When a practice became available in Townsville, the Melvilles decided it was time to settle.
They returned to North Queensland and thus began Merrilee Melville Optometrists.
Merrilee noted the rapid change in optometry over the past 20 years.
Innovations introduced in her practices included vision training, behavioural optometry and working with
physiotherapists, occupational therapists and education psychologists to monitor children’s development.
Sports optometry, and basketball in particular, is one of her interests. She is resident optometrist for the city’s top NBL Basketball team, the Townsville Crocodiles, and she is even a shareholder in the team.
“When I started, optometry was more of a refraction-based profession.
Now it is becoming very paramedical and we are working hand-in-hand with ophthalmologists and doing heaps of co-management with medical patients,”
she said.
Helping people, and sometimes being able to dramatically transform lives through correcting their vision, is what she loves most about her work and it is one of the reasons she is still actively involved in patient care.
“It’s so easy to turn someone who has a binocular vision problem into being able to use both eyes and successfully be able to play bat and ball sports,” Merrilee said.
Merrilee is a member of the Townsville Business Women’s Network and northern vice-president of the Optometrists Association of Australia, her way of “giving something back” to her profession.
She is also a member of the QUT School of Optometry’s alumni sponsorship fund committee which is working to raise $50,000 for
Queensland’s first optometry multi- media centre.
an Merrilee
gives back to the community
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C
arlton and United Breweries (CUB) managing director Nuno D’Aquino is proud of an achievement that might not go down very well in Ireland – Irish brewers Guinness have named CUB as the best producer of its product worldwide.CUB makes Guinness under licence at its plant at Yatala, south of Brisbane, and Nuno, as managing director, regards the accreditation as international confirmation of CUB’s technical excellence.
Nuno is a graduate of Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) and he is this year’s Faculty of Science winner in QUT’s Outstanding Alumni Awards. He also received a special award from the judges for professional excellence.
The Guinness accreditation is another testament to Nuno’s technical and business skills.
Nuno, who is known for introducing Foster’s to Queensland and the UK, graduated from QIT – a QUT
predecessor institution – with a Diploma of Industrial Chemistry in 1965.
Though he later studied commerce and business in Queensland, Melbourne and at Stanford University in California, Nuno said his science studies disciplined his mind and provided a crucial
technical foundation.
“I believe that that combination is the best, that is, a technical and a business qualification, achieved in that order.”
Starting his career at CUB as a laboratory technician in 1961, Nuno moved to CUB in Melbourne as a brewer, then spent three years in Fiji as general manager of the company’s two local breweries.
In the early 1970s he oversaw the redevelopment of the Abbotsford Brewery in Melbourne, with the introduction of Australia’s first computer-controlled brewing house, fermenting cellar block and filter system.
He later became head brewer at Carlton Brewery and Abbotsford Brewery.
In 1983, he returned to Queensland as general manager, brewing, and introduced Foster’s to the local beer scene.
Nuno is the toast of the town
A succession of executive
appointments in management, brewing and product development culminated in his appointment as managing director in 1994.
Over the past four years, Nuno has overseen a number of breakthroughs in brewing technology product design, and the launch of new products.
Nuno said he had achieved his greatest professional joy from being able to influence a major Australian company.
“My biggest task was turning the company around, creating a new vision and confidence in the employees,” he said.
Nuno D’Aquino.
“The industrial chemistry taught me the discipline of study and the
interpretation of facts, not just making assumptions, which is a trap a lot of managers fall into,” he said.
“The business studies were essential for an understanding of the structure of companies” he said.
He also learned “the language that accountants talk”.
“My biggest task was turning the company around, creating a new vision and confidence in the employees.”
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Last word...
OPTOMETRY ALUMNI SPONSORSHIP FUND LAUNCHED
QUT’s optometry alumni have committed themselves to helping the school remain one of the best in Australia with the establishment of a $50,000 clinical multi-media centre.
An eight-strong committee, headed by graduate Colin Waldron (Faculty of Health
Outstanding Alumni Award winner for 1998), has set up an Optometry Alumni Sponsorship Fund and nominated the centre as its inaugural 1999 project.
“This is a centre that will have ramifications broadly in terms of clinical education in our own school and the clinic here at QUT, and will be a resource that will also be of value to the profession,”
school head Professor Leo Carney said.
School of Optometry alumni – and other Queensland-based optometrists – wishing to know more about the multi- media centre fund-raising project should contact QUT’s Development Office on (07) 3864 1631.
SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
QUT’s Faculty of Business is planning a host of events, lectures and exhibitions in 1999 to celebrate 50 years of providing business education to students in Queensland.
Events such as the Faculty’s Business Leaders’ Forum and annual public lecture will be tied in with special
exhibitions, student projects
and alumni reunions during the year.
The Faculty of Business is keen to make contact with alumni wishing to be placed on mailing lists or who are interested in becoming involved in celebrations. For further information, e-mail Faculty of Business support officer Cathy Stacey at c.stacey@qut.edu.au or telephone (07) 3864 2975.
STUDYING AT QUT A FAMILY AFFAIR
Studying at QUT has become a family affair for the Teo family from Singapore, with three daughters having graduated from the university.
Pictured (left to right) are Samantha Teo (Bachelor of Applied Science – Property Economics), Pro-Vice- Chancellor (Research and Advancement) Professor John Corderoy and Gina (Kwee Fong) Teo (Bachelor of Business Management).
A luncheon with the family was hosted by Professor Corderoy during a trip to Singapore in May for QUT’ successful On Show.
The eldest Teo sister, Kwee Eng Teo (Bachelor of Business - Accountancy/Graduate Diploma in Advanced Accounting) was unable to join the festivities as she was finalising wedding plans with fiancé Kelvyn Ee,
also a QUT graduate (Bachelor of Business – Banking and Finance/Master of Commerce – Accountancy).
IT GRADUATE FINALLY COLLECTS HIS DEGREE
Twenty five years after he started his computing degree, Energex senior systems analyst Pat Dancer finally formally received his award certificate at a recent graduation ceremony.
One of the first intake of computing degree students at the then QIT, Mr Dancer studied part-time and worked full-time. When he completed his studies in the middle of 1986, he was so busy with his blossoming career as a computer programmer that he was unable to attend his graduation.
This was rectified recently when Mr Dancer (right) received his degree from QUT’s Acting Chancellor Julie-Anne Schafer (centre), while Acting Dean of Information Technology Professor Bill Caelli (left) led a round of applause.
LEGAL PRACTICE COURSE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
QUT’s Legal Practice Course held an anniversary party in October to celebrate 20 years of training some of the nation’s finest solicitors and legal minds.
Graduates of the Diploma in Legal Practice have gone on to work as solicitors in top law firms in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, China and Hong Kong, and as partners and associates in law firms throughout Australia.
The course was set up in 1978 at the request of the Queensland legal profession to provide aspiring lawyers with an alternative way of satisfying the pre-admission practical training requirement for solicitors.
Several hundred students have completed the course and most have gone on to work as solicitors in private practice or in government offices such as Crown Law, Department of Public Prosecutions and Legal Aid.
Some have progressed through the legal hierarchy to become members of the Queensland Bar or magistrates, while many others have gone on to work in the community legal services sector.
Two are now working as assistant Defence Force advocates.
Some graduates, such as Peter Wellington MLA and Brisbane City Councillor Peter Cumming, have used their law training as a stepping stone to politics.
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Keith Andrews BBus(Mgt) 1982
Keith was promoted earlier this year to vice-president (Asia Pacific) at Stratus Computer, based in Hong Kong. He previously worked at the company’s headquarters in Boston, USA. (852) 2844 5201.
Rowan Barber BAppSc 1992; MEngSci 1996 Rowan works as a technical sales representative in the oil refinery industry (Baker Petrolite), treating water and waste water. He is married to Dianne Barber (nee Frederiks) B.Nursing 1992 who is a pharmaceutical representative for Parke Davis in Victoria.
0419 308 441 or roanddi@ozemail.com.au.
Barbara Bennetts DipEd(Sec-Drama) 1988;
MFA(Dance) 1995
Barbara is a dance co-ordinator with Wavell State High School and next year intends to teach part- time and establish herself as a freelance dance education consultant. She will offer a range of services to both primary and secondary schools. (07) 3359 4900 or barbben@bigpond.com.au.
Franc Biffone
AssocDipArts(Film&TV) 1985 Franc is director of photography at Take Aim Productions, Sydney, shooting TV commercials and drama in Australia and Asia.
0418 222 407.
Allan Bird CertCartography 1975
Allan is managing director/owner of Cadstation Solutions Pty Ltd, Br isbane. (07) 3255 1922 or allan.bird@cadstation.com.au.
Michelle Brotherton BEd 1996
Michelle is a supply teacher at Spring Education in Wimbledon, UK. (44) 181 788 9845.
Denis Brown
GradDipUrban&RegPlan 1978 After obtaining extensive experience in town planning at Local Government level, Denis joined Planning Australia in 1995 as a partner, with the objective of providing high quality planning advice to clients. (07) 3846 5955.
Rachael Brown B.Bus(HIM) 1976
Rachael has worked at the Redcliffe Hospital since graduation and been promoted to senior health information manager, looking after the data quality of patient information.
(07) 3883 0578 or rbro@health.qld.gov.au.
Ron Burns DipPharm 1956
Now retired, Ron’s pharmacy involvement included community pharmacy ownership, chief pharmacist at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, pharmacy board membership and member of the Australian Pharmacy Examining Council. (07) 3353 1934 or burnsrevj@onaustralia.com.au.
Steve Burstow BBus(Accy) 1976
Steve is general manager of MDV Insurance Brokers, Brisbane, catering for the insurance needs of the medical, dental, veterinary and associated professions, as well as small to medium sized businesses.
(07) 3839 1450.
Ian Chant
BAppSc(AppChem) 1979;
GradDip(ChemAnalysis) 1981;
GradDip(BusAdmin) 1987 Ian has moved from a successful career in brewing to set up his own management consultancy, Learning at Work. He works in the areas of organisational
improvement, strategic planning and process re-engineering in the pharmaceutical and food manufacturing industries.
(07) 3398 3583 or chanti@bigpond.com.
Mimi Confessore (nee Lee) BBus 1992
Mimi and her husband John (Giovanni) Confessore BBus(Mktg)/BEng(ManSystems) 1994 are both on assignment in Bangkok, Thailand. Mimi is marketing manager at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and John is engineering manager at Proctor
& Gamble. (662) 676 5700 or mimi_lee@deloitte.co.th and (663) 857 0526 ext. 4587 or confessore.j@pg.com.
Adam Crisp
BEng(ManSystems)/B.Bus(Mktg) 1993 Adam is project engineer with Pioneer Building Products, Stapylton. (07) 3807 7953 or adam.crisp@pil.com.au.
Ken Cullen Ph.C. 1937
Ken conducted his own pharmacy in Gin Gin for 40 years until 1980 when he retired to Bundaberg. He worked as a locum for a few years and now occasionally helps his son, Robert, in his Bundaberg pharmacy. (07) 4152 6960.
Emma Cuttler BBus(HRM) 1996
Emma is a recruitment consultant with Entec Pty Ltd, Spring Hill.
(07) 3832 6233 or entecqld@thehub.com.au.
Brendan Davies BAppSc(Surveying) 1984
Brendan is presently chief surveyor with Hazelwood Power
Corporation, Morwell, Victoria, after taking voluntary retrenchment from BHP as a mining engineer in central Queensland. (03) 5135 5714.
Judi Down BSocSc 1992
Judi is a community family worker at Lifeline, Brisbane.
(07) 3252 1213.
Sr Angela Mary Doyle BBus(HlthAdmin) 1983 Sr Angela has been in senior management at the Mater Hospitals, Brisbane, for 27 years and is now director of the Mater Hospitals’ Trust. She was awarded Doctor of the University by QUT for community service in 1997.
(07) 3840 8000.
Bruce Doyle GradDip(LegPrac) 1983 Bruce is special counsel at Macrossans Lawyers, Brisbane.
He is an accredited family law specialist and secretary of the Family Law Practitioner’s Association (Qld). (07) 3292 9752 or bdoyle@macrossans.com.au.
Richard Dudaniec GradDip(Comn) 1995
Richard is managing director of recruitment and training company, Future House. (07) 3229 0677 or training@futurehouse.com.
Alan Evans Ph.C. 1959
Alan has been in business in Wynnum since 1967 and now has a partnership with his eldest son, Peter, at the Wynnum Day &
Night Pharmacy. Alan also owns a pharmacy in Cleveland and says his hobby is a Shetland stud.
(07) 3396 1322.
Jac Feather BA(JustSt) 1997
Jac is a sergeant in the Queensland Police Service presently
performing duties as an operational supervisor in the Brisbane Metropolitan South Region. (07) 3364 6785.
Keep in touch...
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Fran Finn BBus(HRM) 1995
Prior to graduation Fran started tutoring in the School of
Management at QUT. She is now a part-time tutor and lecturer at QUT and mother to a very busy 21/2 year old daughter. Fran also works part-time as a human resource manager and is
undertaking a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. She is married to Jaime Burke (BAppSc 1992; GradDipCompSc 1994). 015 655 420.
Sharon Fitness DipEd(EC) 1990
The past eight years have offered a variety of rewarding roles to Sharon that include being the director of a kindergarten and teaching pre-school. She has also taught nursery and infant classes in the East End of London. Sharon now enjoys the challenges of directing a busy Sunshine Coast child care centre at Buderim.
(07) 5476 8333.
Deborah Forsyth (nee Watts) LLB 1984
Deborah is principal of Deborah G. Forsyth & Associates, Toowong, specialising in family law.
(07) 3870 1166.
Karen Franks BInfoTech 1996
Karen is marketing services officer at Ultra Tune Australia, Brisbane, and she is presently completing a Master of Business (Comn) with a public relations major.
(07) 3371 3165 or grimland@gil.com.au.
Ruth Gabriel
ADPA(Dance) 1980; BEd 1986 Ruth is an Outside Schools Hours Care co-ordinator at St Catherines, Wishart. She also freelances in dance and teaching, production and choreographic workshops at schools and colleges, and directs and choreographs for repertory musical theatre. (07) 3349 3938.
Dwight George BBus(Accy) Distinction 1990 Dwight is financial accountant with Collins Foods International, Brisbane. He was also the person responsible for writing sarcastic letters to editors of The Planet, under the alias of ‘Gecko’!
Dwight admits Gecko made it into the top 10 most hated list by editors in 1990. (07) 3352 0967 or dsg@cfi.com.au.
Paula Gerber LLB 1986
After 10 years practising in London and Los Angeles and gaining her MSc(Hons) London, Paula moved to Melbourne where she is a partner at Maddock Lonie &
Chisholm, specialising in construction law. Paula was QUT’s Faculty of Law Outstanding Alumni Award winner in 1997.
(03) 9288 0635 or
paula.gerber@maddocks.com.au.
Michelle Gillow BEd 1996
After working for nearly three years in England, Michelle is now a Year 5 teacher at Hills Education, Jimboomba. (07) 5541 2283.
Leah Gilmore LLB 1995
Leah is a solicitor at Flehr &
Associates, Toowoomba.
(07) 4639 4044.
Rev. Andrew Granc GradDipSocSc 1994 Andrew is a social concerns co-ordinator with the Franciscan Friars, presently working with low income families in the south-west area of Sydney, where he has been setting up a “no interest loans scheme” and “bank for the poor”, so that people on low incomes can have access to micro credit. He is also working with the youth suicide issue. (02) 9331 6214.
Monique Griffiths BAppSc(Optom) Honours 1995 Monique is a clinical optometrist at Pacific Eye Centre, Fortitude Valley. (07) 3854 1234.
Michael Hare DipAppSc(Optom) 1975
Michael is a partner in a large Gold Coast optometry practice, Brian Job Optometrists, where he has worked for 20 years. He is presently national vice-president of the Optometrists Association.
(07) 5532 9566 or mhare@qldnet.com.au.
Sharon Harris LLB 1993
Sharon used to work as a solicitor specialising in commercial/
property law and immigration law, but decided immigration law was far more interesting and rewarding.
She is presently senior associate at Holt Durham McGrath Migration Services, Surfers Paradise and an executive member of MIA (Migration Institute of Australia).
(07) 5592 1606 or mcgrath@fan.net.au Thomas Hegedus BInfTech 1994
After working in Brisbane since graduating, Thomas decided to broaden his knowledge and see more of Australia before heading overseas. He is presently an analyst/
programmer at Orlando Wyndham, Adelaide. (08) 8208 2438 or hegedust@orlando.com.au.
Maree Herzig
DipTeach(Primary) 1975; BEd 1985 Involved in many aspects of education since graduation, Maree is presently computer coordinator at St Joseph’s, Bracken Ridge. She recently visited schools in Japan with St Joseph’s LOTE teacher and a group of students.
(07) 3261 2858.
Andrew T. S. Ho BBus(PubAdmin) 1993 Since returning to Malaysia in 1993, Andrew has focused his career on the retail industry. He is presently a merchandise specialist for Shell Malaysia where he is involved in setting up and starting 20 to 30 Shell stations with ‘Select’
convenience stores each year.
(603) 251 2185 or tian- sheng.t.s.ho@smt.shell.com.my.
John Hows BBus(Accy) 1980
John is director of financial services at the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Brisbane.
(07) 3224 4691.
Terrence Johnston BBus(Mktg) 1993
Since graduating, Terry has worked at Castlemaine Perkins, initially as a merchandiser in Brisbane. He was then promoted to sales representative in Townsville and in July 1998 was made regional sales manager for the Townsville region. (07) 4775 3633 or terry.johnston@lion- nathan.com.au.
Anurag Kapur MBA(International) 1997
Working as a production executive at Radnik, a garment export organisation in India, Anurag says his degree gave him the head start needed to face challenges in the dynamic world of international business. (91) 11 621 2220 or anurag@sapta.com.
Elizabeth Keogh (nee Williams)
DipAppSc(Nursing) 1986; BNursing 1994
Elizabeth is a registered nurse at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, Brisbane. She is married to James Keogh (DipEd(Sec- Science) 1986; MEd 1995) who is presently teaching physics and junior science at Moreton Bay College, Wynnum, and studying for his PhD with a major interest in learning theory. (07) 3207 0014.
