alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
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<strong>Society</strong> UpdateBusiness ReportThe September TAG brings you columns from our regularcontributors, Letters to the Editor (much longer thanusual), comments on <strong>Society</strong> activities, Division updates,news <strong>and</strong> views — <strong>and</strong> a special report plus two features! Thefeature about James Dwight Dana looks at this prominent historicalgeologist <strong>and</strong> our second feature by Kirsten Gottschalklooks to the future <strong>and</strong> the technological changes <strong>and</strong> infinitepossibilities the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will bring toscience. This issue’s special report was inspired by the Special Reporton Engineering Geology by Greg McNally, published inTAG 163 (June 2012 issue).We also report on <strong>and</strong> celebrate GSA Award recipients (seepage 36). It was very pleasing to see Award recipients bring theirfamily <strong>and</strong> friends to the Awards night. These geologists, whoare our members <strong>and</strong> peers, were recognised for theircontributions to the Earth Sciences <strong>and</strong> the GSA. As <strong>well</strong>, AJESAwards were presented for peer-reviewed papers judged as thebest for that year, <strong>and</strong> for papers written by younger EarthScientists (keep your eyes peeled for their future contributions).No doubt some faces will be familiar <strong>and</strong> others may becomemore familiar in the future. Congratulations to all GSA Awardrecipients <strong>of</strong> National, Division <strong>and</strong> Specialist Group Awards <strong>and</strong>to recipients <strong>of</strong> AJES Awards — it is great to see you beingrecognised.Regrettably, with the plethora <strong>of</strong> awards the <strong>Society</strong> has,there was <strong>and</strong> possibly always could be insufficient time for thereading <strong>of</strong> citations.Annually, at Division award nights held around <strong>Australia</strong>,citations are read <strong>and</strong> the recipient has an opportunity to reply— replies are then usually followed by dinner <strong>and</strong> a vino or two.Division awards seem to have much more time for the ceremonythan at larger conferences, especially the International<strong>Geological</strong> Congress (IGC).This issue also includes news … big news … the NationalRock Garden achieved Deductible Gift Recipient status <strong>and</strong> thewebsite is up <strong>and</strong> running at www.nationalrockgarden.org.au— <strong>and</strong> accepting donations! Visit the site, send us your feedback<strong>and</strong> please bookmark the address as more rocks are added to theRock Listing page.Leading up to the 34th IGC, many GSA members, <strong>and</strong>members <strong>and</strong> employees <strong>of</strong> other Earth Science <strong>and</strong> Geoscienceorganisations <strong>and</strong> associations, put a huge effort intodeveloping a local IGC to be proud <strong>of</strong>. Whether it was organisingfield trips, presenting papers, authoring field guides, preparingabstracts, convening sessions, coordinating themes,representing their employers, ‘manning’ booths or listening tonew scientific research, all <strong>of</strong> you made the 34th IGC a congressto be proud <strong>of</strong>. The driving forcesbehind these events are thevolunteers. On behalf <strong>of</strong> manypeople, thank you for making the34th IGC so memorable. Also, aspecial thanks to the members assisting us on the GSA booth —as always these big conferences are a wonderful opportunity tomeet you <strong>and</strong> to hear your views. Please see photographs onpages 36 to 40. I have cheekily included a photo <strong>of</strong> myself froma pre-IGC event with Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Iain Stewart at SydneyUniversity. I hope you don’t mind.Now to other GSA business. The June TAG included a lot <strong>of</strong>information about potential governance changes <strong>and</strong> both theCouncil Meeting <strong>and</strong> the Annual General Meeting wereopportunities for further exchanges <strong>of</strong> ideas on this topic.I deliberately say ‘further’ because there has been a lot <strong>of</strong>dialogue between the Divisions <strong>and</strong> Specialist GroupCommittees, the Executive Committee, Governance Committee<strong>and</strong> legal advisors over the past two years. This issue includessome member feedback <strong>and</strong> additional legal advice, which wehope provides further <strong>and</strong> helpful clarification. Underst<strong>and</strong>ably,for members not on committees, there has been lessinformation coming to you, whereas feedback betweencommittees has provided a greater exchange <strong>of</strong> ideas.At each biennial conference many committees change. TheGSA now has a new Executive Committee <strong>and</strong> many SpecialistGroups have changed <strong>of</strong>fice bearers as <strong>well</strong>. There is somecontinuity as a small number <strong>of</strong> members serve for a second <strong>and</strong>third term on a committee — but in other instances there is lesscontinuity. The committees with less continuity tend to struggleat times, so please feel free to contact me if you have anyqueries. Thank you to the outgoing GSA Executive Committeemembers <strong>and</strong> to all members working on the other committees.The contributions you have made to the GSA <strong>and</strong> to the EarthSciences over the previous years are valued by many members.The GSA will soon commence our annual membershiprenewal period. If you are changing your contact details,membership type or modifying a specialist group affiliationplease contact info@gsa.org.au to assist us with your renewal.Finally, please keep in mind the deadline for the Decemberissue is 26 October <strong>and</strong> remember the earlier we receive yourcontributions, the more likely you will be published. For allcontributions <strong>and</strong> enquiries please contact me attag@gsa.org.auSUE FLETCHERExecutive Director4 |TAG September 2012