ANNUAL REPORT
2012
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Contents
Division Committee - 2012 ............................................................................................................................ 3
Advisory Forum to Division Committee - 2012 ............................................................................................. 3
President's Report ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Director’s Report ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Branches/Groups/Panels .............................................................................................................................. 8
Australian Society for Defence Engineering (ASDE) ............................................................................. 8
Centre for Engineering Leadership & Management (CELM) ................................................................. 9
Civil/Structural Branch ............................................................................................................................ 9
Engineering Heritage Canberra ........................................................................................................... 10
Information, Telecommunications, Electronics & Electrical Branch (ITE&E) ....................................... 11
Mechanical Branch ............................................................................................................................... 13
Retired Engineers Group ..................................................................................................................... 14
Risk Engineering Society (RES) .......................................................................................................... 14
Society for Sustainability and Environmental Engineering (SSEE) ..................................................... 15
Transport Branch.................................................................................................................................. 15
Women in Engineering (WIE) ............................................................................................................... 16
Young Engineers (YEA) ....................................................................................................................... 17
Australian Engineering Week ..................................................................................................................... 17
Engineering Games .................................................................................................................................... 19
Awards ........................................................................................................................................................ 20
Canberra Division Young Professional Engineers of the Year Award ................................................. 20
Canberra Division Professional Engineer of the Year Award .............................................................. 20
Canberra Division Engineering Associate of the Year Award .............................................................. 20
Engineering Graduates Prizes .................................................................................................................... 21
Butters Oration ............................................................................................................................................ 21
Fellows Admitted During 2012 .................................................................................................................... 22
Eng Exec Status ......................................................................................................................................... 22
Members Deceased During 2012 ............................................................................................................... 22
Chartered Status ......................................................................................................................................... 22
Financial Report .......................................................................................................................................... 23
This report covers the calendar year 2012*
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Division Committee - 2012
President
Doug Mitchell
Deputy President
Congress Committee Representative
Andrew Montgomery
Vice President
Andrew McLarty
Past President
Jennifer Murray
Congress Member Representative
Jennifer Murray
Elected Members
Adrian Piani
Christina West
Craig Kazakoff
Hayley Jones (part of year)
Jega Janarthana
Director
Vesna Strika
Deputy Director
Colleen Mays
Office Administrator
Susan Harrison/Toa Mafi
Advisory Forum to Division Committee - 2012
ASDE
Ian O’Hara
Biomedical College
Mike Flood
CELM
Mike Evans
Civil College
Jeffery Howard
Civil/Structural Branch
Andrew Montgomery
Electrical College
Jega Janarthana
Engineers Without Borders
David Atkinson
Engineering Heritage Canberra
Lyndon Tilbrook
Environmental College
Adrian Piani
ITE&E Branch
Andrew McLarty
ITEE College
John Gordon
Mechanical Bch & Mechanical College
Jonothan Couldrick
Retired Group
Graham Conran
Risk Engineering Society
Subhash Dang
SSEE
Adrian Piani
Structural College
Tarek El-Ansary
Transport Branch
Jeff Bell
WIE
Fiona Morrison
YEA
Andrew Airey
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
President's Report
Apart from continuing the usual activities and preparing for the Canberra 100 celebrations next year our
key focus has been alignment of Canberra Division activities to improve and sustain member benefits.
Domain 1 – Community Engagement
The significant community engagement is engineering week. The engineer games, for primary and high
school students, were an outstanding success. Hopefully the insight into what engineers do will
encourage students to choose maths and science subjects so that they can study engineering. The
Games night organised by the Young Engineers (Andrew Airey) was a great initiative to promote
engineering to family, friends and prospective engineers. Hopefully we will build on this in future years. A
review of other events in engineering week decided that we would focus on fewer events.
Also this year we placed an engineer heritage marker for Canberra’s sewage outfall adjacent to Lake
Burley Griffin and continued with preparations for Canberra 100 celebrations next year. At National
Arboretum Canberra the ‘Pin Oak’ forest continues to grow and will be the site of some Canberra 100
celebrations and towards 100 years of engineering of Canberra Division next decade.
Domain 2 – Professional Development and Body of Knowledge
Given national numbers membership represents about one third of engineers in the ACT with a high
proportion of non-financial student members. We lose many of these student members to other Divisions
on graduation. In general there is a low take-up rate of CPEng; the badge of professional competence.
E-Chartered should increase the proportion of CPEng, especially amongst experienced engineers, next
year. The numbers of professional development sessions is increasing and numbers attending sessions
are also increasing but this is causing significant budget pressures. Several paid workshops had varying
success. The constrained economic conditions may have some influenced attendees and progressively
we will define member the requirements to benefit members. We are exploring joint professional
development opportunities of mutual interest with other organisations.
Domain 3 – Leadership and influence
The key focus in an ACT election year has been to influence good public policy on protecting community
benefit and sustainability. Meetings have occurred with all political parties to understand their needs and
how Engineers Australia can assist in providing timely apolitical advice without a perceived or actual
conflict of interest. Following these meetings, a breakfast meeting with the Chief Minister and most of the
Government members was held to discuss key infrastructure issues. Engineers Australia hosted an
election forum on economic infrastructure with the Labor and Liberal parties and produced a scorecard on
their policies. Separately we have been working with the regulatory bodies, other professional
organisations on the new Workplace Health and Safety laws and provided evidence to the iConstruction
Safety Inquiry. We now have the commitments and foundation to engage with the political parties and
other stakeholders over the next four years to promote reforms that benefit members. These are likely to
include legislative reform, ACT procurement of engineering services and a registration scheme.
Domain 4 – Recognition, promotion and membership
The ACT engineer demographic is aging. Promotion of young Engineers continue but this year we also
recognised the Professional Engineer and Associate Engineer of the year. Developing role models is an
important first step in attracting people to Engineers Australia. Work is progressing on promoting the
benefit of membership at ANU and CIT amongst degree and diploma level courses but this will be a
multiyear strategy.
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Domain 5 – Education and qualification
This year we provided support to retain the technical competencies in a diploma course at CIT that is
needed by many of the local employers. At present the ACT does not have a full suite of engineering
courses to sustain, over the longer term, the ACT engineering requirements. Whilst some of the need is
met through international migration, more work is required recognising engineers from overseas.
Domain 6 – Internal structure and administration
As a small Division located adjacent to the national headquarters, the Division is able to muster around
4000 hours each of staff and volunteer effort each year. When national office requirements are met, there
are insufficient hours to sustain all the activities. During the year, a review of activities has occurred in
order to focus our efforts on sustainable high value activities. Use of technology, cultural change and
multiyear planning within the team has had mixed results but is moving in the right direction.
In closing I would like to thank the Divisional staff and all the volunteers who give freely of their time to
provide a service to the members. I also extend my best wishes to Andrew Montgomery our incoming
President for the Canberra Division and Andy McLarty our incoming Deputy President. As President, I
would like to thank all the people that I have met this year for teaching me something about our
profession. I wish everyone a prosperous 2013.
Doug Mitchell
Canberra Division President 2012
Director’s Report
The hectic activity driven nature of business in the Canberra Division didn’t cease
throughout 2012, with a range of challenges and a number of notable achievements. Several of the
year’s events resulted in good exposure, including events associated with Australian Engineering Week.
These types of events continue to raise the profile of Engineers Australia and our members not only
within the local region but also nationally.
Achievements against the six strategic Domains during calendar year 2012 were as follows:
Domain 1: Community Engagement
Canberra 100: Celebration of a Nation - work has progressed throughout the year on scoping
appropriate projects which will celebrate, throughout 2013, the engineering contribution to the
development of Canberra. Those already identified include:
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Launch of book “A Centenary of Canberra Engineering”
Oral History Program on ABC Radio 666
Australian Engineering Week
Stage 1 – Engineers Australia “Pin Oak” Forest, National Arboretum Canberra
Distribute class sets of “When we go to Nan’s House”
Canberra Engineering Excellence Awards
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17 National Engineering Heritage Conference (18-20 November 2012), plus pre-conference tour
“Site Selection” (15-17 November 2012).
National Congress was given a brief insight into the Engineers Australia “Pin Oak” forest with a specially
developed video showcasing the site, reminiscing about the 2009 planting and giving a glimpse into the
future potential. There are still opportunities for members to sponsor a tree in the forest.
The Heritage Panel, in April, unveiled an Engineering Heritage Marker for the “Main Outfall Sewer”, still in
use today and in good condition, but which was the subject of considerable controversy and delays which
characterised the early construction of Canberra.
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Australian Engineering Week (AEW) was held in the first full week of August, with a good range of
diverse activities, including:
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Field trip “Water – Top to Bottom.”
Young Engineers Comedy Trivia Night.
Special Closing Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial which featured the story of a military
engineer that lost his life in WWI.
• A “Sustainable Living Information Evening” (120 attendees).
• Engineers Without Borders Student Challenge.
• Engineering Games.
• Weekend events included site visits to Stromlo Water Treatment Plant and the “Pin Oak” forest in the
National Arboretum Canberra.
Overall attendances for the events held during the week were around 355, a decrease on last year’s
events.
Domain 2: Body of Knowledge and Professional Development
The number of technical meetings held during the year continued to increase to that of last year. As a
comparison, in 2012 we had a total of 71 technical presentations, with a total attendance of 1,974
(highest attendance 91 and lowest 3, with an average attendance of 28); compared with the 2011 - total
of 67 technical presentations, with a total attendance of 2,444 (highest attendance 77 and lowest 8,
average attendance 36.5. Note: These statistics do not include attendees at AEW events.
Some highlights during the year included:
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CELM Leadership Presentation, given by Past National President Mr Rolfe Hartley, on the “Life &
Times of Sir John Monash.”
The Risk Panel and CELM chapter combined to deliver a very successful half-day seminar on
“Implementing the new Workplace Safety Legislation - Views and Opinions from those Involved”, with
48 paying registrations (13 of which were non-members).
The Young Engineers continued to have an active program, with a number of social events. They
again held a very successful Generation Exchange lunch with 103 attendees. At the start of the year,
the Young Engineers also attended open days at each of the tertiary campuses and the CIT to
promote engineering to students and this in turn resulted in the increase in the number of student
members.
Two other paying workshops were also held – the WIE on depression and managing this “Silent Profit
Eater” within your organisation, and the Civil/Structural branch a “Bushfire Workshop.”
Elections were held for Civil College rep. and Structural College rep.
It is noted that the number of applications for Chartered Status overall to be lower than in the past with 20
interviews conducted (a slight increase on last year).
Domain 3: Leadership and Influence
The Division continues to develop its profile within government with several members being our
representatives on a range of ACT government industry and community forums.
Division representatives met with key political leaders of all three parties – Labor, Liberal and Greens.
We hosted a roundtable breakfast with the Chief Minister and four of the sitting Labor MLA’s (including
the Deputy Chief Minister) with a focus on infrastructure challenges for the ACT.
In September the Division hosted an ACT Election Forum which focused on the ACT’s Economic
Infrastructure and subsequently resulted in the development of “2012 ACT Election Scorecard on
Infrastructure” which assessed the ACT Labor and Canberra Liberal’s 2012 election commitment to
economic infrastructure.
Division representatives also met with the Inquiry into Construction safety in the ACT in October. One of
the 28 recommendations of this inquiry called on the ACT government to implement a “scheme for the
registration of engineers practicing in the ACT by 30 June 2014”.
Media coverage throughout the year was mixed and predominately related to the Main Outfall Sewer,
AEW activities and the Young Engineer of the Year. We made the front page of the Canberra Times on 2
separate occasions (late November and December), in relation to calls on setting up a registration
scheme for engineers.
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Domain 4: Recognition, Promotion and Membership
The overall membership numbers increased during the 2012 calendar year reporting period. Numbers of
paying members was slightly up by around 1.6%, while the number of free students increased by around
3%. The 1 December 2012 membership statistics showed a total membership base of 2,446 (comprising
1,889 paying members and 557 free students) compared with the 1 December 2011 statistics which
showed a total membership base of 2,402 (comprising 1,860 paying members and 542 free students).
2012 was declared the Year of the Regional Engineering Team. It was low-key as the Division does not
have any regional groups. The WIE hosted a regional engineer who presented on “In Front Outback”.
This year we managed to celebrate three individual awards of excellence:
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The Young Professional Engineer of the Year was awarded to Major Brendan Noller (Defence
Materiel Organisation);
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Professional Engineer of the Year awarded to Mr Mike Rodd (GHD); and
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Associate of the Year awarded to Wing Commander Geoffrey Kimmins (RAAF). Subsequently, Wing
Commander Kimmins went on to win the national associate of the year award presented at the
Australian Engineering Excellence Awards held in November at Parliament House.
The Butter’s Oration was an outstanding success with over 90 guests attending. The Orator, Dr David
Headon, weaved an intriguing story about the engineer’s distinctive contribution to Canberra’s foundation
story.
Finally, the Canberra Engineering Hall of Fame had three new inductees unveiled in December 2012.
Domain 5: Education and Qualification
The Division was involved with a number of successful programs:
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the Engineering Games were a resounding success, and go from strength to strength, with over 400
participants this year. The Games sub-committee has been assessing and analysing the games and
they again introduced a new game this year.
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the Young Engineers and Women in Engineering groups attended several careers presentations at
local Colleges and High Schools.
A number of Student Prizes were also awarded.
Domain 6: Internal Structure and Administration
Four copies of the division newsletter were printed and directly mailed to members, plus 2 electronic
versions were produced. Information on technical meetings and other events continues to be emailed to
members on a weekly basis, with a reminder, “What’s on in Canberra this Week”, sent at the start of the
week if there are more than two events being hosted by the Division in a given week. The noticeable
increase in attendances at technical events appears to be an endorsement of this practice.
In early September our third staff member who we had recruited in May 2011, resigned as she was
moving down the coast prior to her marriage. We were fortunate to recruit a new staff member, Toa Mafi,
in mid-September to assist with the ever increasing workload that continues to challenge us - particularly
the increased number of technical presentations and the introduction of new technology and processes.
The Division Office has, however, ensured that services continued to be delivered to members with very
little noticeable disruption.
The Division Committee met each month during the year and the Advisory Forum met on three
occasions.
It was a very challenging year, particularly at the start as I was on extended leave overseas for nearly 4
months, however, the Division office operated and delivered service seamlessly. My thanks to the
Division Committee, the Advisory Forum and to all Branch/Panel/ Group/ Societies Chairs, and to other
individual members for the support they have given the Canberra Division throughout the year. Also, my
thanks to our staff members – Colleen, Sue and Toa for accepting the challenge of working in a small
Division environment and ensuring the smooth operation of the Division Office.
Vesna K Strika
Director, Canberra Division
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Branches/Groups/Panels
Australian Society for Defence
Engineering (ASDE)
Chair:
Committee:
Ian O’Hara
Denton Bocking
John Morrison
Presentations for the 2012 calendar year:
8 February 2012
Peter Pong - Jacobs Australia
“Architecture-based Decision Support for
Capability Development”
14 March 2012 – National Office Eminent Speaker
Program
Eminent Speaker: Mr Doug Arbuckle
“Future of Air Traffic Control in the USA”
2 May 2012
Dr Alan Wilson – DSTO
“Instrumenting the ARMIDALE Class patrol vessel
HMAS GLENELG, to monitor various aspects of
vessel performance”
13 June 2012
Geoff Davidson
“Demystifying the materiel capability development
process”
8 August 2012
Mr Ward Johnson - Senior Vice President, Jacobs
Technology Inc. USA
“Systems Engineering Approach to Vehicle Safety”
22 August 2012
Commodore Mark Purcell - Director General
Technical Seaworthiness.
“Life Cycle Management and Rebuilding
Engineering Capability in the RAN post the Rizzo
Review”
10 October 2012
Dr Len Sciacca - Chief Operating Officer DSTO,
“Engineering achievements in, and the
engineering challenges confronting, the DSTO”
12 December 2012
Air Vice Marshall Kym Osley - Program Manager
NACC
“New Air Combat Capability (NACC) Project”
ASDE ACT continued to promote Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) through the
presentations listed above, and wishes to thanks
all of the volunteer presenters.
On behalf of National Chairman Mr Doug Roser,
ASDE ACT presented the ASDE major sponsor
prizes to ADFA engineering students at the annual
ADFA awards ceremony in December 2011:
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PhD or Masters by research in Engineering
(Dr Hemant Kumar Singh)
Masters of Engineering Science (Squadron
Leader Michael Parry)
Aeronautical Engineering (Acting SubLieutenant Kate Carriage, RAN)
Civil Engineering (Officer Cadet Joel Bell)
Electrical Engineering (Officer Cadet Thomas
Scully)
Mechanical Engineering (Officer Cadet Jaison
Alabado).
ASDE ACT on behalf of ASDE National in 2012
worked closely with DMO to arrange the
ASDE/DMO Defence Engineering Conference,
which was held at the Melbourne Convention and
Exhibition Centre on the 7-8 August 2012. The
program theme was “Safety in Engineering”.
The ASDE National Chairman, Mr Doug Roser,
hosted the conference on the 7 Aug 12. Key note
presentations were given by Mr Phil Dunford, Vice
President Boeing Aircraft Company, Boeing
Military Aircraft, USA and Mr Ward Johnson, P.E.,
Senior Vice President and General Manager,
Jacobs Technology Inc., USA with a number of
other presentations from industry and Defence.
ASDE was a major sponsor of this very successful
event. Boeing, Varley, BAE Systems, Jacobs and
Mathworks also provided generous sponsorship
which was arranged by Mr Denton Bocking from
the ASDE Canberra Chapter. Emily Yiannakis and
her team from Engineers Australia provided
professional conference management services. A
pre-conference tour of the Land Engineering
Agency’s Prototype and Test Facilities, at
Monegeetta Victoria which included rides over the
test track in the Australian designed Bushmaster
Protected Mobility Vehicle and witnessing small
arms testing also attracted wide ranging interest.
Following on from the success of this event, a two
day conference is proposed to be held in either
Brisbane or Adelaide in 2013, with one day
reserved for DMO attendees only and one day
jointly with industry/EA. It is proposed that DMO
will engage EA and the ASDE through the
Canberra Chapter.
Issues
All presentations were well attended, with an
average attendance of 20 -30 people, to as high
as 80 people. At the December AGM members will
be asked once again if they wish to join the
Committee.
Conclusion
2012 has been a positive year for ASDE in
Canberra. Interest in presentations remains high,
and a good attendance is always present at the
meetings. The Committee continues to manage a
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
presentation on approximately a bi-monthly basis
throughout the year.
Mr Ian O’Hara
Chairman
Centre for Engineering
Leadership & Management
(CELM)
Civil/Structural Branch
Chair:
Civil College Rep:
Structural College Rep:
Deputy Chair:
Committee:
Andrew Montgomery
Jeff Howard
Tarek El Ansary
Gerin Hingee
Colin Kish
Evan Langham
Martin Kutz
Activities for the 2012 calendar year included:
The Canberra Division’s CELM Chapter, formerly
the Management in Engineering Branch, which
was formed in 2002, incorporates the role of the
Canberra Chapter of the Centre for Engineering
Leadership and Management (CELM) and the
ACT Quality Panel.
The Chapter’s activities are handled by a
Committee, the members during 2012 being:
Chair:
Committee:
Mike Evans
Simba Kippaya
Lex Clark
Bob Nairn
Liam Waldron
Luke Webb
During 2012 the Chapter’s Technical Meetings
program provided for five presentations. These
presentations alternated each month with those
provided by the Risk Engineering Society. The
June meeting provided a lively forum on the topic
“Anecdotes and Reflections on Contract
Variations”. Other presentations covered
leadership topics and communication.
The Annual Leadership Presentation, held over
lunch on Tuesday 17 July 2012, was given by
Rolfe Hartley, a former President of Engineers
Australia. The presentation covered the life of Sir
John Monash as an outstanding example of
engineering leadership.
The CELM Canberra Chapter also collaborated
with the Risk Engineering Society Canberra
Chapter in providing a successful half-day seminar
in May on “Implementing the New Health and
Safety Legislation – Views and Opinions from
those Involved.”
Mike Evans
Chair CELM Chapter.
8 February 2012
Andrew Dunn Chief Executive for
the Timber Development
Association NSW
“Timber - Pushing the Barriers”
Andrew discussed innovative timber
products and constructions and
their application in Australia and answered the
question “How High can Timber Go!
27 March 2012
Mark Treffers Partner of Minter Ellison Canberra
“Work Health and Safety Obligations – More
professional risk?”
Mark was supported by Ms. Clare McNamara and
Mr. Bede Gahan Minter Ellison's Work Health and
Safety team who explained:
What the Act covers; Who has a duty of care;
What is that duty; How can the due diligence
requirement be met; What are the consequences
for individuals for non-compliance; What are
important lessons for designers; and How should
these obligations be managed.
24 April 2012
Mark King AM Director UHY Norton, Chartered
Accountants, Canberra
“ATO to attack Engineers”
ATO activity update; Superannuation update;
Personal Services Income (PSI) issues; and
Structuring a professional practice.
22 May 2012
Mr. John Everett National Director and Chair of the
SIA ACT Branch
Workplace Health and Safety Harmonisation – A
Journey to the Future
With the advent of the Harmonisation of
Workplace Health and Safety, is it a good idea or
not, what has happened, where do we stand, what
are you responsible for and how does it affect
you?
26 June 2012
Mr. Stephen Dwight - Walker Corporation
50 Marcus Clarke being one of Canberra’s largest
commercial buildings, accommodating DEEWR –
Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations and achieving a 6 Green Star
Office Design and As Built rating, a 5 Star Green
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Star Interiors rating and a 5 ½ Star NABERS
Energy Rating for both Base Building and
Tenancy. The building is one of Canberra’s most
significant commercial developments.
24 July 2012
Professor Thomas Campbell - Charles Sturt
University - Centre for Applied Philosophy and
Public Ethics (CAPPE)
“Ethics and the engineer”
23 October 2012
Dr. Yaping He & Mr. Graham Douglas – University
of Western Sydney - Director Academic Program Construction Postgraduate Programs
Bushfire Workshop
• Introduction into Bushfire Protection Measures
• Understanding the Design Bushfire.
• Site Assessment for Bushfire Protection AS
3959-2009
• Towards a Bushfire Engineering Guideline.
• Wind – a bushfire attack mechanism.
27 November 2012
Miss Yuan Fang and Mr. Chang Lin Phd.
Candidates.
Miss Yuan Fang research is in geopolymers, made
from industrial by-products, can be used in place
of cement as they have high compressive strength
and reduced carbon emission.
Mr. Chang Lin research is in concrete and how
adding high content of fibre can improve the
ductility of concrete.
Structural College Rep: Tarek El Ansary
A brief overview of our work on the Structural
College Board:
The Structural College Board has had an active
agenda over the last year. A particular focus of
effort has been to launch an Australian version of
a Confidential Reporting System on Structural
Safety (CROSS). The scheme is operating in the
UK and presents funding implications on an
ongoing basis to implement in Australia. A formal
business case has been prepared by an external
consultant and this is being prepared at the
moment with a view to submitting to the EA
council.
The Structural College Board also organised the
Perth Conference ASEC 2012 (Australasian
Structural Engineering Conference) on back in
July. We are currently making arrangements for
the next conference in New Zealand for 2014.
A number of submissions in the arena of
workplace safety having relevance to Structural
Engineering have been made to Worksafe
Australia in connection with their Draft Codes of
Practice.
Undergraduate competency and education
standards of graduates are also areas being
studied by the Board with a view to tackling
shortcoming perceived by industry.
This year’s program deviated in some regards
from previous years in that we introduced
presentations from other professions in an
endeavour to meet part of Domain 1, 2 and
Domain 5 Requirements.
The success of the program was the result of
close co-operation & support from our Division
staff, who were often required to go that extra mile.
Andrew Montgomery
Chair Civil/Structural Branch
Engineering Heritage Canberra
Chair:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Committee:
Corresponding
Committee:
Lyndon Tilbrook
Robert Breen
Ken Hughes
Keith Baker
Bob Dunn
John Kemister
Alan Christie
Robert Harvey
Oral History Program
Action was completed to convert all EHC analogue
oral history recordings to digital format for holding
on a dedicated hard disk drive by the Division
office.
Oral History recordings were made of
Queanbeyan Times staff during 2012,
with a copy of each placed in the ACT public
Heritage Library collection.
Discussion have been held with ABC Canberra
staff and work has commenced on providing short
excerpts of oral history recordings from the
Powerhouse and Cotter Dam oral history
recordings, for the ABC to use in a proposed
series of radio programs.
Australian Engineering Heritage Recognition
Program
Canberra’s Main Outfall Sewer was awarded
recognition under the Engineering Recognition
Program and a ceremony held for the unveiling of
an interpretive panel. The ceremony occurred on
28 April 2012 and was well attended, with
Engineers Australia Canberra Division President
Doug Mitchell and the Managing Director of
ACTEW Corporation, Mark Sullivan officiating.
Mark Sullivan
and Doug
Mitchell
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Award of Merit
Engineering Heritage Australia presented retired
Canberra engineer Bob Harvey with its prestigious
Award of Merit. A certificate recognising the
award was presented to Bob by Canberra Division
President, Doug Mitchell. Bob received the award
in acknowledgment of the major contribution he
has made over many years to the recognition of
the engineering heritage of Canberra and more
widely, for his promotion of heritage in his work
environment and within Engineers Australia.
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Hosting the EHA National Conference in
Canberra in 2013.
Engineering heritage recognition for
Parliament House.
EHA is pleased to be involved in the Canberra 100
celebrations and will work hard to ensure the
success of those activities selected for
progression.
Lyndon Tilbrook
Chair EHC
Information,
Telecommunications, Electronics
& Electrical Branch (ITE&E)
Chair:
IET
Elect. Coll. Rep
SEA
Tonina and Bob Harvey
ITEE CB
IEEE
Engineering Heritage Website
Further development of the Committee’s EH
website continued during 2012. The majority of
EHC Recognition Program nomination documents
have been uploaded to the website.
Engineering Heritage Australia
EHC will be hosting the November 2013 National
Conference of Engineering Heritage Australia and
the concurrent meeting of the EHA National
Committee. Planning for the conference is well
underway, with the organising committee meeting
every two months.
Lyndon Tilbrook and Keith Baker represented EHC
on the EHA National Committee. Lyndon
continues to serve as Assistant Editor for the EHA
Newsletter and Keith serves as chair of the
Monash Medal award review sub-committee.
End of Year Function
The 2012 EHC end of year dinner featured a
presentation by Past President of Engineers
Australia, Rolfe Hartley.
Canberra 100 Celebrations
EHC Chair, Lyndon Tilbrook is participating on the
Canberra 100 Celebration sub-committee of the
Canberra Division of EA. Numerous heritage
activities are planned as part of the celebrations
leading up to 2013 including:
• A rerelease of the book ‘Canberra’s
Engineering Heritage’. EHC member Keith
Baker is authorising the rewrite, with the book
launch planned to coincide with the Canberra
Area Heritage Festival to be held in April 2013.
Andrew McLArty
Ian Noble
Jeganathan Janarthana
Jennifer Murray
John Morrison
John Gordon
Martin Leaver
Jeffrey Bollard
Peter Herbert
Xu Huang
Liam Waldron
The Canberra Division of Engineers Australia host
the Information, Telecommunications, Electronics
and Electrical (ITE&E) Branches presenting a local
point of contact for members of both the Electrical
Engineering College and the Information,
Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering
(ITEE) College. The Branch works co-operatively
with the institution of Electrical Engineers and
Technologists (IET) and the Institute of Electronics
and Electrical Engineers (IEEE).
The objectives of the ITE&E Branch are:
a) To conduct activities which further the
interests of those engaged in information,
telecommunications, electronics and electrical
engineering;
b) To encourage and facilitate the development
of information, telecommunications,
electronics and electrical engineering in the
ACT and surrounding regions.
In support of continuing professional development
of Engineers Australia membership and in
conjunction with the ACT Section of IEEE and the
IET NSW Centre, the ITE&E Branch Committee
conducted the following activities at Engineering
House, National Office:
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Branch Meetings
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
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Technical seminars; and
The ITEE Society Student Presentation Award
Night (ITEESPAN).
The 2012 Technical Program consisted of 10
technical presentations and represented a total of
366 recorded hours of CPD for members
(conservative, as numbers include only those
recorded present by way of signature). The IEEE
contributed two presentations to the technical
program this year.
ITEE Student Presentation and Award Night
(ITEESPAN) has once again been the highlight of
the program. In this event, fourth year (honours)
students representatives from two Canberra
Universities, namely The Australian National
University (ANU) and The Australian Defence
Force Academy (ADFA) University of New South
Wales, present their honours year project in
competition before a panel of judges from industry
and academia. In October 2012, the Master of
Ceremonies was Liam Waldron and ITEESPAN
Student Presenters were:
•
•
•
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ADFA: 2LT James Edge-Williams, An
adaptable chorded keyboard with user input
optimisation;
ADFA: SBLT Gerard Martin, Characterisation
of the Parrot AR.Drone;
ANU: Mr Edwin Davis, Development of a low
cost quadrotor platform for swarm
experiments; and
ANU: Mr Elliot Wise, Axisymmetric Ultrasound
Simulation Using Discrete Sine/Cosine
Transform Spectral Methods.
•
Simba Kippaya, Director - Sub Sahara
Consulting.
The presentations were all of a very high standard.
The winner of ITEESPAN 2012 was 2LT James
Edge-Williams (ADFA). He received a prize of
$500 and a certificate. The runners up were each
given a certificate of participation.
The ITEESPAN Occasional Address for 2012 was
presented by Mr. Lyle Roberts, a PhD student at
the ANU, studying at the Center for Gravitational
Physics in the field of optics and digital signal
processing implemented using field-programmable
gate-array technology. Lyle’s presentation titled
“Climbing the Mountain that is my Career”
examined the opportunities that had been
presented to him and he encouraged the students
to pursue the opportunities that were presented to
them in their early career.
The ITE&E Branch Committee for 2013 will be
determined at the AGM held on 20 Nov 2012. A
number of committee members have nominated
due to being unable to attend the meeting so
election of the Chairman for 2013 will be
determined at the December meeting.
Technical Presentations for 2012:
21 February 2012 – Attendance 19
Gabriel d'Eustachio – Head CSC’s Security
Consulting Practice in Australia
“Assessing the risks of an advance metering
infrastructure”
20 March 2012 - Attendance 43
Mark Reed - UNSW
“Small Cells, HetNets and Cloud- Radio Access
Networks: New Wireless Infrastructure to address
the Mobile Broadband Challenge”
17 April 2012 - Attendance 35
Darrell Ninham – BSc MBA, MIEAust, CPEng
“A Perspective on the World Radio Conference”
.
James, Elliot, Gerard & Edwin
ITEESPAN Judges were:
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Martin Leaver MIEAust, Chair of Judges, IEEE
Committee;
Imon Chodhury MIEAust CPEng, Manager –
Strategy, Accenture Management Consulting,
Accenture;
Dr Adam Czezowski, Director - Perceptron
Software Systems; and
15 May 2012 – IEEE - Attendance 27
Daniel Gillespie – Joint Ststems research
Discipline of Joint Operations Division
“Model Based Systems Engineering Approach to
Tactical Information Exchange Joint Capability
Modelling”
19 June 2012 - Attendance 45
Eminent Speaker - Dr Trevor Bird – M.A. Sargeant
Medal for 2012 - Winner
“From Wireless to Astronomy: lessons from an
engineering career”
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
17 July 2012 - Attendance 52
Eminent Speaker - Robert Barr – 2012 National
Professional Electrical Engineer of the Year
“Australia's Green Electricity Schemes - costs and
benefits”
21 August 2012 – Attendance 49
Patrick Hearps – Technical Director, Zero Carbon
Australia Project
“Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan,
100% Renewable Energy Generation”
18 September 2012 – IEEE - Attendance 59
Dr Rainer Ignetik
“Radiation Hazard for Microwave Radars Burning
and Turning”
16 October 2012 – Attendance 37
Lyle Roberts
ITEESPAN
The ITE&E committee has continued the Software
Engineering and Architecture (SEA) technical
program stream this year. This activity is linked
with ITEE College Board and National Committee
on Software Engineering (NCSWE) initiatives in
relation to 'software engineers having a home in
EA' and having a technical program that
specifically targets that audience. This initiative is
intended to provide software engineers greater
feeling of EA providing for their needs. A
subcommittee arranges the presenters for this
programme. Three successful seminars have
been delivered contributing approximately 72
hours CPD.
ITE&E Branch and SEA Technical Seminar
Programme which commenced in 2011 has
included:
15 February 2012 – Attendance 19
Dr Allan Dyer
“Using Architecture to Support Enterprise-wide
Acquisition Decisions”
15 August 2012 – Attendance 16
Graeme Neil
“Managing Stakeholders in the development of an
Enterprise Architecture”
30 October 2012 – Attendance 37
Brad Aitkin – Deputy CTO at AFP, Enterprise
Architecture
“Enterprise Architecture, Engineering and Project
Management - Synergistic Opportunities"
Andrew McLarty
Chair
Mechanical Branch
Chair:
Committee:
John Couldrick
Graeme Field
Partha Bhattacharya
Lenny Bruce
Fred Fernandes
Sean Houzey
Kevin Shen
Michael Smith
Sebastian Tops
Over the past year we had the goal of delivering
six mechanical engineering presentations to the
Canberra Division. Through the work of the
Canberra Division Mechanical Committee we have
achieved this goal and extended upon it with
seven events. Moreover, the original aim factored
on one of these being provided by the National
Office with an eminent speaker tour, which
unfortunately didn’t eventuate. An excellent
performance by the committee with the following:
22 February 2012
Joint AIRAH and EA meeting
“Indoor Air Quality – Issues and Design
Considerations”
28 March 2012
Linda Richardson – National Group Leader
Commercial, AGS & Christopher Behrens – Senior
Executive Lawyer, AGS
“Engineering Contracts – “Managing Problem
Contracts”
23 May 2012
Terry Rooney and Antony Stanislaus - KONE
“JUMP Elevator Design”
27 June 2012
Dr Tapabarta Ray – UNSW, Canberra
“Multidisciplinary Optimization Problems: Current
Capabilities and Challenges”
25 July 2012
Stuart Kirkwood – Johnson Controls
“Technology Innovations for Enhancing the
Sustainability and Efficiency of Chilled Water
Plants”
26 September 2012
Dr Buyung Kosasih - University of Wollongong
“Micro Wind Farms/Turbines”
28 November 2012
Warren Williams– Managing Director, Codarra
Advanced Systems
“Robotics and Unmanned Vehicle - Research &
Development”
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Next 12 months - 2013
Next year will see a changing of the guards – well
more accurate would be changing of the guard.
Jonathan Couldrick is stepping down as the
chairperson of the committee and we hope that a
new person will step up at the AGM and supported
by the committee.
It is intended to retain the level of presentations to
our members for the future and include sessions
co-hosted with other kindred bodies such, for
example previous hosting with the Australian
Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and
Heating (AIRAH) and the Australian Acoustical
Society.
Lastly, if a local champion can be found, the hope
is to generate a Mechanical Engineering Prize for
a local university/college. This is in early
development but would be an excellent way to
promote engagement in the community
Jonathan Couldrick
Chair
Retired Engineers Group
Convenor:
Committee:
Graham Conran
Russ Richards
Once again the Retired Engineers Group has had
a successful year with a mixture of site visits,
career presentations and a panel discussion. The
site visits were to the Cotter Dam (just prior to the
storm), Downer Asphalt, ACT Fire Brigade and the
Queanbeyan Printing Museum. We have
continued with member’s career presentations and
we had a panel discussion about “Technological
Advances” and what they have meant to our
careers.
On occasion partners have joined us for the site
visits and more particularly for our mid-year and
end-of-year luncheons which have proved to be
socially very enjoyable.
Unfortunately our committee was reduced to two
during the year with Jagna Ablomovicz suffering
an illness and we hope to see her back on deck in
the new year.
We are looking forward with anticipation to 2013.
Graham Conran
Convenor
Risk Engineering Society (RES)
Chair:
Deputy Chair:
Secetary:
Committee:
Subhash Dang
Edward Lewis
Rakesh Malhotra
Jeff Bollard
Ian Burn
Brian Charlton
Mike Evans
Ian Hooley
13 March 2012
John Dymke - Chief Engineer with ACTEW
Corporation
“Cotter Dam and Murrumbidgee to Googong
Transfer Scheme - Project Updates”
John Dymke provided an update on the status of
construction of the two major Water Supply
Security projects presently being undertaken by
ACTEW Corporation. The presentation covered
details of each project’s key design features,
construction methodology, risks and opportunities
being managed during project delivery, as well as
providing details on project construction status.
10 July 2012
Stuart Hamilton – Assistant Deputy Commissioner
of Risk Strategy with the Australian Taxation Office
“Risk Management for Enhancing Compliance with
Taxation Legislation”
Stuart Hamilton spoke about the Risk
Differentiation Framework that he had developed.
He discussed the framework and its associated
‘bow-tie’ risk management approach that has
enhanced compliance with the Taxation
Legislation.
28 May 2012 - RES Workshop
Implementing the New Health and Safety
Legislation – Views and Opinions from those
Involved
Ms Kylie Edwards (Training Officer, WorkSafe
ACT) spoke on new Work Health Safety
Legislation.
John Everett (Chair, Safety Institute of Australia,
ACT) talked about implementation of Workplace
Health and Safety Harmonisation.
Peter Middleton (Managing Director, Woden
Contractors) gave his views from a Civil
Construction Contractor's perspective on the New
Harmonised OH&S Laws.
Marcus Donnelly (Consultant - Occupational
Health and Hygiene) talked about resolving Mould
Complications in Canberra and Across Australia.
11 September 2012
Ed Lewis, Senior Lecturer ADFA, Deputy Chair
Risk
“The Management of the Risks of Risk
Management”
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Edward Lewis spoke on risks in the current
practices for risk management. They include the
misuse of likelihood in risk analysis, the
inadequate identification of consequential risks in
risk registers, and the lack of consideration of risk
treatments and their evaluation.
Representation at Standards Australia
RES Canberra Chapter is also represented by Ed
Lewis on the Standards Australia Risk
Management Committee.
The Sydney Chapter organised the RISK 2012
Conference in September at Hunter Valley, NSW,
Australia. Dr Edward Lewis from Canberra
Chapter presented a paper on Risk Management.
The ACT Chapter of the SSEE has taken on the
responsibility to deliver the national conference in
Canberra in 2013. This will take up most of our
efforts next year so I expect a slightly reduced
program next year
Adrian Piaini
Chair
Transport Branch
Chair:
Members:
Subhash Dang
Chair
Society for Sustainability and
Environmental Engineering
(SSEE)
SSEE again focused its efforts in 2012 on
delivering interesting technical seminars for its
members, members of EA, and the general public.
We held four technical presentations on various
topics including recycling, climate change, water
quality and Blue-green algal blooms in Lake Burley
Griffin, and Canberra’s sustainable transport
policy.
Jeff Bell
Neil Graham
Tom Brimson
Bob Nairn
Tim Rampton
Shukry Sahhar
The 2012 program had a variety of speakers,
topics and forums. During the year the Transport
Branch had seven presentations predominately
focussed on sustainable transport, with good
attendances and interest.
Presentations
Thank you to all the speakers and attendees that
participated in the following presentations during
the year:
16 February 2012
Eminent Speaker - Greg Martin - Chair of the
National Transport Commission & 2010 Transport
Medal winner
“Transport and public strategy – linking policy
goals to action”
15 March 2012
Terry Dodds, Group Manager – Public Works, City
of Ryde
“Personal Mobility Devices”
19 April 2012
Again, as part of Engineering Week, SSEE hosted
a bus tour. This time we concentrated on
Canberra’s water cycle. The bus tour visited the
main source of our water (the Cotter River and the
new dam), the end result of our water use (the
Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre),
and an urban wetland in between. Another great
day and an enjoyable one for the participants. We
were lucky to get a number of professionals in the
area to donate their time to explain some of the
detail around managing Canberra’s water. For
most of us, it’s simply a matter of turning on the
tap. However, I think this bus tour showed us there
is a whole lot more to successfully managing water
to provide what we need, and to also minimise our
impacts on our waterways.
Eric Martin - National President of the Association
of Consultants in Access Australia (ACAA)
“Understanding Disability Access in the Public
Domain"
17 May 2012
Christine Lawrence, - ACT Equestrian Association
“Designing for Equestrian Access”
21 June 2012
Gethin Perry - Principal for Intelligent Transport
Systems, GHD
“Managed Motorways”
11 July 2012
Terry Dodds (Group Manager – Public Works, City
of Ryde)
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
(This presentation was a repeat of the March
presentation, due to miscommunication regarding
the organisation of the earlier presentation)
“Personal Mobility Devices”
19 July 2012
Kuga Kugathas - Senior Manager of Transport
Planning and Projects ESDD
“Northbourne Ave Light Rail”
quite a challenge to get across the line. A special
thank you to Jennifer Murray, Colleen Mays,
Vesna Strika and Mags Bell for their support. 35
attended the breakfast event, and 19 attended the
workshop. The committee received very positive
feedback from the attendees and everyone walked
away feeling better equipped to deal with stress
and depression.
There were good attendances at all presentations,
varying from about 10 people though to 25 or
more, with the exception of the March
presentation, where there was some
miscommunication between the Committee and
the Branch staff, resulting in very poor attendance.
The presenter, Mr Terry Dodds, was asked to
return and repeat his presentation in July. This
meeting was well attended.
AGM
Mags Bell
The AGM for the Transport Branch has been
deferred until Feb 2013.
1 February 2012
Nerida Gill (Creator of Admin Bandit)
“6 Degrees”
2013 Program
We are currently preparing the program for next
year and have started to receive some good ideas
for topics and presenters for 2013’s presentations.
Conclusions
Thanks to Colleen and Susan in the Canberra
Division office who helped in the organisation of
the technical presentations and the lunch which
was provided before each presentation. This
encouraged attendance and networking over the
lunch time period when our meetings were held.
I would also like to thank the committee for their
assistance throughout the year.
Jeff Bell
Chair
Women in Engineering (WIE)
Chair:
National Representative:
NAWIC/WIPM Representative:
Committee:
Fiona Morrison
Kelly Lance
Clare Banks
Jennifer Murray
Nicola Mead
Michelle Williams
In 2012, Women in Engineering Canberra hosted
6 diverse and successful professional
development presentations. Of particular note,
was the ‘Silent Profit Eater’ Breakfast & Workshop
th
held on the 7 November. During this event, Mags
Bell explained what stress and depression is, what
it looks like in the workplace and methods for
managing difficult situations. The event was a
“pilot” for the Canberra Division and it proved to be
7 March 2012
Louise Carter (Executive Director of Performance
Partnership)
“How to Influence & Persuade Your Audience”
31 March 2012
“Cool Science” (Aerospace Engineering & Science
Activities) held at O’Connor Cooperative School
(K-12): Nicola Mead attended
19 April 2012
EA Autumn School Careers Night: Fiona Morrison
attended
11 May 2012
Canberra Girls Grammar School Careers
Presentation: Nicola Mead & Clare Banks
attended
1 August 2012
Mags Bell (Director of Creating Powerful Results)
“What the Bleep is Coaching?”
7 September 2012
WIE Networking Event @ Hotel Realm
13 September 2012
Jillian Kilby (Director of J L Kilby Pty Ltd)
“In Front: Outback – A Regional Engineering
Journey”
5 October 2012
National WIE Committee Meeting in Brisbane:
Attended by Kelly Lance
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
7 November 2012
Breakfast & Workshop presented by Mags Bell
(Director of Creating Powerful Results) “Managing
the ‘Silent Profit Eater’ Within Your Organisation”
19 November 2012
WIE Canberra AGM
5 December 2012
Louise Carter (Executive Director of Performance
Partnership)
“Emotional Intelligence”
Fiona Morrison
Chair
Young Engineers (YEA)
Chair:
Vice Chair:
Secretary:
National Rep;
Website Manager;
Committee;
Andrew Airey
Ben Foley
Justin Bagnall
Chris Dowton
Chris Dowton
Nicola Mead
Kevin Shen
April Jewel
Christina West
2012 has been another busy year for YEA-C,
which saw a number of returning features, social
networking and professional development
presentations. These events have been conducted
in collaboration with fellow professional
committees, local engineering companies,
community organisations and of course Engineers
Australia.
Highlights for the year include the return of the
Exchange Luncheon and a new feature event –
The Comedy Trivia night as part of Engineering
Week.
Sponsored by the Defence Materiel Organisation
(DMO), the 2012 Exchange Luncheon was
another outstanding success. Over 100 young and
senior engineers were treated to presentations
from Dr Shari Soutberg (DMO) and David
Dreverman (Murray Darling Basin Authority) on the
theme: Challenges for the Future, Lessons from
the Past.
The YEA-C Comedy Trivia Night was a new event
within Engineering Week. MC’d by Greg Kimball,
the event left the audience laughing and cheering
as Engineers Australia took on the Might of
Canberra in a friendly match of 3 on 3 trivia. Watch
this space as the Comedy Trivia Night will return in
2013!!
Other 2012 events included:
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Welcome BBQ events at UC and ANU
AMF Bowling social event
Attendance at the Daramalan College Post
School Options evening
Engineering Games as part of Engineering
Week
Cotter Dam technical site visit
Chartered Status and eChartered Explained
presentation
Codarra Robotics Challenge
Pitch n Putt social event
Interview Skills, Financial Planning and Life
after University technical presentations
Resume writing workshop
With the end of the year fast approaching, the
YEA-C is looking forward to another exciting year
of Engineering!
Andrew Airey
Chair
Australian Engineering Week
Engineering Week
The theme for Canberra Division’s Australian Engineering Week (AEW) program was Sustainability, with
the majority of the activities addressing this theme. AEW is to develop greater public awareness of
engineers Australia and engineering activities in general.
Mr Simon Corbell MLA the ACT Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development launched
AEW at the Sustainable Skills Training Hub CIT Bruce Campus on the 24 July 2012. The launch event
was attended by students of St John the Apostle school from Florey. The students constructed solar
thermal collectors as a part of the activity and Canberra turned on a pleasant sunny winter morning.
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
The SSEE Field Trip titled The Water Tour – Top to Bottom, visited the Lower Mologolo Water Quality
Centre, Cotter Dam and a tour of Urban Wetlands. Reports indicate that all who attended thoroughly
enjoyed the day out.
I attended the ComedyTrivia Night “Engineers Australia takes on CanberraYoung Engineers”, a comedy
trivia evening arranged by the Young Engineers group and MC’d by local comedian Greg Kimball. This
event was well attended and all who made the effort had an enjoyable evening.
Rolfe Hartley, David Robinson and Doug Mitchell
Paper plane throwing competition
The Australian War Memorial (AWM) hosted three activities; a 30 Minute Gallery talk on Engineering
Technology on Tuesday, a presentation on “Military Engineers & Reconstruction” which was followed by
that afternoons AWM closing ceremony being dedicated to a fallen engineer on Wednesday and a tour of
the War Memorial Annex in Mitchell was held on Thursday afternoon.
For myself the major activity for the week was the “Sustainable Living Information Evening” which was
held at the John Curtin Medical School at ANU. Five speakers presented on different aspects of living
sustainably in a city and how to make your home sustainable. I had planned to speak with a number of
the presenters after the formal part of the evening but due to the crush around the presenters I was
unable to do so. The presentations generated a lot of discussion. This activity was very well attended
with over 120 attendees.
Karen Billington, Catherine Kiernan Chris Ware, Jenny Edwards and Mike Dennis
Canberra Division again hosted the 'Engineers Without Borders 2012 Challenge' with the top teams from
ANU and UNSW@ADFA competing.
The flagship event for the week was once again the Engineering Games held at Questacon with
approximately 406 participants.
Due to family commitments I was unable to attend all of the events throughout the week, but for the
majority of activities, I have received very positive feedback from the members that attended the activity
or function.
As the Chair of AEW committee this year I would firstly like to thank the sponsors ANU, AWM and CIT.
Secondly thank you to a very active committee for putting together a full program of activities. All
members of the team actively contributed to the planning and organisation of events. Also a very large
thank you to the staff of Canberra Division for supporting the activities and coordinating the last minute
changes.
The downside of AEW this year was having to cancel a couple of planned activities due to low
registrations.
Andrew McLarty
Chair AEW Canberra Division
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Engineering Games
Yet another Australian Engineering Week has come and gone, and with it another fun filled evening of
Engineering Games with the next generation of up and coming engineers, and their parents and teachers
at Questacon.
This year saw over 305 event entries from approximately 440 students organised in over 228 teams or
individual entrants, competing for up to 48 different prizes.
Always popular with primary and secondary school students, the Games saw entries from Canberra and
Queanbeyan with entrants ranging from Year 3 junior primary to ANU and CIT students. This year we
also welcomed six schools/colleges who had not participated previously.
The Games owe their success to the willingness of Division members to give of their time to assist the
Organising Committee on the night. The organising committee is grateful for the support of our
volunteers on the evening.
For over two hours, the reception hall of Questacon was abuzz with competitors, stressing their Spaghetti
Bridges, Straw Towers and Geodesic Domes, demonstrating incredible ingenuity in construction of
Mousetrap Racers or encouraging Hovercraft down a marked track. Who would have thought a structure
of drinking straws, and weighing only 26 grams, could support a weight of 5.6kg, and that came out of the
Junior Primary Division, or a small vehicle, powered only by a mousetrap, could travel over 19.4 metres.
This year also saw the introduction of a new game, the Robo Greyhound, complete with its own race
track. All in all, 42 prizes were awarded in the five games spread over four divisions.
The evening was support by Questacon and was topped off by a Science Show by Questacon Excited
Particle Team in the auditorium. A fun night was had by all participants, spectators and volunteers.
Mr Stephen Durkin CEO Engineers Australia and Dr Chris Bourke MLA, Minister for Education & Training
attended for a couple of hours and Dr Bourke was on hand to give the prizes at the end of the evening.
The Organising Committee is advised that a number of groups have already started the design process
for next year’s games.
The Organising Committee
Engineering Week, Engineering Games 2012
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Awards
Canberra Division Young Professional Engineers of the Year Award
Captain Brendan Noller
A citation from Warren King, CEO, Defence Material Organisation on Major Noller’s
contribution to the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter project reads:
‘You have displayed outstanding technical knowledge in overcoming complex
problems… Your achievements are of the highest order and in keeping with the
finest traditions of the Defence Materiel Organisation, Australian Army and the
Australian Defence Force.’
Before he was even 30, Major Noller lead a team of 40 technicians and also lead the
investigation and resolved the issues associated with night vision of the Armed Reconnaissance
Helicopter project.
Canberra Division Professional Engineer of the Year Award
Mike Rodd GHD
Mike has close to 40 years of experience in the design and management of a range
of projects involving the investigation, design and documentation of major pipeline
and pumping systems for urban and mining projects throughout Australia and
overseas including major water supply transfer systems. Mike’s technical
achievements have been recognised through his appointment as Technical Leader in
Water Transmission Systems for GHD globally.
Within GHD, Mike has undertaken leadership roles at the project, technical and
operational levels. He has demonstrated that highly talented technical people can
progress their career outside of a management career path.
Canberra Division Engineering Associate of the Year Award
Wing Commander Geoffrey Kimmins CSC OAM AMIEAust CEngA
Wing Commander Geoff Kimmins is a competent Chartered Engineering Associate,
who has dedicated 35 years of his life to serving in the Royal Australian Air Force
as a radio technician, trade supervisor, Engineering Associate and military
Commander. He was recently identified as ready for promotion to Group Captain.
Geoff’s engineering competence has seen him awarded a Conspicuous Service
Cross and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
The first is awarded for “outstanding commitment to duty or outstanding application
of exceptional skills, judgment or dedication, in non-war-like situations for
outstanding achievement as a Senior Engineering Officer”. He received the OAM
for “meritorious service in the Directorate of Flying Safety, Maintenance
Management and Planning Implementation, and the School of Technical Training”.
In particular, Geoff’’s OAM recognised how he had “directly enhanced flying safety through his expert
analysis of aircraft accidents” at the Directorate of Flying Safety. In addition, his expertise in maintenance
governance “delivered innovations, which have significantly improved the quantity and quality of
graduates from the School of Technical Training for the Australian Defence Force”.
Geoffrey went onto win the National Engineering Associate of the Year Award on
21 November 2012.
Geoffrey accepting his National Award from the National President David Hood at
the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards dinner.
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Engineering Graduates Prizes
The Canberra Division Awards program continued during 2012.
The following awards were given for scholastic achievement in 2012.
Arthur Corbett Medal UNSW Canberra @ADFA
OCDT Sarah Hall for Best Performance in Fourth Year Engineering
Engineers Australia Excellence in Engineering Award Canberra Institute of Technology.
Joss Wholohan for the Best Academic Achievement in the Engineering Diplomas and Advanced
Diplomas.
H A Jones Medal, Australian National University
Laurance Alistair Watson
Butters Oration
The Sir John Butters Oration was established by Engineers Australia (Canberra Division) in 1985 to
publicise engineering and the work of engineers within or associated with the Australian Capital Territory.
Sir John Butters was Chief Commissioner of the Federal Capital Commission from 1924 to 1929. He was
also the National President of Engineers Australia in 1927. The oration is named in recognition of the
significant role that Sir John Butters played in the establishment of the Canberra Division - that of
founding father and interim Chairman.
The Butters Oration was relaunched in 2002 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the formation of
the Canberra Division and is held as a biennial event.
The 2012 Butters Oration was delivered on 21 November 2012 by Mr
David Headon (Cultural Historian & Consultant). The topic was “Boots
and All’—the Engineers’ Distinctive Contribution to Canberra’s
Foundation Story. Canberra’s foundation story routinely has as its
historical focus one of three themes: the contribution of the Griffins, the
impact of the international design competition (1911-12), and, less
often, the individuals standing atop the Foundation Stones podium on
12 March 1913.
Hall of Fame
(Post Script)
Engineers Australia, Canberra Division inducted three new members to our Hall of Fame on Tuesday 11
December 2012.
th
Established in 2002 to mark the 75 Anniversary of founding of the Canberra Division, the Canberra
Engineering Hall of Fame recognises the accomplishments of engineers in Canberra who have
demonstrated outstanding professional achievement. The Hall of Fame also provides a perpetual means
of showcasing the contribution that engineering makes to our society.
The new inductees are a group of engineers who have made remarkable contributions to the engineering
profession and to Canberra.
Harry Mouat is recognised as both an engineer and surveyor and was a pioneer of Canberra from the
year of its foundation in 1913. He is commemorated by the naming of Mouat Street, Lyneham.
Professor Arthur Corbett was founding Professor of Engineering at the Royal Military College,
Duntroon.
Murray Northrop founded Northrop Engineers in 1976 in Canberra.
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Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Fellows Admitted During 2012
Congratulations to the following members on being admitted as Fellows of Engineers Australia during the
period 1 December 2011 to 30 November 2012
Mr Subhash Dang
Mr Kevin Eaqrle
Me John Stephen Foster
Mr Darrell Ninham
Mr Mark-Anton Stefanac
Eng Exec Status
There weren’t any Canberra Division members that attained EngExec status during the period 1
December 2011 to 30 November 2012.
Members Deceased During 2012
The Division is aware of the death of the following members during 2012.
Brigadier Charles Francis Flint
Mr Richard Reginald James Gordon
Mr Harald Jacobsen
Mr Neville Stanley Maddern
Mr Vaitylingam Thamotharalingam
Mr Henry Walter West
Mr Ronald Arthur Wright
Chartered Status
The following members attained Chartered Status during the period 1 December 2011 to 30 November
2012
Luke William Maule Belfield
Skye Elizabeth Blair
Scott Robert Bland
Jeffrey Andrew Brown
Simon William Chittleborough
Catherine Rachael Colman
Gregory John Condon
Linden Ernest Coot
Anntonette Louise Dailey
Darius Danesh
Richard Penry Jones
Mark Hamilton Kelly
Shafquat Islam Khan
Adrian Gian Piani
Timothy Michael Pope
Mina Jean Roberts
Bradley William Rushworth
Nima Satar
Shari Louise Soutberg
Matthew David Spark
Benjamin James Stensrud
Arnold Jacobus Swart
Justin Daniel Taylor
Emma Jane Vickers
Kan Wei
Ken Fung Jody Yap
22
22
Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Financial Report
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2012
These Financial Statements for the Canberra Division are derived from the Group Consolidated Concise
Financial Report for The Institution of Engineers Australia. They should be read in conjunction with the
Financial Statements in the Annual Report of Engineers Australia 2011-2012.
2011
$’000s
2012
$’000s
REVENUE
Division Allocation income
Community Engagement
Body of Knowledge and Professional Development
Leadership and Influence
Recognition, Promotion and Membership
Education and Qualification
Internal Structure and Administration
369
4
26
0
0
0
0
372
1
21
0
51
2
0
Total revenue for ordinary activities
399
447
EXPENSES FROM ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
Community Engagement
Body of Knowledge and Professional Development
Leadership and Influence
Recognition, Promotion and Membership
Education and Qualification
Internal Structure and Administration
49
99
17
53
24
131
102
92
14
106
31
108
Total expenses from ordinary activities
373
453
NET SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FROM ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
26*
(6)
*Deficit as approved in the 10 year financial plan.
23
23
Canberra Division – Annual Report 2012
Prepared by Canberra Division
Engineering House
11 National Circuit Barton ACT 2600
Phone: 02 62706519
Fax: 02 62732051
Email: canberradivision@engineersaustralia.org.au
Web: www.engineersaustralia.org.au