Sydney, Australia's largest city, is built around Sydney Harbour. The original European visit to the area by Captain James Cook on the Endeavour was when he anchored just south of Sydney in Botany Bay in 1770. Cook named it Botany Bay in honor of his botanists on board, led by Sir Joseph Banks. Botany Bay is now where Sydney airport is located and is fairly industrialized.

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Brisbane, Australia's third largest city, straddles the Brisbane River and is adjacent to Moreton Bay. Brisbane and Brisbane River are named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, a Premier of New South Wales before Queensland was created. Moreton Bay was named by Captain James Cook as he sailed by in 1770. Cook named it Morton's Bay after Lord Morton, President of the Royal Society, but a subsequent misspelling, Moreton, became the standard. Story Bridge over the Brisbane River.

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The close relationship that Australian cities have with their waterways is due to several factors. The majority of Australia's population is along the coast as a result of proximity to shipping, moderate climates, availability of freshwater and lifestyle preferences. The waterways have been a source of water, food and transport since early European settlement and for the prior forty thousand years of indigenous peoples on the continent.

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A new scientific facility in Brisbane is the Ecosciences Precinct on the site of the old gaol (jail) which was known as Boggo Road. The facility is just across the Brisbane River from the University of Queensland, connected by the new Eleanor Schonell pedestrian, bicycle and bus bridge.

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At the invitation of Dr. Andy Longmore, Victoria Department of Primary Industries, Kate Moore and I traveled to Queenscliff on the Bellarine peninsula at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay. We stayed in a wonderful, cosy bed and breakfast in Queenscliff called the Athelstane House and worked in the Department of Primary Industries Queenscliff Centre with a variety of fisheries scientists.

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Dr. Bill Dennison … Thursday 7th July 2011 … 5.30 - 7.00pm *followed by light refreshments … The Long Room Customs House 399 Queen Street, Brisbane … RSVP here … The Long Room, Customs House … The 2011 Queensland floods have provided a 'learning moment' for Queenslanders. As councils, businesses and families rebuild from the devastating floods, it is important to reflect on how to live in a climate characterized by prolonged droughts punctuated by extreme events.

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During a visit to Sydney, I stumbled upon an interesting climate exhibit in front of Customs House in Circular Quay. A British sculptor, Mark Coreth, created an ice sculpture in the form of a life size polar bear. Inside the bear was a skeleton model created from metal. The sculpture was placed outside, and although it was a rather chilly winter weekend, the ice slowly melted, revealing the skeleton underneath over several days.

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When I was at the University of Queensland, we had a very active group of researchers, science communicators, graduate and undergraduate students investigating seagrasses, mangroves, corals, macroalgae, phytoplankton, benthic microalgae, bacteria and viruses. We called ourselves the Marine Botany group, also known as 'Marbot'. While the Marine Botany group has dispersed and the logo and website have faded, the people who had this shared experience have been thriving in a diversity of pursuits.

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I am not sure exactly what I said upon learning that I had received the award for the Healthy Waterways Champion, as it was a big surprise and unexpected honor, but the following is what I was trying to say. Bill giving his Healthy Waters Champion Award speech. "Thank you for this unexpected honor. I am staggered by this award and would like to thank the judges and the award sponsor, Queensland Urban Utilities.

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The vibrant Marine Botany group was part of the Botany Department while I was at the University of Queensland, but went into the Centre for Marine Studies after I left. The Botany Department has disappeared and the Centre for Marine Studies has morphed into something quite different, but the spirit of Marine Botany lives on. The Marine Botany crowd has dispersed throughout the world, and throughout Australia, but there are a significant number of Marbots still in Brisbane.

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