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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The appeal of iconic creatures has long been used to generate support in the conservation movement. Whales and dolphins in the sea and pandas, gorillas and other apes on land have been and still are conservation icons. WWF still uses the panda in their logo, for example. Icons like birds, particularly raptors, are fairly global. Other icons are rather regional, like Komodo dragons in Indonesia or lemurs in Madagascar.

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The story of the naval survey ship Paluma that was cast up into the Botanic Gardens in February 1893 and refloated two weeks later is part of Brisbane lore, and I decided to track down the story about how the Paluma was refloated. I went to the Queensland State Library archive section and was impressed with the beautiful library and helpful staff.

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The Arafura and Timor Ecosystem Action (ATSEA) program is a multi-national agreement between Australia, Indonesia, and Timor Leste (East Timor). It was formed as part of the United Nations Global Environment Facility (GEF).

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The naming of the city of Darwin is an interesting case of premonition by a sailor. Port Darwin was named by Captain John Wickham in 1839 when the HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin Harbour as part of a survey of Australia's top end. Charles Darwin went on to become one of the most famous men in history, based on his theory of natural selection, the basis of evolutionary thought.

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On June 1, I boarded the 'Beaglet', a Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport (NRETA) boat for a Darwin Harbour field trip. I enjoyed the naming reference to the famous ship 'Beagle' that Charles Darwin sailed around the world, including his famous visit to the Galapagos Islands. The boat skipper was Matt Majid and Julia Fortune was the biologist leading the tour.

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