Issue 03. 7 April 2008 - UWA Staff - The University of Western Australia

UWA NEWS
7 April 2008 Volume 27 Number 3
Discovery
channel
by Lindy Brophy
The global effort going into the Square Kilometre
Array telescope will be the cornerstone of a
culture change in science research worldwide,
according to UWA’s Professor Peter Quinn,
Premier’s Fellow in Astronomy, who is heading
up Australia’s bid for the radio telescope.
Scientists in many countries are working collaboratively on
designs, writing software and building receivers in preparation
for the world’s biggest land-based telescope and Professor
Quinn sees this activity leading the change.
“I think that science research will be different now. The
questions we are asking need telescopes that are too
expensive for single universities, groups or even countries to
build alone,” he said.
“Nobody could afford an SKA without the support of the rest
of the world’s science community. It’s a $2 billion project which
will cost about $100 million a year to operate. Already, there is
$45 million worth of research happening globally.
“The 21st century will be the century of global scientific
research.”
The SKA will have the capacity to
examine the limits of Einstein’s theory
of relativity … it will have the power to
detect a million galaxies … it will be
able to detect life in other worlds …
The Premier, Alan Carpenter, and the Federal Science Minister,
Kim Carr, will be opening a series of international scientific
meetings at UWA this week. A conference, Deep Surveys of
the Radio Universe with SKA Pathfinders, will be followed by a
series of design meetings, with about 160 international
scientists attending.
“The Pathfinder is the precursor to the SKA and, whether or
not we win the bid to have the SKA built in WA, a Pathfinder
will be built at the Murchison Radio Observatory, 15,000
square kilometres of land set aside for the project by the State
Government,” Professor Quinn said.
continued on page 2
In this issue P3 Planners under the pump P4 HMAS Sydney success P8 UWA’s role in Perth Waterfront plan

Big effort for free breakfasts
The University’s cycling
fraternity turned up in force for
the annual Bike Breakfast
during Bike Week.
Some of them then worked off the
lavish breakfast at the University Club
by riding for up to 60 kilometres in the
Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma a few
days later.
UWA’s transport planner Matt Buckels
also runs the Bicycle User Group or
BUG. He estimated that 250 staff and
students cycled to work then dropped
in for breakfast at the Club mid-week.
“Then 43 of them did either the 30
kilometre or the 60 kilometre ride from
one end of the freeway to the other,”
Matt said. “We all gathered together
for breakfast again at the end of the
ride.”
About seven per cent of staff and
students cycle regularly to UWA and,
on any given day, there are about 1,000
bicycles on the Crawley campus.
The Bike Breakfast was sponsored by
UniPark and the University Club.
(ABOVE) Madeleine
King from Legal
Services (wearing the
pale blue top) as she
rides over the Narrows
(RIGHT) Some of the
UWA contingent at
the end of the
Freeway ride (Matt
Buckels is seated,
second from right)
Discovery Channel
continued from page 1
Professor Peter Quinn
“This will be the best radio telescope
in Australia.”
The competition for the SKA has
come down to two sites — one in
southern Africa and one north-east of
Geraldton. Radio telescopes need
quiet skies, a site isolated from
people and the noise of cars, radios
and mobile phones. The site in the
Murchison shire seems to be perfect
for what would be the world’s premier
imaging and surveying telescope.
“Negotiations are going really well
with the traditional land owners, the
pastoral leaseholders and the mining
industry in our efforts to protect this
area and keep it free of radio noise,”
Professor Quinn said.
The SKA is an integrated facility. While
the receivers will hopefully be built in
WA, the SKA is essentially a software
telescope and data centres all over the
world will receive information generated
from here.
Professor Quinn expects that the radio
telescope’s 4,000 dishes spread over
3,000 kilometres, would be operated
from a base in Geraldton, which would
provide maintenance, services and
upkeep while being the first datagathering
post.
Perth would be the likely principal
international focal point for the data
products generated by the SKA.
“Usually, in big projects like this,
Australia has a much smaller share
than the richer countries like the US,
Germany and Japan,” Professor Quinn
said. “But if we provide the site for the
SKA, we will be contributing something
that nobody else can, and the return
and impact for Australia will be much
greater than if it is established in Africa.
“But we will still be part of the project,
even if our site is not chosen,” he
said.
The SKA will have the capacity to
examine the limits of (Einstein’s
theory of) general relativity, such as
the behaviour of space and time in
regions of extremely curved space. It
will have the power to detect a million
galaxies; it will be enable scientists to
fill in the billion-year gap between
300,000 years after the Big Bang and
when galaxies were first seen. It will
be able to detect life in other words, if
it exists, and help to answer
questions about the origin and
evolution of cosmic magnetic fields.
While this is exciting and
transformational science, history has
shown that many of the great
discoveries were unexpected. The
sensitivity and versatility of the SKA
will make it a discovery machine,
answering questions that we have
not even thought to ask.
A decision will be made about the
site of the SKA by 2012. It is
expected it would be completed by
2020 but the first science can start
as soon as 10 per cent of the
collecting area is in place, or by
about 2014.
2 UWA NEWS 10 7 April March 2008 2008 The University of Western Australiia

Planning
under the pump
With his delightful Irish accent, it sounds as though Paul
Maginn is describing urban and regional planning as
‘special’.
But what the senior lecturer and program co-ordinator for urban and
regional planning, in the School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, is
saying is ‘spatial’.
“But hey, I think it’s special too,” he said.
The program began last year and already has students enrolled in all four
years (with third and fourth year students coming from geography and
economics streams) as well as four PhD candidates.
There is a severe under-supply of planners across Australia, but
especially in Western Australia, fuelled by the resources boom.
Students from as early as second year are being offered lucrative jobs.
“They are being picked up really early in their academic studies and it
puts pressure on them and on us,” Dr Maginn said. “But they are
needed out there and it’s great hands-on experience for them.”
He said economic growth put planners ‘under the pump’. “Planning
mine sites is a good example of bringing together the five classic pillars
of planning: physical, social, environment, economic and political,” he
said.
But the resources boom is about more than planning mine sites.
“Planning processes are needed for governments to open up land for
housing when the population is growing at the rate that ours is,” Dr
Maginn said. “But without planners who work in the private, local and
state government sectors, the system starts to slow down and
everything gets choked up and housing shortages cause all sorts of
other social problems.”
It is the area of qualitative planning in which Dr Maginn specialises. He
has just co-edited a book on qualitative methodology, Qualitative Urban
Analysis: An International Perspective, with his colleague in the discipline
of Geography, Professor Matthew Tonts, and Susan M. Thompson from
the University of New South Wales.
“People are involved in urban studies, and that means taking into
account social policy and housing issues as well as planning,” Dr Maginn
said. “The book is about how qualitative methodology can help resolve
these issues.
“Susan and I have been harangued by our colleagues in the industry
over our methodology, which some say is too soft. But I reckon it’s
better to solve some issues by asking how and why rather than taking
the quantitative approach with how many and how much.
“We need methodological pluralism and we need to know which is the
best method to use for a particular problem.”
Dr Maginn said he had done some research on homelessness in
London: a time-consuming project in which he became emotionally
involved and often felt unsafe. “You don’t get this sort of involvement
with (quantitative) survey work,” he said.
Dr Maginn said he and Professor Tonts eventually hoped to broaden the
scope of the Institute of Regional Development, sited within the school
and directed by Professor Tonts, to include urban development.
In the meantime, they are flat out preparing students for the ‘special’ and
hungry planning industry.
Dr Paul Maginn, training planners on the run
The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 7 April 2008 3

Leading
role of
universities
in innovation
Innovation is the driver of any modern economy and it is the key
to competitiveness, employment growth and social well being.
The cycle of innovation must be continually fed by new ideas and basic
knowledge, and the outcomes need to be transferrable and accepted by
end-users.
This is the challenge we have to accept and on which we must deliver if we are
to meet our goal of serving the State and the nation – justifying the investment
the community makes in us.
An indicator of the importance of the university sector to the national innovation
system can be gained from the figures for higher education research and
development as a percentage of gross domestic product.
Australia ranks 8th (behind Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Finland, Austria,
Denmark and The Netherlands). Further, Australia ranks 12th when it comes to
the percentage of gross expenditure on research and development performed
by the higher education sector.
But this is both a good and a bad figure – it means that while our universities
are vitally important to innovation in this country, it does not say similar positive
things about the involvement of other sectors since countries such as the
United States, Japan and Korea rank in the mid to high 20s, indicating much
larger overall spending on R&D across sectors other than higher education.
One difficulty in the business and research provider interaction is that business
seeks solutions to problems or opportunities that are frequently
multidisciplinary, whereas research providers (both universities and the CSIRO)
tend to be organised along disciplinary lines. Matrix approaches are required,
such as the CSIRO Flagships program or the Minerals and Energy Initiative at
our University.
Excellence and merit should be adequately and fully funded whenever and
wherever it occurs.
Increases in Government funding for research requires demonstration that the
research being conducted is both world-class in its scientific quality and has an
economic, social or environmental benefit for the Australian community.
We must also ensure that ‘full funding’ is understood to mean not only the
direct costs of the research, but adequate funding to meet the infrastructure
costs (currently in Australia less than 20 cents in the dollar; in the US, more
than 50 cents in the dollar).
Further, any discussion of the innovation system must acknowledge the vital
importance of postgraduate students. Of serious concern is the flat-lining of the
number of students starting research degrees. The sector needs to pay greater
attention to improving career structures, supporting the cost of providing
research training, and developing strong intellectual communities to support
research students.
The high-performance of our innovation system depends on the intensity and
effectiveness of the main players in the generation and diffusion of knowledge
– business, industry, government and critically, universities. If innovation is the
business of the future, universities are at the centre of that business.
Alan Robson Vice-Chancellor
Researchers
on the spot
with Sydney
UWA academics predicted seven
years ago almost exactly where
the HMAS Sydney would be
found.
Professor Kim Kirsner and Associate
Professor John Dunn, both cognitive
scientists, applied their knowledge of
human memory and language to sift
through accounts provided by the
survivors of the HSK Kormoran to
reconstruct the position of the wrecks.
In a paper presented to the successful
HMAS Sydney Search in 2003, Professor
Kirsner recommended that the search be
conducted in a square centred on 26
degrees, 10 minutes south, and 111
degrees, 10 minutes east. The Kormoran
was found at 26 degrees, 5 minutes
south, and 111 degrees, 4 minutes east
— about 12km from the actual position in
a planned search area of more than
6,000 square kilometres.
Professor Kirsner also briefed search
coordinator and international shipwreck
hunter David Mearns during his visit to
Perth in 2004.
Part of the reason the wrecks were not
found sooner was the failure to believe
the accounts provided by the survivors of
the Kormoran. Yet the 70 reports, which
included a lot of errors and
inconsistencies, formed the basis of the
cognitive scientists’ analysis.
“By carefully examining the full set of
accounts, we were able to identify
systematic features of the errors and
inconsistencies and to reconstruct the
Kormoran’s position, of which each
report was merely a distorted reflection,”
Professor Kirsner said.
“This approach is similar to that used by
palaeontologists to reconstruct an
ancestral missing link that explains the
current range of species.”
Professor Kirsner was in the School of
Psychology until last year when he
moved to Animal Biology, to be a part of
Professor Lyn Beazley’s experimental and
regenerative neuroscience team.
4
UWA NEWS 7 April 2008
The University of Western Australia

A different December
… engaging with
Indigenous health
Tori (right) and Tessa (below) at work in the Kimberley
While their friends were lazing
on the beach or Christmas
shopping, two young medical
students spent most of
December helping out in
Aboriginal medical clinics in the
Kimberley.
Tessa Garside and Tori Dolan had both
studied an optional unit in Aboriginal
Health as part of their medical studies
but felt it had only scratched the
surface.
“We were really interested in what we
learned, but it was a lot of talking,”
Tessa said. “It was hard to grasp just
how bad the situation was without
going up north and experiencing it.”
“Spending some time up in Broome
and other parts of the Kimberley really
raised our cultural awareness,” Tori
said. “Now we can understand the
situation because we know the area
and the context in which Indigenous
people live. It’s really important for us.”
The students said some of the health
problems experienced by Indigenous
people made the north-west seem like
a third world country. “People talk
about going to Africa to help there,
when they can fly north for a few hours
and experience the same problems and
help their own people,” Tessa said.
The young women wanted to enrich their
studies but were unsure how their idea
to go to Broome for three weeks would
be received. “We didn’t have many
clinical skills, having just completed third
year and we didn’t know what we could
contribute,” Tessa said.
But their lecturers loved the idea. Dr
Paula Edgill from the Centre for
Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health
helped them to arrange everything with
great enthusiasm.
They were based at the Broome
Regional Aboriginal Medical Centre and
flew out to clinics at Bidyadanga and
Beagle Bay.
“These people have so many problems.
At first it’s overwhelming,” Tessa said.
“You wonder whether you should try to
treat diabetes first or look at drinking
problems or try to get people to stop
smoking. Or is bad health also due to
25 people living in a four-bedroom
house with a poor water supply?”
The Aboriginal health workers were
beacons of hope for the students,
providing the essential link between
medical treatment and the Indigenous
culture.
“They are incredible,” Tessa said. “They
taught us so much. They take blood,
dress wounds, drive around town
picking up people who should be visiting
the clinic, go to the schools to see the
kids, whose parents they all know. They
make the clinic a happier place.”
“They were so welcoming to us and
willing to teach us and nobody, the
patients or the health workers, ever
judged us or queried why we were
there,” Tori said.
She said all medical students should
spend time with Aboriginal communities.
“At the very least, it would improve their
communication skills with Aboriginal
people.”
Tori said they came away after three
weeks with a picture of Indigenous
health that was a lot more complex and
complicated than they had thought.
“Sometimes it was sad, but we didn’t
come away feeling defeated,” Tessa
said. “The patients and the health
workers were a lot of fun.”
The students’ trip was sponsored by
the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and
Dental Health, the Vice-Chancellor and
the Dean of Medicine, Denstistry and
Health Sciences.
The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 7 April 2008 5

First
Fogarty
success
He wanted to be an archaeologist
but wasn’t even sure at that stage
if his family could afford to send him
to university.
Alex Walter inspects a sacred scarred tree which will
have to be taken into account before it mines the area
Alex Walter did his last two years of high school
the hard way.
Morawa District High School could not offer him three of the
TEE subjects he wanted to take. So Alex had to study
chemistry, history and applicable mathematics through
distance education.
He wanted to be an archaeologist but wasn’t even sure at that
stage if his family could afford to send him to university.
But Alex’s determination so impressed the judges for the UWA
Fogarty Undergraduate Scholarship Program that he became
one of the first winners of the generous packages donated by
Brett and Annie Fogarty.
Now Alex is the first Fogarty Scholar to graduate and he is
returning to Perth for his graduation ceremony this week, from
his job as an archaeologist with Rio Tinto Alcan in far northern
Queensland. To cap off his success, Alex will be delivering the
valedictory address.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Alex is graduating with no
financial debt, but he said he was indebted to the Fogartys for
the scholarship that allowed him to complete a Bachelor of
Science with Honours in Archaeology and to live at St
George’s College while he was studying.
“I did a double major, adding chemistry to archaeology,
because I thought I wouldn’t be able to get a job as an
archaeologist,” Alex said from Weipa. “But the mining boom
means there is a quite a bit of work around and I’m absolutely
loving it here. It’s a whole new adventure for me.”
His Honours dissertation, with Dr Jane Balme, analysed rock
art from the Kimberley. In Queensland, Alex is surveying
Indigenous artefacts and scarred trees that are in the area
where there are proposals to mine bauxite.
“We can move the artefacts and preserve them, but if the
trees, which have been scarred in sacred ceremonies, are very
significant, they obviously can’t be moved. So we put a 50
metre buffer zone around them to protect them,” Alex said.
“If the traditional land owners decide the scarred tree is of
lesser significance, usually if it’s dead, they will consent to
having it carefully cut down and transported to a safe zone
where it can decay naturally.”
Dr Balme said Alex had a very impressive undergraduate
record and, combined with the practical bushcraft skills from
his rural upbringing, made him an excellent team member for
remote field work.
“When he finished his Honours year, our School’s commercial
arm, Eureka, offered him some field work and they were
extremely impressed with him,” Dr Balme said.
Alex is the only Fogarty Scholar to graduate this year as the
other winners are still studying combined degrees or longer
courses such as Medicine.
A total of 2,753 graduands will receive their bachelor degrees,
diplomas, Masters and higher degrees, across 10 ceremonies
over three weeks in Winthrop Hall.
They include 75 PhDs from across the faculties, 205
engineers, 109 doctors, 98 teachers and 660 graduates with
various undergraduate and Masters degrees from the
Business School.
The graduation season finishes on Thursday April 17.
6
UWA NEWS 7 April 2008
The University of Western Australia

Houses tell the history
“The resources boom created a housing shortage
and the State Government was under pressure to
provide homes for its employees in regional areas.”
No, it’s not 2008, but 1965, when the last big resources boom
had a similar impact on the population.
The words are those of Doug McKee, the first director of the
Government Employees’ Housing Authority (GEHA). Mr McKee is
now 94 and spoke to History Honours graduate Danielle Faulkner
as she prepared the history of GEHA both for her Honours
dissertation and, with some editing, for a commissioned
publication.
Danielle’s supervisor, Charlie Fox, said it was the first
commissioned history by the School of Humanities and the first
one to come out of an Honours dissertation.
“It made no difference to supervising Danielle,” Associate
Professor Fox said. “But I was involved only on the margins of
turning the research into a book, just making sure it was done
without destroying the integrity of the thesis.”
The commission came through the Co-operative Education for
Enterprise Development (CEED) project, based in the Faculty of
Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, which facilitates
work-based research in specific industries for Honours students
across the University.
GEHA was keen to get its history documented before it became a
different entity. In July 2006, GEHA became Government Regional
Officers’ Housing (GROH) as Danielle was researching its 40-year
history. She completed her Honours research that year and spent
several months turning it into the book last year. It was launched
in December 2007.
“I was keen to take on the project when
Charlie approached me,” Danielle said.
“My parents lived for many years in a
GEHA house and, after I had accepted
the commission, Dad told me that I’d
been conceived in one in Kalgoorlie!”
Danielle, who now works for GROH as
a co-ordinator of projects and policy,
said she was interested in how social
practices were built into housing
designs.
“Back in the 1960s, living together
without being married was not allowed
in a GEHA house. And single
employees didn’t get a backyard. It
was assumed that backyards were just
for children to play in.
“As times changed, family rooms were
added, then became bigger and part of
open-plan kitchens.”
A/Professor Fox said the book was a
very original piece of work and he
hoped that all public libraries would
keep it.
A GEHA house in Leonora, 1970
GROH Apartments in Kununurra, 2008
Danielle Faulkner shows A/Professor Charlie Fox a copy of The History of GEHA:
Forty Years of Housing Government Employees in Western Australia 1966-2006
The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 7 April 2008 7

On Wednesday February 13 the Minister for Planning and
Infrastructure, Alannah MacTiernan, launched the New Perth
Waterfront masterplan. UWA’s Professor of Landscape Architecture,
Richard Weller, working in collaboration with the architects, Ashton
Raggatt McDougall, has been central to the design process and
reports here on why he thinks the plan is good for Perth.
Some facts We
21st century but th
encrusted somewh
20th. The Perth me
times as much ope
built space and alm
space is suburban.
140 kilometers of ri
of it is underused g
is no urbanity on th
the 140 kilometers
new Perth Waterfro
only one.
8 The University of Western Australiia

water
The
Perth
front
by Professor Richard Weller
are living in the
e Perth CBD is
ere in the mid
tro area has three
n space as it does
ost all that built
Perth has over
ver edge and all
reen-space. There
e Swan River. Of
of river front the
nt will develop
As you weigh up whether you are for or against
development bear in mind that the population
of Perth is predicted to double by 2050,
reaching three million. Many more people will
live and work in the city and people generally
will demand higher quality designed
environments and services from that city than is
currently on offer.
It’s time to create something wonderful in Perth.
We have a fantastic landscape and good
suburbs but the CBD is a heartless place:
merely a place to work or a nocturnal labyrinth
for the disaffected. Whilst Perth is, in many
ways, a great place to live, our lives are, I think,
somewhat depleted because we lack real
urbanity. Why can’t we have urbanity as well as
a great landscape and good suburbs?
This project comes as something of a
watershed: it marks the transition of Perth from
a town into a city. Whereas in the 1980’s
development on the sacred turf farms of the
Perth foreshore would have vehemently
rejected, this generation is, according to the
Government’s surveys, strongly in favour.
Many remain suspicious, however, that this is
just another artist’s impression — the latest layer
to be added to the geological strata of drawings
that have attempted to overcome the no-man’sland
that traffic engineers created between this
city and its river in the 1960s. Certainly the
public images are just artists’ impressions and
producing images of development is always a
dark art. Had we produced images which only
showed blocks or zones of development, (in
other words a body without a face), we would
have been criticised for blandness and a lack of
resolution; had we suggested more exciting
architectural form we would have been criticised
for fantasy. Debate about architectural
aesthetics is premature, although I accept that
the images incite such discussion.
One needs to look through the surface of these
images and appreciate the essential structure
of the masterplan — the result of over six
months work by a comprehensive team of
consultants.
The masterplan is, in my view, correct for
several reasons.
Firstly, it focuses the energy of development in
a good location, that is, it is grafted onto the
new Esplanade train station and it builds the
city out toward the river between William and
Barrack streets, Perth’s main north-south axes.
Secondly, as a priority, the urban design uses
built form to make high-quality public space
and conjoins the river and the city by quite
literally enfolding the river into the new
development to create a promenade
experience protected from the wind.
There are two major public places framed by
the urbanism: the Esplanade Square and the
River Circle. The square captures and enhances
the bustle of the big city, (Perth’s Federation
Square to be), whereas the River Circle, a 500
meter round promenade of cafes and
restaurants, is more about framing the beauty
of the river. The dimensions of the circle are
about as big as the WACA ground, so it’s a big
space but one which also will have a certain
intimacy along its edges. Both the circle and
the square present Perth with grand civic
spaces, the likes of which it has never had.
Abutting the circle, and marking the end of
William Street, is a major public building
(perhaps an art gallery or museum) whereas
the Barrack Street jetty area will give rise
to new hotels. A significant proportion of the
development is residential because it is both
financially necessary and socially desirable to
get a critical mass of people. Finally, I think
the masterplan is right because it suggests
the right amount of development – neither
too much nor too little as has bedevilled
other schemes over the years.
It wasn’t easy to find the key to this site. It’s a
deceptive tabula rasa — one that invites
megalomania but has only ever accepted the
twee. While it seems archaic to have called
upon the classical figure of the circle to do yet
more work in the history of urbanism, it alone
seemed capable
of holding this
project in place.
Let’s hope it not
only endures as
an anchor but
that it also
becomes a
source from
which to raise
some daring
buildings.
UWA NEWS 7 April 2008
9

It’s the smoke that kills, not the flames
A/Professor Phil Burcham at the fume cupboard
where much of the research is done behind glass
One of the chemical components of smoke was
recently hailed as an answer to farmers’ weed
problems.
But while butenolide is a benevolent side product of smoke,
another chemical component, acrolein, is highly toxic and a
major cause of death for people caught in fires.
Associate Professor Phil Burcham in the Pharmacology and
Anaesthesiology Unit (School of Medicine and Pharmacology)
and his Honours student Amy Saik, have developed the
knowledge of acrolein and were been invited to present their
findings at the Annual Conference of the Society of Toxicology
in Seattle last month.
“It is the first time a student from an Australian university has
won a Pfizer Undergraduate Travel Award,” A/Professor
Burcham said. “She presented a poster on her research,
which looked at a particular component of a cell damaged by
acrolein and compared it with the effects of another chemical.”
A/Professor Burcham also won a travel award from the
International Union of Toxicology to attend the same meeting.
“I was able to ensure that Amy didn’t get overwhelmed by the
7,000 or so people attending,” he said.
Their research, on the toxicology of inhaled smoke, was
initiated because A/Professor Burcham felt that treatments for
Student
numbers
a good
sign for
bush
medicine
New medical undergraduates from the bush: Hannah Gooding
(Kununurra), Philippa Edmiston (Bunbury), Angus Johnston (Bunbury),
Dane Brookes (Kalgoorlie) and Erin Stanes (Kondinin)
… strong evidence that
students from a rural
background returned
to a rural area to work
once they were
qualified
One in four medical students
enrolled this year comes from a
rural background.
The record number is coupled with one
in ten dental students coming from
country areas.
In seven years there has been an
increase in the intake of rural medical
students from four per cent to 25 per
cent of the cohort while in dentistry, ten
per cent of the cohort are from rural
areas.
“You are making history,” Professor Ian
Puddey, Dean of Medicine, Dentistry
and Health Sciences, told the 42
students who were part of the Choose
Medicine Rural Student Recruitment
Program, at an orientation seminar
earlier this semester.
10
UWA NEWS 7 April 2008
The University of Western Australia

people who had inhaled smoke were
not based on the toxicology of the
smoke poisoning.
“Acrolein poisoning causes the lungs
to be flooded with liquid – it’s one of
the worst affects of smoke inhalation,”
he said. “Acrolein was trialled for use
in chemical warfare during World War
I, but it was abandoned as it was too
difficult to use.”
A/Professor Burcham and Amy, who
has now returned home to Malaysia,
hope that their research will change
the treatment of patients with smoke
inhalation.
Smoke and its chemical properties
were at the heart of a major commercial
deal that UWA struck with
inter-national company Dupont in
2006. Butenolide, the active
compound that stimulates seed
germination, is set to save farmers
about $2 billion a year, by encouraging
early week growth that can be
eradicated before crops are sown.
Visit signals closer ties
with Vietnam
by Trea Wiltshire
When one of Vietnam’s highest-ranking politicians visited UWA
recently, interpreters, photographers and television crews from
Vietnam outnumbered the official party.
Nguyen Phu Trong, President of the National Assembly, praised research and
teaching facilities at UWA.
The Vietnamese party were visiting the University as part of a national tour of
Australian tertiary institutions.
“We have a lot of catching up to do,” said Mr Nguyen, after his tour of the campus.
At the Vice-Chancellery, his party was welcomed by Vice-Chancellor, Professor
Alan Robson, Professor Bill Louden, Dean of the Faculty of Education, and other
UWA leaders.
The Vice-Chancellor told the gathering that UWA recognised the high value the
people of Vietnam placed on education and hoped to work with its Southeast Asian
neighbour in a way that benefitted both nations.
He said there was strong evidence to
suggest that students from a rural
background returned to a rural area to
work once they were qualified.
A program to encourage rural students
is in its eighth year in the faculty.
Sue Pougnault, the program’s student
support coordinator, said: “We provide 16
workshops a year for students in Years
10, 11 and 12 from Broome to
Esperance, raising the awareness of medicine
and dentistry as achievable careers.”
For many of the students, this is the first
time they have lived and studied away
from home. Professor Marc Tennant,
Director of the Centre for Rural and
Remote Oral Health, told them: “Over
the next six years your fellow students
will become your family.”
Alice Waldron (17) from Broome said
she had wanted to become a doctor
since living in Derby as a child and
meeting people involved in the
hospital. “I realised how important it
was to have really good doctors in the
region,” she said.
“I would like to specialise in oncology
and make a real difference to the lives
of cancer sufferers in the Kimberley
who now have to drive for two days or
pay for an expensive plane trip to come
to Perth for treatment.”
A crowd of staff and students welcome Nguyen Phu Trong
“Scholarship and education are the strengths of all civilised societies, and they have
been the foundations of this University for almost a century,” said Professor
Robson. “Our unique geographical location and the forces of globalisation assure
that this University recognises its pivotal role in reflecting and responding to the
needs of our nation and those of the region.”
He said that the University was currently hosting international students from 80
countries, including about 20 students from Vietnam.
The Vice-Chancellor talked about the University’s impressive research output in
areas such as oil and gas exploration, engineering and agricultural sciences and
said that collaborations in these areas could be of mutual benefit.
Mr Nguyen said the visit signalled the promise of a closer relationship. “We look
forward to close cooperation and assistance in science and technology and in
undergraduate studies,” he said.
The visiting officials also met some of the Vietnamese students studying at UWA,
including Van Liem Nguyen, a Lecturer at Ho Chi Min University of Technology, who
is studying for a PhD, supported by a government scholarship.
The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 7 April 2008 11

Coffee with ideas on the side
Philosophy is being taken out of universities and
into the cafés.
The Association for Philosophy in Schools, which includes
several UWA academics, is running monthly sessions in
Fremantle and Perth to involve the community in thoughtful
discussions.
Laura D’Olimpio, a PhD candidate in Philosophy, is the
secretary of the association. She says the group wants to see
philosophy flourish outside learning institutions, as it used to
do in Socrates’ day.
“As the teaching of philosophy in schools develops, we hope
that teachers will come to our cafés and became part of the
community of inquiry,” Laura said.
African drums and Aussie
barbecue in harmony
In 1966, the United Nations appointed March 21 as the
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in
response to the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa.
The massacre saw 70 people killed and more than 200 wounded during what
was supposed to be a peaceful anti-apartheid march.
In 1983, the General Assembly of the UN reiterated its call for all states and
organisations to devise meaningful ways to participate in affirmative actions to
try to combat racism and racial discrimination.
A quarter of a century on, and Harmony Day was celebrated at UWA with some
inspiring words from a student, some African drumming, an Aussie barbecue
and the coming together on the Oak Lawn of staff and students from across the
University.
Mabel Chew, a health sciences and modern languages undergraduate and a
member of Ignite Young Leaders, spoke about her experiences in the ‘lucky
country’ and how small efforts by individuals could eventually add up to global
changes.
In Australia, Harmony Day was first embraced in 1999 and has set some of its
goals as taking a stand against racism, prejudice and intolerance; putting into
practice the best of traditional Australian values — justice, equality, fairness and
friendship; celebrating Australia’s many successes as a diverse and harmonious
multicultural society; and re-committing to our common values of respect and
goodwill towards our fellow Australians of all backgrounds.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, said that universities played a
critical leadership role in advancing real and meaningful multiculturalism in the
Australian community.
“UWA has identified ‘cultural competence’ as an important graduate and staff
attribute and has been proactive in addressing it in the broader work and study
environment,” he said.
“Cultural competence involves a developed understanding of race and cultural
diversity in an Australian and global context. In essence, we are providing our
students with a broad educational experience that best positions them to take
an active citizenship and leadership role in the local, national and international
community.
“A socially responsible University that reflects an inclusive and humane
approach will be a make a significant contribution to achieving our aspiration to
become one of the top fifty Universities in the world by 2050.”
This month’s Philosophy Café is tomorrow night, Tuesday
April 8 in the St John of God Hall, part of Notre Dame
University, Henry Street, Fremantle. Participants will be
discussing how to explain pain and suffering in the world to
children.
“Each group chooses the topic for the next meeting and I
circulate some reading they might like to do before we meet
again,” Laura said.
Every second month, the group meets in Perth at the King
Street Arts Centre.
For more information contact Laura at laurad@cyllene.uwa.
edu.au
Musical
decadence
More than 250 of the state’s
finest young musicians will
come together in a musical
extravaganza to launch this
year’s University Music Society
series.
Described as decadent and dramatic,
Carl Orloff’s Carmina Burana will be
performed in Winthrop Hall on Saturday
April 19. UWA Music students will be
joined by soloists Sara Macliver, Robert
Hofmann and Andrew Sutherland, as
well as the Junior Music School’s
Firebird choir.
The choir is part of the School of
Music’s Discover Music outreach
program, which will be extended this
year with classes for adolescents (Get
Into Music) and adults (Discover the
Music in You).
For more information about Carmina
Burana, subsequent UMS concerts or
the Discover Music program, visit www.
music.uwa.edu.au
Tickets for Carmina Burana are
available at BOCS, including the outlet
at the Octagon Theatre.
12 UWA NEWS 7 April 2008 The University of Western Australiia

Organ
donors
The refurbished organ in
Winthrop Hall has been
embellished by a new University
crest.
Made by artist Hans Arkeveld from the
School of Anatomy and Human
Biology, the new aluminium crest
adorns the McGillivray organ along with
some new components, which those
who have heard the organ since its
reinstallation say makes it sound even
better.
The 10 autumn graduation ceremonies
are the backdrop for the first public
performances on the revitalised organ.
And there will be a special occasion to
thank the donors who contributed to its
renaissance on Sunday May 4 when
Annette Goerke will present a recital.
Postgrads reach new heights
Students from all stages of their
degrees joined in the climb, with
experienced students able to pass on
advice to those in their first year.
“It is a long dark road and the
last hurdle is the steepest … but
there is light at the end of the
tunnel and the rewards are
great.”
Dr Kimberley Strong, Associate
Lecturer, School of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine
Cheryl Mariner, from the Office of
Development, said $145,800 had been
donated so far and donations were still
being sought.
PhD students take on another challenge: Winthrop Tower
“There are many parallels between
doing a postgraduate degree and
climbing the Winthrop Tower,” Dr
Strong said. A group of students
and staff from the School of
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
climbed the tower just before the
Easter break to contemplate the
journey that a postgraduate takes
from enrolment to completion.
The new crest takes its place between the gleaming pipes and trumpets
For information about donating to the
organ fund or the May 4 recital, please
contact Cheryl on 6488 1688 or at
cheryl.mariner@uwa.edu.au
Dr Strong said the Winthrop Tower
climb was the first of many events to
be hosted by the School of Pathology
and Laboratory Medicine, with the aim
of encouraging collegiality and a strong
sense of community among
postgraduate students.
“The day was also a celebration for
recent PhD graduate Alison and a
timely motivator for Adrian, who will
submit his thesis in the very near
future,” she said.
“Two international students, Ali and
Fabio, shared their perspectives on
study in Australia. And a wide range of
topics was discussed: studentsupervisor
relationships, student
isolation, workshops provided by the
Graduate Research School,
confirmation of candidature, tips on
thesis writing and of course what
comes next after submission.”
Among the students’ reactions: “Many
natural metaphors for completing a
PhD. Plus the views – an opportunity
not everyone gets” and “Fun and
informative, and somehow made the
whole PhD thing have more purpose”.
The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 7 April 2008 13

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14
UWA NEWS 7 April 2008
The University of Western Australia

NEW STAFF
Welcome to the following people who have joined the University since
December 2007. The list will continue in the next issue.
Warwick Carter, Urban Planner,
Facilities Management,
Administration
Jamie Coopes, Grounds
Supervisor, Facilities Management,
Uni Grounds
Claire Cotterell, Research
Assistant, Primary, Aboriginal and
Rural Health Care
Dr Ian Craib, Associate Professor,
Medicine and Pharmacology
Robert Cunningham, Lecturer, Law
Dr Jasminka Dedic, Lecturer,
Medicine and Pharmacology
Dr Kristjana Einarsdottir, Research
Associate, Population Health
Michael Eriksen, Assistant
(General), UWA Business School
Dr William Erskine, Director,
Legumes in Mediterranean
Agriculture
Rebecca Faugno, Lecturer, Law
Merredith Fenelon, Senior Course
Coordinator, Clinical Training and
Education Centre (CTEC)
Tara Fernandez, Graduate
Research Assistant, School of
Surgery
Robert Fitzpatrick, Curriculum
Consultant (Science), Centre for
Learning Technology
Arianne Ford, Research Fellow,
Earth and Geographical Sciences
Tracy Frayne, Librarian 1, Library
Clarissa Ganda, Research
Assistant, Medicine, Dentistry and
Health Sciences
Judith Giddings, Campaign
Manager, Office of Development
Shelley Giles, Prospective Students
Adviser, Student Services
Belinda Godel, Research Fellow,
Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Dri Guizzo, Software Engineer,
Centre for Water Research
Dr Robert Hamilton, Associate
Lecturer, Dentistry
Lynsey Harborow, Graduate
Research Assistant, Psychology
Frances Head, Administrative
Assistant, Vice-Chancellery
Waldemar Hube, Project Director,
Vice-Chancellery
Ahmed Ibrahim, Computer Support
Officer, Oral Health Centre of WA
Lindsay James, Computer Support
Officer, Medicine, Dentistry and
Health Sciences
Dr Wade Jarvis, Lecturer, UWA
Business School
Prof Paul Jenkins, Professor,
Medicine and Pharmacology
Merle-Louise Karp, Commercial
Lawyer, Legal Services
Dr Helen Keen, Senior Lecturer,
Medicine and Pharmacology
Vivien Kemp, Research Officer,
Psychiatry and Clinical
Neurosciences
Simon Kenworthy, Senior Grounds
Attendant, Facilities Management,
Uni Grounds
Nicole Kettlewell, Research
Assistant, UWA Centre for Medical
Research
Jade Knight, Marketing Manager,
University of WA Press
Sung Hee Knox, Project Manager,
Library
Dr Igor Konstantinov, Associate
Professor, School of Surgery
Tanya Krsnik, Administrative
Assistant, UWA Business School
Celine Langfield-Tang, Admin
Assistant (Enrolments), Student
Services
Dr Jian Li, Research Fellow,
Mechanical Engineering
Tamara Liffers, Library Officer 1,
Library
Dr Zhen Lin, Graduate Research
Assistant, School of Surgery
Dr Andrea Loftus, Lecturer,
Psychology
Dorothy Longnecker,
Administrative Assistant, Humanities
Dr Anchalee Lowe, Dentist, Oral
Health Centre of WA
Shiralee Lynch, Accounting
Assistant, Facilities Management,
Administration
Alexandra Macgregor,
Administrative Officer, Natural and
Agricultural Sciences
Prof Norman Marinovich,
Associate Professor, Medicine and
Pharmacology
Linda Mcgowan, Executive Officer,
Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Michelle Meade, Research Fellow,
Animal Biology
Anthony Meczes, Project Officer,
Centre for Learning Technology
Dr Paula Moffat, Senior Lecturer,
Medicine and Pharmacology
Erin Mooney, Administrative
Assistant, UWA Extension
Hayley Murphy, Training Dental
Clinic Assistant, Oral Health Centre
of WA
Anne-Marie Musca, Library Officer
2, Student Services
Sandy Nedelkos, Graduate
Research Assistant, Medicine and
Pharmacology
Jillian Ng, Administration Assistant,
Student Services
Kuan Yoke Ng, Web Developer/
Programmer, Population Health
Siok Teng Ng, Manager (Business
Development), Social and Cultural
Studies
Tracey O’Keefe, Administrative
Officer, Electrical, Electronic and
Computer Engineering
Thomas Osborne, Technician,
Biomedical, Biomolecular and
Chemical Sciences
Katarina Pasalich, Training Dental
Clinic Assistant, Oral Health Centre
of WA
Karen Pearce, International
Students Officer, International Centre
Janice Phoenix, Administrative
Assistant, Facilities Management,
Administration
Bruce Prestage, Mechanical
Tradesperson, Facilities
Management, Maintenance
Workshop
Dr Susanne Protschky, Lecturer,
Humanities
Dr Julio Rincon, Senior Lecturer,
Dentistry
Bonnie-Marie Robertson,
Receptionist, Oral Health Centre of
WA
Dr Dirk Saarloos, Research
Associate, Population Health
Brian Sanders, Maintenance
Technician (Roofing), Facilities Management,
Maintenance Workshop
Dr Anthony Sayers, Visiting
Research Fellow, Social and Cultural
Studies
Kirsty Scott, Research Dietitian,
Medicine and Pharmacology
Khin Seint, Electronics Technician,
Offshore Foundation Systems
Timothy Shanahan, Director,
Energy and Minerals Initiative,
Vice-Chancellery
Igor Shufrin, Research Associate,
Mathematics and Statistics
Dr Smythe Zoe, Medical
Coordinator, Primary, Aboriginal and
Rural Health Care
Ferdous Sohel, Research
Associate, Computer Science and
Software Engineering
Denise Sullivan, Senior Lecturer,
Population Health
NOTICES
REDUNDANT EQUIPMENT
CONDITION refers to the general condition of the item (1=as new, 2=good, 3=serviceable, 4=unserviceable). AGE refers to the nearest year.
Centre for
Integrated
Human Studies
Public Seminar
Wednesday 16 April
5.30–7pm
Seeking
a wisdom
for the 21st
century
Chaired by
Professor Don Markwell.
Panellists include
A/Professor Neville Bruce,
A/Professor Veronica Brady and
Professor Graeme Martin.
Seminar Room 1.81 School of
Anatomy and Human Biology
STAFF ADS
Classified advertising is free to
staff. Email staffads@uwa.edu.au
FOR SALE
Hoover top-loader washer, 7.0 kg
capacity, excellent condition, $150.
Contact Martha on extension 3744
or at mludwig@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
RESEARCH
GRANTS AND
CONTRACTS
NHMRC: Equipment Grants
Dr Peter Arthur, Dr Livia Hool,
Prof Miranda Grounds, Dr Paul
Fournier, Biomedical,
Biomolecular and Chemical
Sciences, Anatomy and Human
Biology, Sport Science, Exercice
and Health: ‘Capillary liquid
chromatography system for
prot_eomic applications’—$75,490
(2008)
South West Catchments
Council NHT
Dr Mark Westera, Mr Peter
Barnes, Plant Biology: ‘Baited
remote underwater video
monitoring of fish assemblages in
Cape Leeuwin, Cape Freycinet and
Flinders Island’—$93,000 (2008)
Schools are reminded that all university equipment available for sale must be advertised in UWA news. Receipts should be PeopleSoft account coded 490
(computing with barcode), 491 (non-computing with barcode) or 493 (items with no barcode). If equipment has an existing barcode please contact extension
3618/2546 for details. Preference will be given to School bids. Please identify your bid as School or private.
ITEM PRICE AGE COND SECTION CONTACT
1x Canon 6085 High Volume Photocopier Free 8 3 Mechanical Engineering Angus.Stewart@uwa.edu.au, Ext 3126
The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 7 April 2008 15

the last word …
What’s on offer
over the road
Fiona Crowe,
Head of College, St Catherine’s College
Across the road, over the way, nestled in leafy
green shadows are UWA’s five residential colleges
— a world of energy, activity and endeavour at the
heart of our campus.
If you have not given the colleges a thought for a while, we
invite you to take a closer look! Never has accommodation on
campus been at a tighter premium, but nor has it be more
worthwhile securing. The colleges make a proud contribution
to the University, ensuring that as at all great universities of the
world, living on campus is the ultimate university experience.
Where else can you sit down to meals every day with likeminded
people from over twenty different countries? Where
else is diversity such a constant reality, one that demands to
be lived rather than contemplated at a safe distance? Sharing
a roof, sharing meals, sharing stories, sharing space and time
and friendship with fellow scholars, from around the country
and across the globe, guarantees an exchange of ideas and
realities that cannot fail to be life changing and enriching. In
addition to this are the suite of programs and activities offered
by each of the colleges to enhance the value of this shared
experience.
The colleges each run academic programs, offering small
group tutorials that provide our students with the opportunity
to delve a little deeper into issues that interest them. These
lively tutorials are designed to develop skills central to course
outcomes and compliment tutorials provided in the Faculties.
Faculty dinners are hosted annually at all the colleges to
enable members of our academic staff to meet their students
informally over a meal and get to know each other better. We
find our students have a great sense of belonging which
encourages them to take advantage of all that is on offer on
campus, both academically and socially.
The colleges provide our students with a wide range of
leadership and teamwork opportunities and run structured
courses to assist with skills development in these areas. We
work closely with Student Services, the Medical Centre,
Counselling and Equity and Diversity to offer courses from Ally
Training to cultural awareness, healthy communication in
relationships to exam preparation. High profile guest speakers
are regularly invited to the colleges to share their wisdom with
our students and engage in energetic discussion with them.
And then there is music, art and drama. Artists in residence,
art workshops, college choirs, college plays and reviews are
part and parcel of the wide range of activities offered to our
students.
The spiritual side of life is also catered for in the colleges and
students from every faith and none in particular are
encouraged to explore and express their spirituality. The
colleges make much use of the UWA inter faith calendar and
Fiona Crowe’s dogs, Zebedee and Atlanta
make St Catherine’s more like home
where possible major feasts and festivals are acknowledged,
discussed and catered for. Staff and students of the University
are invited to share in this life of the colleges and may attend
the beautiful sung service of evensong weekly at St George’s
College chapel or attend daily Mass in the chapel of St
Thomas More College.
Accommodation for visiting scholars at the University is
available in each of the colleges. Scholars are warmly invited
to participate in the life of the college, enjoy membership of
our senior common rooms, dine in hall, use our facilities and
enjoy the social and intellectual company of fellow guests.
There is enormous energy in the colleges, an enthusiasm for
enquiry that extends beyond academic endeavour into every
aspect of a student’s life. The shared experiences of college
guarantee our students forge life long friendships with people
from around the globe in every possible field of endeavour.
The colleges are creative, energetic centres of endeavour
enabling our students to squeeze every last drop of value out
of their university experience.
We invite you to get to know your colleges better and become
involved in all that they do to enhance the student experience
at UWA.
UWA NEWS
EDITOR/WRITER: Lindy Brophy, Public Affairs
Tel: 6488 2436 Fax: 6488 1192
Email: lindy.brophy@uwa.edu.au
Director of Public Affairs: Doug Durack
Tel: 6488 2806 Fax: 6488 1020
Designed and printed by UniPrint, UWA
UWAnews online: http://uwanews.publishing.uwa.edu.au/
UniPrint 59914
16
UWA NEWS 7 April 2008
The University of Western Australia