19 June

TSRA News Column
19 – 26 June 2007

I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of Kaiwalagal, on whose land I am writing from and all other traditional owners and elders throughout our region.

Condolences to the Stephen Family

The Torres Strait Regional Authority’s (TSRA) Board was sad to hear of the passing of the late Mr Arthur Stephen.

Mr Stephen was a former Chairperson of Ugar Island Council and a founding member of the TSRA Board in 1994. He proudly represented his community and the Torres Strait, being an advocate for employment, health and infrastructure development.

In particular, he recognised the disadvantages faced by remote communities and campaigned for improved transportation facilities and self-sustaining industries to be developed on our islands.

On behalf of the TSRA Board, I would like to extend our condolences to the Stephen family, the Ugar Island Council, Elders and community members. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this time of sorrow.

Turtle Research and Training Workshop

To assist our communities to sustainably manage their marine turtle populations, the region’s Community Turtle and Dugong Project Officers in conjunction with the Kaiwalagal and Hammond Island Rangers will be participating in a Turtle Research and Training operation from 25 to 29 June.

With support from the Kaiwalagal Aboriginal Corporation, the Torres Strait Regional Authority’s (TSRA) Land and Sea Management Unit (LSMU) in partnership with James Cook University (JCU) will deliver the training and research activities in the waters surrounding Hammond, Horn and Prince of Wales Islands.

The aim of the training is to equip our Community Project Officers and Rangers with the necessary skills to undertake their own individual community-based turtle monitoring. These skills will also help to ensure that our monitoring techniques meet national standards so that data collected from the region can be shared and compared with that from other parts of the country.  

Participants will be trained in tagging, measuring, diet sampling, data recording and turtle research methodology. After studying these procedures, the Community Project Officers and Rangers, alongside the LSMU and JCU team, will take to the sea to catch turtles and practice research tasks.  After collecting the data, the turtles will be returned unharmed to the reef they were caught on. 

This training opportunity will build on the capacity of our communities to not only develop and implement their own community based and approved natural resource management plans, but also help them to produce accurate information about their individual community’s turtles. By recording this data, communities will be in better positions to make informed decisions about their turtle population.

If you would like to know more about this training workshop, you can contact LSMU’s Turtle and Dugong Project team, Mr Lachlan Sutherland or Mr Frank Loban, by telephone (07) 4069 2957, fax (07) 4069 2967, email info@tsra.gov.au or write to PO Box 261, Thursday Island, Queensland 4875. If you are on Thursday Island, you can also visit their office, located on the corner of Victoria Parade and Blackall Street, adjacent to the Gab Titui Cultural Centre.

Public Service Medal for TSRA Staff Member

This year’s 2007 Queens Birthday Honours list has included TSRA’s Secretariat Manager, Ms Yoshiko Hirakawa, as an Award recipient.

Ms Hirakawa was awarded a Public Service Medal (PSM) for outstanding public service in the development of policy, project management and the coordination of secretariat services.

The PSM recognises the exceptional service of Australian, State and Local Government employees. Recipients are recognised for:

- Ongoing service excellence to the public

- Innovation in programme, project and policy development

- Service above and beyond the normal requirements of the position

- Special achievement or success in the performance of duty in difficult or unusual circumstances

Yoshi has been employed at the TSRA since 1995 and during that time, she has played an active role in progressing and delivering TSRA’s programs and services.

Despite the challenges experienced with working in a remote region such as ours, she has always remained focused on producing positive outcomes for our people and often gone beyond what is expected in order to achieve this.

On behalf of the TSRA Board, I would like to thank Ms Hirakawa for her tireless effort and outstanding service over the last twelve years to the TSRA and congratulate her on this outstanding achievement.

New Field Officers for TSRA

I would like to inform you that Mr Bert Matysek and Ms Tracey Heenan have recently commenced employment at the TSRA as Project Officers in the Field Operations Section of the TSRA.

Mr Matysek has extensive experience working in both State and Local Government positions. He held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Ugar Island Council for three years and previous to that, worked for the Queensland Departments of Housing and Employment, Education and Training (now known as the Department of Education, Science and Training).

Ms Heenan has arrived from Brisbane and has a strong working background with the Australian Government. She has worked with the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Prior to that, she worked with the Bank of Queensland.  

Any feedback for on this column can be sent to:

Mr. John T. Kris

TSRA Chairperson

PO Box 261

Thursday Island QLD 4875

Alternatively, feedback can also be sent through the TSRA website via the media contact in the ‘contact us’ segment of the site.  Until the next column, may God bless you all and keep you safe.

John T. Kris
TSRA Chairperson