JCU Education Alumni Lauren Krause credits her own outstanding teachers for inspiring her into the education system. Now in her third year as a teacher at Saint Patrick’s Catholic Primary School in the Central Highlands hub of Emerald, Lauren is thriving.
Since the arrival of newcomers to Australia, Indigenous people have taken many approaches to try and equalise their changing position with governments and other public officials. Discover how JCU's Dr Ailie McDowall encourages her students to explore how national narratives and agendas have influenced and are influenced by the position of Indigenous people.
For JCU Primary Education graduate Emily Caferra, working with neurodiverse students is about supporting their many abilities and different ways of seeing and experiencing the world. Emily tells us about her work as a learning support teacher in Herberton, Far North Queensland.
Emily Caferra and Bernie, the Labradoodle (Photo: Supplied)
Connecting communities
Queensland is the second-biggest state in the sixth-largest country in the world. This sheer size becomes particularly apparent when you live in a rural or remote area and need to travel to access treatment. Senior medical oncologist and James Cook University (JCU) Professor, Dr Sabe Sabesan, knows the problems caused by distance and he has created an innovative solution by harnessing emerging technologies.
In one of the most sugarcane-dominated catchments in Queensland, JCU’s Dr Adam Canning is working with Ingham farmer John Cardillo and Greening Australia in leading a project to convert 15 acres of flood-prone cane paddocks into melaleuca plantations. The common melaleuca ‘paper-bark’ tree is a carbon powerhouse, potentially helping to capture carbon and mobilise farm run-off nutrients.
Melaleuca 'paper-bark' trees in converted wetlands
Supplied by TropWATER
Overflowing with knowledge
Until recently, it seemed to be common knowledge that Aboriginal people did not live in the lava tubes (volcanic caves) that were created by the Undara volcano 190,000 years ago. JCU Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Alice Buhrich and Brian Bing, an Ewamian Elder, tell us what they found at Undara and at nearby Talaroo Hot Springs.
Surveying the lava. Image supplied by Alice Buhrich.
You are what you eat
The natural environment plays an important role in the overall well-being of humanity. Not only does it provide us with resources essential to our survival, but being in nature has been proven to positively impact our physical, social and psychological health. Despite these benefits, we are becoming more and more disconnected from natural spaces and processes. JCU PhD Candidate Rachael Walshe is exploring how this disconnect manifests itself in our relationship with food.
JCU students Nanako Binst, Kyle Alolod and Anthony Conolly share how they supported the Wheels of Wellness charity in Cairns as a third-year subject of their Bachelor of Business degree.