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Work Experience Inspires Clifton Student
Southern Queensland Landscapes believes empowered young people are the key to our future, so we were thrilled to welcome enthusiastic year 10 student from Clifton State High School, Piper Brady, when she joined us for work experience in the Toowoomba office.
Piper told us she learnt a lot during her week with SQ Landscapes, and sat down to write a report about her time in her own words. Read it below.
My time with Southern Queensland Landscapes
by Piper Brady
Coming from my small state high school, I decided I wanted to do my work placement with a conscious and aware group of people, and I chose Southern Queensland Landscapes in Toowoomba.
I was initially drawn to the hard and honest work they do with the environment and working with people to ensure the best outcomes for everyone. Coming from a farming family and community, I understand how much love the landholders all have for the soil and the land we live on, and how important it is for everyone to try and help it thrive.
I won’t lie and say this industry is exactly what I expected. Both more like an office job and more like a scientist than I would have thought, but it certainly was important. I worked with most people in the office, and met with various people, landholders and other industry people and businesses alike.
I went out with (Principal Project Officer) Vanessa MacDonald on Monday. We drove to Millmerran to join Rebecca Kirby from Millmerran Landcare to assess the new contour banks and clean up an exhausted grazing paddock. Looking at the multi-species grazing paddock that was planted was also quite interesting. The turnips’ purpose was to break up the rocky soil, the grain was to make the vegetation more attractive to stock, and the legumes were to reintroduce nutrients into the soil.
On Tuesday, I worked with (Principal Project Officer) Alun Hoggett on the mapping software. He went into extensive detail on the different uses, requirements and makes of the maps they use here. Using the program Queensland Globe, I used the different layers to more thoroughly understand the different kinds of ecosystems in our state, and particularly, our region. Going in depth on the groundwater-dependent ecosystems of the Condamine River and surrounding floodplains, my area made a lot more sense to me.
Wednesday with (Principal Project Officer) Holly Hosie consisted of identifying brigalow, softwood scrub and Queensland grasslands. We went from Irongate reserve to a property in Mt. Tyson and did a BioCAT biodiversity assessment on an area of Queensland listed grassland. We also went to Jimbour and did another BioCAT assessment. In all, the day was very interesting to me, and I can now properly identify saltbush and cattle bush.
On Thursday, I went out with (Project Officer) Isabella Murphy to do a property assessment of a beautiful property south of Warwick, on the Granite Belt. We were meant to be assessing the new fencing around a waterway and checking the progress of a recent cool burning. However, I will admit that I was rather focussed on the beautiful wildflowers and waterfall on the property. The property itself was beautiful, a true example of the region.
On Friday with the communications ladies, (Senior Project Officer) Kellie Stewart and (Project Officer) Alyssa Glover, I spent the day writing this. I’m not very used to writing things intended for an audience more than an English teacher, but I have given it a go.
All in all, this experience has really opened my eyes, not just to the wonderful people in the conservation industry, but also to the land I very much love. I have cherished my time doing work that has actually made a difference. I’m thankful to the whole team for being so welcoming and kind, and am looking forward to hopefully meeting these guys again.
By Piper Brady, Year 10.
Screen Type Self Cleaning Floatation Fish Screen Screen M anufacturer KleenScreen, NZ River Catchment Balonne River
Screen Type Self Cleaning Cylindrical Fish Screen Screen M anufacturer AWMA River Catchment Condamine River
Screen Type Self Cleaning Floatation Fish Screen Screen M anufacturer KleenScreen, NZ River Catchment Condamine Branch (Chinchilla Weir)
Screen Type Two Self Cleaning Cylindrical Screens Screen M anufacturer AWMA River Catchment Gowrie Oakey Creek
Screen Type Self Cleaning Cylindrical Screen Screen M anufacturer AWMA River Catchment Condamine River
The Condamine Headwaters, a critical ecosystem in Southern Queensland, has long faced threats from sedimentation, habitat degradation, and thermal regime changes. The Blackfish Project, dedicated to reversing these impacts, unites scientists, landowners, and the community in a shared mission to restore and protect this vital environment. At its core lies the river blackfish, a sensitive indicator of the overall ecosystem health. Central to the project's success is the unwavering commitment of landowners like Paul Graham. Inspired by the project's vision, Paul reached out to SQ Landscapes seeking support for a solar pump and tank to divert his cattle away from waterways on his property. Paul's deep-rooted love for his land, captured in his humorous quip "I love my land more than I love my wife," is a testament to the powerful connection between people and place that drives conservation efforts.
The Board of Southern Queensland Landscapes recently met in Toowoomba. In addition to the Board meeting, Board and Executive worked through updating SQ Landscapes’ strategy. Company Secretary Pam Murphy highlighted the importance of the latest Board meeting and what it means for the company’s future. “The updated strategy will help SQ Landscapes deliver sustainable natural resource management (NRM) outcomes that improve the lives of people in regional communities now and for the future,” Pam Murphy said. “We’re excited to continue delivering value for our region and build Flourishing Landscapes and Healthy Communities across Southern Queensland under the guidance of the Board,” Mrs Murphy said.
Annual General Meeting When: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 Where: Online via Zoom Time : 9.00am for 9.30am start
When Sophie and Adrian McInnerney began adopting their “paddock to plate” experiment into their lambing business, they quickly discovered how a new and exciting approach to running their enterprise transformed their resilience and soil health. Multi-species cover cropping was the answer, and now their business has become a diverse enterprise that has embraced variations in livestock feed and crop rotation, building riparian fencing, and investing in healthier soils. This has opened the young couple to new opportunities to create new revenue streams, protect their business against natural disasters, drought, and prepare for economic hardships. Their property, “Bellhaven Brook”, located just an hour east of Goondiwindi, was the site of Macintyre Ag Alliance’s latest Multi-Species Cropping Field Day. With the support of Southern Queensland Landscapes (SQ Landscapes), the event aimed to promote the McInnerney family’s new land practices, offering an opportunity to educate land managers in the region of new ways to strengthen their property and enterprise. SQ Landscapes’ Goondiwindi-based Project Delivery Officer Keith Walker joined land managers for the workshop and highlighted how multi-species cover cropping could pave the way to rebuilding healthy soils and farming enterprises. “What was great about visiting ‘Bellhaven Brook’ is that you don’t have to be a scientist to understand this stuff. The idea is to just try and experiment like the McInnerneys did,” Keith Walker said. “These cover cropping systems are all about building your experience, experimenting and slowly developing a healthier and richer soil profile; which is the basis of all businesses; cropping and grazing alike.” Mr Walker said. “It was interesting to see the range of people, the ages from young and old, and the differences in enterprises. It’s a reminder that this genre of agriculture is starting conversations,” he said. “It’s all about implementation on the ground and getting the results for less money and experimenting with what people are doing.”
Cool burns, camels, and funding for local farmers were on the agenda at 'Risdon Stud' as land managers Nick and Liz Suduk hosted the Southern Queensland Landscapes and Department of Resources site visit to showcase the success of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-2022 (NRIP). Risdon Stud, south of Warwick, was primarily a high-intensity horse stud, but under new ownership with the Suduk family, the focus has been on restoring productivity and landscape health. “The Suduks participated in the NRIP project, where they received on-site guidance from First Nations fire practitioner Robbie Williams from Fire Lore, for cool burning in native vegetation areas,” Project Delivery Lead Natasha Mylonas said. “This was their first exposure to this type of burning and they have since embarked on a journey towards building their confidence in applying it elsewhere on the property,” Ms Mylonas said. “The NRIP project also supported livestock fencing, largely to exclude cattle from a large patch of remnant vegetation, combined with weed management in that remnant vegetation,” she said. “It is really difficult to muster out of the remnant vegetation, so the fencing has meant easier mustering of the cattle, as well as reduced weed spread and damage to the native vegetation in the patch.” “Outside of the NRIP project, they maintain a herd of agisted camels as part of their weed management strategy and experimented with fire to manage wattle regrowth,” Natasha Mylonas said.