Contributors

Faye Alexander is a ceramic artist and sculptor based in Alice Springs.

Max Bourke AM has worked in science, agriculture and the arts. He has had a life-long interest in conservation and is a Board member of The Nature Conservancy (Aust) and The Thomas Foundation.

Christine Campbell lives on Norwood Station at Blackall where she combines involvement in the family cattle and goat grazing business with a passion for the recording and preservation of Aboriginal and colonial heritage.

Simon Campbell is a grazier from Blackall, with a wide range of interests and experience in national agripolitical representation and agricultural research and development strategy and planning.

Alex G. Cook is a palaeontologist and geologist who is a senior curator at the Queensland Museum. His work has taken him all over the Great Artesian Basin.

Glenn R. Cooke is Research Curator, Queensland Heritage in the Australian Art Department at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. He has a particular interest in cross cultural influences.

Stuart Cowell is the Manager of Conservation Partnerships with Bush Heritage Australia. Inspired by many people involved in the Desert Channels, and also by the landscape itself, he has actively promoted collaborative approaches to landscape management for conservation outcomes.

Chris Dickman is Professor in Terrestrial Ecology at the University of Sydney and author (with artist Rosemary Woodford Ganf) of A Fragile Balance: The Extraordinary Story of Australia's Marsupials (2007). He has been researching the ecology of the Desert Channels region for twenty years.

Alice Duncan-Kemp was brought up on Mooraberrie station at the heart of the Desert Channels region in the early years of the twentieth century. Her four major literary works on the region document both traditional Aboriginal and pastoral understandings of country, and record natural history observations that have been valuable to conservation biology a century later.

Hope Ebsworth is the Indigenous Cooper's Creek Representative at Desert Channels Queensland. His country is around Durham Downs on the lower Cooper. He is the author of Bury me at Tartulla Hill (2009).

David and Judy Elliott are Founders of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum who have coordinated dinosaur digs in the Winton district since 2002. From 2006 to 2009 they have hosted a dinosaur fossil conservation facility on their property. David and Judy publish an award-winning Australian natural history journal. In 2006 they were Australian Geographic Society 'Conservationists of the Year'.

Angus Emmott is a keen photographer, natural historian and grazier. His family has lived at Noonbah, a pastoral property near Longreach for four generations. His latest book (with Steve Wilson) is Snakes of Western Queensland: A Field Guide (2009).

Karen Emmott lives at Noonbah, near Longreach. Her interests include creative writing, rural health issues and conservation, as well as the family cattle grazing business.

Rod Fensham researches the ecology and conservation of native vegetation with a strong focus on arid lands of Queensland.

Guy Fitzhardinge is a beef producer with a strong interest in conservation and is deputy chair of Desert Channels Queensland.

Anke Frank is a PhD student in the Desert Ecology Research Group at the University of Sydney, with interests in the effects of grazing on natural systems.

Tom Griffiths is a historian at the Centre for Environmental History, Australian National University. His books include Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica (2007).

Adele Haythornthwaite is an honorary researcher in the Institute of Wildlife Research at the University of Sydney, and has been part of the 'ratcatching' team over the past few years.

Scott Hocknull is Curator, Palaeontology & Geology Geosciences at the Queensland Museum and one of the state's greatest dinosaur enthusiasts. He has co-authored several children's books on Australian dinosaurs, and is using palaeontological findings for research on climate change.

Luke Keogh is a historian working on the Queensland Historical Atlas. His PhD studies at the University of Queensland include a detailed study of the natural resource, pituri.

Leanne Kohler is Chief Executive Officer, Desert Channels Queensland in Longreach.

Mike Letnic is an ecologist at the University of Western Sydney, and has been 'ratcatching' for more than a decade.

Darrell Lewis is a historian whose research focuses on exploration and early settlement of the outback, based at the Centre for Historical Research, National Museum of Australia. His books include A Wild History (2010).

George Main is an environmental historian and curator at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, and author of Heartland: The Regeneration of Rural Place (2005).

Nicola Markus is the Chief Conservation Officer for Bush Heritage Australia and author of On our Watch: The Race to Save Australia's Environment (2009). She previously worked as a Senior Manager for WWF Australia.

Mandy Martin is an artist and an Adjunct Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. She is co-author (with Jane Carruthers, Guy Fitzhardinge, Tom Griffiths and Peter Haynes) of Inflows: the Channel Country (2001).

Jenny Milson is a pasture scientist based in western Queensland, where her family has lived and worked for four generations. She is the author of several books on plant identification and has a passion for working with land managers to achieve balance between productivity and environmental health.

Bob Morrish trained originally as a research scientist in agriculture and now manages his own pastoral station in south-western Queensland. He was one of the active pastoralist-conservationists in the Currareeva Dispute.

Steve Morton is an ecologist who serves on the CSIRO Executive.

Richard Nelson is an anthropologist, writer and radio producer living in Sitka, Alaska and periodically in Australia.

Tony Popic is a PhD student in the Desert Ecology Research Group, The University of Sydney, with interests in the interactions between plants and animals.

Jim Puckridge was a major arid-zone scientist who worked on the ecology of the Coongie Lakes region. He also wrote poetry.

Julian Reid has been researching ecology in the Channel Country and adjacent deserts for more than two decades and is a PhD student at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University.

Libby Robin is an environmental historian at the Australian National University and the National Museum of Australia. She is author of How a Continent Created a Nation (2007) and co-editor (with Rob Heinsohn and Leo Joseph) of Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country (2009).

Don Rowlands is a Wangkangurru elder who guided people through the Thutirla Pula story at the Traditional Owners' Forum in May 2009. Don has the added advantage of managing his Traditional lands as a Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Ranger.

Bruce Scott is Mayor of Barcoo Shire and director of the Remote Area Planning and Development Board (RAPAD), incorporating the Central Western Regional Organisation of Councils. His family has been involved in the pastoral industry around Windorah since the nineteenth century.

Maureen Scott lives and works at Moothandella, a pastoral property near Windorah. She has taken a particular interest in conservation initiatives for the property.

Jenny Silcock lives and works in western Queensland. Her recent research includes a major survey of natural water-bodies in this region.

Mike Smith, an archaeologist, is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Museum of Australia and an Adjunct Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University.

Mark Stafford Smith is Science Director for CSIRO's Climate Adaptation Flagship, as well as continuing a smaller role leading the Science of Desert Living project with Desert Knowledge CRC.

David Taylor is an independent director on the Macquarie Pastoral boards. David owns and operates a Cessna 210 and uses a Cannon 40D camera.

David Thompson was born and raised in Barcaldine. David is a proud Custodian of Iningai Traditional Country. He has worked in Landcare and the Indigenous program for Desert Channels Queensland is currently an Indigenous Land Management Facilitator with the Australian Government.

Max Tischler is a specialist bird researcher who is part of the Bush Heritage ecology team, based at the reserves of Cravens Peak and Ethabuka, in the Simpson Desert.

Glenda Wardle is an ecologist based in the Institute of Wildlife Research at the University of Sydney. Her work on ecological and evolutionary processes combines experimental and field based studies of native Australian plants in the Desert Channels region and elsewhere.

Alan Williams is currently undertaking a PhD in Archaeology at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australia National University, Canberra. He is a senior archaeologist at Archaeological and Heritage Management Solutions Pty Ltd.

Steve Wilson is Regional Coordinator at Desert Channels Queensland Regional Natural Resource Management Group. He is based in Longreach, Western Queensland.