Thursday 8 December, 5.45 pm for 6 pm, Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, Sandy Bay

Members and guests are invited to join us for the annual Christmas Dinner ($70 per person) and Lecture. Please fill in and return the acceptance form (click here to download it) to admin@rst.org.au before 16 November.

The lecture, entitled “Fifty years in the law: A few chocolate frogs amongst the jelly”, will be given by Magistrate Chris Webster AM.

Magistrate Webster will give an overview of his career and discuss four high-profile cases in which he has been involved as a lawyer and magistrate.

About Magistrate Chris Webster AM

Chris Webster graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1974 and then practised as a barrister and solicitor until March 2006 when he was appointed a Magistrate. He is still a Magistrate.

Whilst a solicitor in private practice he held several government appointments including Hearing Commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Senior Member of Administrative Appeals Commission, Chairman of the Parole Board, and Member of the Medical Council of Tasmania.

He was President of the Law Society of Tasmania in 1994 and is involved in Rotary, Community Based Care and the Hobart Community Legal Service. Chris was President of the Association of Australian Magistrates until 2021 and is a Life Member of the Australian Judicial Officers Association.

In 2021, in recognition of his contribution to the Law and the Community, he became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Volcanic eruptions are fascinating for scientists and the public alike. Visual observations of eruption on land have been central to the scientific understanding and development of various models used in hazard forecasting.

However, in a submarine setting the interaction between hot magma and seawater is hidden and therefore not well understood. Recent submarine eruptions like the Hunga Tonga eruption in 2022 are extraordinary and can be devastating. International scientific teams with innovative robotic technologies have responded to these events to characterise and further understand submarine eruptions. These well characterised events underpin step changes in our understanding of how magmas and volcanoes interact with the ocean. In this presentation, I will describe case studies of recent submarine eruptions and underwater exploration of the eruption products to highlight advances and remaining challenges in the study of underwater volcanoes.

Associate Professor Rebecca Carey is a former Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, Tasmanian Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year, and the 2020 winner of the Australian Academy of Science Dorothy Hill Medal. Rebecca won the RST MR Banks Medal for an outstanding mid-career researchers in 2021. Rebecca is interested in volcanic processes and environments, geological hazards, and indigenous cultural narratives around volcanic events. Her research focuses on understanding volcanic eruptive histories, mechanisms and drivers of volcanic eruptions, explosive eruption plumes, submarine volcanoes and eruption dynamics, and volcanic hazards.

NOTE DATE AND VENUE CHANGE

Sunday 4 December 2022, 3 pm, Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Hobart

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a lecture by Tasmanian Aboriginal leader, Rodney Gibbins.

If you have already registered for in-person or online attendance, there is no need to register for the new date.

If you wish to attend in person and have not yet registered, please register via Eventbrite before 3 pm Saturday 3 December.

If you wish to view the lecture remotely via Zoom, and have not yet registered, please register in advance. You will receive an email from Zoom containing instructions for joining the webinar. Click here to register for Zoom.

Admission is free.

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Abstract

For 60,000+ years the palawa people had sovereignty across this land lutruwita. All of this changed with the arrival of the white man. The invasion radically changed us in very short period of time, our culture was interrupted, our language and freedoms taken from us. This has resulted in continuing contemptuous views and actions by successive governments that have rendered us almost voiceless and powerless in our own country.

We began the fight back in the early 1970’s. We developed our own political movements and rallied as a people. Five years ago the Uluru statement was released. It was a forerunner for states to develop their own policies towards treaty and truth telling.

In this lecture, I will outline the responses of successive governments to Aboriginal issues and consider the needs and ambitions of the Aboriginal community in the development of a treaty and the truth telling process.

About Rodney Gibbins

Rodney Gibbins is a palawa man born in Launceston. As a child, he experienced constant physical and racial harassment. This was the experience as well, of most, if not all, of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and this harassment was a direct consequence of the subjugation by the broader white community towards the Aboriginal community. Rodney has been actively involved in Aboriginal politics since the early 1970s and served in both the state and Commonwealth governments as a Senior Aboriginal Program and Policy Officer for over 30 years. He is currently retired.

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Dr Pratiksha Srivastava

Dr Pratiksha Srivastava is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain. She completed her PhD at the National Centre for Maritime Engineering and Hydrodynamics, Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania, Australia. Her research focus is on microbe-electrode interaction for the development of sustainable technologies. She has made a major contribution to the development of electrode-dependent anaerobic ammonium oxidation in constructed wetlands coupled with microbial electrochemical technology. This research gained considerable attention among scientists. Her sustainability research led to the prestigious Green Talent Award from the German Federal Ministry in 2017. She has also been awarded a Nuffic Fellowship, from the Netherlands, and many other competitive national and international grants. She has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles.

“Electron exchange between living and non-living things for developing sustainability in the environment”

The energy for all life forms comes from the flow of electrons in energetically favourable pairings of oxidation and reduction reactions. Although most living organisms use soluble oxidants and reductants, some microbes can access solid-phase materials as electron-acceptors or donors via extracellular microbial electron transfer. A better understanding of extracellular microbial electron transfer can lead us to further technological applications such as an efficient wastewater treatment, electricity generation, bioelectronics, biochemical production, detoxification of harmful compounds, and biofuels generation for achieving sustainability in the environment.

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Dr Rhondda Waterworth

Dr Rhondda Waterworth is an Australian lawyer and psychologist. She has 14 years’ experience working with families, teenagers and children, in government funded health services, and in private practice. She has spent at least five years working with dangerous offenders. 

Rhondda completed a PhD in the Schools of Psychology and Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania in therapeutic jurisprudence and ways in which the courts and magistrates can be more effective therapeutically within courtrooms to prevent reoffending.

She is the author of several articles on magistrate interventions and the use of health and legal systems to intervene for offending behaviour for those with mental health problems, trauma. She has also published articles on opportunities and techniques for applying therapeutic jurisprudence in criminal courts. One of these has been incorporated into a handbook for magistrates.

Rhondda is currently resident in France and works in private practice as well as lecturing at the Catholic University of Lyon. 

“The therapeutic potential of magistrates and court systems”

The complex interface between health and legal systems is constantly on display in courtrooms. Magistrate behaviour and courtroom interactions have the potential to significantly affect outcomes for offenders and the wider community. This influence is especially strong for offenders experiencing mental illness, social disadvantage, drug addiction, or other endemic social problems. Insightful courtcraft can transform magistrate roles so they become drivers for therapeutic change. This approach requires identifying desirable magistrate behaviours and incorporating those behaviours in magistrate training.

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