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News & events of the Kaurareg homeland of Kaiwalagal, the Torres Strait homeland, and Cape York homelands of the Anggamuthi, Atambaya, Wuthathi, Yadhaykenu and Gudang Peoples
4 - 10 November 2013 • Thursday Island • www.torresnews.com.au • editor@torresnews.com.au • Edition No. 1090 • $2.00 inc. GST
Drones to help search and rescues
George Ernst.
Losing a local icon By AARON SMITH
Peter Graham launches a Search & Rescue unmanned aerial vehicle. By GIEMBRA BUSMER SEARCH and rescue in the Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria is about to enter a new era with the addition of high-tech assistance in the form of state-of-the-art Unmanned Aerial Vehicles more commonly referred to as drones. The president of Volunteer Marine Rescue Weipa, Peter Graham, has secured funding from Marine Rescue Queensland to continue his research into the most suitable unit for the Gulf region. Mr Graham has convinced the State association that UAVs are the next big thing in almost every section of industry. Small unmanned vehicles are already operating in survey work, real estate and a variety of other situations with small remote-controlled units. The unit under investigation for VMR is a muchlarger aircraft. The unit has been in military operation since 2004 and has thousands of hours flying in all types of weather and conditions. It is most likely that the first UAVs to commence
operations would be with VMR units in the Torres Strait which has the title of being the busiest searchand-rescue area in Australia. “I have been meeting with staff from the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation who are keen to assist us with our modifications to the aircraft,” Mr Graham said. “I have also met with members of the Australian and American armies who have been operating UAVs in Afghanistan and other countries for target acquisition tasks.” “With the cost to replace a rescue vessel similar to Weipa’s Rescue One around $750,000, and a small fortune to fuel and maintain, anything that can reduce costs and keep crews to a minimum amount of time in harms way will always get a look in,” continued Mr Graham. The UAV will considerably reduce the time crews will need to spend scouring seas for hours on end, often in heavy weather before locating the vessel or persons in distress. Continued on page 2.
THE potential loss of local icon George Ernst from Thursday Island has left community members, Torres Shire Council and politicians both outraged and in shock. Mr Ernst, who has been a teacher of horticulture and engineering at Tagai TAFE for the last five years, was told by video conference last month that his position will be made redundant at the end of the year. A much-respected teacher, it’s not only his courses that will be sorely missed but also his tireless community work. With the help of his students and Torres Shire Council, George has established 58 community Kai Kai gardens around Thursday Island, which provides residents with fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices.
He has also assisted Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) with their program, Leafy Green Vegetables in the Tropics, which identifies local vegetables that can be grown easily in gardens to provide cheap and healthy sources of food. George also had plans for 16 more Kai Kai gardens as well as other projects to both beautify the island and provide an abundance of healthy food. Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen said: “The loss of George in our community is more than just losing a great teacher but also his work within the community. “George has been very pro-active with council in establishing community gardens vital for the well-being of our people. Continued on page 3
TAFE student Tanya Takai-Bowie and her father Xavier Bowie are concerned that she will not be able to complete the Certificate II that she enrolled for.