LAT LONG
How to get there: catamaran,
helicopter or seaplane
Size of island: 8ha
Great Barrier Reef Committee ran the
station: 1951–1970
University of Queensland acquired
full ownership: 1980
Destroyed by fire: 30 March 2007
Visitor accommodation: three
researcher accommodation blocks, two
houses and three student dormitories
Research vessels: six
Climate change experiment
began: 2010
For more information: http://www.uq.edu.au/
heron-island-research-stationMulti-tasking. Station staff fill other roles when needed: main-
tenance officer Sam Chapman, above at right, operates a vessel,
while production manager Matthew Peterson prepares for a dive.110 A G
has temporarily caused potable water to stop flowing.
This prompts several research sta to race around the
property, distributing water to guests.
Disruptions “are part of remote living”, station man-
ager Dr Elizabeth Perkins tells me. “At times there are
no disruptions and then at others you can get a couple
in a few days.” Fortunately, these hiccups don’t aect
researchers’ experiments. The station pumps up salt
water for its aquaria facilities and has a small generator
that keeps it running during power failures.
The station has a history of getting on with business
despite obstacles. In the two years following the 2007
fire, researchers and educational groups continued to
visit, with the boatshed housing laboratories and tem-
porary tents used for accommodation, says Elizabeth.
“Obviously it was harder, not just because buildings
were missing but because the place was essentially a
construction site.”
The remote location poses other challenges.
Although housekeeper Geraldine appears cheerful and
content, she says island life might be testing for some.
“It’s so isolated, so not everyone can live in this kind of
place and be happy,” she says.
Maureen agrees. “I think anyone who works here has
to be fairly self-sucient... If they’re needy people, they
couldn’t stay here, stay sane, and do their job properly.”
Some researchers visit the island repeatedly, overmany years. “There are some long-term coral quadrats
out on the reef flat that researchers have returned to
every year for over 50 years,” Elizabeth says. “It’s one of
the world’s longest, regularly surveyed, individual-based
field observations of coral.”
It’s also common for researchers to work odd hours.
Members of the CCA team, for example, rise early,
spend part of the day collecting samples on dive sites,
and then analyse the data into the night. Nevertheless,
researchers and sta still find time to socialise.
“I’ve known [some of the researchers] for nearly 13
years now,” Maureen says. “And especially with ones that
come a few times a year, you regard them as friends.”
For Elizabeth, seeing researchers run their experi-
ments and obtain results is the most rewarding aspect
of her job. “I’ve seen students work through their entire
PhDs,” she says. “You see how much they learn and
grow and change.”
During my visit, the drinking-water drought ends
about midday. A couple of hours later, I join Elizabeth
and other sta as they make their way to the busy jetty,
where we bid farewell to the UQ filming team.
One team member, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg,
Global Change Institute director and former HIRS
director, has just finished speaking to students about
the eects of ocean warming and acidification on coral
reefs. The young visitors have had a chance to experi-
ence the reef’s wonders firsthand, and their responses
to Ove’s talk reflect the positive relationship between
research and education. Overwhelmingly, they want to
know: “What can we do to help?”AGBEARINGS: HERON
ISLAND RESEARCH
STATION, QLDag0914p110_lat - 108 2014-08-12T12:00:01+10:00