January–February 2014 117Your Society is edited by Zoe Patterson RossSOCIETY FUNDR AISERD
UGONGS ARE coastal
creatures; they stick close
to the shore and graze on
seagrass meadows in the shallows.
Each year about 50 are found dead
on Queensland beaches and some
90 per cent of these fatalities are
unexplained. Researchers are looking
at both the impact of development
along the coast and the after-effects of
natural disasters, such as the January
2011 floods in Queensland, which
washed large amounts of topsoil and
debris into the ocean.
The effect of such a deluge of
terrestrial material into dugong habitat
is unknown, but it may have had
dramatic health consequences.
Your support will help the
University of Queensland dugong
research team find out more about the
health of the species and also improve
our overall understanding of tropical
coastal ecosystems.OR VISIT our website: http://www.australian-
geographic.com.au/society/campaigns.htmTo donate, download
the free viewa app
and scan this page.Dig dugongs
out of trouble
Help experts understand threats
to these enigmatic mammals.Swim team. Lachie Carracher,
(left, at right), and Kim Hands,
at left and below, completed
the 2013 Lake Argyle challenge.I
N THEIR SEARCH for novel
challenges, 2012 AG Society
awardees Kim Hands and Lachie
Carracher have proved the Aussie
spirit of adventure is alive and well.
“We wanted to start a tradition of
the Young Conservationist and the
Young Adventurer doing something
together in the year they were
awarded,” says Kim, who was
recognised for her conservation work
with the Stop the Toad Foundation.
“We also wanted to highlight links
between conservation and adventure.”
With this goal in mind, they
planned to take on the 20km Rottnest
Channel Swim in February 2013, with
Kim swimming and Lachie, a white-
water kayaker, paddling alongside her.
However, the duo hit a major snag
during training. In late 2012, while
on a diving trip in Tonga with fellow
AGS awardee Don McIntyre, Kim was
paddling beside Kylie Maguire whenA DV EN T U R EFormer AG Society awardees combine forces to swim
and paddle across Australia’s largest artificial lake.Swimming with winners
Kylie was bitten by a shark. After
Kim pulled a bleeding Kylie into
the inf latable kayak and radioed
for help, the risks of the venture hit
home. The idea of an ocean swim
became incredibly daunting.
Kim came up with a new plan.
Registrations were opened for
a 20km Lake Argyle swimming
challenge. Australia’s largest
artificial lake (AG 113) – and the
home of a healthy population
of freshwater crocodiles – the
Argyle is in Western Australia’s
Kimberley, where both Kim and
Lachie’s award-winning projects
were mostly set. With Lachie by
their sides, Kim and her relay
partner Amy Gates completed the
swim in May 2013. The finish was
exhilarating, says Kim, not only for
the sense of achievement, but also
because the bar has been raised for
LACHIE CARRACHER; FAR RIGHT: DOUGLAS DAVID SEIFERT / DOUGLASUNDERWATER.COM; future AG Society winners.
Dugong dugon