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Category Archives: University of the Sunshine Coast
Know your Sea Cucumbers!
The Great Sandy Strait (Korrawinga) and surrounding Hervey Bay area are known habitats for many sea cucumber species, including those that were historically targeted in the local bêche-de-mer fishery during the 1980s and 1990s.
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Review of Saving K’gari from the Sand Miners: Memoir of the Fraser Island Environmental Inquiry, 1975–76 by Chris Loorham
Chris Loorham’s memoir is a rich, engaging, and historically valuable contribution to Australian environmental history. It blends personal narrative, legal analysis, and political context to illuminate the Fraser Island Environmental Inquiry (1975–76), a pivotal moment in the evolution of Commonwealth environmental powers. The paper succeeds in offering both a reflective personal account and a substantive explanation of how respectful relationships, inclusive leadership, and independent inquiry shaped a landmark conservation outcome.
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BAC launches Biosecurity Strategy for K’gari
After 21 months of development, the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC), supported by the K’gari Biosecurity Advisory Group (KBAG) made up of the island’s landholders and major stakeholders, has launched a 20-year Biosecurity Strategy for K’gari.
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Commemorating 20 years of FINIA
Founded in December 2005, on 25 February 2026, FINIA members helped mark their 20th anniversary by planting a K’gari apple (Acronychia imperforata) at the University of the Sunshine Coast’s campus in Pialba. A matching tree will be planted at the K’gari Research Station in May.
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Sea Cucumber Research Update
As we wrote in the last newsletter, PhD student Alison Hammond from the University of the Sunshine Coast is currently undertaking a research project on the sea cucumber (bêche-de-mer) fishery in Hervey Bay, the Great Sandy Strait and Tin Can Bay in the 1980s and 1990s. Project results will be used to map the historical and current distribution of sea cucumbers.
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K’gari Conference 2025
The University of the Sunshine Coast’s 2025 conference celebrated the theme Voices of K’gari: Research, Respect and Responsibility, bringing together K’gari’s Traditional Owners, the Butchulla people, leading researchers, conservationists and artists who together explored the cultural, ecological and geological stories of K’gari and the surrounding Great Sandy region.
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Restoring the Great Sandy’s Ecological Health
This short item isn’t directly about K’gari., it is more about Korrawinga (what we call the Great Sandy Strait). I know little of Butchulla lore, but I think Korrawinga was formed by Yindingie with the assistance of the spirit K’gari.
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Sea Cucumber Stories Wanted
The University of the Sunshine Coast is undertaking a research project on the sea cucumber (bêche-de-mer) fishery in Hervey Bay; the Great Sandy Strait (Korrawinga), and Tin Can Bay in the 1980s and 1990s.
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K’gari Research Conference 2025 – Call for Abstracts
The University of the Sunshine Coast, along with partners the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC), the Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC), the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation (FIDO) and FINIA – the Natural Integrity Alliance for K’gari, is excited to announce the biennial K’gari Research Conference Voices of K’gari: Research, Respect and Responsibility on Monday and Tuesday, 10-11 November 2025.
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K’gari Biosecurity Strategy BlueSheet Workshop
On 3-4 June 2025, members of the K’gari Biosecurity Advisory Group (KBAG) joined key stakeholders for a 2-day collaborative Biosecurity Strategy BlueSheet workshop held on K’gari.
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FINIA 