My interest in protecting our waterways started quite young – catching yabbies in local creeks, eagerly watching Jacques Cousteau documentaries and spending almost every weekend at the beach or in hinterland bushland. This helped instil in me a reverence for what is worth protecting both locally and at either end of the catchment.

I started my career in local government as a development assessment officer trying to help local communities protect their local catchments from avoidable development impacts. Initially, I focused strictly on the management of ecology but quickly seeing the relationship between the impacts of stormwater runoff and protecting ecological values, my interest in stormwater management developed in earnest. After five years in local government, I then moved into the Water by Design program of Healthy Waterways for two years where I learnt a lot about capacity building – skills which I utilise to this day in Stormwater Queensland.

Over the past decade, I’ve been in a consulting role with BMT. In that time, I’ve had the flexibility to undertake projects which I’m passionate about including creek and catchment management, stormwater management and various ecological investigations. Assessing waterways by helicopter (as well as on the ground) has certainly been a highlight to date.

Most recently, my interest in fluvial geomorphology has been growing and I’ve become a fully accredited RiverStyles Practitioner.

In my spare time, I love spending time with my family and friends in, on and around waterways especially, fishing, camping, hiking, boating and diving when the chance arises.