Water polluted in kitchens and bathrooms at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury-Wodonga has been cleaned up using nature and gravity, with some help from an award-winning scientist and the wetlands he designed.Professor David Mitchell (centre in picture), formerly with the CSU Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) and CSIRO, designed a set of treatment ponds and wetlands to treat ‘grey’ water produced in academic and residential buildings on the University’s Thurgoona site.Having previously won state, national and international awards for the water management and treatment system on the site, Professor Mitchell’s design has performed well for over 20 years.ILWS director Professor Max Finlayson (left in picture) said, “Wetlands have been constructed across the world for more than 50 years to treat polluted water. The David Mitchell wetland system on our campus is a working demonstration of sustainable practice.“The wetlands were constructed as part of the development of a new campus. It provided a marvellous opportunity to design an environmentally efficient, on-site water management system from scratch,” Professor Finlayson said.“The number of thermo-tolerant coliform bacteria detected in treated grey water indicates the level of faecal contamination and whether this water can be re-used.“To date, the treated water has passed every test, providing evidence that individual units of this nature are effective – they can treat grey water and meet initial expectations and specifications.”Professor Finlayson believes this is but one example of Professor Mitchell’s immense contributions to the management of Australia’s aquatic ecosystems.“His leadership has been widely recognised and his willingness to spend time advising and supporting others is an example to all. His contributions to the use of wetland plants to treat wastewater are just a part of his tremendous legacy,” Professor Finlayson said.

The use of illegal nets is placing populations of endangered species of native turtles at risk in Australia's inland waterways says a Charles Sturt University (CSU) expert."Our research shows the unthinking actions of people who fish for yabbies using 'opera house' nets are depleting populations of turtles, even here in Albury-Wodonga," said CSU researcher Dr James Van Dyke (pictured left), a turtle and tortoise expert with CSU's Institute for Land, Water and Society."I recently found a mature long-necked tortoise dead in one of these traps, which I pulled out of a dam in Thurgoona. Sadly, the female had got tangled in the trap and drowned."We know that there are very few young long-necked turtles left in the wild in southern Australia, particularly as foxes dig up over 95 percent of tortoise nests and eat the eggs and babies. So every unnecessary loss of an adult drives another nail in the coffin of this species as they take up to ten years to reach sexual maturity."Dr Van Dyke hopes people will think twice about continuing to use these nets as they deplete many native species, not just turtles.The busy researcher noted it is a busy time in general for native turtles, as they come out to nest during the spring storms."We are really keen to find where turtles are nesting and we have developed a mobile phone app to help us locate them," Dr Van Dyke said.Members of the public can log the location of turtle nests they find at the TurtleSAT app, found here.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff member and paddler Dr Lisa Smallbone (pictured left) highlighted her sporting prowess as a member of the successful national dragon boat team, the Auroras, competing at the recent world championships in Kunming, China.Dr Smallbone has returned to her Albury base with two gold medals as a member of the Australian Senior B Women's team that won both the 200-metre and 2000-metre championship finals. They defeated top teams from Canada and USA.The keen sportsperson was part of a 200-strong national contingent that went to China for the championships, which were held from 18 to 22 October. This was the best result yet for the Australian Auroras at a world nations championship."It was a great honour to represent Australia and compete at such a high level," Dr Smallbone said."The racing was extremely close and we had to be highly focused and determined to beat Canada, who have dominated the masters division in world dragon boat racing in recent years."Their women's team had never been beaten before, and we managed to do it twice!"Dr Smallbone is a member of Warriors Albury Wodonga Dragon Boat Club, based on the Border.

Literacy educators and parents in Albury-Wodonga and surrounding areas need to note two events and dates relevant to children's development of literacy and writing skills.The Riverina-Murray Local Council of the Australian Literacy Educators' Association (ALEA) has recently relocated to Albury-Wodonga and will hold events for teachers in Albury-Wodonga on Wednesday 18 October and for parents/guardians at 7pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday 1 November.The president of the new local council of ALEA Riverina Murray, Dr Noella Mackenzie (pictured), who is also senior lecturer in the School of Education in Albury-Wodonga, said the event on Wednesday 18 October is to launch the ALEA Riverina-Murray council. The launch will be at the Albury Library Museum from 4.30pm to 5.30pm, and this workshop is for primary and secondary teachers.The free parent forum titled 'Helping young children to draw and write' will be held at Wodonga Primary School from 7pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday 1 November.As a literacy development researcher, Dr Mackenzie will discuss the important drawing and writing milestones for children; the links between early drawing, writing and reading; some of the issues of writing in modern times such as hand writing and keyboarding; and ways for parents to support children as they learn to draw and write.Dr Mackenzie said, "The teaching of writing and approaches to support children's development, have changed over time, reflecting shifts in theoretical models and perspectives of teaching and learning."Young children begin their writing journey creating meaning by combining talking, drawing, singing and role-playing, long before they engage in the mature written forms of their culture."If children see an advantage in being able to write, they will apply the same focused attention to learning how to write that they applied to learning to be oral language users."If we encourage and value drawing and talking, we can build a bridge between children's prior-to-school experiences, current systems of meaning-making, and the new system of writing. In this way, writing becomes a parallel means of meaning-making rather than a replacement for the drawing and talking they already do so well when they arrive at school."Children who are encouraged to draw, talk, write and share become confident, flexible writers who create more complex texts than when they are restricted to just writing," Dr Mackenzie said.Dr Mackenzie explained that teaching handwriting and keyboarding has changed dramatically in the last decade with the rise of 'keyboarding', and it is this topic that she will discuss with teachers on Wednesday."Twenty or perhaps only ten years ago, learning to write by hand was an important milestone associated with starting school," she said. "Handwriting instruction began with pencils and printing (manuscript), with children graduating to pen and cursive script as they moved into the fourth year of school."According to the Australian Curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, ACARA, 2016a) this is still the expectation of Australian schools."But in the last five or so years things have changed rapidly, as tablets and smart phones have become commonplace in many homes, with computers more visible in early childhood education settings and early years classrooms, and with the curriculum increasingly crowded. The accountability agenda that has resulted from high-stakes testing has also impacted what teachers in schools prioritise."However, to be literate in 21st century society requires the ability to flexibly create and interpret both print and digital texts. Most people use both keyboarding and handwriting at some stage throughout their day, as well as texting on their phone and/or using a touch screen on a digital tablet."

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are hosting a silent morning tea to highlight what it might be like in a world without speech and using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods.The students, enrolled in the CSU Bachelor of Speech and Language Pathology degree based in Albury-Wodonga, will host the morning tea from 10am to 12pm on Friday 6 October at Junction Square in Wodonga as part of International AAC Awareness Month during October."Communication can take many forms; a word, a glance, a picture, a gesture," said Mrs Stacey Fisher, a speech pathology lecturer with the CSU School of Community Health."We have to find the best way to communicate with people who find speech difficult, including people with developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy, or an acquired disability, like brain injury and stroke."During our morning tea, the students and I want to show what it can be like to use alternative communication to communicate with others, and how we can make our community more accessible for people with a communication disability."CSU speech pathology student Ms Alana Cameron said the morning tea was a great way to demonstrate technologies and methods available to people with disabilities for communicating with others."We have studied AAC in theory and practice in our course, and this is an opportunity to show the community what communication is possible in a real life situation," Ms Cameron said."By adopting simple communication strategies and raising awareness, we hope to make our community more accessible to those living with little to no speech."The morning tea is free to the public and will commence at 10 am tomorrow, Friday 6 October.

Parents of Year 11 and 12 students looking for guidance on the next steps for their children on their path to a university education can meet with representatives from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury-Wodonga on Thursday 21 September."We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to attend university if they want to," said the coordinator of the CSU Parent Information evenings, Ms Katy Fardell."A degree can open up a world of possibility for a person's future career, community, and personal development."Parents play an important role in helping their child make that choice by providing advice, guidance and support as they consider their options as they approach the end of their schooling."That's why Charles Sturt University is giving parents the opportunity to get first-hand information about studying at the University," Ms Fardell said."From applying, pathways and costs, to scholarships, accommodation and support, these events help parents help their child prepare for university."In addition, the NSW University Admission Centre will also attend the Albury event to explain the ATAR score that their child receives after the Higher School Certificate exams, how it is calculated, and the university preference system. The free CSU Parents Information Evening will run from 5.30pm to 7.30pm in the Stanley A Room in the Commercial Club Albury, Dean Street, Albury. Please register to attend here.

People living with disability are looking to higher education as a path to engaging with meaningful activity in their community, particularly in regional areas. But can our regional universities support these aspirations?Researchers from five universities including Charles Sturt University (CSU) are currently investigating the experiences of people with disability who aspire to complete a university course in regional Australia.The research team is now calling for people with disability in regional areas from Wangaratta in Victoria to Port Macquarie in NSW to share their experiences of higher education, particularly those:currently at high school in Years 10 and 11 and who are interested to go to university; and,mature aged people who  haven't been to university but are interested in study."We want to interview volunteers from regional communities to understand their perceptions of higher education. We are investigating the barriers for people with disability in undertaking a university course," said CSU researcher Dr Clare Wilding."The uptake of higher education by people with disability is lower in regional areas than for their city counterparts," Dr Wilding said."According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, people with disability are more likely to have lower levels of educational attainment. Furthermore, data from the bureau showed that there are more people aged 15 to 64 years living with disability in regional areas – around 18 per cent - than those living in major cities, which is 13 per cent. So we should see a higher proportion of students with disability from regional areas attending university.""However, only two per cent of people with disability living in Australia's regional or remote areas are currently studying in higher education, compared with four per cent in a major city."We want to find out why this pattern is happening, and how universities, governments and the community can address the problem," she said.As part of the project, the researchers have already surveyed and interviewed students with disability who are currently enrolled in regional universities."Through this research, we hope to improve access and participation in higher education by regional people with disability, particularly those from a low socio-economic background," Dr Wilding said.The upcoming round of interviews will be conducted using media to suit the volunteer participants: by telephone, instant messaging, Skype, email or face-to-face. People wishing to participate should contact Ms Kate Freire on (02) 6051 9355 or email kfreire@csu.edu.au.The researchers aim to complete and analyse the interviews before the end of 2017, and report final recommendations to the Federal Department of Education by the middle of 2018.

Ms Rebecca Moore has seen her share of mental illness.She will share her personal journey of hope, recovery and resilience in the face of depression and anxiety as part of the Explorations Series public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury-Wodonga on Tuesday 22 August.Ms Moore spent most of her career in the airline industry as a flight attendant and is a volunteer speaker for beyondblue, a national organisation that works to raise awareness about anxiety and depression, reduce the associated stigma, and encourage people to seek help.She became a speaker because she wanted to 'pay it forward' by encouraging others to talk to their friends or doctor if they feel they may have symptoms of depression and anxiety.In addition to speaking about her own experiences, she will also outline how the audience can seek help, or support a friend or family member who may find themselves in a difficult position.Ms Moore's interests include running, yoga, reading, going to concerts and music festivals - she is a big fan of Kylie Minogue - and is currently completing study in nutritional medicine. Ms Moore is also a proud mother of two boys, aged three and five.Ms Moore's free public lecture, titled 'Hope, recovery and resilience', will run from 7pm to 8pm on Tuesday 22 August in the CD Blake Auditorium (room 104), building 751 (car park 2), off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona.To attend this free public lecture, and for catering purposes as the lecture is followed by light refreshments, please register for this event.

A marketing consultant to the agribusiness sectors in North-East Victoria aims to increase her skills to help expand opportunities in these industries through a leadership program starting this month at Charles Sturt University (CSU).Ms Alison Lloyd aims to learn the leadership skills she needs to help the local food and wine industries take advantage of the growing opportunities offered through tourism in the region."I believe there is great potential offered by the emerging agri-tourism sector. Visitors from major Australian cities and overseas are enthralled by the environment and quality produce of our region, and they want more," Ms Lloyd said."I want to help local businesses create attractive experiences for these visitors, and tell their stories far and wide."To obtain these advanced leadership skills, Ms Lloyd is taking part in the 12-month Regional Leadership Program Course being offered by CSU at the Wangaratta Regional Study Centre."I will need to draw on highly developed skills in communication, project management and stakeholder engagement," she said."It's not an easy thing to do, to bring together the interests and concerns of a wide group of people into a single vision - so I need every skill I can get, which I aim to get through this program."The CSU Regional Leadership Program builds on the personal and skills development in the Alpine Valleys Community Leadership Program which Ms Lloyd recently completed.Ms Lloyd currently works extensively with the regional 'Wines of the King Valley' marketing board and is a board member with the Beechworth Food Co-op.Coordinator of the CSU Regional Leadership Program, Ms Ilena Young, noted that the program can also lead to the Master of Business Leadership, also offered through CSU."I am delighted to get this inaugural program off the ground in the region.  We have had interest from people in such varied sectors as health, environmental management, education and planning, all of them located in North-East Victoria," Ms Young said. The first two-day module of the Regional Leadership Program commences at the Wangaratta Regional Study Centre, 218 Tone Road, Wangaratta, on Thursday 27 July.