A filmmaker celebrated for his contribution to Australian cinema will deliver the biennial 2013 Theo Barker Memorial Public Lecture co-hosted by the Bathurst District Historical Society and Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Friday 16 August. The Head of Campus at CSU in Bathurst, Mr Col Sharp, will welcome and introduce Mr Andrew Pike, OAM, the principal of Canberra-based Ronin Films, who will discuss ‘Men and Women of the Bush in Early Australian Cinema’, including the place of bushrangers, the popularity of which led to a ban on bushranger films by the NSW Police in 1912. Dr Rob McLachlan, adjunct senior lecturer in history at the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Bathurst and coordinator of the public lecture, said, “Of the first twenty feature films made in Australia, at least twelve had a bushranger theme, with five of them featuring a Bathurst-area bushranger, including A Bushranger's Ransom, or A Ride for a Life, which was filmed locally in 1911. The main focus of the lecture, however, will be the films featuring the stories of bush women, which took the place of the banned bushranger films. The Bathurst region has a significant place in the making of such films with A Girl of the Bush, filmed locally in 1921. Mr Pike’s lecture will discuss the importance of this film today, for film and social historians.”

An astronomer and Aboriginal researcher will highlight thousands of years of serious star gazing when he discusses the astronomical knowledge and traditions of Aboriginal Australians next week at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury-Wodonga. Dr Duane Hamacher from the University of NSW in Sydney will explore the relationship between astronomy and calendars, navigation, food economics and social structure in the lives of the first Australians. The free public lecture will be the first event in Albury as part of National Science Week for 2013, which is being coordinated by the Astronomical Society of Albury-Wodonga in conjunction with CSU. The event starts at 7pm on Tuesday 13 August in the CD Blake Lecture Theatre, CSU in Albury-Wodonga, off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona.

The successful rescue of a large animal from a road accident, mud or a deep hole carries a fresh set of skills for all those involved in an emergency, including veterinarians. Veterinary science students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will be able to learn the latest in rescue techniques through a Large Animal Emergency Rescue course to be offered to CSU students by Equine Veterinarians Australia. The course, part of EVA’s continuing education program, is the first EVA has offered to veterinary science students in Australia. The course will involve lectures and simulated large animal rescues with a life size horse mannequin and a trailer at the University on Thursday 8 August. Dr Sarah Pollard-Williams from CSU’s School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences said, “The Large Animal Emergency Rescue course is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn key techniques that will help them assist in emergency situations and keep the injury risk to themselves and other handlers as low as possible. There are vital techniques that can greatly improve the animal survival rate as well in these often very challenging situations.” The 52 veterinary science students are about to embark on their final few months of clinical practice before graduation from CSU at the end of next year.

It might be ugliness, not beauty, that is in the eye of the beholder, according to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic. Associate Professor Rocco Crino will address the topic in a School of Psychology seminar at CSU in Bathurst on Wednesday 7 August, in which he will explain research which found people who scrutinised a part of their body they disliked were more likely to feel unattractive. “Preoccupation with mirror checking, gazing, and reflective surface checking are noteworthy features in conditions where body image disturbance is severely affected, such as in Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Eating Disorders,” Professor Crino said. “These mirror behaviours are believed to be significant maintaining factors in these difficult to treat conditions.”  Professor Crino’s research on the topic tested volunteers asked to stand either before a mirror and describe themselves generally, or to stand before a mirror and describe their disliked body part in detail. “Results indicated that those who scrutinised their disliked body part were significantly more concerned and dissatisfied with their appearance, felt significantly more unattractive, and bothered by their appearance related thoughts,” he said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is encouraging students to pack their bags to work, travel and study overseas as part of their university degree. Representatives of CSU Global, an initiative to help students to take up international study experiences, will meet with staff and students in Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga over the next week. Manager of CSU Global Dr Shevahn Telfser said students can undertake international exchanges, short term study programs and practical placements. “In 2012 more than 340 Charles Sturt University students included an international experience as part of their degree and so far more than 250 students have travelled overseas this year,” she said. “This expands their horizons, builds contacts and gives them a competitive edge in the job market.” CSU aims to have 18 per cent or more than 700 undergraduate students undertake international study experiences by 2016.

Local artist and photographer Mr James Farley explores the landscape of the mind in his debut photographic exhibition at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery from Friday 9 August. A Bachelor of Arts (Visual and Performing Arts) (Honours) student, Mr Farley aims to take people on a journey into the unknown in Trepidation: VOID. Fellow photographer and lecturer in the School of Communication and Creative Industries at CSU in Wagga Wagga Mr Chris Orchard will open the exhibition from 6pm to 8pm on Friday 9 August at the Gallery’s E3 art space. The exhibition of new works combines the traditions of English Romantic artist, Joseph M. W Turner and German Romantic landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich with modern photography to create a provoking exploration into the contemporary psyche. “I have produced a collection of brooding atmospheric photographs. They are exhibited with a series of large-scale Romantic landscapes,” Mr Farley said. The photos form part of his CSU research project into the aesthetics of the contemporary Sublime, with a particular interest in the ambiguous concept of the Void.

A forum for candidates in the Calare electorate for the 2013 federal election is being convened by a student at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Tuesday 13 August. Mr Jeremy Rubel, a first-year theatre/media student at the School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst took the initiative to host the ‘Q&A’-style forum in order to help answer people’s questions about the candidates’ and their parties’ vision for Australia’s future and how they hope to attain it. Mr Rubel said, “I want to remind people, especially my peers at the University, that we do not live in a two-party democracy, and that there are other choices that we can make if we feel inclined. More importantly, our votes will not be wasted if we choose a party that isn’t ‘the big two’. The candidates at the forum will be expected to answer questions prepared by a panel of students, as well as questions asked directly by the audience. Everyone, not just students, is invited, as this is a perfect chance for people in the Calare electorate to get to know the candidates available to them.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) allied health and nursing students have undertaken an exercise to work together in a team on a complex health scenario through a new collaboration between CSU and Hume Medicare Local in Albury-Wodonga. Yesterday evening (Monday 12 August), final year occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry, speech pathology and nursing students on CSU campuses in Albury-Wodonga and Orange, worked to gain a better understanding of local health issues. Acting Course Director Dr Caroline Robinson with CSU’s School of Community Health said primary healthcare aims to prevent health problems such as obesity, rather than cure problems after they occur. “Students worked in multidisciplinary teams to collaborate with and learn from health professionals already working around Albury-Wodonga,” Dr Robinson said. “The exercise aimed to increase the employability of CSU graduates, by exposing them to ‘real life’ multidisciplinary practice that is becoming more common in regional Australia. It also introduces our students to the services provided by Hume Medicare Local and enables them to meet local health professionals who can tell students about possible career options in primary health care.”

An icon of Australian science will celebrate 100 years of scientific discovery in regional Australia at a public lecture on Thursday 15 August at the Albury Entertainment Centre. Writer, broadcaster and former federal science minister, Dr Barry Jones, will present a free public lecture as part of National Science Week to the residents of Albury-Wodonga. Dr Jones is the only person to be elected as a Fellow of Australia’s four Learned Societies representing science, engineering, humanities and social sciences. He served in state and federal parliaments from 1972 to 1998, while also serving as national president of the Australian Labor Party and representing Australia on various international committees in science and the economy. This lecture concludes National Science Week activities for 2013 planned by the Albury Wodonga Astronomical Society in collaboration with Charles Sturt University.