Thursday, 28th September Australian Society for Limnology Conference 2017

ASL invites you on an expert guided tour to Sydney Olympic Park where you will hear stories of the remediation of the site, its environmental initiatives, and the future development plans to create a vibrant township at the Park.

Sydney Olympic Park is located 17km west of Sydney CBD and was the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games – ‘the first Green Games”. With a murky history as a domestic, commercial and industrial waste site, the remediation of this site was the largest project of its kind in Australia and one of the most significant environmental legacies of the Games.

The Sydney Olympic Park Authority has responsibility for the day-to-day and long-term management of the site, including its parkland assets of 430 hectares which include 175 hectares of wetlands.  The Authority is also overseeing the transition of the Park’s town centre to a suburb for over 30,000 workers and 20,000 residents by 2030.

Sydney Olympic Park has a locally-integrated approach to water conservation based on stormwater harvesting, wastewater reprocessing and reducing water demand.  A whole-of-catchment approach has been built into the design of the Park and links management of potable water, recycled water, rainwater, and irrigation water, building design, landscape plantings and aquatic habitats.

For more information about Sydney Olympic Park environmental initiatives, go to www.sopa.nsw.gov.au.

ASL invites you to experience Indigenous culture and traditional knowledge on a day tour of the Royal National Park, one-hour south of Sydney. The park was one of Australia’s first areas of land set aside for conservation and is a natural haven bounded on one side by open ocean. The park boasts a variety of habitat types including sandstone cliffs, wetlands, grassy woodland, rainforests, coastal heathland and eucalypt forests. It is also a great time to observe the annual humpback migration from some of Sydney’s best whale watching places.

The tour will run in collaboration with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and will be led by Dean Kelly, National Parks’ NSW Indigenous liaison officer, who has an intimate connection and rich knowledge of the cultural significance and stories of the Park.

We will tour significant geological and cultural sites, including Aboriginal rock carvings at Jibbon Point (djeebahn – “sand bar at low tide”). The tour will include an open-air presentation of traditional water knowledge with an Indigenous Elder and a walking tour with options available for all levels of experience and access. The tour departs from and returns to Broadway, near UTS, by hired coach. Packed lunch and hiking snacks will be provided. Places are limited, so book in now to secure your spot on this adventure.

Sydney Water, in collaboration with ASL, is hosting a freshwater macroinvertebrate taxonomy workshop on 28 September 2017. The much anticipated workshop will engage in information sharing between taxonomic researchers and those who rely on accurate taxonomic nomenclature to enhance precision and maintain currency in the monitoring of freshwater macroinvertebrates.