E D I T I O N 1 2 0 1 8
Leading the
metal revolution
PAGE 8
Rescue mission
saves pups
PAGE 10
Imagineering in
third dimension
PAGE 14

18

Healthier bread rolled out
A Menzies study has led to the
introduction of salt-reduced bread
in remote Northern Territory
communities.
Image: iStock
inside running
E D I T I O N 1 2 0 1 8

Features

Regulars

3
From the Vice-Chancellor
4
Snapshot
28
Q & A
30
The art collection
31
The art gallery
32
CDU publications
P



P



P



P



P



Rescue mission saves pups
Elevation of ‘flying rope
dancer’
Preventing unnecessary
deaths
Blowing your cool
Shadows in the dark
2
2
Andrew Hall
Rohan Fisher is a world leader
in terrain imaging technology.
Imagineering in the third
dimension
raises the curtain on
Rohan’s 3D “theatre”. Andrew
also gains insight from Dr Aurora
Scheelings about developments in
Australia’s Top End screen and new
media industries.
Ellie Turner
A world’s-first 3D metal printer is
the centrepiece of the cutting-edge
Advanced Manufacturing Alliance.
Ellie gets the highbrow lowdown from
Alliance director Dr Rebecca Murray
in
Leading the metal revolution
.
Ellie also goes out on a limb with a
new species of gliding marsupial and
gets mired in the mud with a team
dedicated to saving endangered
sawfish.
CONTRIBUTORS
Leanne Miles
Leanne shines a light on Dr
Melanie Underwood’s research,
which is developing a policy-
based response to the traumatic
incidence of preventable deaths in
hospitals, in
Best practice key to
preventable deaths
. Preventing
the deaths by feral predators of
northern quoll populations is another
excursion Leanne takes us on with
environmental researcher Billy Ross.
Patrick Nelson
PhD candidate Erin Westerhuis has
travelled far and wide through the
MacDonnell Ranges in search of
the Red Centre’s mysterious micro
bats. In
Shadows in the Dark
Erin
tells that she has identified 11 of the
12 species known in the region, as
she seeks to understand how the
nocturnal mammals behave among
the iconic river red gum.
Origins
magazine is produced by
Charles Darwin University’s Media and
Communications office.
CDU is grateful to the following people
for their contributions and assistance in
compiling this edition: Julie Brimblecombe,
Steven Camilleri, Sue Carthew, Lawrence
Cram, Teigan Cremona, Emma Field, Rohan
Fisher, Aline Gibson, Peter Kyne, Pat Gould,
Michael Lawrence-Taylor, Rob Lindsay, Malak
Malak Rangers, Emma McMahon, Simon
Moss, Rebecca Murray, Nicolas Rakotopare,
Billy Ross, Libby Sander, Aurora Scheelings,
Sam Strohmayr, Bruce Thomson, Melanie
Underwood and Erin Westerhuis.
Opinions and views expressed in this edition
do not necessarily reflect those of Charles
Darwin University.
Reproduction of material from
Origins
requires written permission from Robyn
McDougall:
E
: robyn.mcdougall@cdu.edu.au
Charles Darwin University
Ellengowan Drive
Darwin, Northern Territory 0909
Australia
ISSN: 2204-0781 (print)
ISSN: 2204-079X (online)
Published June 2018
This edition is also available at
W
: cdu.edu.au/media-communications
CRICOS Provider No. 00300K (NT)
No. 03286A (NSW)
RTO Provider No. 0373
Editor
: Robyn McDougall
Printer
: Lane Print + Post
Text face
: ITC Century
Display face
: ITC Eras
Origins
is printed from vegetable-based inks
and 98 per cent of waste and by-products of
the process have been recycled into paper
products, alternative fuels and miscellaneous
materials.
The paper used in this edition of
Origins
is
manufactured with

per cent recycled
content. It has been manufactured by a
Certified Printer using Elemental Chlorine
Free (ECF) pulp sourced from sustainable,
well-managed forests.
Cover
: Hi-tech terrain mapping (article
page¡14). Image Julianne Osborne
Inside cover
: Salt crystals (article page18).
Image iStock
mailto:robyn.mcdougall@cdu.edu.au
3
from the vice-chancellor

It all starts

with talking

O
ne of the most accomplished and insightful
scientists of the past century, the late Stephen
Hawking, wrote: “For millions of years, mankind
lived just like the animals. Then something happened,
which unleashed the power of our imagination … Speech
has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human
beings to work together to build the impossible.
“Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about
by talking … Our greatest hopes could become reality
in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the
possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make
sure we keep talking.”
The power of talking to unleash imagination and create
new technology is clearly in evidence in a revolutionary
project that is operating on Charles Darwin University’s
Casuarina campus. At the end of 2017, CDU and its
partners took the lead in advanced metal manufacturing
when we launched the world’s first commercial
LightSPEE3D metal printer.
Worth billions of dollars annually, metal manufacturing
traditionally has been slow, inflexible and expensive.
Our LightSPEE3D metal printer overcomes those
obstacles. The machine, co-invented by CDU graduate
Steven Camilleri, transforms advanced manufacturing
technology. It delivers the strength, repeatability and mass
production capabilities of tried-and-tested metal casting,
coupled with the simplicity and immediacy of 3D printing.
The LightSPEE3D metal printer is at the centre of
the Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, which we’ve
established to bring together researchers and industry
to develop applications for advanced manufacturing
that have both global and local impacts. In this edition
of
Origins
y ou’ll discover more about this revolutionary
technology and the coalition of people who are working
on the possibilities it presents.
You’ll also read about how our researchers, working
with colleagues from the South Australian Museum and
Queensland University of Technology, have studied a
gliding marsupial specimen that was sent to the United
Kingdom from the Northern Territory in 1842. Analysis
of the specimen, which is held in the Natural History
Museum in London, has helped to confirm a suspicion that
a fifth glider species exists in Australia.
This edition of
Origins
also explores research
undertaken by one of our senior lecturers in Nursing and
Midwifery into preventable deaths in hospitals across
Australia. It is the first Australian study to use coronial
reports to analyse nurse-related events resulting in
the death of patients, which number in the thousands
annually.
The findings will provide an evidence base for
developing focussed policy and other strategies across
health provider organisations to improve the safety of
patients.
I hope you enjoy these and the other
Origins
stories
that demonstrate our impact in the world.
Professor Simon Maddocks
Vice-Chancellor and President
4
snapshot
Postgraduate student Judith Taylor researches
caregiver attachment at a children’s home in
South Africa.

Improving young lives in South Africa

I
nside a re-purposed brick building
in South Africa, a Charles Darwin
University postgraduate student reads
books with a group of girls, teaching them
about personal protection.
The building is home to about 30
vulnerable children, aged from four to 14,
who have been orphaned, separated from
their parents, or abandoned.
Master by Research student Judith
Taylor has spent almost two years
investigating the link between quality of
care, and the psychological, emotional and
developmental wellbeing of children living
at the small institution in Pietermaritzburg,
about 60km from Durban on South Africa’s
east coast.
“Few studies have looked into caregiver
attachment regarding institutionalised
children; this study specifically explores
attachment as a characteristic of
caregiving,” she said.
“Not all institutionalised children are
destined for developmental compromise,
indicating that the quality of care provided
– whether family-based or institution –
makes a difference.”
A range of activities was developed
to provide the children with “normal”
experiences, including camping, going to
the beach, ordering and paying for their
own food in a café, and visiting a bookshop.
“We also helped resource Play Therapy
training for several carers; playing, to
children, is what verbal communication is
to adults,” Judith said
O
Country rocker joins Territory FM
line-up
C
ountry music legend Lee Kernaghan has joined the line-up on
Charles Darwin University’s 104.1 Territory FM.
As one of Australia’s most successful country music artists with
34 number-one hits, more than two million album sales, four ARIAs
and 36 Golden Guitars, Lee Kernaghan is a champion of the country
music scene.
Station Manager Matt Bern said the new Southern Cross Austereo’s
Australia-wide show “The Range with Lee Kernaghan” was playing the
biggest country hits from the ’90s onwards.
CDU holds the community licence for 104.1 Territory FM.
O
Demographic journal now online
A free online academic journal that discusses research into
Australia’s population is now available.
Northern Institute demographer and journal editor Dr Tom
Wilson said the CDU-based Australian Population Studies
journal was the only journal dedicated specifically to population
research in Australia.
“It is also the first online open-access journal hosted by the
CDU Library,” he said.
W: australianpopulationstudies.org
Australian country music legend Lee
Kernaghan is part of the 2018 line-up on
CDU’s 104.1 Territory FM.
Go to : 1
5
snapshot

Feline predators kill

feathered friends in

vast numbers

E
ach year in Australia feral cats kill 316
million birds, and pet cats kill a further
61 million, equating to a loss of more than
one million birds every day; 99 per cent of
these casualties are native birds.
These are among the findings of
published research by a group of Australian
environmental scientists.
The estimates are based on results from
almost 100 studies nationwide, each sampling
cat density, and another set of nearly 100
studies across the country that assessed
cat diet.
Lead researcher Professor John
Woinarski, from Charles Darwin University,
said that while previous research investigated
the impact of cats on Australia’s mammals,
this was the first national assessment of cats’
impact on Australia’s birds.
“This study shows that, at a national level,
the amount of predation is staggering, and
is likely to be driving the ongoing decline of
many species,” Professor Woinarski said.
In a second study the team investigated
which bird species were most at-risk from
cat predation. They found records of cats
killing 338 native bird species, including 71
threatened species.
The research was undertaken by the
Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the
National Environmental Science Programme.
The Hub is a collaboration of 10 universities
and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, to
undertake research to support the recovery
of Australia’s threatened species.
O
Cats are killing more than one
million Australian birds every day.
Photo: Mark Marathon
Bali midwives learn in the NT
M
ore than 25 Indonesian midwives and
students have visited the Northern
Territory, as part of a clinical and cultural
exchange program between Charles Darwin
University and two midwifery schools on the
island of Bali.
CDU staff and students raised $8000
through a Go Fund Me page, to help cover
expenses for the midwives to attend the
Australian College of Midwives NT Branch
conference “Midwifery in a changing world:
Women, Birth and Culture”.
Midwifery Senior Lecturer Angela Bull
said the trip helped the visitors to continue to
address the complex issues around providing
woman-centred care in the face of significant
perinatal mortality.
O
CDU issues cyber security
course alert
Charles Darwin University is responding
to Australia’s growing demand for cyber
security literacy with three new high-
tech courses offered this year.
Associate Professor Krishnan
Kannoorpatti said the three
postgraduate courses provided a
solid understanding of the concepts
and practices to identify and resolve
information security challenges on
computer systems and networks.
“We are offering them to information
systems, information technology and
computer science graduates wishing to
upgrade their qualifications in the area
of cyber security.”
From left: Cinthya Riris,
CDU Midwifery Senior
Lecturer Angela Bull
and Sukma Adnyani
simulate a birth using a
mannequin.
6
snapshot

Clever design brings

peace and productivity

The new
IT FACILITY
on Casuarina campus is
rocking the working world.
T
here is increasing evidence that open
plan offices have not delivered the
expected benefits to productivity,
collaboration and teamwork as originally
hoped. The trend of fitting as many workers
as possible into a space has instead led
to distraction, dissatisfaction and overall
diminished employee engagement.
Charles Darwin University’s Director of
Information Technology Management and
Support (ITMS) Pat Gould had a challenge:
to move his team of almost 60 into an
880 sqm former trades hall and build a
productive workspace.
Wood and wizardry at the portal.
The ITMS team worked with Libby Sander,
director of the Future of Work Project and
an expert in workplace strategy and design
– an approach that starts with the end-user
in mind.
While the outcome is a remarkable and
inspirational work environment, Mr Gould
said the process involved staff having to
challenge the fundamental approach to their
work in order for a space to be designed to
suit their needs.
“We needed to move away from the
traditional view of IT workers and become
business analysts who were client-focused.
I wasn’t looking just at four walls and a roof,
I was looking at reinventing the IT group,”
he said.
It’s been a move that has produced very
positive and somewhat surprising results
– one of which was winning the George
Chaloupka Award for Interior Architecture,
presented at the Australian Institute of
Architects 2017 Northern Territory
Architecture Awards.
O
7
snapshot
IMAGES: Julianne Osborne
Blossoming networks.
Transactional pod space.
Gathered in the round.
Conferencing near and far.
Productive geometry.