BOHOGS – 2018 Year in Review

Technical Meetings

2018 was a huge year for BOHOGS – the committee planned and/or attended a total of 9 events over the past 12 months – three QLD chapter technical meetings, two NSW chapter technical meetings, and four shared meetings. A standout was our BOHOGS/BBUGS ACARP Presentation day in June, where we had >74 attendees. Of these we had a total of 20 attendees from universities, government organisations and companies who are sponsored by ACARP to work on projects related to open cut or underground geotechnical engineering. It was an incredibly successful technical day, and we appreciated the effort made by researchers to present their work to industry, and the encouragement received by ACARP for them to do so.

2018 was also the first year that BOHOGS went ON THE ROAD……… To Meandu in March, then Wilpinjong and Moolarben in September. John Simmons entertained us on the way to Meandu, where with information about the Blackbutt Range Highway Stabilisation Project on the way up, and Wivenhoe dam and the 2011 floods on the way back.

A long standing dream for the committee was a wine road trip to Mudgee, which we finally achieved this year. We had an overnight trip to both Wilpinjong and Moolarben in September – again entertained with an Overview of Western Coal field Geology/Engineering Geology by John Simmons and Stephen Fityus on the bus trip the entire way from Newcastle Airport to Mudgee – and back.

CPD Hours

This year, BOHOGS hit >5,600 CPD hours distributed to our members from a total of 37 meetings total (or combined BBUGS/BOHOGS) – since BOHOGS started in 2012.

Finances

Financially, BOHOGS broke even in 2018. Our road trips were an extra expense compared to previous years, and after fantastic feedback from all meetings, we hope as we set our sights on more exciting ventures, current sponsors will be able to increase donations, and additional sponsors will jump on board for 2019.

Committee Movements

2018: We were a big committee this year, and we got a lot done! At the end of 2018 we formally say goodbye to Vivian Yuan – our young professional rep who has moved to Western Australia – Brit McArdle stepped in to cover for Vivian in Feb 2018. We also say goodbye to Mike Martin who excelled at organising Bowen Basin meetings this year, and our long-serving NSW reps Rachel Metcalf and Kimberley Peckett who have been involved with BOHOGS since we started in 2012. Kim has taken a sabbatical to finish her MBA so we wish her all the best with that until she rejoins us, and Rachel will still be involved when possible, but has moved to the Snowy Mountains – lucky her!

For 2019 we have a lot of familiar faces, as well as some new nominees, especially in NSW and QLD representative roles; thank you for nominating Steve, Thomas, Tyron and Ian, the existing committee look forward to working with you in 2019!

Awards

The presentation of the year winner for both NSW and QLD is Glen Guy’s presentation on the Hail Creek Lowwall Failure which he presented at Capcoal, and again at Mudgee as our keynote in the evening. Glen received an Apple Watch from special BOHOGS Envoy Walter Keilich from BOHOGS. Congratulations, Glen!

Some Photos from BOHOGS Events in 2018

The prize for the BOHOGS practitioner of the year award is the registration to a conference related to geotechnical engineering. In 2018, this prize was won by our very deserving BOHOGS Secretary, Kathryn Young.

On top of being a full time geotechnical engineer, making many improvements within her work role, and achieving RPEQ this year, Kathryn managed to contribute significantly outside of paid work. Kathryn completed work with both the Uni of Newcastle and University of Queensland as careers/science/engineering coordinator, and impressively was sponsored to be a student mentor in India in January this year. Kathryn has also been very involved with Women in Mining and Resources Queensland.

Kathryn has also been a core member of the BOHOGS committee this year, assisting with organising meetings in both states, being the most organised secretary the society has ever had, and also stepping up to Vice Chair when Gav has been unwell. Congratulations Kathryn!

Thank you

A huge thank you to all our members who offer ideas for meetings, presentations and offer support in many different ways.

Finally to our sponsors, many of whom have been supporting BOHOGS for years, thank you for making it possible to make some big plans happen this year – and we look forward to your support next year and in the years to come.

Kind regards,

Adrienna Robotham – BOHOGS Chair 2018/2019