Hobart and William Smith Colleges' Queensland, Australia Term 1994

This document consists of a series of linked pages which describe a Term Abroad Program in Queensland, Australia which took place from March to June 1994 organized by Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Hobart College for men and William Smith College for women are coordinate, four-year, private, liberal arts colleges located in Geneva, New York with a combined enrollment of approximately 1800 students. A prominent feature of the curriculum is study off-campus. The Colleges organize or are affiliated with more than 20 different study-abroad programs world-wide. Most of these programs are directed by Hobart and William Smith faculty.

Contents

  1. The HWS Queensland Term, Spring 1994
    1. Introduction
    2. Goals and Objectives
    3. Academic Program
    4. Additional Information about HWS

  2. Field Work
    1. Stradbroke Island Field Trip
    2. Lamington National Park Field Trip
    3. Lady Elliot Island Field Trip
    4. Carnarvon Gorge Field Trip
    5. "Field Notes from Oz" from the Pulteney St. Survey

  3. Queensland and Australia
    1. Background Information on the University of Queensland
    2. Survival Guide: HWS Queensland Term
    3. Notes on North Stradbroke Island
    4. Links to Other Australian Sites

  4. The HWS Queensland Term, Fall 1996

Introduction: Queensland Term, Spring 1994

Winter is a mysterious season. It is less researched than the others, because scientists don't care to freeze, either. They are rationalists, and prefer pleasure to pain; hence the vast shelves of monographs about the gorgeous fish of coral reefs of Micronesia, the lifeways of tropical peoples, etc., and the few slim volumes about frozen tundra. Margaret Mead did not study adolescence in Greenland, and Jacques Cousteau did not steer the Calypso into the Bering Strait in November. They went where it was nice.
Garrison Keillor in "Viral"

Photo of the HWS students and the local faculty and staff at the University of Queensland in June of 1994.

During the Spring Term of 1994, 23 Hobart and William Smith Colleges' students participated in a term abroad program based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. The program director was Professor Kevin Mitchell of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges' Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The Continuing Education Unit of the University of Queensland, headed by Dr. Brian Carss, provided the local arrangements in Australia.

Goals and Objectives

The primary goal of the Queensland Term was to provide a program of study which focused on the marine and terrestrial ecology of Australia and which fully integrated field and lecture components. A course on Australian plants and animals gave an overview of the ecology of Australia. Courses on biodiversity and statistics provided the necessary background for students to do field-based projects that included substantial quantitative components as well as qualitative or descriptive components. A second theme of the program was the management of natural resources.

The Great Court at the University of Queensland.

The University of Queensland provided easy access to an extremely wide array of different ecosystems. The program included major trips to four field sites: a sand island, a subtropical rainforest, a coral reef, and an arid bush habitat.

Soldier crabs were just one of the many interesting organisms in the tidal flats near Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island.


A highlight of the trip to Lamington National Park was a walk in the canopy of the rainforest on a rope and slat bridge.

Different species of coral and clams compete for light and nutrients in the reef flat at Lady Elliot Island.

The Aboriginal stencil art at "The Tombs" was one of the highlights of the trip to Carnarvon National Park in bush country.

Additional Information about Hobart and William Smith

For more information about the Colleges, see the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Home Page.

For admissions information, contact

The Office of Admissions
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, New York 14456
USA

For more information on the Colleges' Term Abroad Programs, contact

Dr. Gary Johnston (johnston@hws.edu)
Director, Off-Campus Studies
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, New York 14456
USA

Other Australian Information Sources

That's me attempting to identify fish in the Coral Gardens at Lady Elliot Island.

Author: Kevin Mitchell (mitchell@hws.edu)
Last Update: 7 November 1995.