meet the Barung team
the barung committee
Meet the Barung Landcare Management Committee
Ian McMaster
President
Ian has had a varied business career, firstly in the steel industry, then in the sugar industry, and finally as chairman and independent director of several companies, mainly in the mining sector. Having fully retired, Ian now devotes much of his time and energy to conservation. Ian and his wife Chrissie live on Mount Mellum, on a 100ha property that they had gazetted as a Nature Refuge. Both of them are passionate about native plants, and have a broad interest in the ecological systems they care for. Ian is a past president of Native Plants Queensland, and is currently President of Barung Landcare.
Alan Harrington
Treasurer
Sue Brieschke
Secretary
After a career in education spanning 35 years, Sue retired from Education Qld in 2013 whilst working as a consultant for the Government of Nauru under the Australian Aid program. Sue joined the Management Committee of Barung Landcare in 2014. As a teacher, she was always the one with tadpoles, fish, snails, rocks, and plants in her classroom. Nature has always featured strongly in Sue’s life but moving to her place in Curramore in 2004, she quickly realised how little she knew about native plants and animals. With a Voluntary Conservation Agreement over about ¾ of her land she has learnt a lot through the support of the Sunshine Coast Council and Barung Landcare, especially as a volunteer at the Barung nursery.
Fiona McGill
Committee member
Fiona Cameron-McGill grew up in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney. Her parents introduced her to a love of the Australian bush with regular bush walking holidays. As a young person, Fiona studied Anthropology and Sociology. She went on to work in Community Service, managing a large team of staff providing 24-hour in-home support to disadvantaged people. She was for many years, a TAFE teacher and university lecturer and provided consulting and training services across Australia. Over the years, she has been involved with a number of community and environmental organisations in a voluntary capacity. Besides that very sensible description, Fiona is an old hippy and spends most of her time hugging trees and talking to animals on her Nature Refuge in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
Stephanie Hicks
Committee member
Born in England, Steph has lived an adventurous life working and travelling abroad in her youth in countries such as Singapore and France. Emigrating to Australia as a young child, and then again as an adult, she completed a law degree at Sydney University and moved to Brisbane where she had a baby (three months premature – but it’s okay, she’s doing a PhD at University of California Berkeley now!). After working ridiculously long hours in a law firm for many years, she eventually retired to the Sunshine Coast. She now spends her time weeding, planting, playing quartets (viola) and trying to learn how to throw pots on a wheel.
Geoff Holmes
Committee member
Geoff has lived in the Maleny area for over 15 years and has been a member of Barung since September 2006. Geoff and his wife have a 1.5 acre property at Bald Knob where they are working to reduce invasive weeds and replace them with suitable local species. During the 1990s they participated as volunteer growers for the ‘Trees for Life’ seedlings program in South Australia. Geoff enjoyed linking up with farmers who were planting their seedlings. Now that he is retired Geoff has become more involved in Barung Landcare activities here on the Blackall Range.
barung staff
Doug Evans
General Manager
doug@barunglandcare.org.au
Charlotte Pond
Administration & Accounts
doug@barunglandcare.org.au
Katrina Atkinson
Administration & Accounts
katrina@barunglandcare.org.au
Brydie Gordon
Administration Assistant
brydie@barunglandcare.org.au
Cam Burton
Nursery Manager
cam@barunglandcare.org.au
Wayne Webb
Production Nursery Manager
wayne@barunglandcare.org.au
Maia Stegman
Nursery Assistant
maia@barunglandcare.org.au
Kate Seehuusen
Natural Area Services Manager
kate@barunglandcare.org.au
Benjamin Child
Environmental Administration Coordinator
ben@barunglandcare.org.au
Dave Luhrman
Natural Area Services Operational Coordinator
david@barunglandcare.org.au
Trevour Pitt
Production Nursery Manager
trevour@barunglandcare.org.au
Sarah Dixon
Natural Area Services Manager
sarah@barunglandcare.org.au
Megan Lee
Education & Communications Officer
megan@barunglandcare.org.au
more about the team
Our skills and achievements
Download the 2020 Barung Landcare Annual Report here.
16 Chainsaw Level 1
12 Chainsaw Level 2
17 Senior First Aid
13 Construction Safety White Card
2 Blue Card working with Children
1 ChemCert Accreditation
16 Commercial operator’s licence for using herbicides (ACDC)
5 Cert IV Training and Assessment
2 Cert IV Business
1 Cert IV Small Business
1 CERT III Solid Plastering
1 CERT III Wall and Floor Tiling
1 CERT III Tour Guiding
2 CERT III in Conservation and Land Management
4 CERT III Horticulture
1 Advanced Cert in Pastoral Zone Management
1 Diploma in Business
1 Diploma in Applied Science
1 Diploma in Project Management
1 Diploma in Work Place Training & Assessment
3 Diploma in Conservation and Land Management
1 Bachelor of Science (Zoology)
1 Bachelor of Science (Ecology and Conservation)
1 Bachelor of Land Management (Ecological Agriculture)
1 Bachelor of Coastal Studies
2 Bachelor Environmental Science
2 Bachelor of Arts
1 Bachelor of Applied Science (Horticultural technology)
1 Bachelor of Applied Science (Natural Resources Management)
1 Graduate Certificate in Environmental Management
1 Graduate Certificate in Sustainability
1 Master of Scientific Studies (Botany)