education special

Keeping Things Moving

Agriculture | mining | construction

Advanced technology – Unlimited Applications

EXPERIENCE THE DIFFERENCE AT TOWNSVILLE CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Start a new adventure and further your career in a collaborative teaching community

Townsville Catholic Education (TCE) is a flourishing organisation providing a strong sense of community and learning engagements within each school it supports. In addition to the pure thrill of helping students take significant leaps in their education, we also offer our people a strong sense of community, a wealth of professional development, a collaborative teaching community and a broad range of career options.

With 29 schools located across north Queensland, there is a lifestyle to suit everyone. From the reef and tropical islands to the historic rich outback; from access to waterfalls and the rainforest to city life in Queensland’s largest regional city.

The Townsville Diocese spans an area of more than 435,000 square kilometres across north and northwest Queensland. We employ more than 2,500 staff within the Diocese. We support 29 Catholic schools, which includes 18 primary schools, five secondary schools, two boarding colleges, five Prep to Year 12 colleges and one Prep to Year 9 school. Teaching is an exciting, challenging and rewarding career, and in isolated, remote or regional communities, it can be even more rewarding. Each year, TCE recruits energetic and committed

teachers who want to make a difference in the lives of children in remote and rural communities. These communities include Hughenden, Winton, Collinsville, Cloncurry, Mount Isa and Palm Island. We recognise that teachers locating to our remote schools will be required to live and work in vastly different ways to their colleagues situated in major regional centres. Because of this, financial benefits and other conditions and incentives are available to those who choose to live in rural and remote communities. We also offer a number of professional development and training opportunities for staff within the organisation. From staff gatherings to personal development days, there is something for everyone regardless of whether you work in the Townsville Catholic Education Office or in one of the 29 schools in the Diocese. If you are looking to start a new adventure and further your career in education amongst a collaborative teaching community, get in touch with us today. tsv.catholic.edu.au

MYTH BUSTING

Do I have to be Catholic to teach in a Catholic school?

No. It is important to TCE that the Catholic identity and ethos of the school is maintained, however if you’re not Catholic but willing to support the school's ethos, your application is welcomed. We currently have 44% of employees who are not Catholic.

NO BONES ABOUT IT: AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST DINOSAUR IS TURNING ONE

The 92-million-year-old dinosaur Australotitan cooperensis from Eromanga is celebrating its first modern birthday this year.

Words: Phoebe Tran

Sandy Mackenzie, the son of field palaeontologist Robyn Mackenzie, first discovered a memorable “rock” in 2004 in South West Queensland. That rock

turned out to be Australotitan cooperensis (nicknamed “Cooper”) and led the family to found Outback Gondwana Foundation Limited and, later, the Eromanga Natural History Museum.

It was a lengthy process to uncover, identify and classify Cooper. This involved using new digital technology to 3-D scan each bone, comparing the bones and researching for the study of Cooper to be finalised in 2021, making 2022 its first modern birthday.

When the discovery of Australotitan cooperensis was first announced, people from Australia and all over the world showed overwhelming interest in the dinosaur.

“It was the most successful species announcement that the Queensland Museum and the Eromanga Natural History Museum had ever seen and was regarded as one of the top discoveries Cooper was as long as a basketball court and as tall as a two-storey building.

Weighing up to 67,000 kgs – the equivalent of six average school buses, ten large African elephants and more than 1,000 real-life velociraptors – the Australotitan is a gigantic titanosaur, a plant-eating dinosaur group that represents the largest animals that walked on Earth more than 90 million

“It’s certainly fun and timely to think about how Australia’s largest ever dinosaur discovery would stack up against the ‘Jurassic Park’ titans that have captured our imaginations for almost 30 years, as well as the dinosaurs that will feature in the ‘Prehistoric Planet’ docuseries.”

– Corey Richards, Operations Manager at Eromanga Natural History Museum

of 2021,” says Corey Richards, the Eromanga Natural History Museum Operations Manager.

MOVE OVER T-REX

This giant dinosaur is taller, more than twice as long and eleven times heavier than the iconic T-Rex represented in the original Jurassic Park movie. Estimated to have reached a height of 5-6.5 meters at the hip and 25-30 meters in length, years ago.

CLOCKWISE FROM

LEFT: DINOSAUR SIGN IN EROMANGA. IMAGE: TOURISM AND EVENTS QLD; A RENDER OF THE DIG SITE; A TO-SCALE RENDER OF COOPER.

Outback Queensland was a very different place back then, with significantly higher rainfall, more oxygen and much more vegetation. According to Corey, this made it the perfect place for Cooper and other species of dinosaurs to thrive. Corey also shared another interesting find: “the femur has a crush mark from another dinosaur giant, indicating that in those last moments of his life the dinosaur was trodden on, being eventually set in stone.”

Contrary to the belief that these massive dinosaurs were found only in South America, this discovery has served as evidence that they were dispersed across the ancient Gondwana continent, which 100 million years ago was the conglomeration of Australia, Antarctica and South America.

Corey also believes that even bigger dinosaurs could exist within Australia: “The

largest dinosaur in the world Patagotitan Mayorum grew up to 35-38 meters long. Still, there is some room for them to grow, it’s quite possible we could find something bigger.”

DINO-MANIA

These dinosaur discoveries are not only fundamental for scientific development but they are also gold for tourism, providing a much-need economic boost to the remote town of Eromanga and surrounding regions. Dinosaurs are having a huge pop culture revival with blockbusters like Jurassic World: Dominion gaining popularity internationally, encouraging younger generations to take an interest in prehistory and palaeontology.

“There is nothing more special than discovering and preparing a fossil that no human or animal has ever seen; telling the story of what lies beneath is goosebumpinducing and only a number of lucky people get to experience it. Quite possibly the best part of my job is that we are cementing the presence of our past for future generations and being able to see the lightbulb moment when visitors gauge the size and age of these specimens is very special also,” concludes Corey.

FAST FACT

The Australotitan cooperensis was as long as a basketball court and as tall as a two-storey building.