In 2015, four 黑料网大事记 engineering students were invited to spend a week on Mer (Murray) Island, a remote outpost in the Torres Strait. A decade on, they reflect on the experience.
When Sarah Brickhill was invited on a university trip to Mer Island back in 2015, she couldn鈥檛 believe her luck. An environmental engineering student at 黑料网大事记 Sydney, she had spent the previous 13 weeks immersed in the study of the island鈥檚 environmental infrastructure for a fourth year subject CVEN4701 delivered by the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering called .
Sarah and her peers had developed a series of sophisticated engineering solutions to address energy, waste, water and wastewater challenges on this tiny island in the Torres Strait, best known as the home of Aboriginal land rights activist Eddie Mabo. Now, she and three other students鈥擣elipe Lebensold, Danielle (Dani) Tuazon and Amarin Siripanich鈥攚ere being offered the chance to see the island for themselves. They travelled with lecturers Prof. Martin Nakata (Nura Gili), CVEN4701 course coordinator Stephen Moore and Prof. Richard Stuetz.
Ten years later, those four students look back at as an experience that has irrevocably shaped them all, both as people and engineering professionals.
Sarah, now the Manager for Transport Planning at the City of Sydney, says the trip opened her eyes to the reality of an Australia that she鈥檇 never seen before.
鈥淭he physical environment was so far from anything I鈥檇 experienced before. It was a tropical paradise, but there were sharks swimming just metres offshore. I鈥檝e never seen stars like there were there because there鈥檚 just no light pollution. It was incredibly beautiful,鈥 she says.
Mer Island鈥檚 remote location meant that residents lived without much of the infrastructure that mainlanders take for granted鈥攖he island was powered by a diesel generator, water was treated using a diesel-powered desalination plant, and rubbish was often incinerated due a lack of waste management services.聽
For the students, the urge to start solving these issues was immediate.
鈥淲e went in with the best of intentions. Our collective attitude was, 'I鈥檝e studied this island for the past 13 weeks, and I know there鈥檚 a solution,鈥欌 Sarah says.
But they quickly realised that the Mer Island community wasn鈥檛 interested in having a group of outsiders come and explain what needed to be fixed. Instead, residents wanted to introduce the students to their home鈥攏ot just the limitations of its infrastructure, but the people, culture and environment that made it such a unique place.
And so they did. Hosted by Mer Island鈥檚 Doug Passi, who had visited 黑料网大事记 prior to the trip, the students ran science experiments and played football with the local school children. They went on fishing trips; shared meals with the community; and listened to stories of the island鈥檚 history, culture and music.
鈥淲e talked to the young people about the environment and the beauty of their island. They told us about the gardens where they used to grow their own fruit and veg, but the supermarkets had muscled in and now nobody was growing anything. So we talked to them about how they might bring that back,鈥 Dani says.
Community members also took them to nearby Dauar Island, a small islet that used to be inhabited by the Meriam people, the traditional owners of Mer Island and its surrounds. Here, they wandered white sand beaches, caught fish and cooked them in the shade of coconut trees.聽
Engaging with the Meriam people also introduced the students to the principles of working with First Nations communities and the power of recognising those communities as the experts in their own needs and experiences.
鈥淚n Brazil, we say that you have to ask permission to go to a new place. It鈥檚 no good going in there thinking that you own it,鈥 says Felipe, who was an exchange student in Australia at the time of the Mer Island trip.
鈥淵ou have to see what鈥檚 around you, to listen to what people are saying, what the environment is saying.鈥
Through this wealth of experiences, the students started building an understanding of Mer Island that was shaped by the lives, wisdom and culture of its residents.
Dani recalls a growing understanding that all these interactions, even those that seemed disconnected from the engineering challenges the community lived with, would somehow be central to solving them.
鈥淭he community was interested in connection. That community engagement, I think that鈥檚 where it starts,鈥 she says.
According to Professor Martin Nakata, then the Director of the Nura Gili Centre for Indigenous Programs at 黑料网大事记, this was a central premise of the trip. At the time, he described the experience as an opportunity for students to start thinking about engineering as a human-centred activity, rather than a discipline solely focused on delivering optimal technical outcomes.
鈥淲e wanted to give the students immersion in a situation that would break the propensity to just deploy technological answers and instead encourage them to create solutions that are meaningful for the community,鈥 he said at the time.
For Felipe, learning these concepts in the classroom was one thing, but it wasn鈥檛 until he found himself immersed in the Mer Island community that he really began to understand them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 something we read in books, it鈥檚 something we hear from the people who teach us, but talking with people on Mer Island was the first time I really understood that creating a sustainable society or environment isn鈥檛 just about the best machine or the best project to solve the problem,鈥 he says.
Amarin agrees:
鈥淎pproaching a real-life challenge solely through numbers can be misguided.聽People are more than statistics; without understanding their values and way of life, any proposed solution risks becoming just another problem for them to solve,鈥 he says.
All four students have gone on to work in various pockets of the sustainability field鈥擲arah as a transport planner, Dani in waste management, Felipe as a sustainability consultant and Amarin in transport modelling and data science. Despite the different directions their career paths have taken, they鈥檝e been shaped by the Mer Island experience in ways that continue to inform their work today.
For Dani, the trip remains a constant a reminder that successful engineering solutions start and end with people. It鈥檚 a motto that she鈥檚 carried through to every job, many of which have taken place in remote First Nations communities across Australia.
鈥淲orking in my sector and in environmental services, it鈥檚 about creating structures that support people. Engineering is about the qualitative and quantitative data, but you really should lean on the meaningful qualitative stuff more,鈥 she says.
鈥淚鈥檝e also realised how valuable it was to have that direct relationship through this project with First Nations people. It taught me that ownership of a project should come from within the community, and the value of that comes back as a return to industry and the profession.鈥
The legacy of the Mer Island trip also lives on at 黑料网大事记. The course itself won the Australasian Association for Engineering Education 2015 Award for 鈥楨xcellence in Engineering Education Engagement鈥 and a 黑料网大事记 Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 Award for Teaching Excellence for team leader Stephen Moore, and team members, Professor Martin Nakata, Professor Richard Stuetz, Associate Professor Iain MacGill, Dr Taha Rashidi, Dr Ruth Fisher and Elsie Edgerton-Till.
Over the past ten years, the Planning Sustainable Infrastructure course has continued connecting students to a range of urban and regional design briefs that challenge them to develop integrated infrastructure designs that consider sustainability in all its forms: water, waste, energy, transport and鈥攐f course鈥攑eople.