Leading wildlife documentary maker Tina Dalton was awarded the prestigious UQ Gatton Gold Medal at the campus’ 2004 graduation ceremony last Friday.
Ms Dalton received the award in recognition of her distinguished career in documentary production and as an environmental educator, supporter of UQ Gatton and role model.
More than 350 students graduated from programs in agribusiness, agriculture and horticulture, animal studies and environmental management, including the Associate Diploma in Wilderness Reserves and Wildlife that Ms Dalton received in 1981.
The program was Queensland’s first tertiary environment qualification, introduced 25 years ago at the request of the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service (QNPWS) and subsequently producing many leading environmental authorities.
Professor Roger Swift, Executive Dean, Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science, said Ms Dalton was a very worthy recipient of the UQ Gatton Gold Medal.
After graduating, Ms Dalton joined the QNPWS as a researcher and member of the media unit before embarking on her film career as producer and presenter of the children`s environmental TV series “Bushbeat.” From there she went on to work with renowned British naturalist Sir David Attenborough on the “Trials of Life” series and then to Channel 9`s travel program “Getaway.”
Ms Dalton has made a number of award winning films, produced and directed hours of TV, written three wildlife books and developed a stock footage library “Absolutely Wild Visuals” which licenses wildlife images around the world.
A crowd of more than 900 was on hand to celebrate the graduates’ achievements. Beef industry identity and former Landcare chairman, Wally Peart, and Valedictorian, dual Agribusiness and Applied Science degree graduate Nellie-May Shannon, provided the graduation addresses.
Nellie-May was also awarded the Queensland Cotton Award for Excellence as the top achiever in the Bachelor of Agribusiness.
The ceremony also saw the first graduates from Australia’s only professional animal physiotherapy qualification receive their Masters of Animal Studies (Animal Physiotherapy).
Having already qualified as human physiotherapists and holding at least 2 years experience in human clinical practice, the group has spent the last two years training in the application of physiotherapy to both small and large animals.
Large file images suitable for news reproduction are available for downloading at: http://omc.uq.edu.au/images/gattongrad/
More information: Brad Henderson, Marketing Coordinator, Faculty of NRAVS
(07) 5460 1229 or 0409.265.587
