Administration
Charmaine Richards
Office Administrator
I started working with Gympie Landcare in September 2023 and love it here. The work is interesting and challenging, and the staff and volunteers are all friendly and welcoming. We love learning together and sharing ideas and having a laugh along the way.
I have a Cert IV in Accounting & Bookkeeping and also in Business, and Diplomas in Management and in Business Administration.
My goal is to help build Landcare into something everyone can be proud of. To excel in customer service and have everyone want to spread the word about coming here.
A bit about me: I lived on the Gold Coast for nearly 30 years before my husband and I moved to Gympie two days before the big flood of 2022.
On the Gold Coast I worked for a recruitment agency doing relief work all over the Gold Coast for quite a few years. I also worked at several large organisations – some being Australia wide companies. All of this allowed me to learn a lot and acquire a lot of different experience and skills.
I love travelling, motor sports, reading and writing and public speaking. My dislikes include bad customer service, lack of organization and lack of communication.
I’m very much looking forward to many years at Gympie Landcare, working with the team to build our organization and help our community restore and nurture our wonderful Gympie Region environment.
General manager and Environment and Conservation manager
Marty McArthur
I started with Gympie Landcare as casual Environment and Conservation (E&C) Team Supervisor in August 2022 and am now the E&C Manager. I am lucky enough to have a job which allows me to learn about and protect the environment as well as engage myself into the community of Gympie and its surrounds.
My qualifications include a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management, a Cert III in Conservation and Land Management, a Cert III in in Horticulture, a Cert III in Carpentry, a Cert II in Business Development and all the relevant tickets and licenses to be a Bush Regenerator.
I started my working life as a carpenter for 7 years, but my love of timber was more in the preservation of it rather than its use. A love for the bush pushed me into a career change to arboriculture but my compassion for individual trees and distain for unbalanced development prevented me from furthering this pursuit. I therefore began studying and found my purpose in bush regeneration and ecological restoration. Before joining Gympie Landcare I had gained 6 years’ experience as an arborist and bush regenerator.
Through these roles and qualifications, I gained extensive Arboricultural experience and Ecological knowledge, as well extensive familiarity with South East Queensland’s diverse plant communities. I have become obsessed with the individual species and symbiotic relationships which detail a delicate dance of equilibrium throughout Australia’s ancient landscapes. I thrive to continue leaning, understanding and teaching others about the complex associations throughout the ecosystems and the underpinning geology which houses our flora and fauna.
I consider myself to be an extremely passionate person with a burning desire to protect the natural world, alleviate environmental issues and encourage ecological succession, so working with Gympie Landcare is a natural fit for me.
General manager & interim nursery manager
Alex Van Beek
It’s taken 50 years, a chequered career path and 2 degrees (social geography and psychology) to finally find my calling as a social systems researcher. With that aim, I am now at the tail end of a doctorate focussed on how collaborative community-based research can create social change. It may sound boring, but it’s not!
We all know our natural environment with the incredible life it holds, is in serious jeopardy. It is now that we need as many people as possible working together to turn this around. I believe that there are certain principles that can help this along. These include being strengths and solutions focussed; valuing diversity and collective creativity; and sharing decision-making and resources. While it can take a while to get it moving, the ability of collective action, based on inclusive, empowering and positive relationships, can do amazing things.
At a personal level, my sister and I own 30 acres at Calico Creek. Our aim is to rehabilitate our land back into wildlife habitat while still maintaining space for our 4 spoilt horses and 3 gorgeous little cows.
EXPERIENCE
Land-carers are generally focussed on restoring the ecosystems around them, whether these are agricultural, natural or urban. However, in this age of the Anthropocene, it is actually humans who need to change their behaviours and their systems. This is my both my interest and contribution to Gympie Landcare.
Through both a wide-ranging career path and my passion for learning, I bring a wealth of both hands-on people knowledge and experience, as well as deep theoretical knowledge of social and systemic change.
SKILLS
I bring the following skills to GDLG:
- Systems thinking
- Applied social and wellbeing research
- Strategy development
- Excellent people skills
- Communication and writing skills
- Innovation, creativity and lateral thinking
KNOWLEDGE
I bring my own focus on human behaviours and social systems, as well as personal strengths of systems thinking and relational skills to the Gympie Landcare table. Restoring and preserving this beautiful region for many generations to come, will take a collective effort, with many people and organisations working towards this common purpose. I truly believe this is achievable, and that together, we can achieve the extraordinary.
EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY
- Researcher in systemic wellbeing and complex social change
- Equine soft tissue therapist
- Frontline manager and process technician in metallurgical processing
- Eternal student
QUALIFICATIONS
- PhD – School of Human, Medical and Applied Sciences; CQUniversity
- Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours First Class)
- Graduate Diploma of Psychological Science (Distinction)
- Bachelor of Arts, Major: Social Geography; James Cook University of Queensland
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER ROLES
- Gympie & District Landcare (previously general committee member)
- Land for Wildlife – member
- ANARRA – member
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
- International Society for the Systems Sciences
- The Systems School Australia
- Collective Impact Forum
Nursery
Elle Hall
Acting Nursery Lead
I started with Landcare in January 2023 working in the Nursery as Nursery Assistant and am now Acting Nursery Lead. I love working with our wonderful staff and volunteers, growing Australian and local native plants and helping our customers learn which would be best for their needs.
I have a Certificate I in Conservation & Eco System Management and am currently studying a Cert 2 in Horticulture (as at Aug 2024). I also hold a ACDC Ticket, First Aid / CPR Certificate, and a Level 1 Swift Water & Vertical Rescue from the Queensland Fire Emergency Service.
I consider my strengths to include being organised, hard working, a good leader with good time management skills, and very community minded.
I have been an Auxiliary Firefighter at Imbil Station since 2012 and really enjoy being part of that community.
I have always loved working outdoors with plants, and my previous work experience included four years working on a farm growing Avocado, Figs & Passionfruit where I was site supervisor.
My goal with Gympie Landcare is to make conservation and sustainability available to everyone.