A total of 17 applications were received for the 2000 Program, with 17 placements offered and accepted. One Intern withdrew from the Program early in the second week due to personal reasons, but all remaining 16 Interns successfully completed the Program. Eight universities and one TAFE institute were represented, as well as the ANBG Living Collections section. As in previous years, ANU remains the main recruitment source (seven Interns), although national participation is still strong. Participants in the 2000 Program came from the ACT, NSW and Victoria.

Output achieved by Interns during 2000 is roughly equal to 1.7 net years work (of an entry-level TO), based on a 200-day working year, with time worked in the first two weeks of the Program halved (due to the teething problems usually experienced at this early stage). Work carried out by Interns in 2000 included mounting and incorporation of vascular and non-vascular specimens, general curatorial activities in both the vascular and non-vascular collections, assistance with loans and exchange (especially with return loans), databasing, determining specimen geo-codes, spirit collection maintenance, assistance to the CPBR Library, re-organisation of the cryptogamic and non-flowering vascular plant collections on the ANBG site, cataloguing and re-organising of the field map collections, assistance to various research groups (Hibiscus, Melaleuca, Orchids, Pultenaea), major input into the Greening the Grainbelt (Harden-Murrumburrah Landcare) Project, and general lab and herbarium tasks.

No major difficulties were encountered during the running of the 2000 Program, apart from some relatively minor (but annoying) IT-related problems. Some equally minor glitches occurred during the four-day field trip to Jervis Bay, but these should be well and truly ironed out by the 2001 Program. The low number of applications for the 2000 Program is a matter of some concern, as is student accommodation costs, which continues to be a major hurdle for most interstate potential participants.

The major publicity angle for the 2000 Program was the Greening the Grainbelt (Harden-Murrumburrah Landcare) Project which involved a number of Interns. Media releases were done via EA Publicity and were directed to local media and Interns’ hometown newspapers in the last week of the Program. Some local radio coverage (ABC Radio National, ABC South Coast and ABC Maitland) was forthcoming, but otherwise response was not overwhelming. No media attended the Graduation Ceremony (featuring The Hon. Dr Sharman Stone MHR), unlike 1999 when the presence of CSIRO CEO Malcolm McIntosh ensured a modicum of attention.

The 2000 Interns Program was again highly successful. Work output was high overall, although spread over a somewhat narrower range of tasks than in 1999. The participation of another ANBG staff member in the Program for the fifth year running, was again most valuable, both for the Herbarium and the ANBG. All Interns were also provided with Evaluation Forms for the Program, and of those received so far, overall feedback has been very positive. These forms are available from Brendan Lepschi for any staff interested in perusing them.

The success of the 2000 Program is in no small part due to the considerable efforts of a number of Centre staff, outside academics and others who freely gave their time to present lectures and training sessions, as well as providing supervision for Intern work teams. We are most grateful to all concerned. Thanks are also due to all Centre staff, especially those at the Herbarium, for their tolerance, enthusiasm and support during the course of the Program.

[Brendan Lepschi]

The Centre will hold a review of the Curation and Database areas (Program C & D) on Wednesday, 12 and Thursday, 13 April. The Review will start at 10:00 am on Wednesday, and finish at 3:00 pm on Thursday.

All staff are requested to attend this Review to assist in the development of these areas for the Centre in future.

We have decided to have a Review Panel with one external participant, Dr Ken Hill, RBG Sydney, and some internal participants covering our other Programs, including David Jones, Ben Wallace and Richard Groves.

[Judy West]

Tony Brown is going overseas early in April, mainly working in Europe, for three months. Since this is a substantial period for one of our Program Leaders to be away, we have decided that we should identify someone to carry on with the tasks in Program B "Conservation Biology and Utilisation of the Australian Flora".

So, Jim Peacock has asked Andrew Young to lead Program B for the next 12 months beginning April 3.

Andrew works in both Centre labs on the CSIRO site - the herbarium and the new area in building 1 - but his main residency will remain in the herbarium (building 502).

[Judy West]

The URL for the Centre can be found at: http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr

Please check regularly for new items of interest re Centre staff and activities.

The new flyer outlining the activities and functions of the Centre is now available after a long gestation period. Please feel free to use the flyer to promote the Centre and to help inform your colleagues, clients and stakeholders. Supplies are with Louisa at the front desk.

[Judy West]

With the development of the new Centre Agreement we had some discussions concerning linkages to and liaison with our immediate stakeholders, such as the ANBG and ABRS. As a means of furthering those interactions we amended the Agreement to enable senior representatives of such bodies to attend our EC meetings on a regular basis. This can be done via recommendation of the Director and with approval of the Board . To this end, both Tony Orchard as ABRS Executive Editor, Flora and Ben Wallace as Curator of ANBG Living Collections have been invited to attend the EC meetings.

[Judy West]

The CPBR’s lunch time seminar series is underway again, with a list of the scheduled speakers posted on the notice board in the tea room. Seminars are held at 12.30 on the first Thursday of each month in the Herbarium tea room, unless notified otherwise. I’m always looking for new speakers so if you know of any visitors to the Centre who would be in a position to give a seminar, or if you’d like to give one yourself (!), please let me know. The scheduled seminars over the coming months are listed on the following page.

[Tony Willis]

7. Diary of Events/Activities