Charles is a retired farmer from the Roma/Surat area. After graduation he worked for the Queensland Dept of Primary Industries on a Wool Board-funded project determining agricultural research priorities for Southern inland Queensland. This was possibly one of the first catchment-based projects conducted. He then travelled overseas before returning to manage a family property. After 45 years he successfully passed this property on to his two sons and retired. He then acquired a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management. He has been involved in many agricultural R&D organisations and projects is a member of several scientific societies. Some of his ongoing interests are climate variability, genetics, agricultural policy, and balancing production and conservation.

James Hansen, J.P., initially trained as a computer programmer cum systems analyst in the Automatic Data Processing Section, Taxation Branch of Treasury. He then obtained an unrestricted PPL and transferred from Canberra to Melbourne and Sydney as an Air Traffic Controller, working on Sectors 3 and 4 (Sydney–Melbourne) reputed to be among the busiest sectors in the world. In Queensland, he controlled at Brisbane and Townsville airports, again challenging airspaces because of the number of adjacent centres involved. James subsequently trained and worked in Operations and Search and Rescue. This role required specialised knowledge of airspace management, search and rescue tasking, and coordination, navigation, climate, and weather. Since retiring from public service, James has been a strong conservationist and environmentalist (a leader in several community science groups, e.g., Queensland Naturalists’ Club; Native Plants Queensland), and an advocate on community safety/health issues (e.g., fitting seatbelts in motor vehicles, buses/coaches; aviation flight path noise abatement). For the last eight years he has been on the Council and Secretary of The Royal Society of Queensland.