North Queensland Conservation Council

North Queensland Conservation Council, based in Townsville, is a membership-based Environmental Non Government Organisation run by an elected Management Committee and supported by volunteers. Campaign Manager Tarquin Moon has worked for the organisation since early 2018 and is normally the first point of contact with the public. 

Staff

Tarquin Moon - Campaigns Manager

Tarquin has always been interested in the environment, starting out with a love for Australia's unique animals and landscape. While studying environmental management at Griffith University in Brisbane, she started volunteering for the Wilderness Society on the land clearing campaign in 2003. She has travelled across Cape York twice working as an environmental campaigner supporting a world heritage nomination for the region.

Tarquin moved to Townsville with her husband and daughter in 2018 and finds it a wonderful place to live. From volunteer to environmental campaigner, Tarquin loves to share her passion for the environment and inspire people to use their power to make the difference! 

Tarquin was appointed to the position of Campaigns Manager in mid-2018. Previous staff members have been known as "Coordinators" and in the last fifteen years have included Jeremy Tager, Carol Booth, James McLellan, Gail Hamilton, Wendy Tubman, Maree Dibella (2016-17) and Russell Kelly (2017).

 Tarquin Moon

Crystal Falknau - Community Campaigner

Crystal joined the Management Committee in 2017, not long after arriving from Toowoomba where she had completed her Bachelor of Science in Environment and Sustainability at the University of Southern Queensland. During her studies, she developed a passion for environmental advocacy and joined the environmental movement. 

Crystal acted as interim Co-ordinator from late 2017 to early 2018, returned to the Management Committee for most of 2018, and was appointed Community Campaigner in November of that year.

Crystal Falknau

Management Committee (2020)

Peter Hanley - President

Peter Hanley has lived in North Queensland for more than 30 years. His interests include human rights, social justice, sustainability and community development, with a particular penchant for creative performances to educate and inform. Peter is also a convenor of the Amnesty International Townsville branch and writes a blog, "True North".

Cam Leitch - Treasurer

Cam has a passion for promoting an ecologically sustainable future for our (one and only) Earth and is particularly interested in working towards reducing our greenhouse emissions and keeping coal in the ground. Cam retired from his job as a structural engineer in 2014 and so he now has more time to devote to his other pursuits, including being an active member of the NQCC Committee which he joined in 2017.

John Connell - Secretary

John has spent 30 years working with livelihood development projects in SE Asia, and has a strong commitment to ensuring everyone has a 'fair go'. This work has involved identifying 'entry points' and 'pathways' that engage both smallholder farmers and local government officials in change. These sort of skills might help NCCC in development of new public campaigns.   

General Committee Members

Linda Davis

Linda is currently a teacher of science to migrants at Townsville State High School. Background in ecology and marine biology and worked in freshwater ecology for several years. With deep concerns for the state of our terrestrial and marine environments has supported NQCC for many years.

Dr Alastair Birtles

One of the founders of NQCC, Alastair returned to the Management Committee in 2018. He brings with him over forty years of experience in tropical research and over ten years of teaching marine biology and zoology in Great Barrier Reef environments. He has worked as a conservation officer/planner with the Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service and has also worked and taught in the areas of ecotourism, environmental management, integrated coastal zone management and ecologically sustainable tourism.

He is leader of the 20-year Minke Whale Project (conducting field studies since 1996) and other marine wildlife tourism projects; also tourism in protected areas, visitor management, interpretation and Aboriginal tourism – all aimed at enhancing tourist experiences, minimising impacts and developing more ecologically sustainable management practices.

He has worked extensively in developing countries, supervised over 100 Honours and postgraduates from 25 countries and has produced many publications and natural history films.

Dr David Kault

David moved to Townsville 45 years ago and joined NQCC 2 years later. He has worked both as a medical doctor and as a mathematician, but is now semi-retired and semi-self sufficient on a large tropical fruit garden just south of Townsville. In his younger days David was much more concerned about justice and equity for the current generation of humans living on earth, but with age his concerns have extended to future generations of humans and to non-human species. David is particularly concerned about development pressures in Northern Australia where much still remains of the beautiful natural world and where there is still much left to lose.

Natasha (Tash) Britton

Tash moved to Townsville from Bendigo with her partner in September 2019 and joined our Management Committee in January 2020. She is passionate about the natural environment and says becoming a vegan is the easiest thing she's ever done. With fourteen years of experience in the financial sector, her accounting skills are of great value to our organisation and to our Treasurer, Cam. 

Volunteers

NQCC’s task would be harder without the assistance of many other volunteers. If you would like to offer your skills for a short or long term, please click here.

We have a great team of about 20 volunteers who assist with events as they occur. We also want to acknowledge the wonderful contribution of regular volunteers:

Presiding over NQCC’s Public Fund are Mary Vance, Sue Cole and Cam Leitch.

Malcolm Tattersall has been a website/IT volunteer for several years and a committee member intermittently since May 2017. He stepped down from the committee at the AGM to focus on the IT work. 

Here is a directory of different groups providing volunteer opportunities with on-ground conservation or environmental projects in the local region:

Conservation Volunteers Australia projects in Townsville region – check this website to confirm correct dates, meeting location and contact details. Projects include Creekwatch (water quality testing and surveys), Friends of Cape Pallarenda Quarantine Station and native revegetation nursey.

On Sunday 14^th of August, NQCC hosted a fundraising dinner to celebrate our community of past committee members, donors, volunteers and staff. Additionally, former NQCC Coordinator Susan Brown was visiting Townsville after spending the past 11 years in Geneva working for WWF. We thought a dinner at the NQCC HQ would be a good opportunity for our community to gather.