As the year draws to a close, Engineers Australia thanks our Newcastle members for your continued support. This will be the last edition of Engineering News for 2024. This is a great time to reflect on the achievements of our members and committee groups in 2024, and your contributions to the engineering profession and community. 

The Sally Chapman Memorial Dinner was a highlight. This event was a fundraiser for Ovarian Cancer. It was very rewarding to be able to hand over a cheque for $5000 as a result.  

Regional engagement is always high on the list in Newcastle and it was great to catch up and hear from our members and office bearers from the Northern Rivers region and to attend the Nymboida Hydro Power Station centenary event. 

Newcastle committee President Stephen Palmer FIEAust CPEng EngExec NER says next month marks the end of his second year, and last as Divisional President.  

“It’s been a challenging time in many ways. But my main focus is what a privilege it is to serve our members, our profession and our community in this role, and in all the opportunities we each have. I want to especially thank the Engineers Australia team, my fellow committee members and the many other officer bearers and volunteers I’ve had the pleasure of working with.” 

“I will be continuing as our representative to Congress, and working closely with our committee and divisional team. I hope to see more change toward re-empowering the division and to further open up both communications channels and financial supports. My humble thanks for the trust and encouragement,” Stephen says. 

As an Engineers Australia member you are at the heart of the work we do to create positive, sustainable change that has an impact on the community. Your engineering expertise and guidance helps us to work with business, government and universities to push for progress and we’d like to thank you for the invaluable insight you’ve provided across the year. 

Some of the highlights for Newcastle this year include: 

• Our CEO and National President visit – it was great to welcome Rom and Raj to the Newcastle. The visit incorporated a member ‘listening session’ and site tour to Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources, including a catch up with academia at the University of Newcastle. 
• The Overseas Qualified Engineers group – this group has hosted two outstanding events addressing the issues and cultural differences that overseas qualified engineers face. 
• The Colin Crisp Award – the Heritage group were awarded a highly commended at the Heritage Conference in Adelaide for the book, Re-Shaping the Hunter. 

Newcastle has also continued its focus on the pipeline of engineers, it was great to have been able to present at the STEM 2024 Conference. 

We also had the pleasure of hosting eminent speaker Dr Anders Blom, an experienced aeronautical engineer who gave a presentation on ‘Aeronautical Innovation Swedish and International Perspectives'. 

The auditorium and boardroom have both undergone a major audiovisual upgrade, which will improve the visual quality of our events. This state-of-the-art technology will assist the groups and branches in the delivery of their CPD events and provide a better member experience. 

Engineers Australia’s holiday shutdown period will run from 20 December 2024 to 3 January 2025 inclusive. During this time our offices will be closed and there will not be any events held. The Newcastle office will reopen 13 January 2025. 

We wish you all the best over the holiday period and into 2025.