Internationally renowned geographer and conservation ecologist, Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick AM, has received the Australian Heritage Council’s 2017 Sharon Sullivan National Heritage Award for his work on national and international heritage.
The award particularly recognises his work in Tasmania, the Blue Mountains, the Australian Alps and the Subantarctic.
An ambassador for the better protection of the natural world, Professor Kirkpatrick believes that humans may be happier and healthier when they are in touch with nature, and spends most of his year measuring nature in the wild with his many undergraduate and postgraduate students.
He also holds a Eureka Prize for Environmental Research and an Order of Australia for service to forest and world heritage conservation.
Professor Kirkpatrick said he was honoured to receive the Australian Heritage Council’s 2017 Sharon Sullivan National Heritage Award.
It is extremely rewarding to see positive environmental outcomes result from community awareness of national and international heritage, such as the campaign to encourage the Australian and Tasmanian governments to save the World Heritage listed Macquarie Island from rabbits and rodents, he said.
"As a result of the subsequent pest eradication program, the landscape has been transformed from a slip-striated lawn back to a wonderland of gigantic herbs, grasses and cushions."
About the award: Created in 2013, the annual award commemorates former Australian Heritage Council member Adjunct Professor Sharon Sullivan. The Australian Heritage Council is the Australian Government’s expert advisory body on heritage matters, providing advice to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. The council's role includes identification, assessment and promotion of National Heritage places and engagement in research and monitoring activities.
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