What it means to be a ‘parkie’

Over his 24-year career, Ranger Rob has had many highlights as well challenges. Across a wide range of roles—from campground Ranger to natural resource management, from asset management to his current role as State Firearms Coordinator for pest services, and everything in between—his skills and experiences are many. Find out what being a parkie means to Ranger Rob.

Growing up on K’gari, with a dad who was a Ranger and part of the rural firies, Rob’s childhood was pretty unique.

‘We lived and breathed the island. When we first moved there, we were living in a shed with no lining or insulation, it was all open and so loud you couldn’t sleep in big rains. As kids we thought it was great and spent a lot of time fishing, hiking and exploring the island. The open shed did come with its challenges too—mozzies and beetle plagues weren’t much fun, as well as the occasional snake wandering in.

Dad was an inspiration and great mentor

Being surrounded by nature and inspired by his Ranger dad, it’s clear that being a parkie was in Rob’s blood.

‘I found the land management work of dad’s very interesting and started volunteering to gain that work experience. When I was old enough, at 16, I became a rural fire brigade volunteer too. I did a lot of burning with parkies, both as a volunteer rural firie and volunteer Ranger.

‘It was a very small township back then, so our family—mum, dad, my brother, sister and I—made up nearly half the brigade at one stage. Today, my dad is still with the local rural fire brigade at Orchid Beach as their First Officer and still burning with parkies at 73 years old.’

‘Dad was a big mentor, not only to me, but for a lot of Rangers. He was a great advocate and supported a lot of parkies in his time. It was a tough gig, being a local and living in the community and working in the very emotive space of dingoes as well.

‘Us parkies are very committed and passionate about what we do. You take a lot of that on personally. It can really take its toll.’ 

Working as a campground Ranger

With lots of experience from a young age already, being a campground Ranger on K’gari was Rob’s first paid role.

‘We worked with the interpretation and education Rangers to do guided walks, film and slideshow nights, and run different kids’ activities to show the importance of conservation and protected areas.

‘It was extremely rewarding work, hearing kids just click, understanding what you’re doing and why Rangers are there. That connection to the national park—people don’t get that from just a sign or a brochure. Those conversations also resulted in Rangers becoming Rangers—including one Ranger who heard one of those very talks as a kid and went on to become Ranger in Charge on K’gari.

‘Everybody was also given a briefing when they arrived at their campsite, and we’d go and talk with any new arrivals—even donning our Christmas accessories to check permits and having chats on Christmas Day.

A passion for pest management

‘Early on in my career I developed a passion for pest management and moved to North Queensland to work as a Ranger managing and controlling a number of pest species on protected areas.

‘To me, wearing the ‘Herbie badge’ means protecting the State's critical treasures from manageable impacts, like pests, so these amazing ecosystems will be there for us and the future generations,’ Ranger Rob said.

From working on pig exclusion fences on Lama Lama National Park (CYPAL) to treating rubber vine on Finucane Island National Park, from managing weeds in the thick, humid Wet Tropics rainforest to carrying out gamba grass surveys and treatment with Olkola Aboriginal Corporation Rangers on Alwal National Park (CYPAL), it’s impossible to encapsulate all of Rob’s incredible work.

Of the many pest management projects Rob has been involved in, he found the Nest to Ocean Turtle Protection Program particularly rewarding.

‘This was really interesting work, and a very important project delivered by an adaptive team.’

‘The mainland turtle rookeries are so critical to protect and conserve marine turtles. Up at Wuthathi and Apudthama, on Cape York, we had feral pigs going from rainforests down to the beaches hoovering up nearly all of the turtle eggs.

‘Flying over Apudthama and Wuthathi, it’s just stunning there, and the ocean life and diversity of the national parks are incredible. Led by experienced project manager Ranger Col, with his wealth of pest management knowledge, he supported us dedicating time to research effectiveness of different pest management methods and finding what would work best on the target species.

‘Turning things around, from basically having all turtle nests predated on within 24 hours to pigs just walking over nests not even knowing that food was there underneath them—that project is the perfect example of adaptive, strategic and effective pest management.’

It’s been Rob’s vast experience and passion in pest management that has led him to his current role as State Firearms Coordinator for pest services. He continues to help Rangers and staff, ensuring we meet our legislative and governance requirements and obligations, reviewing processes, literature and providing advice and solutions to the diverse challenges of pest management involving firearms use.

‘Seeing impacted country returned back to a healthy state through effective land management, delivered by passionate parkies, is what I love best about the work we all do,’ Ranger Rob said.

That one day

Of all the days over his 24-year career, there is one particular day that stands out as the epitome of being a parkie.

‘In the early years on K’gari, we came across a stranded baby humpback whale. Managing whale strandings are particularly stressful—trying to rescue a very large animal, this baby was still over a tonne, while also controlling curious crowds. Its tail slapping or body rolling could easily crush someone if we weren’t careful. We’re also thinking, gee, this rescue might not be successful, we might have to humanely put it down. That horrible thought is there too.

‘So, you’ve got all those stressors at play.’

After four exhausting and stressful hours, they managed to free the baby whale and re-unite it with its pod, but that wasn’t the end of the day for Ranger Rob and the team.

‘At the same time we’re rescuing this calf, we’re hearing over the radio that there’s dramas with toilet blockages at Central Station. Others in our team are over there, dealing with some pretty yucky stuff. They worked hard to get it back and up and running for the busy camping area.

‘So that was our morning, and then our Ranger in Charge said, well we were planning on doing this burn today, and the conditions are perfect for it.

‘We got on our fire gear and headed out to the planned burn. It all ran smoothly and successfully, it wasn’t too big a burn but still took us into the evening.

‘At the end of the day, it was great to sit back and go, look at this! You’ve got a team who can run a successful planned burn, we’ve dealt with a marine animal stranding that was very stressful and we’ve had infrastructure issues which we’ve been able to manage and get toilets back up and running again too.

‘It was a real wow, 'go team!' moment.’