Gib Wettenhall - Chairperson
Gib is the oldest son of Norman Wettenhall. He is an award-winning author and has written a series of books on cultural landscapes and Indigenous history. He is the editor of Australian Forest Grower magazine and the treasurer of Ballarat Region Treegrowers. He is the publications officer for central Victoria’s 300km long Great Dividing Trail and president of the Mollongghip Community Hall in the rural settlement where he lives. A lawyer and journalist by training, Gib has previously acted as news editor of The Melbourne Times, managed co-operative programs for the Ministry of Housing and was business manager for the Commission for the Future.
Elizabeth Mellick (Beth) - Executive Director
Beth has worked here since 2007. Prior to this, she worked in the environment movement for 15 years, following undergraduate and postgraduate studies in gender. Her work has involved campaign and project management, project development, media, fundraising, and activism, on issues as broad as transport, climate change, international gender and trade, sustainable aquaculture, sustainable development, and natural resource management. She lives in the bush in Central Victoria with her partner and 3 children.
Board of Trustees
Bill Weatherly
Bill farmed at Streatham in western Victoria for 40 years, after graduating with an honours degree in Zoology from Monash University. He worked to balance running a profitable farm with achieving environmental improvements. During this period he was also involved in various community groups, and a member of boards of conservation, educational and health organisations, including Trust for Nature, Geelong Grammar School, and Beaufort and Skipton Health Service. He is a trustee for Clarkesdale Bird Sanctuary, an executive member for Beyond Bolac Catchment Action Group, and a member of the Grampians Gariwerd National Park Advisory Committee. Bill and Trina moved to live in the Grampians near Dunkeld in 2012.
Geoff Park
Geoff has more than 20 years’ experience in facilitating interactions between scientists, policy makers and the community. He is a Director of Natural Decisions, an interdisciplinary consulting company concerned with all aspects of environmental decision-making. Currently he is coordinating a diverse range of consultancies on water quality improvement planning for the Great Barrier Reef, climate change vulnerability assessment, environmental priority setting and cost: benefit analysis, integrated assessment of bushfire risk and threatened species management. He has worked extensively across all agro-ecological regions in Australia over the past ten years. He is also an avid bird blogger on his site Natural Newstead https://geoffpark.wordpress.com
Adam Wettenhall
Adam majored in economics at Monash University. He has lived in East Tolans (Deniliquin) since 1978, endeavouring to make a living off the farm as well as improving its biodiversity. The farm has won an environmental award from the Conargo Shire in 2004 and is part of an environmental champions program. Adam has been president of school councils, tennis clubs, and football committees and is currently Chair of West Berriquin Irrigators that advise Murray Irrigation on water policy. Adam is one of Norman Wettenhall’s sons.
Peter Howie
Peter retired after a career spanning 37 years in Information Technology. For most of that career he was involved in the development and implementation of many different and innovative business information systems across a wide range of industries. For several years he managed a very successful mid-sized technology development company. Peter lives in Melbourne. He is also a member of the Finance and Audit committee of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Peter is a member of The Norman Wettenhall Foundation’s Finance Committee.
Jane Halliday
Having started her career studying Zoology at Monash University, Jane has been doing epidemiological research in human genetics at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute for over 30 years and is a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. Her research has been funded by many national and local government and philanthropic organisations. She has been on national human genetics advisory committees, supervised many students and has over 135 peer-reviewed publications. One very important extracurricular interest of Jane’s is birdwatching, almost certainly inherited from her father, Norman Wettenhall.
Neil Tonkin
Neil graduated from Adelaide University in 1966 with a Bachelor of Economics and in 1978 completed a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Swinburne. Apart from 5 years with an international mining company, he has worked in the finance industry, mainly in various stockbroking roles. He retired from JBWere in 2011 after 15 years as a private wealth advisor. He lives at Mount Macedon and is on the Foundation’s Finance Committee.
Camilla Waterhouse
Camilla graduated from the University of Tasmania in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business. Camilla has worked at Ernst and Young since 2014 and is a Senior Consultant in the Climate Change and Sustainability Services team and is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. Camilla is the Chair of the Wettenhall Environmental Trust’s Finance Committee.
