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Learning Outdoors; Connect & Celebrate, 2013 Outdoors Victoria Education Conference
11:00am Friday 31 May - 4:00pm Saturday 1 June, 2013 Somers School Camp, Lord Somers Road, Somers. Connect with 100+ outdoor educators; outdoors associations; suppliers / providers; and government agencies at this key annual sector event. More info »

 

National Outdoor Sector Survey 2013
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Understanding and Preventing Led Outdoor Accidents Data System (UPLOADS) Research Project
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Technical Committee

Click on a Committee Member to read more:

Anthony Comben - Alpine Institute
Enthusiastic, passionate and an extremely busy man could sum up Anthony (Combo) Comben. In an industry where qualifications have fallen in the shadow of pure experience and word of mouth it may come as some surprise that Anthony has qualifications in business, land management, outdoor education physical recreation and in the fitness industry.

Anthony has been employed as the course coordinator for the Latrobe University’s diploma in outdoor recreation for the past 10 years. At the same time, he has been an owner operator of his own mountain adventure company and been actively involved in supporting Tourism Alliance (formerly the Victorian Tourism Operators Association - VTOA) as a board member.

Activities that you might see Anthony involved with are equally diverse. On ropes he can be found adding to his 14 years of accumulated abseiling and climbing experience. On the water he has become a white water instructor and rescue instructor, he’s an established raft guide and has found time to be an Australian Canoeing Trainer Assessor. Given wheels to play with he is a mountain bike guide, leader and instructor working with diverse clients from schools to corporate. Add an engine and he is equally experienced behind the wheel of a 4wd. It may be no surprise that Anthony is also a competent bushwalking leader with experience in excess of 100 trips of between 1 and 10 days duration.

David Chitty - Adventure Guides Australia
Most people in the Victorian Outdoor industry will know David or will have come across him at least once. Using the traditional system of adding experience, David has single handedly reached an estimated 280 years (280!) of activity leadership. His skills and knowledge cover tracks and trails, rope based and as he would say, amphibious activities (such as Kayaking, snorkeling and SCUBA). Although more recently he seems happiest underground.

David’s leadership qualifications also cover a diverse range of contexts from Scouting, through the military where he survived to command troops in the Australian SAS before finally establishing his own Commercial adventure company ‘Adventure Guides Australia’

David has contributed to the Australian outdoor industry through the development of the National Training Package in the early 1990’s, actively supporting various accreditation schemes as well as (most recently) lobbying to improve government licensing of operators and access for commercial and non commercial activity groups.

When it comes to the AAS, David also lobbied for them. He participated in the working group for the Caving and abseiling AAS and continues to fight for his vision of a professional and efficient Victorian Outdoor industry to be enjoyed by everyone (Australian or international).

David Strickland - State Government
David is currently employed by Sport and Recreation Victoria (SRV) where he oversees the management of SRV’s five camps and plays a significant role in strategic industry development initiatives in the camping and outdoor recreation sectors. Prior to taking up this position with SRV, David operated his own consultancy business covering camping, outdoor education & recreation and budget accommodation. David has also been an outdoor secondary teacher and directly managed camps.

Since 1988 David has been a key player in the development and delivery of camping and outdoor recreation industry accreditation programs. David has excellent links and networks throughout Australia with both state government and camping & outdoor operators.

David is the AAS steering committee’s nominee on the review committee and chaired the inaugural meeting.

Gary Breadon - Scouts - Victoria Branch
Able to represent the needs of less commercially motivated activity providers Gary has 25 years experience with Scouts Australia. With the Scouts Gary has been thoroughly involved in leadership and training of both youth and adult members of Scouts Australia. As part of the Scouts National training team Gary has been, and continues to be actively involved in the provision of a number of outdoor recreation activities.

Gary has also had a leading role in the development and documentation of the Scouts Australia Activity Training Manual (Scouts are also an RTO meaning that this role requires in depth knowledge and understanding of the National Outdoor Recreation Training Package.

The 25 years in the Outdoor Industry have led Gary to maintain his level 2 First aid quals but he has also gained his level three ski touring qualifications, he is a qualified abseiling instructor with experience on natural and artificial walls. When it comes to going the other way, Gary’s rock climbing instructor qualifications have also ensured that he has equivalent experience instructing both adult and youth groups back up the natural and artificial surfaces.

Julien Atherstone - Parks Victoria
Julien is in charge of monitoring and promoting visitor safety for Parks Victoria

Before working at Parks Victoria, Julien was the head of outdoor leadership and responsible for all technical training at the Outdoor Education Group (OEG) Julien was also a member of OEG’s risk management department and their coordinator for all Cert IV in Outdoor Recreation. In these roles Julien was directly responsible for interpreting all guidelines and legislation as they relate to OEG’s activities. This meant that Julien was responsible for interpreting, adopting and then developing staff training to meet all legal and industry requirements.

Julien is required to use his sound practical background in order to carry out the above. He has 12 years of bushwalking leadership in various countries around the world and 4 years experience in training bushwalking leaders. He is an Australian Canoeing advanced whitewater instructor with many days worth of experience that includes a 33 day expedition in N.W.T Canada. He adds to this with a Level three raft guide certificate with OEG and his rafting experience includes Australia, Canada and Africa.

Julien's close involvement in training outdoor leaders means that Julien bring with him an in depth knowledge not only of Australian and international procedures, but also in depth knowledge of the Australian National Training Package that are vital to the AAS’s ability to convey Nationally consistent expectations of leaders in our industry.