Awards celebrate CQUniversity’s environmental changemakers
The 2025 Queensland Indigenous Women Ranger Network Awards have recognised CQUniversity community members Marky Sullivan and Zahli Hayden for their dedication to protecting Country and culture.
Presented by the Indigenous Women Rangers Network (IWRN), the inaugural awards are designed to celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait women with careers in land and sea management across Queensland.
Gidarjil Development Corporation Sea Ranger, Ms Sullivan received the Collaboration Award, recognising her work with CQUniversity's Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC) researchers, marine ecologists, commercial operators and First Nations groups to help restore seagrass meadows within the Great Barrier Reef.
Ms Sullivan has helped to foster connection and collaboration across multiple Traditional Owner groups, bringing different communities together on common goals of monitoring, preserving and restoring seagrass meadows which sustain dugong and turtle populations.
CMERC Director Professor Emma Jackson said Ms Sullivan's work with the Centre had been instrumental in connecting Australia’s largest seagrass nursery with other Traditional Owner Groups.
“Marky's efforts in cultural brokerage and increasing cultural awareness among researchers and community members have set a benchmark for collaborative environmental conservation,” Prof Jackson said.
“She has helped to set a new standard for environmental conservation by engaging Indigenous community members and volunteers, to preserve and improve seagrass in the Gladstone region.”
Ms Sullivan said she was honoured to receive the award but was driven by her connection to Country.
“For me, it’s about restoring the seagrass meadows by bringing back the dugongs, turtles, fish and crustacean habitats and creating a healthier harbour for our next generation and generations to come,” she said.
“I am hoping there will be more mob working on Country with the same vision that I have.”
Following in these footsteps, CQUniversity alumnus Zalhi Hayden was awarded the Young Ranger Award for her work as a Darumbal Land and Sea Ranger.
The proud young Darumbal woman completed CQUniversity’s Certificate III in Conservation and Ecosystem Management which she said set her up for a career in the ecosystem management industry.
Utilising the skills gained from her studies, Ms Hayden looks after land and sea country around Rockhampton and Yeppoon on the Capricorn Coast, extending to the outer reef of the Swains, and encompassing the Darumbal Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreement (TUMRA) area, including the southern extent of Broadsound and Shoalwater Bay.
