Welcome to the RACI WA Branch September President's Corner!

Written by Tamsin Collins 

Published September 2022

Welcome to the RACI WA Branch September Newsletter. 

It is great to be getting back to normal with regular production of our newsletters and support to running branch activities. 

In spite of everything August was a busy month, with our Branch Awards Night held at the Pines Restaurant in Bentley. There were the finals of the Titration Competition held at UWA. Another Retiree Lunch at Clancy’s Fish Pub and the Annual Careers Night which was held at UWA this year.   Each of these events are reported on in more detail in the Newsletter. 

The September Chemaraderie will be held on the 4th October as we have a very special speaker Prof. Dudley Shallcross, travelling internationally from School of Chemistry, Uni. Bristol in the UK. Prof. Shallcross will be speaking to us on Atmospheric Chemistry. For more details and registration click here

The October Chemaraderie will be held on the 18th October. We will hear from Matthew Deaves. Practice Leader, WHS, Tetra Tech Coffey (Perth WA). Matthew will be speaking on “What makes Chemist the Best Occupational Hygienists?’. For more details and registration click here

In November we will be holding our AGM. A number of positions on our Branch and Group committees are up for renewal. If you are interested in getting more involved, we would love to hear from you. 

The available positions on the Branch this year are the President Elect, Secretary and 9 general committee members. 

The general committee member position for a term of two years. You need to be an associate or full member with no outstanding membership fees. You need to be nominated by two RACI WA members and indicate your willingness to accept the office by signing as nominee on the nomination form.

The Secretary position is for a two-year term.  The President Elect position is for a two-year term followed by two years as President and two years as Post president. Candidates for either position need to be fully paid-up, full members, of RACI and nominated by two RACI WA members as outlined for the General Member positions. 

Branch meetings are held every two months. Your level of participation is determined by what time you can dedicate and the activities you choose to get involved in. 

We are planning some exciting events for next year and beyond, having a few more helping hands would help enormously to achieve these ambitious plans. To access the branch nomination form, click here. To access the Group Nomination form, click here.

It is that time of year again were we should be taking a look around at our fellow WA RACI members and thinking who would fit the bill to receive the Batty Medal. 

The A. McA. Batty Medal, generally known as the Batty Medal, is named after Mr Alton McAllan (Bill) Batty.  Bill Batty graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1933. He was employed by CSBP & Farmers for much of his working life. He had wide ranging appointments in many civil, government and industrial organisations, and was actively involved with the RACI for many years, serving as WA President in 1955.  Bill Batty was the inaugural recipient of the Medal in 1978 and passed away in 1984. CSBP and Farmers were acknowledged as having made a substantial contribution to the establishment of the Medal.

Previous Batty Medal Winners are:

• 1978 Mr A McA Batty (CSBP/WAWA)
• 1980 Mr B Becher (Government Chemistry Laboratories)
• 1982 Mr D T Rigden (BP Refinery/ Clean Air Committee)
• 1984 Not awarded
• 1986 Mr C W Hastie (Western Mining Corporation)
• 1988 Dr D Koch (CSIRO Division of Mineral Products)
• 1990 Mr K Thompson (CSBP)
• 1992 Dr D K Philp (Tiwest Joint Venture)
• 1994 Mr L C Stonehouse (Alcoa of Australia Ltd)
• 1996 Not awarded 
• 1997 Dr G P Power (Alcoa of Australia Ltd)
• 1999 Dr I D MacLeod (WA Maritime Museum)
• 2002 Dr J E P Wajon (Kellogg Brown & Root)
• 2003 Not awarded
• 2004 Dr B Chesson (Alcoa of Australia Ltd)
• 2006 Mr C Eldridge (Ultra Trace Pty Ltd)
• 2008 Mr P Bannister (Ultra Trace Geoanalytical Laboratories)
• 2010 Dr Andrew Sierakowski (UWA)
• 2012 Dr John Bromly (Curtin University)
• 2014 Dr John Watling (Centre for Forensic Science, UWA)
• 2016 Mr Luke McGuiness (ALCOA)

The Batty Medal (an engraved bronze medal) is awarded usually at the AGM. The last medal was awarded to our very own Luke McGuiness in 2016. I am sure we have many deserving recipients within out membership who just need to be nominated. Please do get involved and help us award this medal to a deserving recipient this year. 

Let’s get our thinking caps on and consider who we should be highlighting. We should be thinking of members who would not normally have opportunities to publish their work but has made an outstanding contribution to chemistry, in particular, in the field of chemistry applied to industry or commerce, to the environment or to the quality of human life. Nominations should include a statement of contribution (500words) and the nominees’ current CV. 

Feedback is welcome: [email protected]

Tamsin Collins

WA Branch President

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