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'Handing' over the website to the College of Marine Studies
(L-R) Michelle Kelly - Byron Web Solutions, Phillip Walters from COMS, Julia Williamson - singer / songwriter of college jingle and Dan Hannaford - singer / songwriter on COMS website
'College aims to revive marine skills'
Byron Shire Echo - July 29, 2008
'Where the spirit of the land meets the spirit of the sea’. This is the refrain of the song written by Julia Williamson for the proposed College of Marine Studies (COMS), in Brunswick Heads.
The realisation of the college is the wish of local shipwright Phil Walters. Phil and his crew of dedicated like-minded folk have the dream of creating a school based in Brunswick Heads which will be the centre for teaching skills that are in danger of disappearing, such as wooden boat building and eventually COMS hope to run courses in all marine industry employment areas such as marine surveying, sail making, radio control and marine hospitality. read more
'Hopes for marine college'
Byron Shire News - July 3, 2008
Christian Havet has finished a degree in Environmental Science at Southern Cross University, but to acquire a job in the field requires further study - study that he would love to be able to undertake locally.
"After uni there's not much offering," he said.
Christian is one of many local young people eagerly awaiting the day when the Brunswick Heads College of Marine Studies becomes a reality, so that he can do the further study that will allow him to follow his chosen path in the industry. read more
'Brunswick Heads get its own whale'
Byron Shire News - June 19, 2008
Brunswick Heads has a new baby, a very large baby with a distinctive tail, named Yolanda, and now the proposed Brunswick Heads College of Marine Studies hopes that it too will have a new baby this year.
Yolanda the humpback whale has been photographed a number of times by Trish Franklin of The Oceania Project, at Hervey Bay where she journeys each year, and she has been chosen by Trish and Wally Franklin as the whale for Brunswick Heads to adopt. read more
Steve Foreman (left) Far North Coast Surfing Coach pictured with Phil Walters at the National Whale Day celebration in Byron Bay in June 2008.
A marine college for Brunswick Heads is one step closer now that the State Government has shown its support for the concept with $11,500 to help the college develop a business plan and website.
The college has been the dream of local shipwright Phil Walters since he saw the writing on the wall for the boatbuilding industry more than four years ago.
"The boating industry has prime real estate," said Phil, "and so it is frequently squeezed out by development.
"It happened on the Gold Coast where I worked, and it has happened in Sydney several times, where a boating business was closed down and redeveloped for residential.
"I didn't want this to happen in Brunswick Heads." read more
