For some, having your "head in the clouds" might indicate a lack of focus and determination. Simon Cherriman (Wb 99-01) is dreaming but, with his eyes firmly to the sky to capture footage of the majestic wedge-tailed eagle, it is his dream of realising a better world that has won acclaim at the 2010 Australian Geographic Society Awards. It was at this award ceremony in Sydney that Simon was named the Young Conservationist of the Year.

Growing up in Perth's Hills had a profound effect on Simon and it was during these formative years that he developed a keen interest in the flora and fauna, particularly birds, of the Australian bush. This led to an Environmental Biology degree at Curtin University with Honours, achieved by conducting research on territory size and dietary patterns of wedge-tailed eagles in the Perth region. To help fund his studies and also as an extension of passion for wildlife, Simon conducted guided tours of the Karakamia Wildlife Sanctuary.

Simon has turned to the medium of film to help educate others about wider environmental issues in Australia and in 2008 his first film, A King on Outstretched Wings, played a part in Simon winning the WA Environmental Young Person of the Year award.

His continued love of nature filming has led Simon to the University of Otago in New Zealand, where he is completing a Masters in Natural History Filmmaking. Soon he hopes to finish his second documentary filmed in WA and cleverly entitled A Wedged Tale.

Here is an excerpt form Simon's book that he hopes to publish next year….

And then it appeared. It dawned on me, my position in the world at that moment. All I could think was wow, repeatedly.
Reaching the summit had sent me into another world in every possible way. I'd returned to the past, when trees of this calibre dominated the hills environment. Time slowed down. Emergent trees of the jarrah forest were left behind me metres below. The clouds had never felt so near. Perth would have looked closer if I was standing on Sydney Harbour Bridge. My mum's voice seemed muffled, struggling to reach this altitude. And still, as high as I was in this immense jarrah, the eagle nest was above me.

My legs dangled from the limb on which I sat. This branch was thicker that the main trunk of most trees I'd climbed before. And it was a smaller vein of the giant wooden artery that comprised this Jarrah tree. Dried eagle scats, like white chalk-powder, stained other limbs below me. And the vegetation. I remember in particular a large Bull Banksia, its jagged-edged leaves looking as though someone had tipped splotches of white paint on them. At least twenty metres below me. Tiny.

The view out over the surrounding landscape went on forever. A silver sheen of mist over the dark hills nearer to me progressively lightened beyond each ridgeline, giving the distant valleys a clouded, unreachable look. The phone tower in Sawyers Valley, fifteen kilometres away, looked like a match-stick. Perth's characteristic skyline, thirty-five k's in the distance, was just visible. Deepening colours of the day's end enriched this flat horizon. To the north the ground sloped slowly upward from the base of the nest tree, giving me visions of nothing but eucalypt canopy.

And it was in that direction that I saw the eagles. Perched in the dead branches of a prominent Jarrah about a hundred metres away. Their silhouetted shapes, and size, were unmistakable. Aquila audax. Unless the bird was soaring above, it was not often that you could locate the source of that pairs of eyes. You knew they were watching from somewhere, but usually this location remained a secret. Today, I had the commanding view. I had hardly any feeling of being in a tree, but in the sky only with the eagles.


Photo 1: Simon patiently waits to capture the elusive wedge-tailed eagle on film.
Photo Courtesy of Simon Cherriman.


Photo 2: The amazing wedge-tailed eagle in full flight.

Guildford Grammar School held a moving Anzac Day Service to commemorate 79 former students who lost their lives in World War II. The Service was the second in a series of commemorative events leading up to the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli in 2015.

Held in front of the historic Chapel of St Mary and St George, students placed commemorative plaques and red poppies onto 79 specially made white crosses, signifying those from the School who lost their lives in World War II. Each student placing a plaque was provided with information on their soldier, to help them gain an understanding of who the men were and the sacrifices they made for their country. Media students prepared a special video presentation, which was shown on a large-screen, prior to the plaques being placed on the crosses.

This year, the Service was open to all members of the School community, with the Preparatory School Choir accompanying the 28-piece band, Silver Threads. Special invitations were extended to 150 guests, all of whom are related to the fallen soldiers.