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For border communities, one of the big frustrations and challenges of last summer s bushfire disaster was the way that fire information stopped at borders.
At one point, a map projecting the possible spread of the Orroral Valley fire in the ACT stopped at the NSW border. the fire would eventually destroy homes in bordering NSW communities.
The bushfire royal commission also called for better communication across borders both among agencies, and also in how those agencies communicate with the public
CSIRO s data research arm Data 61, is on it.
Senior principal research scientist Dr Mahesh Prakash told Anna Vidot about the Spark tool they are developing, to predict and map fire spread, and to do that consistently, nationally, regardless of borders.
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A collection of almost 2000 Indigenous artefacts is back on Australian shores, and will be returned to their communities where their provenance can be identified.
The collection, which includes ancient stone tools and ceremonial items, was given to The Israel Museum in Jerusalem in the 1970s.
Their return is part of the Return of Cultural Heritage program, and is led by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra.
Its chief executive Craig Ritchie spoke to Drive about the significance of this collection, the joy of working with a museum which was also delighted by the return of these items, and what will happen to them next.