Class Notes

Updated July 2025

A former Burgmann Sports Rep (2017) and BRA President (2018), Ollie moved to the United States after graduating from the ANU, where he is now completing a PhD in Integrated Composition, Improvisation & Technology at the University of California, Irvine. His creative work blends new media performance, acoustic ecology, and site-specific art, including an ongoing project in the Mojave Desert exploring sonic feedback through native timber, and a recent performance in Canberra at New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) 2025, an ‘international conference about new musical interfaces, their artistic use and the technologies involved in building them’.

Ollie and his musical collaborator performed their site-specific project Xylocyclos at NIME2025 [pictured], using foraged timber interfaces from Galambary, or Black Mountain, on Ngunnawal country. They performed with bark and branches from various gum trees, and ‘a particularly exciting follicle cone of Wallum Banksia (Banksia aemula)’.

Ollie’s studies have taken him around the world, with performances across Australia, the USA, Canada, and Europe. He encourages current Burgmann residents to step beyond their comfort zones, both academically and socially, saying that enroling in courses outside his department helped spark new ideas and lasting connections.

‘I think my reflection on my time at Burgmann would be that I found the College to be an amazing springboard into other opportunities,’ said Ollie. ‘I'd encourage ressies to get involved both at College and beyond, since ANU offers such a huge range of students and student activities. I’d encourage ressies to push themselves beyond their program and their regular College life.

‘I tried to take one class outside my department every semester as a way of meeting new faces and ideas, and I have carried that through to my graduate studies. Even as a grad student, I try to enrol in one course each semester in a totally different department as a way of meeting new faces and hearing new ideas. Even when I'm totally out of my depth, it forces me to think in different and unexpected ways.’

Updated Autumn 2025

Rob worked in operations developing softwood plantations in southern NSW before doing a Masters in the UK and becoming a forestry consultant, working all over Australia, New Zealand and Asia. He currently serves as the Chair the Board of Sustainable Timber Tasmania, and as a Director of Forestry Corporation of NSW, and as a Board member of the Bega Circular Economy (Regional Circularity Co-operative Ltd) initiative led by Bega Cheese. He runs a small forest and farm with his wife Sarah near Pambula.

Updated Autumn 2025

Jenny has enjoyed a career in Public Relations and Corporate Affairs and in not-for-profits, and is the CEO of Clean Up Australia.

Updated Autumn 2025

John worked in Sydney’s legal field and is a member of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), a mediator, and NSW Supreme Court Costs Assessor.