We had the privilege of hosting University of Melbourne civil engineering student, Eugenia Chong (Gene), during an 8-week summer internship with the Invergowrie Program.
Gene joined the MDBA River Operations team at our Mildura office in Victoria from October 2023 to January 2024.
Helping with the daily river operations, Gene had an opportunity to work on projects within the team, but she also took ownership of her own project. She was involved in long-term system planning, planning for the environment, and learnt the steps involved in decision making processes.
“I learnt about specialising in water management, which students don’t learn about until we select a specialisation to study, which happens later this year,” says Gene.
On top of learning about water management, Gene participated in a wide range of river management projects. She accompanied the Executive Director of River Operations Andrew Reynolds, and General Manager of Assets Angus Patton, out to Menindee Lakes and Lake Victoria.
“Being able to accompany Andrew and Angus was such a rare opportunity. Not many people have been able to go out and see Lake Victoria and Menindee Lakes. I even had the opportunity to go out on the weirs.”
Gene took full advantage of her time in the region by exploring other parts of the Basin as well.
“I went out to 7 locks and weirs in the Basin, most recently, I drove to Renmark in South Australia.”
In her final week at MDBA, Gene wrote part of the River Murray Weekly Report, which also featured some photos she captured. If you haven’t looked at them yet, go and check out the 31 January report. What a great way to finish out her time with us.
The Invergowrie Program is designed to build student’s understanding of local industry and develop valuable career skills and networks. During Gene’s 8 weeks in Mildura, she was supported by Mallee Regional Innovation Centre. The program is funded by the Invergowrie Foundation.
