Kangaroos at The Treehouse

The kangaroos have come onto campus for spring. We even had two hop by The Treehouse this week!

Welcome to CVC Felicity

It was wonderful to host Felicity Laurence, my PhD student at The Treehouse in Bathurst this week. The kangaroos all came onto campus to meet with her. We were able to meet with Dr Audrey Wang, Dr Nicola Ivory,  Emma Hayes and Emma Scanlon in person and Sarah Verdon online during the very productive week. Felicity also won a CSU cap during the student promotion of RUOK? day!

Kangaroo walk on Country to start CVC2026

 CVC affiliates gathered at the Kangaroo Walk behind CSU to spend an hour acknowledging the traditional custodians and Wiradjuri land as the first event of CVC2026. Over 100 local kangaroos were there to greet us.

 

Bathurst Regional Council | Cultural & Community Services

I was invited by Cultural & Community Services at Bathurst Regional Council to speak to their team as part of their ongoing professional development and sector engagement program. It was as wonderful opportunity to speak about the Children's Voices Centre and all of the fantastic research, professional development and children's advocacy work we are doing in Bathurst and around the world. My presentation was held in the Motor Racing Museum on Mt Panorama and the following people were invited:

• Director Cultural & Community Services | Dan Cove
• Manager Community Services | Megan Bargwanna
• Manager Museums & Gallery | Amanda Crews
• Manager Library Services | Patou Clerc and Victoria (Tori)
• Manager Entertainment Centre | Graham McNab
• Manager Tourism & Visitor Services | Melinda Hadley
• Manager Events | Hannah Welch
• Assistant to DCCS | Alison Armstrong

Sharynne  with Patou Clerc, Manager of Library Services

CVC visiting scholar Dr Zinnia Mevawalla: Kangaroos and sunsets

Our visiting scholar Dr Zinnia Mevawalla, joined A/Prof Kathy Cologon and myself to meet the CSU kangaroos and enjoy the sunset over Bathurst. It was a perfect rural Australian moment during her visit.

There were too many kangaroos to count!

We saw the rare albino kangaroo on Mt Panorama!

 

A colourful time of year

It is autumn (fall) at The Treehouse. This evening a king parrot was looking stunning amongst the autumn leaves.

A few days later outside my window...

Sharynne, Tamara, Emma with the CSU elm trees

Poplar trees are gorgeous across the Central West at this time of year

Bathurst speech pathologists' dinner

 It is always such fun to meet with my local Bathurst speech pathologists. Last night we met for dinner at a local restaurant.

 

It was lovely to 

• meet new graduate speech pathologists who have moved to Bathurst from studying at Australian Catholic University
• reconnect with members of the Waiting for Speech Pathology NSW Translational Research Grant team: Emily Davis, Sally Thornton (Dubbo) and Angela Roberts
• meet new babies
• say hello to many friends and hear about what they are doing. 

Waiting for Speech Pathology team: Sharynne, Emily Davis, Sally Thornton, Angela Roberts 

Here are some of the things we created as part of the Waiting for Speech Pathology NSW Translational Research Grant:

Website: https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/wnswlhd/services/speech-pathology

McLeod, S., Davis, E., Rohr, K., McGill, N., Miller, K., Roberts, A., Thornton, S., Ahio, N., & Ivory, N. (2020). Waiting for speech-language pathology services: A randomised controlled trial comparing therapy, advice and device. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22(3), 372–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2020.1731600 

Sharynne  and Emily Davis

Bathurst speech pathologists (verbal permission was given to include everyone including babies on my blog)

 

CSU Townhall and morning tea

 Today at the CSU Townhall the senior executive provided positive news and clear direction for 2026.

 

Sharynne, A/Prof Tamara Cumming, Andrew (4th year dentistry student) and Vice Chancellor Renee Leon at the staff morning tea

CSU welcomes people from across Australia and across the world

I was very honoured to show a new CSU student around the university today - and to watch her proudly add a sticker to the world map indicating where she was born. I added a sticker to where I was born as well.

Welcome to The Treehouse Holly and Merlin

It was lovely to welcome my PhD student Holly McAlister and her dog Merlin to The Treehouse (CSU Bathurst) this week. While visiting, she and Wiebke Freese (visiting PhD scholar from University of Lubeck, Germany) spent time together looking through some of the speech tests I have gathered from across the globe).

Sharynne  McLeod, Holly McAlister, Wiebke Freese, Shukla Sikder

 

Welcome Wiebke Freese, visiting CVC from Germany

Welcome to Wiebke Freese who is a PhD student at the University of Lubeck (Universität zu Lübeck), Germany who is visiting the Children's Voices Centre and The Treehouse on the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University. It is a joy to host her. 

Wiebke's supervisor is Prof Annette Fox-Boyer - a long-term colleague who has taught me a lot about German children's speech. Interestingly, Dr Sarah Masso, my previous PhD student undertook her postdoctoral scholarship with Annette a few years ago. Last time I saw Wiebke and Annette was at the ICPLA conference in Patras Greece.

 

A/Prof Tamara Cumming, Wiebke Freese and Prof Sharynne McLeod at the Children's Voices Centre

 

Weibke has been welcomed by CSU kangaroos, beautiful skies, and friendly colleagues.

Welcome Wiebke

Kangaroos on CSU's Bathurst campus

Sunset on Wiebke's first night in Bathurst

Bathurst's Machattie Park

Wiebke in The Beehive at The Treehouse

Wiebke's bee-inspired gifts for The Treehouse