New Members Of The ARS Council

August 12, 2026

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Two new Council office bearers were elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Society in May.  David Gallacher was elected to the position of Secretary and Director and Niilo Gobius was elected to the position of General Council Member with the roles of secretarial support and Secretariate of the Publications Committee. Both positions are for four year terms.

David and Niilo were elected following the retirement of Director and Secretary Bob Shepherd, who completed his second and final term on Council. Bob has made an outstanding contribution to the Society, combining his expertise, dedication and professionalism to support both the Council and the Publications Committee. We sincerely thank Bob for everything he has given to the Society and are delighted that he will remain involved in the future.

Secretary – David Gallacher

David’s wandering career has gone between agricultural production and conservation, so it was probably inevitable that he ended up in a rangelands society. His longest professional stint was two decades in Dubai where he attempted to expose the ecological cost of camels across the Arabian Peninsula. He also played with drones a bit. Before that he spent a year in Vietnam, volunteering for ACIAR on pig industry development.

David came from a farm in Dja Dja Wurrrung country (central Victoria), studied agriculture at Melbourne, did a PhD in sugarcane at James Cook, and has wandered through four other Australian universities on projects to do with Asian vegetables, Ag Tech, and olives. He now works for the Drought Hub based in Darwin, funding activities for farmers and pastoralists across the NT and northern WA.

David has largely given up his drone habit for cycling. On holidays he likes to find a remote part of the world to wander around in.

David can be contacted at secretary@ausrangesoc.com.au.

Secretarial support – Niilo Gobius

I have also had extensive experience integrating spatial on-ground data and remote sensing products in Queensland’s Far North to monitor trends in Land condition. Lately I have enjoyed using the Breedcow and Bullocks economics tools to assess beef business’ to investigate how they can improve profitability. I’d say my core skills are with grazing land management and ruminant nutrition, GIS and a bit of remote sensing. My passion is profitable beef business from land in good condition.

Out of work I love bushwalking, squash, pickleball, musical theatre, singing, guitar and ukulele, and messing around with our own steers that we fatten near Malanda, on the Atherton Tablelands.

Nil can be contacted on 0474 345 276 or by email at admin@austrangesoc.com.au