Tribute from Alison Rickert

The measure of a man is how much he cares for those who work for and with him, the measure of a scientist is how much dedication, curiosity and exactitude he brings to his work. By both measures Don was exemplary.
I had the great pleasure of working for Don as his research assistant from 1971-1972 while I was based on the One Tree Island research station. MY husband Steve Domm and I were given the extraordinary opportunity to pioneer a field station for the Australian Museum in Sydney whilst at the same time carrying out research for various scientists based at or affiliated with the museum. DOn was at this stage venturing into marine research in his holiday time while working as a food chemist to earn a living. He was one of those rare breed of scientist who combined a good mind with great practical skills, the latter of which were invaluable operating from a fledgling field station that was very basic in terms of equipment. At the time we began our research there was no laboratory and only tents for accommodation.

Don built the oxygen monitoring probes that we used to assess the productivity of the the reefs we were studying, not an "off the shelf" man at all! In the early days I had to sleep out in my boat a km from the Island to monitor every half an hour to obtain overnight readings. I became expert at the cat nap, sample for 10 minutes, sleep for 20 minutes all through the night. To spare me these sleepless nights, in our second year he built an ingenious 24 hour monitoring device that I winched up on a pole that he installed on our main research pool, that recorded the readings from the oxygen probe on a paper sheet mounted on a drum that advanced as time passed.

But the main gratitude and memories centred around the wonderful times I shared with him and his family at One Tree Island as we both ventured into marine science, myself just 24 years old and very new to marine science and island pioneering life and he venturing from being an industrial chemist to becoming a marine researcher which was where his passion lay. He and barbara shared a great appreciation for the beauty of the reef and I loved watching his very young children learning to snorkel and explore this amazing world.

He always made sure my working conditions were as a safe and comfortable as possible but he cared deeply at a personal level for my well being and all those who worked with or for him. In April 1972 we experienced a severe cyclone on OTI with only hours of notice as in those days there were no satellite weather stations, and forecasting was in its infancy. He was the only team member to check that we were still alive via the emergency radio channels...this was before the days of mobile or satellite phones. We survived by hiding under an upturned dingy in the centre of the island which was only 400m circumference and only 2-3 m height above high tide level! When barbara was bitten by one of our multitudinous OTI centipedes he stayed up all night watching her to make sure she survived! Now that is devotion!

He and barbara kept in touch with me over the intervening forty years and always called in to visit on their trips up and down the qld coast.

I would also like to pay tribute to Barbara who stood beside him and supported his dreams. She willingly and generously gave up the security of their well paid jobs and north Sydney lifestyle so that he could make the career change to marine biology. He ultimately became a very respected marine scientist who made many significant contributions to our understanding of the Great Barrier Reef and as director of GBRMPA steered this organisation through its early years, giving it a very firm foundation so that it could so effectively manage many aspects of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park's management.
He will be greatly missed as a friend and mentor and as a scientist of great integrity!