Born in Brisbane, Australia in 1953, I grew up next door to the University of Queensland. Quite literally, the Vice-Chancellor Sir Zelman Cowan was my next-door neighbor, and it is not surprising that I was very interested in the future of the Great Barrier Reef at an early age. Outbreaks of coral-eating starfish were also of great concern to my parents who encouraged me in all areas of science. Their connection to the Reef goes back to before I was born but that is quite another story.
My future academic supervisor, Dr Robert Endean was a vocal opponent of the almost apathetic approach of both the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments to these recurring outbreaks. Even as an undergraduate student in the early 1970s, I could see that the full story of the crown-of-thorns starfish was not being told. The powerful tourist industry did not like to talk about coral-eating starfish and the mere thought that humans might somehow have caused or exacerbated the problem was not popular in both business and scientific circles.