Club Meeting 15 June ’26. Speaker & Topic: Dr Col Limpus, UQ Adjunct Associate Professor – Turtle Conservation.

Topic: Turtle Conservation (working title – to be confirmed)

Introduction: C.T. White Lecture 2026

In recognition of his remarkable contribution to natural history and conservation, The Queensland Naturalists’ Club is honoured to welcome Dr Col Limpus as the presenter of the annual C.T. White Lecture for 2026. His lecture will reflect on a lifetime of turtle conservation, the challenges ahead, and the lessons learned from 50 years of dedicated field science.

About the Speaker

Dr Col Limpus AO PSM is internationally recognised as one of Australia’s foremost sea turtle scientists and has been a central figure in the conservation of marine turtles for over five decades. His life’s work has fundamentally shaped our understanding and protection of the endangered loggerhead turtle, particularly in Queensland.

Col’s journey into turtle conservation began in the 1960s, when he was working as a high school science teacher in North Queensland. During school holidays, he spent countless hours at Mon Repos near Bundaberg — now one of the world’s most significant turtle nesting and hatching sites — photographing, observing, and carefully recording turtle behaviour. What began as personal scientific curiosity grew into a lifelong commitment to marine conservation.

Over the next 50 years, Dr Limpus became the driving force behind many of Australia’s most significant sea turtle research and conservation programs. He completed his academic studies at The University of Queensland (BSc ’62, Grad Dip Ed ’63, MSc ’76, PhD ’85) while continuing intensive fieldwork, bridging rigorous science with practical conservation outcomes. He later served as Chief Scientist for the Aquatic Species Program within Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science.

Through sustained long-term monitoring, Dr Limpus led groundbreaking research into the biology, migration, reproduction, and breeding cycles of loggerhead turtles. His work has been critical in identifying and addressing major threats to turtle survival, including climate change, marine debris, commercial fishing impacts, and predation by introduced species such as foxes. Many of the conservation strategies now standard at nesting beaches across Australia were informed or directly developed through his research.

Dr Limpus retired in December 2024 after decades of public service, leaving an extraordinary legacy of scientific knowledge, conservation leadership, and mentoring of future marine scientists. His work at Mon Repos alone has helped transform a struggling turtle population into one of the great conservation success stories of Australia