A short life’s journey into Timor-Leste

Our guest speaker Ashley Siedlecki gave us a brief description of his career to date, starting with his involvement with RYLA in 2015. 

 

He visited India in 2018 and participated in a University Exchange in 2020. He did Honours research with Boclone Risk, & Oaktre in 2021. He was a Monash Research Assistant into Youth Underemployment in Timor-Leste, and a Forestry Certification Officer for xpand Foundation in 2022.

In 2023 he commenced a PhD at RMIT on Cyclone Monitoring, and work in Pacific Climate Services at the Bureau of Meteorology. In 2023 he married, and spent his honeymoon in Timor, and in 2024 he had his first BoM trip to Niue in the South Pacific.

In focussing on Timor, he described its History, Geography and Uncertain Future. He described the struggles for independence from Portugal in 1975 and the intervention of Indonesia. He reminded us of Australia’s involvement after the killing of five journalists in Bilbao, and how Radio Maubere struggled to maintain a link with the rest of the world. Eventually peace was achieved, but the question of ownership of the oil-rich Timor Gap remains unsettled to this day. 

He described how the mountainous topography of Timor is caused by rising tectonic plates and a heavy clay soil, with heavy rain and run-off. This limits the area available for agriculture.

Ashley intentionally left time for questions from the audience, which elicited the need for education and improvement of farming methods, The involvement of China and Indonesia was discussed and the need for a settlement on the Timor Gap oil ownership. Not using mules for transport in the terrain (as in the Andes) seems to be a cultural thing.

Ashley gave an encouraging picture of friendship and aid to Timor, through community groups such as Australia East Timor Association, Monash Friends of Vemasse and Friends of Baguia.

MC Angela Taft thanked Ashley for his informative presentation.