ANGFA Life Members
Derek & Lorraine Girkin
Derek and Lorraine Girkin were, for well over a decade, the backbone of ANGFA New South Wales. Derek served as ANGFA NSW President as early as 1999 and for many years after, while Lorraine served as the club's Treasurer and Secretary for "well over 10 years."
The couple were fixtures of the annual ANGFA combined-clubs field trips throughout the 2000s, regularly co-authoring the trip reports with Mark Abell, Leo O'Reilly and others, surveying rivers and creeks from the Bellinger to the Hastings, the Clarence to Corindi Creek. Derek was also a key organiser of the 2009 ANGFA National Convention in Sydney, of which a fellow committee member wrote that Derek and the team were "slightly ahead of schedule which may be a first for ANGFA conventions."
This account is based upon their contributions found across ANGFA's publications.
Personal background
Derek and Lorraine's own field reports show a couple who fished and surveyed as a team, Lorraine very often the photographer to Derek's writer, on trips up and down the NSW coast in search of Rhadinocentrus ornatus and Melanotaenia populations at the southern edge of their range. Derek's account of a 2005 return visit to Corindi Creek recalls the particular satisfaction of finally netting the ornate rainbowfish there after having "seen the images, in Dr Gerry Allen's book, of the adjacent Cassons Creek" years earlier — the kind of long-held curiosity, quietly followed up over years, that runs through many of their reports.
Contributions to ANGFA Publications
- 5 authored/co-authored articles located across Fishes of Sahul, In-Stream and the Qld Newsletter 2 in Fishes of Sahul · 2 in In-Stream · 1 in the Qld Newsletter
- 3 further articles identified by byline in ANGFA News, including Derek's regular "ANGFA NSW Roundup" column
- ANGFA NSW President (Derek) and Treasurer/Secretary (Lorraine) for well over a decade, per ANGFA News committee listings and tributes
- Key organisers of the 2009 ANGFA National Convention in Sydney, and regular contributors to the annual ANGFA combined-clubs field trips throughout the 2000s
Featured contributions
The Sorong Rainbowfish Melanotaenia fredericki
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 16(2), 2002
"I had great affection for this species… we affectionately called them the Freddys." Derek's account of re-establishing his own breeding group of a rare New Guinea rainbowfish after a house move, with fry ultimately passed on to fellow NSW members to help secure the species in the hobby.
Return to Corindi Creek
ANGFA News, Issue 24, December 2005
"We all have our special places for looking at fish, this is one of mine." A short, personal account of relocating a population of Rhadinocentrus ornatus Derek had first read about years earlier, with photographs by Lorraine.
2006 ANGFA Combined Clubs Field Trip
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 21(3–4), 2007 — with Mark Abell
An 11-page account of the annual NSW/Qld combined field trip based at Urunga, in which Derek and Lorraine's Sunday survey group pushed south of the Bellinger catchment and helped establish Deep Creek as the most southerly confirmed locality for Rhadinocentrus ornatus.
Complete list of contributions
Sorted by publication, then chronologically. Co-authored pieces are included.
Fishes of Sahul (2)
- The Sorong rainbowfish Melanotaenia frederickiVol. 16(2) — Girkin, D.
- 2006 ANGFA combined clubs field tripVol. 21(3-4) — Abell. M. and Girkin, D.
In-Stream (2)
- A toxin by any other name.Vol. 9(2), Apr 2000 — Derek Girkin
- ANGFA NSW - Combined Field Trip - Nov 05 - Glen InnesVol. 15(1), Feb 2006 — Leo O’Reilly, Derek Girkin, & Mark Abell.
Qld Newsletter (1)
- Article - Melanotaenia eachamensis (Lake Eacham Rainbowfish) - RequestVol. 15(6), Nov 1999 — Derek Girkin President, ANGFA NSW