John Ottaway started his environmental career in January 1970. He has been a Member of the Association since 1987, and a Fellow since 1998.

Immediately after completing a BSc (Hons) at the University of Adelaide, John commenced an initial three years’ work for Dr Robert Carrick of CSIRO, heading up a small field research team investigating the population ecology of silver gulls in southeastern Australia – principally between Adelaide and Melbourne. The study was based on about 16,500 seagulls, mostly banded on breeding colonies on small offshore islands, with specially–designed unique leg bands so the birds could be individually identified while un-recaptured and free-living.

On receiving an Australian Commonwealth Government postgraduate scholarship for overseas studies, he then completed PhD studies at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, on the population ecology of the intertidal anemone Actinia tenebrosa, at Kaikoura.

In 1977, he returned to South Australia to take up appointments in academia, teaching undergraduate courses in marine ecology and ornithology, and continuing research on silver gulls and sea anemones. Commencing in 1979, on an Australian Government postdoctoral Queen’s Fellowship in Marine Science, John then worked for two years on soft-substrates epibenthic community dynamics in St Vincents Gulf.

For the three years 1981–1983, he was leader of a small team studying tropical, soft-sediment marine epibenthic communities, immediately offshore from Abbot Point, Queensland (about 190 km southeast of Townsville), related to the environmental impacts of the construction of a major new ship–loading facility located 5 km west of the inshore boundary of the Central Section of the Great Barrier Reef.

In March 1984, John was appointed Chief Environmental Officer in the WA Department of Conservation and Environment, heading applied multidisciplinary marine ecological studies in the Dampier Archipelago, the Albany harbours and the Perth northern metropolitan coastal waters. Among many other projects, John's teams successfully completed studies and advised the WA EPA on the setting up of the Marmion Marine Park and the Hillarys Boat Harbour complex (including drafting the management plans for those), and on the likely impacts and appropriate environmental conditions for an undersea crude oil and gas pipeline, an international telecommunications cable, treated wastewater effluent pipelines, ship groundings (Korean Star, Sanko Harvest), a ship foundering (Kirki), a new fishing boat harbour, several marinas, and a significant oil spill into the harbour containing racing yachts brought to Western Australia to compete for the America’s Cup – the last being with the WA Government’s emergency cleanup response conducted under the continuous gaze of international television camera crews.

In 1988, John was assigned to the newly created Pollution Prevention Division as Assistant Director. At various times over the next 11 years he managed the departmental teams responding to pollution impacts on soil, air, groundwater and water bodies, managing responses to noise complaints, and managing contaminated sites cleanups. He was then assigned to Waste Management Division, regulating across WA waste disposal, transport, and/or treatment. He also had substantial periods leading regulatory (forensic) investigations into alleged pollution events and advising Directors General and Ministers on the appropriate regulatory responses, including on numerous occasions being the WA Government’s principal technical witness for successful prosecutions through the Courts.

Another major assignment was successfully leading the development of and community engagement for new waste and resource recovery legislation, and the regulations, which were all passed through Parliament unchanged and in near-record minimum times. In parallel to all that, John had periods of Executive Officer to the WA Environmental Protection Authority, Executive Officer to the Waste Management Board, Executive Officer to the Waste Management Authority, and Principal Consultant (Environmental) to Directors General.

After over 25 years of WA Government service, and receiving awards and numerous high–level commendations for that, in 2009, John became a sole trader ESH consultant, working for mining companies, resources industry support companies, and Government agencies in Australia and overseas. In addition to Australia and New Zealand, he has worked in China, Mongolia, Scotland, Wales and briefly in England.

Currently, John is is continuing his environmental work, though now part-time, for the Australian Government.