PERSONAL PROFILE
As at September 2005

Name/ Nickname:
Dan Cherry / Big Dan/Buster/Cheza

Age: 36

Family? (Marital status?):
Married Carla

Current job/Role?
Senior Surveyor (Pegasus Technical)

What's the best advice your Parents ever gave to you?
Enjoy Life

What's your claim to fame?

What's your personal motto?
Lead from the front & have Fun

What makes you happy?
Good friends & parting on

What makes you angry?
Engineers/Poor management/People who won’t try

What's the most romantic thing you've done?
Designed my wife’s engagement ring

CAREER HISTORY

Career to date?
3yrs Arco-Gordonstone/11 yrs BMA-Crinum/Gregory

Career Influences?
Keith Drower - Gave me a start & guidance in Mine surveying

Career highlight (biggest achievement)?
Too many to pick one

Career shocker?
Developing into a longwall block down a gateroad

Career goals?
To be a self employed surveyor with all available qualifications

SURVEY WORK / PEOPLE

What is your perception on the future of Mine Surveying?
- Poor in Qld if the Board does not see the advantages of working with the current diminishing industry surveyors & helping building their ranks
- NSW will show the way if it continues its current direction

What is the best piece of survey equipment/technology/software that you have used & why?
S6 (sorry Humphrey!) Trimble has certainly fixed the problems of their earlier total stations.

What is the oldest piece of survey equipment that you have used?
Nothing older than a the ever faithful T1’s & T2’s

Who's the strangest/funniest/unorthodox survey character that you've met so far (and why)?
Who to choose? I have not met a surveyor that is straight! I thought it was a prerequisite to enter this profession!

Who do you admire most in the surveying profession - past or present (and why)?
All surveyors deserve commendation for what they endure and still keep on striving to improve workplaces, practices & engineers!

What's the most contentious survey issue in your workplace at the moment? (eg. Hours of work, $$, career path, poor planning/scheduling, technology/equipment improvements, field experience, housing, training ...???)
Amount of available personnel & equipment

If you were the boss for a day - list 3 things you would change?
- Survey Team Numbers
- Equipment
- Salaries

What factor attracted you to work in the mining industry as opposed to other survey disciplines?
Loved to work underground

Would you recommend a career in surveying to a grade 12 school student? Why? If not, what career would you recommend?
- Absolutely
- You can achieve so much inside the profession as well as branching outside the profession. There are no boundaries (pardon the pun!) to what a surveyor can achieve.

Sports/Hobbies
Golf/Soccer/Indoor Cricket/Whatever is played in a pub!

How do you relax?
Computer Games/Visiting different places with my wife

Where would be your ideal retirement location?
On an island in the Whitsundays

Favourite food/drink?
Curries & Scotch

Finally, if you were down to your last $10 what would you spend it on?
Beer (its cheaper than Scotch)