The 16 August 2025 Kilkivan Earthquake: a celebration of 90 years of Seismology @ UQ

Speaker

Dr Dion Weatherley

Abstract

At 9:49am local time on 16 August 2025, numerous southern Queensland residents were surprised by ground-shaking from a magnitude 5.6 earthquake that occurred in central Queensland near the town of Kilkivan. Whilst Queensland and Australia are not widely known for seismic activity, this earthquake was not unusual by geological standards. This seminar will analyse this earthquake in detail, providing information of where and how earthquakes occur within the Australian continent. Australia’s overall preparedness for earthquake hazards will also be discussed, including earthquake loading standards within the National Construction Code, urban search and rescue capabilities, and national seismic hazard assessment activities. This earthquake occurred in the same region as another notable Queensland earthquake, the 1935 Gayndah earthquake. That earthquake was of similar magnitude and was also widely felt by Qld and NSW residents. It was that earthquake that prompted Prof. W.H. Bryan to commence seismological research at UQ; an activity that has continued throughout the past 90 years and still supported by the Bryan Family Trust. To conclude this seminar, a brief history of seismology at UQ will be provided.

Bio

Dr. Dion Weatherley is a computational geophysicist at the JKRMC mostly known for use of high-performance computing to investigate underground mass-mining, comminution and minerals separation. However, Dion is also UQ’s Chief Seismologist and operates the university’s W.H. Bryan Seismograph Station at Mt Nebo. After completing a Bachelor of Science in Physics, Dion joined UQ’s QUAKES Centre where he completed a PhD in earthquake physics and later took charge of UQ’s seismic monitoring activities. In more recent years, Dion has been appointed as the earthquake subject matter expert for the Qld State Disaster Coordination Centre and regularly advises State Government departments on earthquake hazard mitigation.