About the author - Chris Rehberg

Chris Rehberg holding a black-headed python

Chris was born and lives in Sydney, Australia.

He has had a fascination for wildlife since an early age. Nearly every school holiday was spent in the bush in the New England area of New South Wales. He still swears to this day that he discovered a giant cicada species in his youth which dwarfs the largest Australian cicada currently known to Western science.

It was on one of these trips that Chris' fascination for aquatic wildlife began. He brought home hundreds of fish from a small stream, only to learn later that they were a severe pest species. Having worked in and managed a number of aquarium stores during late high school and after completing school, Chris then began a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Biology with the University of Technology, Sydney.

Excellent grades in first year led to an industrial scholarship placement with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). Over the next 12 months Chris helped prepare biological specimens, conducted statistical analyses on freshwater fauna populations, ran breeding programs for native fish and developed image processing techniques for the preparation of electronic map data.

After returning to biological studies for a short time Chris withdrew, and instead spent the next 4 and a half years working in the retail sector, ultimately as a store manager. During this time he commenced a new Bachelor degree in Computing Science which he completed with Honours and a Diploma of Information Technology in 2005. In 2001 Chris commenced work with his current employer where he has filled roles in Technical Support, Software Development, Database Administration, Project Management, and as a Website Improvement Analyst.

Where Light Meets Dark was launched in 2006 in response to the publication of Klaus Emmerichs' alleged photos of a thylacine in Tasmania but Chris' fascination with the thylacine goes back further than he can remember. Although not trained in the forensic analysis of digital photographs, Chris takes a systematic and critical approach to his evaluation of photographic, film and other evidence for rare fauna. Each report is treated with respect and the assumption that the observer is recalling events to the best of their ability, as accurately as possible.

Chris Rehberg at Australia ZooChris Rehberg holding skull of Thylacoleo carnifexChris Rehberg hold a baby fence skink or snake-eyed skinkChris Rehberg with a crimson rosella on his headChris Rehberg hiking in south-west Tasmania on an expedition to find the Tasmanian tiger

Since its launch, Where Light Meets Dark has achieved a number of milestones, many of which have been made possible by the generous contributions of a large number of experts and professionals.

Also since 2006, Chris has contributed small amounts of voluntary work to two zoos and a wildlife rescue program. Together with Debbie Hynes he has launched a website dedicated to documenting the evidence for Tasmanian devils on mainland Australia called Mainland Devils. Where Light Meets Dark also documents his own search for the Eastern quoll on mainland Australia.

In 2009 Chris received sponsorship in order to conduct an expedition to search for the Tasmanian tiger in Tasmania. The trip became the subject of a Monster Quest episode - The Isle of the Lost Tiger.

Chris launched Wildlife Monitoring in 2009 - a retail business selling trail cameras to Australian, New Zealand and other markets. Since launch, his product line has grown from 3 camera models to over a dozen, including a new range of self-branded cameras in late 2011.

In 2011, Where Light Meets Dark was registered as a business entity (ABN 25 149 427 123), trading in NSW Australia. The business vision for WLMD is to offer camera based fauna surveys, to develop conservation-based education materials, and to offer wildlife photo prints for sale.