District Governor Ian McKay visited our club last Thursday and inspired members to follow the theme of Rotary International President Gordon McInally - "Create Hope in the World". Ian challenged us to keep up the effort to rid the world of Polio once and for all, and to give due attention to the world-wide crisis in anxiety and depression by supporting research programs like Australian Rotary Health. See "Read more..." for more pix.

Whilst at the club last Thursday, DG Ian (left) made PHF Multi-Recognitions to four of our club members. Multi-recognitions are presentations to people who have continued to donate money to the Rotary Foundation - in amounts of US $1000 - after receiving their initial Paul Harris Fellow recognition. PP Alison Teese and Club Treasurer John Williamson (middle) were both presented with Double Sapphire pins, and President Geoff and PP Meryl (right) were presented with Major Donor pins and the accompanying crystal trophy for Major Donors.

On Friday, DG Ian McKay visited the Bristol Hill Tower area and Pioneer Cemetery to check out the club's vision to work with other community groups and develop the area and possibly use it, in the future, as some form of Peace Park. Ian is pictured standing beside the Pioneer's memorial cross imagining the area as a future peace park or possibly a memorial to victims of family violence.

Governance committees met last Thursday to develop their strategies for the coming weeks. Pictured is the Membership committee supplemented by two visitors on the night, Geoff and Laurie. See "Read more..." for pix of other committees.

PE Bec Lowery provided members with a great introduction to the Rotary Showcase at last Thursday's meeting. The presentation was the same one that Bec gave at the recent RLI week-end in Hamilton (pictured) and is available for download and viewing on our club website. On the left side of the Home page under the calendar and under the "Site Pages" heading, click Rotary Resources and Ideas, and then "Ink Spots" and then "INK 92 - Rotary Showcase Overview"

Dr Jonathan Haidt engaged our members last Thursday through a video of him speaking at an Educational Symposium in the USA during 2019. Haidt argued and continues to claim that Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) are facing serious problems in life such as anxiety and depression largely because of the negative effects of social media and the practice of over-protecting anti-fragile kids. You can watch the full 30-minute talk and 30 minutes of questions on YouTube at

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87_iQMiZ09g&t=2233s or search in YouTube for "#EIE19 Keynote Jonathan Haidt" See "Read more..." for more pix and his solutions.

Rtn Tracey Smith delighted members yet again with a well-prepared fun segment for our final meeting in August. Trace came up with a "Famous Footwear" quiz and members had to guess the famous identities wearing the footwear on the screen (can you guess the one on the screen at left?). If you guessed wrong, you had to use the Charades or Pictionary methods to inform the rest of the members of the right answer. It was a lot of fun, and we discovered many hidden talents and treasure troves of trivial knowledge in our members and partners. Thanks again Trace for a great event. 

Congratulations to PE Bec Lowery for completing her Rotary Leadership Institute Training today and qualifying as an RLI Graduate. Bec put in many hours to complete the course that extended over three separate days and covered a wide range of leadership topics such as Effective Leadership, Building Stronger Clubs, International Service, Public Image and Public Relations, Strategic Planning, Membership Development, Team Building, Club Communication, Rotary Ethics, and Service Projects. The course is ideal for any members who are contemplating leadership positions in Rotary, or for anyone wanting to know more about how Rotary works. Thanks, Bec, for giving Rotary your valuable time!

PP "Mallee" Rowe provided members with a detailed description of his recent course, along with Murray Henderson, to complete a qualification to be able to put out road signs that can stop or change the speed of traffic. The qualification is required for them to be able to put out the traffic signs for our upcoming Tri Circuit Bike Ride. The great thing is that the course also qualifies them to be "lollypop" men. Both guys are to be applauded for sticking out the four-hour course which, we are told, will some day soon become a seven-day challenge! Oh well, at least some trainers will be kept in work.

Last Thursday, PP Derrick and Karen Marsden shared their experiences of their recent trip to Samoa where Derrick played in a cricket tournament. The cricket was memorable, but so were their times with the wonderfully friendly people and the beautiful environment. Whilst there, Karen visited a home for abandoned babies and was so moved by the sad circumstances surrounding two of the infants that she nearly adopted them! Thanks Derrick and Karen! 

Our Board met last Tuesday and a completed a productive meeting. Vocational Director Meryl gave notice of a Vocational visit on October 14th, the venue still to be confirmed. Treasurer John provided a report on funds yet to be allocated from fundraisers during the last three years and it was moved that, subject to member approval, $1000 be sent to the Toilet Warrior as a follow up to his talk last year, $1000 be donated to ROMAC as a follow up to the visit by AG Jill Oliver recently, $1000 be donated to Australian Rotary Health for work on mental well-being when DG Ian visits us later this month, and $3000 be made available for local literacy development and issues to be raised by forthcoming speakers e.g., the local homelessness issue. $3000 will be donated to the Rotary Foundation and also used to fund Paul Harris Fellow Recognitions during this Rotary year, and $3000 has been set aside for our Sri Lankan project with efforts currently being made to reestablish links with the community to which we had originally directed the funds. Members present at Thursday's meeting voted approval of these plans.

Our updated club badges arrived this week and are available to members at club meetings. The new badges have the word "Club" attached to our logo and a slightly different cloud arrangement for clarity. We also gave members the opportunity to determine their own classification statement or not have one at all. Members may either take the badges with them or leave them at the club from week to week - whatever suits.

Wildlife Rescuer, Rob Armstrong shared at last week's meeting, his passionate concerns about the fate of Koala Bears in our area. Rob argues that Koalas are not as plentiful and safe as a species as is suggested in some "official" channels, so he wants farmers, landowners and service groups in the Maryborough area to consider the idea of growing the appropriate gum trees in the form of access corridors between known Koala feeding areas. He also wants our Council to consider launching a public awareness campaign to encourage drivers to slow down to 80kph in areas where koalas may cross main roads.

"Olly" Maher has collected over 44kg of ring pulls from drink cans to support the supply of wheelchairs to young disabled people who are struggling to afford such necessities. Last Thursday, he sought feedback from Rotarians on where his bags of ring pulls could be sold and suggested that Rotarians might join him in collecting the pulls for this cause. Ring pulls may be left with PP Noel Jennings at the Country Trends store in High Street, Maryborough.

I first started thinking about a "career" in 1963, when I was listening to the radio late at night. It was when I first heard the Beatles on radio, and they were singing, "From Me to You". I loved it, and at that moment I knew I wanted to be a "pop" star. So, I started learning guitar and within a year I was in a band and writing songs. I was lucky my brother owned an entertainment agency, so he got me quite a few gigs. However, within a couple of years I knew I wasn't good enough to make a living as a pop star and whilst I loved the rock'n'roll, I was scared of the "drugs and sex" that everyone believed was part of the scene.  At the end of form 5, I had no clue what I should do for a living. My father got me into a part time course of electrical engineering, but I didn't really like it. When I told my Form teacher I had no clue, she simply said, "You are meant to be a teacher." So that's what I did. See "Read more..."

Our club's Service committees conducted their first face to face meetings for this Rotary year on August 10th. Together, members planned ways we can create hope in the world over the coming 11 months. Pictured in action is the Community Service committee chaired by PP Leigh Williamson. See "Read more..." for images of the International Service, Vocational Service and Youth Service Committees.

PP Robert "Mallee" Rowe shared his Vocational Classification through an interview with Rotarian Max at our last meeting. Mallee discovered his "calling" in life when he was sitting in a pub, even though his mum had warned him that nothing good will come out of being in a pub before lunch! At that pub, a mysterious guy came up to Mallee and told him he should be a Civil Engineer. Click "Read more..."

Six Maryborough Rotarians (can you find them in the pic?) travelled through the rain to Ballarat last Thursday evening to enjoy the guest speakers and show our support for PRID (past Rotary International Director) Jessie Harman at the "Celebrate Leadership" event held at the Ballarat Golf Club. The event was hosted by the Rotary clubs of Ballarat South and Wendouree Breakfast. Jessie shared from the heart the lessons she has learned personally from her experiences as a leader in Rotary, culminating in being the first woman from our Region to become a Director on the Board of Rotary International. See "Read more..." for more pix and details.

Around twenty Rotarians gathered at the Daily Dose Cafe at 7am last Thursday for a special breakfast meeting. The meals started arriving as soon as members sat down and most people had been fed by 7.30am. Those Directors in attendance provided a 90 second "turbo summary" of the main decisions made at the most recent Governance and Service Committe meetings, and members were on their way to work or whatever around 8am. Thanks to Anthony for doing the organization for this event. We will soon survey members about how we proceed with the idea of some breakfast meetings in the future. See more pix in "Read more..."

Thanks to those who helped out at the Bristol Hill Working Bee last Sunday morning. See more pix by clicking "Read more..."

On August 3rd, members enjoyed an inspiring video presentation by the past Health Officer of Scotland, Prof. Harry Burns. The presentation was suggested by PP Garry who explained that Harry's insights had influenced the Go Goldfields committee in their efforts to improve the social health of our Maryborough Community in recent years. When there was a move to set up a conference in Maryborough to establish the "healthiest community in the world", the name of Prof. Burns was recommended as a world leader in this field. To watch the complete video on YouTube click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_LrL1Hsum0&t=246s See "Read more..." for more information and the list of the Adverse Childhood Experiences, also known as ACE's that Harry talked about.

PP Leigh, PP Terry and past member Austin served indigenous and Torres Strait Islander children at their special barbeque held at the IGA Carpark last Friday. Even though it was a wet day, a large number of children attended and enjoyed the event. Thank you guys! See more images including one of Terry with a painted face by clicking "Read more..."

Rotarian Max interviewed PDG Anthony about his Vocational Classification at Thursday's meeting and members discovered that Anthony's vocational journey initially revolved around civil engineering. Anthony's first employer was the late PP Jeff Mackay - father of PP Martin, and he first employed Anthony and Martin to work for the Maryborough Shire in 1974. Anthony's job was to be one of only two active engineers in the town at the time - the other one being his employer, Jeff Mackay. See "Read more..."

This District seminar is on September 9th (Geelong) and also on September 10th. (Warrnambool) Book at TryBooking.com/CKHSS.

For members who are interested, and thanks to Craig Roberts, a member of the "Friends of the Tower" group, there are some interesting documents about the Bristol Hill Tower available for viewing and download on our club website. One is the complete Souvenir Booklet of the opening of the tower in 1933. (See the picture.) Other documents include a list of Gold mining claims. You'll find the link to the page under the list of Executives and Directors on the left-hand side of our web site home page.

Our club members were pleased to welcome District 9780 Assistant Governor of Group D, Jill Oliver to our meeting on July 27th. to hear about the great work of R.O.M.A.C. (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children). R.O.M.A.C. provides operations and procedures for children under the age of 15 who live in countries where the required medical procedures are not available. Jill provided an overview of how R.O.M.A.C. started, its early history, its objectives, the countries involved, the criteria for selection, some of the recent patients and some "success" stories. (see "Read more..." for details and how to donate)

Constantino Rumac became our club's newest member on July 27. Tino is the partner of Lynne Hiscock who was also inducted into our club just a fortnight ago. Tino was nominated for membership by Rotarian Noel Jennings, who will also act as Tino's mentor in the coming months. Tino has described his Rotary classification as a tradesman, and we look forward to him using his skills and interests in serving the club, our community and the wider world. Welcome, Tino! We hope you enjoy your time in Rotary. Pictured are President Geoff, Tino. PP Noel and membership Director, Trace.

Over a dozen volunteers turned up at the Bristol Hill Tower on Sunday, July 30 to continue the work of cleaning up the area to make it more presentable to visitors. Thank you to PP Garry, other Rotarians and community volunteers for your considerable efforts with this important icon in our community. There is much work to do, but each gathering brings us closer to seeing the area the way it was meant to be seen and as a fitting tribute to the early pioneers of our town. Participants enjoyed a community barbeque after their efforts. See "Read more..." for more pix.

Our club was privileged on July 20th to  have a visit from Past Rotary International Director, Jessie Harman. Jessie has visited us a number of times before, but only completed her service on the Rotary International Board of Directors on June 30th. Jessie started with three reflections of her time as Director. She mentioned the "incredible internationality of Rotary", how impressed she was with the way Rotary stewards the funds with which it works, and the amazing way Rotary moves into action when it responds to a world crisis - such as the Ukraine war. See "Read more..." for further reflections.

Last Thursday, Rotarian Toby guided our meeting with his unique style as our five Governance or Club service committees finalized their action plans for the 23-24 Rotary year. Thanks to the efficient work of each Governance committee, and of our Service committees in June, we should be able to publish our "working" version of our club Strategic and Action plans in the coming week. 

Club members welcomed new member, Lynne Hiscock at our Thursday meeting. Lynne was sponsored by PP Noel Jennings, and will be mentored by PE Bec Lowery. Lynne will be a member of the Community Service committee, but is yet to choose her Governance committee. We look forward to having Lynne as part of the Maryborough Rotary Club team. Pictured are PP Noel, membership Director Trace, Lynne, Mentor Bec and President Geoff.

PP Martin, PDG Anthony, PDG Geoff and PP Meryl attended Chalambar Golf Course last Wednesday night to see Cameron White inducted as President for the 2023-24 Rotary year. It was great to catch up with our old Group 7 members and hear about the extensive work being done by the Ararat Club in 22-23 under the leadership of President Jenny Beale. Congratulations Jenny and Cameron! PDG Anthony performed the reply to the toast to Rotary on the night. More pix in "Read more..."

Four of our members attended yet another old Group 7 Changeover, this time at the Blue Pyrenees Winery Estate on Sunday, July 16. PP Martin, PP Thea, PDG Geoff and PP Meryl witnessed President Meryn Pease change over to...President Meryn Pease. Yes, perhaps inspired by PP Garry Higgins, Meryn put up her hand to take on the Presidential role again and continue her excellent work of guiding the Beaufort Rotary Club to achieve amazing results in the Beaufort community for a club of just ten members. Congratulations, Meryn! We also saw Meryn present PP George Kirsanov with a Paul Harris Double Sapphire recognition. Congratulations, George! More pix in "Read more..."

Rotarian Max had trouble with gas last weekend. He could smell something, so he rang up the gas emergency line only to be informed politely that business hours were 9-5 on week-days!!!! Realizing that things were getting urgent, he rang "000" and got to speak with Daryl Wagstaff who was fortunately able to tell him the "real" emergency gas number (136707) which Max duly called. A couple of hours later the gas problem was fixed, but not without a reduction in Max's life span due to anxiety!

 

Thea paid a "Proud Grandparent" fine on Thursday. Her two grand kids played in the recent Ice-Hockey Grand Finals. The two boys each played in the winning Grand-finals for their respective age groups, but they also filled-in for missing players at other age levels on the day, and at the end of the event, came home with THREE Grand final trophies each! Well done, boys!

 

Trace wasn't going to miss out on a birthday party on her actual birthday, so she kindly brought ice cream cakes and slices to our Rotary meeting - which were duly consumed with much delight by our members. For her efforts, she got a rousing rendition of that song, and she has set the bar pretty high for anyone else having a birthday soon - hint hint! See "Read more..." for pix of the "party".

 

PP Garry OAM was just about to get on the train to go to the footy last week-end when he heard a familiar voice behind him - it was Trace! So, they travelled to the footy together. In the middle of the match, Garry gets a text from Trace: "Are you that guy eating a pie and having a coke near some particular spot in the members' stand?" - Garry had to admit he was, "Well", Trace continued, I'm that woman two tiers up waving the big red coat!" Garry was easily able to spot her. It just goes to confirm that we have some "stand-out" members in our club!

 

Members shared a communal sigh of dismay when our "traditionally lucky" John Caulfield held the winning ticket for last Thursday's "Swindle" draw - "Surely", we thought, "John will win the jackpot", but "No!", not this time, and the joker remains in the pack of now only 16 cards with the jackpot climbing yet again. Maybe next week when the DG visits?! See "Read more..." for a picture of John's moment.

At our July 6th meeting, members watched a video of Rotary International President, Gordon McInally's address to the recent Melbourne convention. Gordon reminded everyone of his Rotary theme, "Create hope in the world" and explained what that theme might look like when put into practice by the 46,000 Rotary clubs of the world. The full text and video of Gordon's speech is available by clicking here: Rotary International Convention concludes with a message of hope | Rotary International but a summary of dot points can be found in "Read more..."

Members are encouraged to start saving their bottles and cans for our Recycling collection initiative - officially starting in November. Even though we don't start collecting funds for our efforts for another three months or so, we can start building our collection in readiness. We want cans and bottles that have "10c deposit" mentioned in fine print on each item, and you can deposit them at the Mill House when you come to a Rotary meeting. Both the Mill House and Rotary will benefit from this collection.

Governance committees will meet next Thursday to finalize their lists of objectives, allocate organizers to each objective and where applicable, suggest a time of the Rotary year for the implementation of those objectives. If you haven't chosen your Governance committee yet, please contact President Geoff before Thursday so you can be listed on the committee lists.

27 members of the "Friends of the Tower" group spent some time on Sunday to clean up rubbish and weeds from the tower area. Thanks to club members Garry, Anthony, Harold, John Caulfield, Lowan, Adrian, Martin and Riley for representing the club at the event. The next clean up is planned for July 29th.

 

PDG Anthony has discovered an article on the establishment of the Tower that appeared in the "Argus" Newspaper in 1933. The article starts...

 

See "Read more..." for the rest of the article and more pix of the working bee.

Over 60 members, partners and friends attended the Highland Society on Saturday, July 1st to witness the changeover of the Maryborough Rotary Club leadership team. The new Board of Directors is pictured at left and includes, on the back row, PDG Anthony Ohlsen (Administration and Acting Secretary), PP Leigh Williamson (Community), Rtn. Louise Hanby D'Wynn (International), PP Garry Higgins OAM (Past and Vice President), PP Thea Allan (Secretary), Rtn. Harold Breitinger (Projects), and Rtn. Max Berry (Public Image). Seated are Rtn. Bec Lowery (President Elect), PP Martin Mackay (Youth), PP Meryl James (Vocational), PDG Geoff James (President), PP Brian Reed (Fundraising) and Rtn. John Williamson (Treasurer). Absent is Rtn. Trace Smith (Membership). 

At Saturday's Changeover Dinner, our club presented Brian and Robyn Reed with Paul Harris Fellow recognitions for their ongoing wonderful service to the community and our club. Brian, who already has a PHF, was recognized with a Sapphire Pin for his work chairing our Fundraising committee since its inception, for his work with the Tri Circuit Bike Rides, and his amazing efforts with the Barbeque and Barbeque trailer. Robyn received her first Paul Harris Fellow recognition for her ongoing work with the Barbeque trailer and incredible support of other Rotary projects as a friend of Rotary.

A regular feature of our "News" each week will be the Governance OR Service Committee "Hopeful News" segments. Committee chairs, either Goverance or Service, are invited and encouraged to email us a sentence or short dot point about...
Some event or meeting the committee is planning to conduct in the near future AND/ OR
Something that has been achieved by the committee in the last week or so AND/ OR
Some members to thank for great work they have done in the last week or so.
 

The segments will alternate from week to week - Governance one week and Service the next.

 

This will be a good place to announce Committee meetings that don't occur during meeting time each month.

If committees have more information than a sentence or dot point, we will add a completely separate article and image into the "News".