Posted by Sam McCurdy:
A Rotary Central Event was held at Nossal High School on Australia Day to “Reflect, Respect and Celebrate” the occasion. It featured an indigenous theme related to the "Voice".
Organised by the Rotary Club of Southbank’s Environment, Sustainability Group (ESG), the event featured interesting speakers, who reinforced the need to work with the indigenous population to further develop and strengthen our Australian democracy.
The speakers included:
- Thomas Mayo - a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man and the National Indigenous Officer of the MUA. Thomas is a signatory of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and has been a leading advocate since its inception in May 2017.
- Professor Patrick McGorry - Professor of Youth Mental Health, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne.
- Costa Georgiadis - a landscape architect, environmental educator and television presenter on Gardening Australia.
In addition, the following Rotarians provided valuable information on the activities of Rotary locally and internationally:
- Maurie Stack - Chair of “Rotary Foundation Australia” outlined the work planned for the organisation in 2023.
- Tim Moore – Chair of the “Regionalisation Project” and Past President of the Rotary Club of Berwick. Tim explained the purpose and opportunities that the Regionalisation project offered for the future of Rotary.
- Amanda Wendt – District Governor of Rotary District 9800 spoke about the work being done by clubs in the District to assist communities in need, including victims of the recent floods.
- Mikaela Strafrace – Chair of “WomenCAN” provided an overview of what we needed to know about Rotary International.
- Aviv Palti – President of the Rotary Passport Club of Melbourne outlined the work being done in Cambodia to “Educate, Empower, Inspire” students, in order to “Create Future Leaders”.
Entertainment was provided during the event by the renowned soprano, Alison Jones. She opened the event with the National Anthem and closed proceedings appropriately with a stirring rendition of “I still call Australia home”.
After the formal proceedings, the attendees were treated to barbecued food produced by members of the Rotary Club of Berwick.
Well done to the BBQ team pictured above.
Thanks also go to Jack Kraan for delivering the BBQ trailer to Nossal High School and to Andrew Somers for collecting it after the event
