Speakers Program

Rebecca Harris - Communiy Learning Co-ordinator at Carlton Primary School

"Trauma informed practice in schools"

Carlton Primary School adjoins the high-rise public housing estate in Carlton, Victoria. The estate is home to a large number of migrants and refugees from countries in the Horn of Africa, many of whom are affected by the trauma of violence, loss of family and forced displacement. The school has developed considerable expertise in caring for and educating children from these backgrounds.

Rebecca gave some examples of the traumas and challenges faced by the school community and ways the school was supporting those families.

Bruce gave the Club a mini workshop of his presentation. He summarised stress as that sinking feeling we all get! You know you are stressed if you have the following:

"Listening to the Tax Man - The ATO Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow". Kent has worked at the ATO for over 30 years, having taken a position there in 1982.

The ATO has been around for 100 years, with the role not to write but to interprte and administer relevant tax legislation. The introduction of self assessment in 1986 was a major change, followed shortly later by signifcnat computerisation. GST was introduced in 2000 and is again the ATO is on the cusp of re-invention.

Chris Egger- Membership Presentation (D9800 Membership Director 2015-16)– Producing an Effective Membership Plan

Maintaining membership is a major issue for all Rotary Clubs in Australia.  Membership is falling in Australia and other developed countries, although it is growing in developing countries, so is being maintained worldwide.  One reason for this fall in Australia is the rise in single purpose charitable organisations that, between them, are supporting many of the issues our communities are facing.

Casey was introduced by Paul Carlin and first asked us to stop him if he was going too fast. Thinking like an accountant he went through the nine chronological areas of his life.

Justine is a member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne Sunrise and chair of the District Vocational Service Committee. She spoke about proposed changes to vocational service in the District. 

Gavin Young- Australian Unity

Simon Watson is the owner of Jimmy Watson’s restaurant and wine bar. He spoke about the history of the business, which has been in his family for three generations.

Developments in Bio 21

Keith Ryall introduced the Speaker  introduced speaker Associate Professor Jan Tennet. Janet spoke about how The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and how it is enhancing the lives of our best & brightest undergraduates.

Lisa Du and Brad Donnini – Technology for Seniors

Lisa and Brad formed a business   ‘ReadyTechGo’ helping older adults and not so tech savvy younger adults gain the confidence and skills to embrace modern technology, after getting questions from their parents on how to implement new technology on their various electronic devices, and solve problems.

Rob Youl, an army colleague of Bob Slater and retired forester who chairs Australian Landcare International (ALI), firstly outlined Landcare operations in Australia.

Media reporting of suicide.

Associate professor Jane Pirkis, recipient of an Australian Rotary health Research Grant commencing with a mental illness research Grant in 2002, gave a presentation on Reporting of Suicide in the Media.

Club Fellowship

Report on the Rotary Scholarship for Princes Hill SC

Sue kindly offered share with us the legacy of Rotary Club of Carlton donations to Children at the school. Sue has been an educator for mare than twenty years working at a variety of schools and socio economic status. These schools have bee private, Independent and State Schools. I am pretty sure that makes Sue younger than all of us! On her fist day at a disadvantaged school she was greeted by police, a divi van, a bloodied piece of 4 x 2 and handcuffed students. This certainly gave her a grounding in her role as a teacher.

Mark Dohrmann AM is a consulting engineer and ergonomist, who has worked in occupational health and safety for 40 years. He spoke about the work that ergonomists do.

Don is the Assistant Governor for the Heritage Cluster and a member of the Rotary Club of Glenferrie. Don’s talk consisted of three parts: his life, his role as Assistant Governor and his ‘defining moment in Rotary’.

Bronwyn was introduced by David Percival. Bronwyn Pearce works with the Community and Social Involvement team at City West Water. Her role involves presenting education programs to the business’ diverse customer base and community. Bronwyn described water as liquid gold. Although it covers 70% of the earth’s surface, little of it is fresh water. The Yan Yean Reservoir was the first dammed in Victoria. The Thomson Reservoir is the largest at the top of the system. Melbourne Water is the wholesaler of our water and City West Water are one of the three water Retailers owned by the Victorian Government. 

Matt spoke about the plans and progress in redeveloping the Port of Melbourne based on his experience in working as a consultant for the Port.

Ideas Adrift – a sequel to Glenn’s August 2011 talk on innovative management and his Montreal address.

The title of the presentation was "Ideas and Management Adrift".  It is based on a book he is writing.  To capture the concept of ideas and management adrift, Glenn's presentation started and finished with a picture of a polar bear on an ice flow.