Speakers Program

Neville John is District Governor for Rotary District 9800 in 2016-17. He spoke about the theme for the Rotary year: "Rotary Serving Humanity". He also spoke about activities under the District's 3-year strategic plan, including public showcase events, new member campaign, editing stories for publication, engaging with Rotaract, Interact and Earlyact, and buidling partnerships. He is asking all clubs in the District to be stronger at the end of the year than they were at the beginning. He spoke about various Rotary events which provide promotional opportunities, such as the Rotary Foundation Centennial, Australian Rotary Health Hat Day and End Polio Day.  

Brainstorm on Vocational Opportunities

Justine posed the question; what is Vocational Service? She has spent three years working at it.

Preliminary Planning for 2016-17

Dr Charles Day- Carlton Connect

The Carlton Connect Initiative is a new future for the former site of the Royal Womens Hospital.  The aim of Carlton Connect is to:

• create Australia's leading innovation precinct
• combine world class talents with 21st centruy technology
• promote social, cultural and community consciousness

"Breathometers"

Stephen Mayne is an independent City of Melbourne councillor. He spoke about the forthcoming council elections and a number of issues involving the council, including: renewal of Queen Victoria markets, the new hub for childcare and family services at Carlton Primary School, transparency in council business, and political donations. He said that the council works very harmoniously, with cooperation across the political spectrum. 

John is a Turkish Australian who has done a PhD on the Gallipolli campaign and published several books on the topic, giving the perspective of the Turkish side.

Kristina Nicol presented a "Meander Through Life".

Joni Pirovich- Experiences of the GSE Team member to USA 2015

Joni spoke about the effect of this experience on her subsequent career as an accountant. She also spoke about how work has gone off in a new direction to create an App which will give material support to homeless people. The App, the Game of Homes, is designed to provide rewards for specific constructive activities in the homeless person’s life. The rewards will be donated by different industries e.g. MYKI, Coles.

Peter Lardner- Vic Police

Caroline Ord is from the Rotary e-Club of Melbourne. She demonstrated the capabilities of the My Rotary website: https://www.rotary.org/myrotary/en. This website has a public section and a section for Rotary club members. The member section requires members to register in order to login. The goal is for 50% of club members to register. There are many advantages of registering, including advertising of club projects, raising money through crowd funding, and asking for volunteers with specific expertise.

Dr Laura Hart from LaTrobe University spoke on "Confident Body, Confident Child", a parenting program to promote healthy eating, healthy weight and positive body image in 2-6 year old children.

Laura Birdis an acoustics engineer and has been very active in Rotaract. She is involved with Steer North, which is a not-for-profit health promotion organization. Steer North is organizing a bicycle ride from Melbourne to Cairns (4000 km). Laura is one of 30 people riding. The ride will take 45 days and pass through 41 communities. Ride North will organize a health promotion event or activity in each of these communities, targetting the prevention of non-communicable diseases. 

Max Chester is an architect who has worked on many projects designing mosques and Islamic schools in Australia. This has brought him into contact with many members of the Islamic community. He spoke about the importance of getting members of Australian Muslims involved in the broader community. As an example, he spoke about a project he developed with the University of Melbourne to bring students from Islamic schools to the University to learn more about University life.

Anne Mitchell spoke about her early life, her training and work as a teacher, and how she became involved in helping homeless young people. She explained the work of the Steps Outreach Service of which she is the manager. 

Fellowship Meeting

Michelle Gates is the Victorian coordinator of Days for Girls, an organization providing menstrual sanitary products for girls and women in poorer countries.

Donations in Kind

Andrew Kelly, spokesperson for  Yarra Riverkeeper Association

The Yarra Riverkeeper Association speaks for the Yarra, Melbourne’s own beautiful, resilient, iconic River. The Association is the credible and authoritative voice for the River. It is an independent community of citizen-advocates that works solely in the interest of the river. The spokesperson of the Association is the Yarra Riverkeeper, and the Riverkeeper boat is permanently moored in the Yarra and patrols the River. As the population of Melbourne balloons and demands for open spaces grow, our River is coming under increasing pressure.

Ian Ada- Impressions of Taiwan and Vietnam

Following Ian's recent travels, Ian gave an overview of his opinion on the similiarites and differences of these two countries in relation to the following topics:

• history & economy
• getting by in English
• street life
• temples
• ethinic groups 

Keith Ryall explained what the GSE program is, outlined its history and gave some memories of GSEs that he had been involved in that illustrated the benefits of the scheme. He also spoke about planned GSEs in District 9800 over the coming year. 

Nadine Ford is employed by the City of Melbourne as the Neighbourhod Development Officer for Carlton and Parkville. She talked about her personal history, the role of a Neighbourhood Development Officer, the Carlton Collaboration Framework and its 5 key themes, and gave examples of projects under the Framework.