Chairman& Grace – Gary Phillips

President –John Watson

Introducing of guests –  Grant Dempler

John Watson – reporting on the success of the Seymour Ride – no accidents or incidents. 44 riders were registered $500 raised by RSL Auxillary – total collections $1900. John to represent Rotary at Numurkah High School for award ceremony following this evenings meeting. Club Assembly next week where the next year’s activities are planned for the Club to commit to & support.

Gary Phillips – Puzzle – Picture this – out in the paddock there are 30 cows & 28 sheep how many didn’t?

Gary’s Mother started off as a bookbinder & his father was  a plumber for City Council & was responsible for installing the first set of automated sprinkler system in treasury gardens, flagstaff gardens including the botanical clock in St Kilda Road. His parents managed to put all kids through private schooling. Gary attended Mentone Grammar & subsequently joined the Army & became an artillery surveyor. A surveyor’s job was to ensure that the artillery hit the target that it was intended to including taking into account meterology information & sound ranging to define a target within ½ meter. This technology was first used in WWI. He then moved to South Australia & continued working with rifles where you would fire over the water with his explosive rounds Port Wakefield where they had a private beach that went for 30 km that no civilian was allowed on there. After the army after some time went back to university to obtain his teaching degree & moved to Shepparton & met his future Wife, Jacque & started their family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Mills – Born in Warrnambool & moved to Numurkah as a baby. He attended school at St Joseph & attended to chores after school. He picked fruit, milked funnel web spiders @ CSL. Returned to farming to take over from his father with his brother. He was encouraged by his father to never compromise on the cows or the pastures. Bought their first farm at 27 with his wife June. He became Chairman of Numurkah Credit Union which later became GMCU & various other committees including the water commission. He loved the serenity & challenges of dairy farming where they experimented with the ratios of feeding/production of milking. Tractor work was sometimes done by wife June once an airconditioned tractor was acquired. Another farm was acquired on Walsh’s Bridge Rd but land/water ratio was always a juggle, they ended up with 600 acres but still short on water. 2 children were adopted which was a challenging but rewarding process, they then went on to have another child themselves. Steve went on to become on many more committees throughout his time including the Church, Apex, Rural Water Commission, Goulburn Murray Water, Goulburn Broken Catchment & the Co-operative Research Centre for Irrigation futures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie Andrew – Born in Newcastle but grew up in Port Stephens. Parents were an Electrician & Accountant/Midwife/Nurse. Parents trained in theology  & raised their Julie in a rural community until she was 10 where she had never had a television. She was a good student & then entered Ag College. She had trouble finding a job in the recession of 1991 & first worked on a ostrich farm for a while before she got a job on a piggery which was on a chicken farm in Griffith. No other females worked there – very hard & labour intensive. Within 6 months she was a farm manager who worked hard with long hours. Each shed had 33,000 chickens x 10 sheds. 12 hours off/week. Lots of responsibility taking care of 330,000 chickens. 2 years later Jason had completed Ag College & commenced work on the farm within 6 months they were engaged. Family started & they took on 2 farms. She then became manager of the Chicken Farm at Bearii until she was pregnant with their third child. Whilst on maternity leave she studied nursing & now is a Clinical Support Nurse in Shepparton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Secretary Report – Phil Meagher - Absent

Director’s reports –Julie Andrews – need someone to sell raffle tickets on Sunday at Show us Your Wheels & next Thursday. Emoja orphanage looking for sponsorship for some of the workers.

Ernest Jones – Offered to open the Presbyterian Church for viewings.

Kate Hodge – Went to movies at Town Hall on Sat night – movie Last Cab to Darwin. Fun night, highly recommend subscription $25/year for a movie once/month.

Jeff Buzza – Santa to be on Hardware Store on 17^th December, with a few Rotarians filling the role.

Linda Boyd – Numurkah Leader had an article on PALS clients competing in the tri-state games. Clients from Victoria, South Australia & New South Wales with 300 participants. Numurkah were runners up in 2 events.

Fellowship report – Gary Fisher – Absent

Attendance report – Bill Hewson – Attendance percentage 28 members 87%.

Heads & Tails –Jeff Holmes

Sergeant’s Report – Jeff Buzza issued numerous fines issued from Seymour day out including fines for bike riding & guest speakers.