CLUB MEETING 21stOCTOBER 2019
Meeting opened @ 6.30pm by Rotary President – Lorraine Greenwood & RSL President – Stuart Hipwell together.
President Lorraine Greenwood requested all attendees introduce themselves & identify which Club they represent.
Lorraine requested all members consider suitable nominations for Australia Day Awards for 2020 for Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, Community Event of the Year, & Community Organisation of the Year, Arts, Cultural and/or environmental project of the year. Lou Hamon is an apology tonight as he is attending Government House tomorrow to receive an award in 2019 Victorian Senior of the Year Awards Ceremony from the Governor of Victoria, the Honourable Linda Dessau AC.
Chair - Mark McNamara – He enjoys finding old postcards & sourcing history of Numurkah. He has discovered that where the War Memorial is located was previously a Salvation Army barracks building that was sold at auction on 25/5/1928. It was a term of the sale that the building be removed to allow for the erection of Soldiers Memorial Park. There was a big fanfare for the unveiling on the Park & was attended by Major General Elliott, (Pompy) extracts of his speech were read out. Unfortunately Major General Elliott took his own life 18 months later.
Attendance report - June Hewson – Apologies including some make ups for Geoff & Marie Austin, Lou Hamon, Kate Hodge, Geoff Holmes, Sally Rose & Chris Sutton.
Guest Speaker - Jeff Stanyer – Numurkah RSL – He joined the Navy in 1964 & served for 21 years. The well known Cerberus ship was launched in 1868. It was never used as a combat ship but as a guard ship & was finally towed to Black Rock where she remains today.
After Federation in 1901 the Commonwealth Navy Force came into existence & took over the Colonnial ships. In 1911 the Australian Navy came into being.
Jeff joined the Navy in 1964 doing an apprenticeship. His first sea posting was on a destroyer going to Vietnam. He served on a gun line, doing 2, 6 month rotations doing naval bombardment. Jeff recalled his memories of battle on the Hobart Ship & provided an extensive history of the Ships during the WWI, WWII, Malaysian, Korean & Vietnam wars.
Reports – Steve Mills reported on the Soldier Settlement Project progress with the steering committee made up of RSL, Rotary & the Historical Society. Acknowledgement of the Ladies Lions who recently donated $2000 to the project. The Memorial is to be placed in memorial park. The audio history component will now be managed by Historical Society as the new location has no power.
John Watson – detailed where the memorial is proposed to be erected & that it will face south to protect it from the northern sun. The Historical Society will manage the audio to enable it to be download to phones that should be sustainable to avoid vandalism etc.
Ross Hardham – He collected the Gazebo for use at the market on Saturday & the cover for the gazebo is missing. Someone may have taken it home by accident.
Ivan Routley – Social camp on the Murray this weekend setting up on Friday & inviting all members to attend over the weekend – Maps available detailing that the campsite with access to amenities, is the first beach downstream from Carter’s Beach. Markers will be set up to help identify track.
Secretary - Kay Moodie – Drought Relief fundraiser this weekend, any money sold from a donated Barrel of Northern Beer in the Telegraph Hotel will be collected. Members are requested to attend the Telegraph & wear their Rotary shirt to show support.
No heads & tails, no fellowship, no sergeant sessions. 8.30pm finish.