Recent Club Meetings
Dr Phil Eberbach talks on GSR (Growing Season Rainfall)

Our speaker on Tuesday October 20th was Dr Phil Eberbach, CSU Associate Professor, School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences.  The title of his presentation was Regional trends in rainfall: climate change or normal variability.  Some of the main points of Dr Eberbach's presentation were:

Three major climate drivers affecting the climate of SE Australia

  1. El Nino Southern Oscillation
  2. Indian Ocean Dipole
  3. Southern Annular Mode (SAM)
Is this shift in GSR (Growing Season Rainfall) climate change?
  1. There is a change in winter rainfall patterns to the south of Central NSW 
  2. Is the change part of a cycle?
  3. Possibly but not according to the models
Summer rainfall appears un-affected?
 
He included in his presentation a summary of projections from the Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning 2019 (DELWP).  Victoria's Climate Science Report 2019 brings together the latest climate change science knowledge gained from the Victorian Government's ongoing investment in climate science, the Victorian Climate Projections 2019.
There were a number of questions throughout Dr Eberbach's talk as the subject is of concern to all.  
 
President James presented Dr Eberbach with a gift from the club and gave a vote of thanks on behalf of all the members.

 

Former Wollundry Rotarian James McTavish Speaks about Borders and Water

Our Guest speaker today was former Wollundry Rotarian James McTavish, currently NSW Cross Border Commissioner.  James was one of the Armies youngest Lieutenant Colonel’s stationed at Kapooka.


James McTavish was appointed NSW Cross Border Commissioner in July 2014 and as the NSW Regional Town Water Supply Coordinator in January 2019. He has been working in this dual role to advocate for border communities and address cross-border anomalies as well as to ensure every regional town in NSW has safe, clean drinking water.

James informed members that $250 million worth of infrastructure water projects were in process in various types of work such as bores, dam refurbishment and the like.  In addition, regional water facilities were being supported with additional funding in the firm knowledge that the drought will be back and the long range impact of climate change will require new and innovative approaches to deal with the problem.

James noted that the border closures had the single most dramatic impact on border communities in the areas of employment, shopping, culture, health and many other areas.  At the peak of the problem, his office was receiving 500 communications a day on the subject.  He suggested that we needed to see ourselves as Australians and not Victorians or New South Welchmen.  We only have Australian passports.

President James gave James a vote of thanks. 

A Very Successful Hat Day
Tuesday was  another very successful Hat day for Australian Rotary Health.  Everyone attending wore some form of head attire and some were truly exceptional.  The day brought in $200 and everyone, especially John Egan, the co-ordinator of Hat day, had a good time.   Our winners are pictured below.
Tim Hutchings took First place and all the prizes
Ward Gaiter was wearing the crown jewels
Rick Priest was the  Blooming Florist for the day 
Guest Speaker Alan Johnston
Alan Johnston is the Chairman of The Committee for Wagga Wagga and was born in Scotland, on the border, in a town that actually had a beach, He grew up in Albury before undertaking an Accountancy Degree at the then Riverina College of Advanced Education ( a wonderful Alma Mater that now is Charles Sturt University.)  Following that he took up a position with Coopers and Lybrand here in Wagga, along with our former club member, John Ashton.
 
Subsequently he managed Buchmann labourites, an international company based in the US, but decentralised to Wagga Wagga. As he said, his whole life has been centred around managing change.
He joined the board of Committee for Wagga Wagga after an unsuccessful attempt to retire.
 
The City Council and the Committee are often at cross purposes he thinks, but feels sure that the healthy disagreements  are leading us all in the right direction.
Some of the highlights he mentioned include bicycle track provisions, the lights around the Lake, The New Years Eve functions, and the successful completion of the major works on the Levee banks. Naturally there are still things to come, but time and tide will bring these to fruition.
 
He mentioned specifically the Bomen Special Activation Precinct which both he and Mayor Greg agree has high importance to the city.  Again he stressed the value and necessity of keeping Wagga Wagga and its development at the forefront of people's mind. We will grow to 100.000 by 2040. But how we do it is up to us to decide. Digital connectivity is at the cutting edge right now. It will be even more vital in convincing corporations to move our way.
Keep telling good stories!
 
After fielding questions on high rise development, and location of the spur line at Bomen, Alan was thanked by President James with the traditional bottle of wine. He then drew his own number from the pan, but graciously dipped again to reward John Ferguson!
 
Sofi: Guest Speaker.
Sofi gave her presentation today on Brazil, her state of Sao Paulo, her town of Rio Claro, and Rotary District 4590.
She was very well organised, and spoke on her family, her home, her school and City, State and Country. Sofi used the Brazilian Flag to explain elements of the nation, and made the point that Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, just ahead of Australia, but with a population of 210 million, has over 8 times our population.
 
In the late 19th Century, Brazil imported many species of Eucalypt trees from Australia, to grow timber for railway sleepers. Even now, there is a museum dedicated to these trees in Sao Paulo.
Sofi made the point that Brazilians speak Portuguese, and has had to correct many Aussies who expect her to speak Brazilian. We should know better, because we speak English - well, some of us!!!!
 
There were many topics covered in the presentation - The currency, Religion, food, like rice and black beans, the samba and Carnivale, pronunciation - its Hio de Janeiro, The Amazon and deforestation. We saw photos of Carnivale, and it is a huge part of the national identity.
Sofi was able to explain the difference between fires in Brazil and Australia. We have dry and very hot fires, where the humid conditions in Brazil lead to slower burn, cooler fire conditions.
 
Sofi explained that she has an extensive background with Interact, and had exposure to youth exchange. Australia was her first choice for the exchange, and she thinks that she was lucky to get to Oz. We think that we were the lucky ones.
 
We had a question for Sofi, on whether the exchange had opened up new possibilities for career choices. Her response was that completing her education was the priority, and all options were open.
There was a banner presentation from the Interact club that Sofi represents.
 
Last Sunday, Sofi was interviewed by the ABC, and led into a story about exchange students coping with Covid 19. The link to her comments is here.
 
DG Visits Wollundry on Zoom
Our guest at Tuesday's meeting was District Governor Michael Moore.  Michael visited our club using Zoom video conferencing and gave a 20 minute presentation on the coming together of District 9700 and District 9710 .  Both districts have a long history and at one time were one district.
 
Michael displayed the regalia that both districts have used for years and the new colour that will be used for District 9705 governors. 
 
He was well prepared with slides about Wollundry and a thank you to those members in Wollundry who work at district positions.  A video copy of Michael's presentation is available by clicking here or on Michaels photograph. 
 
 
Guest Speaker
Our guest speaker today was Graham Hornbook our Club's Charter President. Graham was the first speaker of our Past Presidents who will give talks throughout the year to remind us, and enlighten our newer members, of our interesting history.
 
The idea for these talks was put forward by PP David Benn and was enthusiastically received by our new President.
 
You can read Graham's full talk below.
Read more...
Wollundry Holds 1st Zoom Online Rotary Meeting

What a great meeting.  36 members in attendance and everything went rather smoothly.  Zoom meetings are easy to organize and easy to attend.  

Fellows:  This bulletin has two videos within it.  One is in the Prime TV story and the other in the story of David Benns ANZAC family photos.  To view the videos you may have to go to the top of the bulletin  and click ... Having trouble viewing this email...... 
Wollundry Zoom Training on Prime TV
Prime Television produced a story about the use of Zoom by Wollundry Rotarians during this time of pandemic.  President Pykie , Phil Burgess and Paul Murray were involved in the shooting.  Scott Cochran was the organizer and cameraman  from Prime TV.  Phil's partner...Annita Booth is Scott's mother.
 
 
New Wagga Service Clubs Website
Posted by Paul Murray
The 2019-2020 Presidents of all the Rotary clubs in Wagga, along with Assistant Governor Elain Almond, have joined together this year to form a cohesive group holding monthly meetings and establishing a variety of valuable community projects. 
One such project is the Wagga Service Clubs website.  The new website  is dedicated to providing a centralised information hub for the various Wagga service clubs and the general public.  It also assists with the problem clubs have in scheduling their club events so that they don’t conflict with other local clubs events. Each club enters their calendar events as soon as they are determined, and effectively “claiming the date”.
 
The site not only provides the community with service clubs events calendars, but it compiles a listing of all the service clubs major fundraising events,  meeting schedules and  a carousel of photos of  cities Rotary Club Presidents. 
 
In addition to the 7 Rotary/Rotaract clubs in Wagga, the site  also included contact details for the local Apex and Lions clubs.
 
 
President James Ross

James Ross

Welcome to Wollundry Rotary
We meet Tuesdays at 12:30 at The Riverine Club
Cnr of Tarcutta St & Sturt St, Wagga Wagga

Postal Address:  PO Box 229 Wagga Wagga 2650

Wollundry Rotary is home to the Saturday Markets, the Wagga Food and Wine Festival and the Gears and Beers Festival.
 

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