Click on the screen below to see a short video of the very successful 2019 Gears and Beers Festival.
 Stuart Heriot was called upon to introduce our Guest Speaker and this was accomplished in a most comprehensive manner. We learned that Peter Thompson has qualifications in environmental science and law, including BSc (Hons), Bachelor of Laws, Master of Law, Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice, Diploma of Management, and is an accredited specialist in Local Govt and Planning Law. At this point, Stuart stopped to draw breath!!!! Peter spoke first about the concept of Special Activation Precincts, and why they are desirable. Our interstate neighbours have pursued business with streamlined planning and approval systems, while NSW has higher hurdles. The NSW govt will initially identify six areas, and "pre qualify" them for development by completing some environmental impact reports. Parkes was the first selected, Bomen was next, and Peter predicted that Williamtown was likely the third. Any company looking to develop a factory in Wagga Wagga would benefit through ease of approval, developed infrastructure, and State Govt incentives. All the funding for these projects is provided by the sale of the Snowy Hydro. Peter then addressed Digital connectivity, and indicated that three areas within Wagga will have spectacular internet speed, Bomen, the CBD and the Health Precinct. A big pipe for data, and quicker than Sydney or Melbourne, was the carrot dangled. Electrical Transmission was the third leg of the trifecta, with connections to South Australia, Victoria, The Snowy scheme and local generation, both Uranquinty and Solar. Secure, clean power will be attractive to the data warehousing industry. We were not surprised to learn that Wagga Wagga Council is short of qualified engineering staff. We have 11 engineers at WWCC, but Tamworth, a comparable council has 35 engineers. This provides an explanation why WWCC is setting up an office in Sydney, and is hopeful that new may attract some of our Sydney staff to Wagga in the future. Advertising for Sydney based engineering jobs for the WWCC drew 300 applicants. Nine positions were filled. Peter commented that the best of the candidates were immediate "you're hired", and there were some "..........you wouldn't trust to put your wheelie bin out." There were questions on subjects like approval delays, jobs for spouses, and freight and logistics plans. All were earnestly addressed. | |
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Our Guest Speaker Patricia Wilkinson with Bob Willis (bro-in-law) and President David Pyke
Bob introduced our guest speaker Patricia Wilkinson who has an extensive employment history in Public Administration. Patricia is the Senior Advisor for the National Indigenous Australia's Agency set up to ensure fair and equitable economic and social participation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Patricia has worked in Economic Development, National Parks, Regional Manager of Tourism Western New South Wales, AusIndustry, and Riverina Regional Tourism. She has a Masters in Economics and Regional Development, has sat on several boards and is passionate about building regional economies.
Patricia began by an acknowledgement of country. She said this is now well accepted into our culture and is a sign of a heightened awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Culture across Australia.
When asked how many Indigenous Australians of the Year there have been, we could manage to name only two or three. There have been nine:
Lionel Rose (1981), Yvonne Goolagong (1971), Galarrwuy Yunupingu (1978), Neville Bonner (1979, Lois O'Donoghue (1984), Mandawuy Yunupingu (1992), Cathy Freeman (1998), Michael Dodson (2009), and Adam Goodes (2014)
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The Centurion Club was started by PDG Peter Walsh several years ago.
His aim was to have each Rotarian contribute $2 per week to the Rotary Foundation ($100 per year).
Our club contributes $1 each Rotarian each week, on our behalf.
So we can be part of this club by adding $1 as well ($50 per year )
It is a very small amount, and if you can see your way clear to be part of it, the effect can be enormously beneficial to someone less lucky than we are.
See Bob Willis if you would like to take part
This September there will be a new Zone Director elected. The election will take place at the Zone 8 Convention being held in Christchurch. Current Director Noel Trevaskis will stand down but still be very active on committee.
And the news on Polio is getting better. Although Afghanistan and Pakistan remain problems, Africa, the whole continent, has been polio free for 3 years. Nigeria was a problem there. That means that two areas really problematic have been declared polio free, Africa , in particular Nigeria, and India, in recent days.
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President David Pyke is pictured with Fayah McKenzie and District Governor John McKenzie. | ||
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At our Tuesday July 30th meeting, Geoff Breust came to the Podium to present an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to Arch Deacon David Ruthven, Rector of the Anglican Parish of Wagga Wagga. An AED is vital in treating a Sudden Cardiac Arrest, they are simple and easy to use, and no harm can be done by using one. Geoff recognised former Wollundry Rotarian Travis Downie, for starting this program and says if it saves one life, it is extremely well worth it. Arch Deacon David said he knew how important these were as he had a heart attack about 4 years ago. He said that it will be a big relief to know that if something happens to someone , they will have an AED available. David Thanked the club on behalf of the Parish. |
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| The organisation "Give Me 5 for Kid" received a $2000 cheque from Wollundry Rotary from Gear's and Beer's income. |
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David Pyke set a record on the changeover evening by winning the Rotarian of the Year award and being inducted as President for 2019-20. The club archives have no other Rotarian achieving such recognition. It was a popular evening with the politians with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormick, State Member of Parliment Joe McGurr and our own Wagga Wagga Mayor Greg Conkey in attendance. Photos of the Evening can be viewed by clicking here or on the top of the website banner. |
 Miles Smith our guest speaker with avid cyclists Neil Pinto and Phil McIntosh Miles arrived in Wagga Wagga at 8.30pm last Thursday. He hopped on his bike at 9.00pm outside the Wagga Police Station, and was farewelled by a small group of Wollundry Rotarians and cycling admirers. His objective was to ride to Geelong, then turn around and return home to Melbourne, on the bike as the first leg of his world record attempt. On Tuesday, Miles contacted Phil McIntosh and broke the news............Achillies tendon smashed - World record abandoned. |
The story below is reprinted from May this year with these updates. |
Members were astonished by the cycling feats of today's guest speaker Miles Smith. He was introduced by Phil McIntosh, the instigator of the Gears and Beers Festival. Phil told us that Miles had left Melbourne the previous evening at 7.30 pm on his bicycle and had arrived in Wagga in time for our meeting. That is an astonishing 450ks plus in under 15 hours! Riding on the Hume Highway! Phil said that Miles had contacted us because he admired what we do through our Gears and Beers Festival and wanted to redirect the sponsorship money he gets through our Club to Rotary Health. |
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Miles, who took up cycling in recent years and who is 58 years old, wants to break the Guiness Book World Record for the most number of kilometres ridden in a single year. This record is known as the HAMR, Highest Annual Mileage Record. With legs like tree trunks and Heart and Lungs to match, he plans to achieve his goal, by riding approximately 550 km per day, every day for a year, commencing in August. If successful, he will achieve over 90 other records along the way.
Miles currently works with the Rotary Club of Bright which organises The Alpine, a four peak 250km ride, regarded as one of the toughest rides in Australia. He wants to help with Polio eradication and has a number of Corporate Sponsors. He believes our Club can receive a lot of money from our work in cycling and he will donate his certificates for his various records which can be auctioned in tandem with our Gears and Beers festival.
Riding such long distances each day doesn't leave a lot of time for eating and sleeping, but Miles has simple but effective strategy. Each night before he rides he checks the weather forecast for wind direction the following day. He then sets our on the day of the ride, i.e. next morning, by taking his bike on a VicRail train against the wind for approx. 250ks. While on the train for about three hours he goes to sleep. He then rides with the wind back to Melbourne and repeats the exercise. By doing this he always rides with wind assistance which is legal under the terms of the record.
Miles' rides are constantly monitored and checked by Guiness. He carries four GPS trackers monitoring time, distance, heart rate etc. He also has a CB radio on his bike which allows him to talk to truck drivers. The latter call him the Hume Fairy, because of his hi vis clothing and not, he hopes, because they think he is a wuz.
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| Miles' trusty bike. Note the size of the drive gear sprocket. Miles averages 35ks an hour! |
The furthest distance Miles has ridden in a day is 720 ks. An engaging ex-Yorkshireman with a good sense of humour, Miles told us that, needless to say, he is not married. Members were totally blown away by his physical capacity and even more so when he responded to a question about travelling home, that he said he was jumping on his bike for the return journey immediately after our meeting! Sleep could wait!
President James presented him with a bottle of Olive Oil produced by some of our members. He jokingly said it would be very useful for oiling his chain. At least we thought he was joking.
Members, somewhat awestruck, applauded this incredible human being.
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Peter Moroney was introduced by PP Paul Milde. Paul said that Peter is retired from the Police Force and had served for 17 years and retired at the rank of a Detective Sergeant. Peter has had a long-time association with Rotary. When he was a young officer he organised a charity bike ride that was supported by Rotary. His talk was about a joint counter terrorism investigation, which was conducted by the AFP, ASIO and the Victorian Police. The investigation started in 2004. Peter wrote a book about the investigation which was referred to “Operation Pandanus” from an investigator’s point of view. He felt the beginning of the effect of terrorism on our own homelands was Sept 11, 2001. His talk, to a great extent was about Islamic terrorism but he stressed that the number of actual Islamic terrorists would not number to over 50 to 100. He spoke about the Australian born terrorists who were instrumental in recruiting young individuals to fight in foreign lands for ISIS. |
