Hawthorn Rotary Club welcomed 47 to its weekly meeting for the first week of August.Two new members being inducted next week, with Doug McLean and Peter England. No doubt they will be assets to the club with Peter already working quietly in the background for years.
We encourage new membership and welcome families, friends, and corporates to our weekly meetings.
I opened the meeting by highlighting two new project opportunities for Hawthorn Rotary. The first being the requirements of PPE for The Mental Health unit at Box Hill Hospital in the progress with consultation with Eastern Health foundation. With current Covid conditions, if we have the capacity to help and protect the most vulnerable within the community then action should be taken to address this gap. The second project is still in the infancy stage, where we have been asked to manage the car park for a regular market to be held at Como House, 9 times a year (excluding winter months), on a Sunday from 10am to 3pm. All proceeds from the parking would go towards our club and has the potential to become a signature project to help provide regular funding for our projects.
David Pisterman, our Foundation Director provide
d an update of how donations to the Rotary Foundation were making a difference especially with the introduction of the 7th area of focus, Environment. David made mention to keep an eye on the Rotary Down Under edition for information on an upcoming virtual walk in the park or your neighbourhood and an opportunity for members to attend the Rotary International Conference via zoom (this year) that is normally limited to DG’s. Thanks, David, for the update.
d an update of how donations to the Rotary Foundation were making a difference especially with the introduction of the 7th area of focus, Environment. David made mention to keep an eye on the Rotary Down Under edition for information on an upcoming virtual walk in the park or your neighbourhood and an opportunity for members to attend the Rotary International Conference via zoom (this year) that is normally limited to DG’s. Thanks, David, for the update.Somehow Jill always seems to organise the most engaging guest speakers and this week was no exception. Today we met Mr. Peter Grose, a successful journalist, originally from Sydney and now residing with his wife in France. Peter made the switch from journalism to book writing and publishing and as a result has delivered some outstanding books, including ‘A 
Good Place to Hide’ and ‘Ten Rouges’. Today Peter (at his local time of 5.15am) focused on his research that captured Australia’s history from tracing the voyage of the first 4 fleets of convicts from England and the role the commercial carriers played in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fleets along with the movement between the end of the 17th century to early 18th century, where slavery went out of fashion by the Americans and the role this played in moving the criminals to another land, being Australia. Peter made a point of the importance of Tasmania during the settlement of the convicts especially the role of Sarah Island, which went on to become the home of the most successful ship building industry in the world (at that time) using local and unique timber, Huon Pine. Consequently, this produced the most successful rehabilitation program for the convicts and an incredible chapter in our history. Personally, today I walked down memory lane when Peter reminded me of this amazing place and history, that I was able to witness back in 1997 as a surgical registrar at North West Hospital in Burnie, TAS. If you would like to order one of his books, please contact Ian Bentley or Jill Weeks for an order form.
Good Place to Hide’ and ‘Ten Rouges’. Today Peter (at his local time of 5.15am) focused on his research that captured Australia’s history from tracing the voyage of the first 4 fleets of convicts from England and the role the commercial carriers played in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fleets along with the movement between the end of the 17th century to early 18th century, where slavery went out of fashion by the Americans and the role this played in moving the criminals to another land, being Australia. Peter made a point of the importance of Tasmania during the settlement of the convicts especially the role of Sarah Island, which went on to become the home of the most successful ship building industry in the world (at that time) using local and unique timber, Huon Pine. Consequently, this produced the most successful rehabilitation program for the convicts and an incredible chapter in our history. Personally, today I walked down memory lane when Peter reminded me of this amazing place and history, that I was able to witness back in 1997 as a surgical registrar at North West Hospital in Burnie, TAS. If you would like to order one of his books, please contact Ian Bentley or Jill Weeks for an order form.Thank-you David Rush for introducing and giving thanks to Peter and the Zoom team including Andrew in the engine room with Ian and Noel playing support roles. We do hope that Peter manages to visit our club in the future, during one of his visits back home.
Next meeting Tuesday, 11th August 2020 with guest Speaker Mr Michael Palmer AO, APM – ‘Stress in first responders and what the public needs to know’.
Dr Tilak Dissanayake
Centenary President Hawthorn Rotary Club