Home Page | Rotary Club of Mundingburra

Rotary Club of Mundingburra

Townsville, Australia

Visting Rotarians and Guests are always welcome

Service Above Self

We meet In Person

Thursdays at 6:30 PM

Townsville RSL Club

139 Charters Towers Road
Hyde Park, QLD 4812
Australia

Phone:

0407 730 619

Email:

rotarymundingburra@outlook.com

6pm for 6.30pm start Check Rotary News below as some weekly meetings are offsite.

District Site

Venue Map

Helping our Environment

The club guest speaker last week was Sandra Richards who spoke of the important work going on with a company she is associated with, QPLUS, in turning waste wood and plastics into products that save polluting our environment.

Interestingly the company is based in Townsville and is working with other groups to encourage other likeminded groups to assist with making our planet a better place.

Sandra indicated plastic waste from farms has always created a problem for farmers, do they bury it, burn it, or find some other way to store it, however the new facility in Townsville can turn it into products that can be used in both commercial and private ways to replace chopping down trees. These products could be a simple as decking boards for household decks, to railway sleepers & fence posts, plus multiple other products.

Townsville Community Development Section

The club had the pleasure of Helene James from the City Council as a guest speaker for our meeting telling us all about the way the council works with the community on various activities – actually a large list overall.

(Club President Ryan Lacaze presenting a certificate of thanks to Helena.

The club also made a donation of $100 to Australian Rotary Health for Mental Health research in appreciation of her talk to us.)

An enthusiastic Helena gave an overview of the team she is part of and then explained a number of their roles and the projects they are working with jointly with various community groups. These included the following, as they have too many to list separately,

ANZAC Service & 2RAR Museum visit

The Club holds an annual ANZAC event to honour the service personnel who have served our country in various conflicts.

This year we had the privilege of holding the event during a visit to the 2RAR museum at Lavarack Barracks

Our special thanks to Defence for allowing the visit and a special thanks to Jason Harrison, and his staff, for the time they volunteered to conduct this memorable tour.

Following the visit, Rotarian Bruce Scott (Brigadier (ret), gave a special, and moving, talk to all members on ANZAC day. Thanks Bruce for assisting us to maintain our yearly ANZAC service.

Meeting Program

28th April - Community Building in Townsville – Helene James

5th May - Recycling - Sandra Riches

12th May - Update from former Brazilian Rotarian - Miriam Hebling

17th May - Vocational Visit - Pickerings

6th May - Membership Plan

2nd June - Possible Tropical Museum Visit

LYME DISEASE – The Mystery

Last week our guest speaker, Fiona Richards, a person who had experienced the impact of LYME, gave a presentation that highlighted the challenges facing the many people in our population that suffer from what is very likely LYME, however medical professionals appear to be faced with deregistration if they indicate the person may have LYME.

Australia believes that it can only be acquired overseas, yet blood tests sent to international countries that do LYME testing, have confirmed many instances that the person has the LYME disease, whereas Australian testings claims when they do it, they also get a positive result but state it’s a false positive.

Its clearly a controversial issue, and one that listening to the presenter, gives the impression that acknowledging this as a problem in Australia would create some other issues.

One of our members partners has also faced the same issue, and had to go overseas to be treated for the disease, which was extremely costly, but necessary to allow her to enjoy a good quality of life.

Overall, a very interesting and challenging presentation. Her presentation was supported by the information on Lyme Disease Association of Australia, which make good reading.

It should be noted however, some Australian medical papers indicate it’s a possibility that a person has got LYME in Australia, but more likely symptoms of a problem closely resembling LYME.

A very interesting and thought provoking talk

Rotary Mundingburra assisting with Australia Day celebration in Townsville

The Rotary Club of Mundingburra is proud to advise that they have partnered with the Rotary Clubs of Townsville Daybreak, Thuringowa Central, and Magnetic Island, in providing assistance with celebrations for Australia Day via a grant from the National Australia day Council

Full details are contained in the attached document on the next page.

Mundingburra Rotary Club acknowledges the assistance by the Australian Government through theNational Australia Day Council.

Soft Coral Presentation

Members at our Club meeting on the 25^th November were greeted with a wonderful and knowledgeable presentation on Soft Coral and the impact of bleaching on them, by Stefano Borghi.

He explained what is a soft coral, and spoke of the 4 main types that make up soft coral and are a large part of our magnificent Barrier Reef.

Stefano explained that whilst we might think of all coral as being only one type, the reality is that many types exist, some liking shallow water, other found in varying water depths, therefore they may be impacted differently by climate change. Stefano outlined that the impact was naturally a lot higher on the shallow water types of which we are most likely to see.

The corals which are impacted turn white and, for most soft corals, breakup and disappear, so sometimes when you look you don’t see the white areas as they have disintegrated completely, leading people to think nothing has occurred.

Stefano shared a number of various graphs and charts to highlight the issues, all of which are still undergoing lots of scientific work as the protection of the reef is very important.

He also spoke of the high level of expertise at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, and its high standing in the work they do. Most of us don’t understand the importance of the work they do.

Stefano was a very interesting and challenging presenter, and left the members with a better understanding of coral types and bleaching impacts, plus the knowledge that Townsville is a major centre for coral research.

Stroke Management Presentation

At a recent meeting of the Mundingburra Rotary Club, members were presented with a very important health message on Stroke Management, by Ian Meade from the Townsville University Hospital.

Ian explained the difference types of strokes, and outlined the F.A.S.T concept to help identify a person who may be having a stroke
and the importance of getting prompt medical assistance for the person.

F.A.S.T is, Face, Arms, Speech, Time,
Three important factors which maybe indicators of a stroke and the need to get medical action quickly.

FACE - Has their mouth drooped?
ARMS – Can they lift both arms?
SPEECH- Is their speech slurred? Can they understand you?
TIME – Getting prompt medical assistance is crucial for someone having a stroke.

A stroke is always a medical emergency. The longer a stroke remains untreated, the greater the chance of stroke-related brain damage.

A good link to other stroke related information can be found on https://strokefoundation.org.au/About-Stroke/Learn/signs-of-stroke

Mundingburra Rotary EarlyAct Club Support

The Mundingburra Rotary Club are pleased to announce the formation of an EarlyAct club at Townsville Grammar School. This is for children under 12.

A formal presentation was held on Thursday 14^th Oct to present the documentation to the School and two students representing the EarlyAct members.

Even prior to formally starting the club, these young members of the club took about raising funds for various worthwhile community needs and confirmed they are committed to helping to make life better for those in need.

Club President Ryan Lacaze, and our Club school Rep, Robert Tardiani, had the pleasure of presenting the clubs certificate to the EarlyAct reps, Kalea and Kris under the watchful eye of Louise and Chris (Townsville Grammar staff).

Listening to the speeches by both Kalea and Kris, highlighted the great work they are doing in the school to promote community goodwill and led to great applause from the members present.

Townsville Grammar also hosts an Interact club and this new EarlyAct club will build on the good work the Interact Club has done and provide them a feeder group of keen students.

More photos of the night are below