President John Bolto welcomed Rotarians and our guest to our second Face-to-Face and Zoom meeting.
Note that it is International Men’s Health Week. Things we can do; Present positive messages and engage 3 friends with Men’s Health in mind.
Today is Pres John’s wedding anniversary. More on that later.
WELCOME GUEST:
Pres John welcomed our speaker for tonight, Mr Mike Lefroy who will speak to us about the Life & Time of C Y O’Connor.
Attendees: At NGC 31 members, 1 guest and around 10 members on Zoom.
Question of the Week:
Aboriginal name of the Swan River? Correctly answered by Tim Humphry.
Family & Friends News:
New member Jason van Straalen celebrated the recent birth of his son by shouting members a drink. Thank you to Jason!
Birthdays & Anniversaries: (Bob Davis)
Anniversaries:
- John & Kim Bolto 15 June 41 years
- Kim & Christine Smith 15 June 35 years
- Ant & Shelley McGrath 16 June 30 years
REPORTS:
Charitable Trust: (Russell Hawkins)
As the end of the Financial Year is coming close, Russell will write to all members and ask them to consider a tax-effective donation into the Charitable Trust.
Russell is trying to source great value WA wine for our members. Stay tuned!
Club Services : (Anthony McGrath)
Meeting held last Friday 12 June 2020 at 9 am Little Way Café, Nedlands.
Since we have been in Lock-down and missed out on a number of functions we have decided (with the great help of Hugh Stowell) of having a different Change-over night on 29 June 2020. It will be held at The Weld Club, at 6 pm for 6:30 pm. This will allow us to have more than 40 people. Partners are invited to attend but note that it is a “business” meeting but none-the-less enable people to have a great night of fellowship. The cost will be $50pp which includes a two-course meal and wine/drink with the meal. Parking is available. Note that Gentlemen must wear a jacket but ties are optional since it is after 5 pm. A specific email will be circulated over the next week.
Community Service: (Tim Humphry)
A meeting will be held next week.
Public Image: (Kevin Jackson)
Kevin is looking at trying to get the Post to do a story on our Sleeping Bag collection and an interview with incoming President to tell them of all the great work we do.
Sergeant’s Session: (Graeme Sansom)
The Sergeant was in full swing for this session;
- Anniversaries - Bolto, Smith & McGrath
- Ken Ilett for great Bowling
- Old Scotch Boys - Football Win - Lindquist, Dry & Sansom
- Russell Hawkins - fashion award for wearing pink pants (ed: a little dubious !)
- Win Jones - Must be related to Tom Jones who just turned 80 and is still a sex-bomb!
- Neil Wilkie - restricted travel hence his Super Fund must be maxed out.
- Kevin Jackson - Media man extraordinaire
- Jock Laurie - ex-Stock Broker but still responsible for the market giving people nightmares!
- Bruce Fiegert - late sign-in
- Gary Dienhoff - Golf today 21 pts for 9 nines!
- Martin, Lindquist & Hopkins for something!
- John Thornton – Still in tune!
- Hugh Stowell - for trying to get other members fined but it backfired!
- Peter Marfleet - late
- John Bolto - errant ringing phone!
President’s Report: Pres John Bolto
Guest Speaker: (Mr Mike Lefroy - C Y O’Connor)
Pres John Bolto introduced Mike Lefroy. He is a 5th generation West Australian. Mike is a lifelong keen historian, writer and educator. We look forward to his presentation on the great WA Civil Engineer C Y O’Connor.
Salient points from Mike’s comprehensive talk about C Y O’Connor are mentioned below;
- There is a statue of C Y at the Port of Fremantle but a better one a Coogee Beach.
- O’Connor was born in 1843 in Castleton in Ireland. He had a lifelong love of horse riding
- He couldn’t afford to go to university but did an apprenticeship.
- At 22 yo he went to New Zealand, found some gold and got involved in doing Public Works particularly roads & ports.
- Married in 1874 in NZ
- Sir John Forrest got him to be WA’s Chief Engineer in 1890. His experience in Ports and Roads were of particular importance.
- In those days the only Port was Albany and then one had a long train trip to Perth. As such, Forrest wanted Fremantle to be the main Port, not Albany.
- After many designs, O’Connor decided that the Port could be in the Mouth of the Swan which meant removing (by explosives) a limestone bar currently in this area. All successfully done.
- At that stage due to the discovery of Gold in Kalgoorlie half of WA’s population was there. They were in dire need of water. Forrest wanted a water pipeline to Kalgoorlie. O’Connor turned his brain to solve this problem like any good engineer by breaking the issue into bite-sized pieces.
- The result was a dam at Mundaring and the worlds first steel pipeline to Kalgoorlie (over 600kms) Also included a number of pumping stations. It was a very large project for the State at that time and had its detractors particularly a Sunday Times editor.
- When Forrest was around he dealt with the criticism and the detractors very well. However, after Federation (1901) he had to go East. This left poor O’Connor in the firing line. It obviously ate at him and eventually suffered a depression.
- One morning (10 March) he rode to Robbs Jetty and shot himself in the surf. A very sad end to a great man. Needless to say but the water pipeline to Kalgoorlie has been a raging success and to this day delivers 20,000,000 l a day to the region.
- There is a statue in the surf to commemorate him. He is buried at Fremantle Cemetary
- Mike believes we should embark on a new project with a vision to honour him.
Pres John thanked Bernie for advancing our knowledge of this great West Australian.
Future Events: President John Bolto
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June 22nd – Anthony McGrath – Life Story
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June 29th – Handover Dinner The Weld Club
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THANK YOU
President John thanked the Rotary Club of Dalkeith members who ventured out tonight as well as those on the Zoom.
Recognise our very generous Sponsors;
- Lizzy Bee-supplier of flowers
- Butler Settineri – Hon Club Auditors
- Paragon Consultants -Our Foundation’s Auditors
- PSZ Accounting for providing Xero Accounting software and Sharesight Portfolio reporting software to the Charitable Trust.
He called on members to recognise RI President Mark Maloney’s Presidential theme for the year, Rotary Connects The World.
