At Tuesday's meeting 37 Club members attended out of a possible 48 = 77%. Also attending was Ron Rauert's son-in-law Greg Swane, Guest Speaker Gavin Matheson, and Peter Walsgot.
Rotarian Tony Austin advised that Honorary Rotarian John Reid is currently in hospital in Melbourne. His leg is not healing as well as hoped and it is not known at this stage how long John will be required to remain in hospital. Our thoughts are with John for a speedy recovery.
Sergeant Andrea Sampson gave a warm welcome to guests and after managing to get a few chuckles over jokes from her 1969 joke book, introduced President John Hunt.
President John Hunt welcomed those present and advised that Brauer College will be celebrating Indigenous Week in August during which time they will be recognising indigenous communities in the College. The unveiling of a plaque will be held on Friday 16th August. The College has invited Rotary to run a BBQ on Thursday evening 15 August from 6:00 - 8:00 pm and John called for a show of hands from members who were interested in helping out with the BBQ.
Rotarians will be receiving information regarding committees in the email this week.
President John also thanked Tony Austin for driving Honorary Rotarian John Reid to hospital in Melbourne this week.
Peter Walsgot has been proposed as a member of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool and the Board has approved the circulation of his name to the membership. If no objections are received in 7 days Peter will be inducted into the Club at a mutually convenient time.
It was 40 years ago this month when in July 1973 the Rotary Club of Warrnambool purchased the site encompassing the Sheltered Workshop for $30,000. The property comprised 2 acres security fenced, plus a modern workshop factory with a heating system. A deposit of $10,000 was found by 15 citizens of Warrnambool and an overdraft of $20,000 was found by Rotarian Eric Williams.
Of the 15 original citizens, only two remain alive. The originals were: J.R. Adams, Mrs A. Askew, Mr I. Askew, Mr W. Brodie, Mr L.G. Brodie, Mr H.E Cain, Mr Jim Crothers, Mr W.S. Crowe, Mr J. Hazeldine, Mrs G.J. Jones, Mr A. Lane, Mr K. Parker, Mrs J.O. Tait, Mr W. Uebergang, Mrs Eric Williams. Those still living are Mr K. Parker and Mr L.G. Brodie.
Several years later the workshop site was sold to the government on the understanding it would remain as a sheltered workshop.
The following inspirational verse was quoted by Vicki Jellie at this week's official launch of the public appeal to raise $5 million towards the cost of building and equipping a Regional Cancer Care Centre to be established in Warrnambool. Inspirational words indeed for all of us in our life's endeavours also. John Beks
INSPIRATION
"Whatever you vividly imagine,
ardently desire,
sincerely believe,
and enthusiastically act upon,
MUST COME TO PASS"
Program in Bulletin
Rotarian Doug Maclean advised members that the program in the Bulletin can now be found down the left hand side of the Bulletin and not in the previous format of a table.
Exchange Student
Rotarian Terry O'Neill advised that Fabio Gomes will be arriving from Brazil this week and will be attending next week's Rotary meeting. He asked members to make Fabio feel welcome because the following week he will be the guest speaker.
At this stage Rotary House will be finished at the end of September. A working bee with 4 clubs was held last weekend and they cleared up inside and outside and spread stone dust. Thanks to those people who came. Doug Maclean
Will take place on Friday August 30 from 7 am, at the Timor Street Bowls Club.
Rotarian Ian Cairns reminded Rotarians to pick up entries from the schools for delivery at next week's meeting. Guest speaker at the breakfast will be Brian Brown, Vice-Principal at Emmanual and father of sporting greats Jonothon and Gabby Brown. Good support is being given by 3YB, and tickets may be purchased from Rotarian Svet Lineham.
Rotarian Anne Adams introduced Gavin Matheson, the Executive Officer of WestVic Dairy. Gavin delivered a very interesting talk about his origins growing up on a farm in Naringal, attending school in Naringal East, then Warrnambool and Ballarat. He worked for for Fisheries and Wildlife Department and in various regional areas across Victoria as well as NSW, SA, Cyprus and Mexico, working for the EPA and is now the Executive Officer of WestVic Dairy. He described how WestVic Dairy focuses on developing training and capacity building for farming businesses throughout Victoria with emphasis placed on:
animal performance issues, i.e. fertility
pasture management
employment
transition, i.e. selling property and how to do this
natural resource management
longer term strategic planning
risk management, i.e. farmers working in a way that protects their products to maintain export markets.
Gavin explained that there are 1500 - 1600 dairy businesses across Victoria, the majority of which are locate between Colac and Warrnambool. 75% of Australian milk comes from Victoria, with 25% coming from Southwest Victoria. 90% of Southwest Victorian milk is exported as various products and 10% is consumed. Dairy is therefore a significant export product.
Over the last 10 years New Zealand has doubled its production, whilst Australian production has declined. Gavin believes the increase in NZ production is partly attributed to the willingness of farmers to work together and share experiences and lessons, something many Australian farmers do not do. Reports on the impact of climatic conditions as well as negative media reporting on the dairy industry do not provide a true reflection of the majority of successful dairy farms in Victoria.
Gavin explained that in the past farmers worked on a day-to-day basis, however this has now changed and farmers need to be more strategic in the management of their farms and run them via a 3-5 year business plan. WestVic Dairy has consultants who can assist farmers in their business planning.
In an endeavour to raise the profile and address perceptions of the dairy industry in Australia and double milk production over the next 10 years, WestVic Dairy is launching a new campaign this week called Legindairy.
For access to the report Horizons 2020 - Future Scenarios for the Australian Dairy Industry press the following link. Horizons 2020
Anne Adams thanked Gavin for his extremely interesting talk and presented him with a certificate for a mosquito net to be given to a needy family in New Guinea.
