Tag Archives: Australia

Rotary in Australia on the road to reconciliation

Posted on by
1
Senior Kaurna Man
Mickey O’Brien, senior Kaurna Man, welcomes Rotary members to Kaurna country during a July 2021 event launching the Rotaract Club of Adelaide City, South Australia, Reconciliation Action Plan.

By Katey Halliday, Rotaract Club of Adelaide City, South Australia, Australia, and a member of Rotary International’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce

As a leading community service organisation, Rotary absolutely has a role to play in advancing reconciliation efforts. We exist to serve the community, and to do this well, we must have an understanding and appreciation for Indigenous communities.

Australia is made up of hundreds of different Indigenous nation groups; each with their own culture, customs, language, and laws. Based on Kaurna land on the Adelaide Plains, the Adelaide City Rotaract Club are the first within Rotary to have developed a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), endorsed by the not-for-profit organisation Reconciliation Australia.

Continue reading →

Warwick magic adds 15 members in under a year

Posted on by
2
Andy Rajapaske andGold Coast Passport Rotary Club members at a rally to end domestic violence.
Andy Rajapaske with members of the Gold Coast Passport Rotary Club and friends at a rally to end domestic violence.

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of posts for Membership Month inviting experts to share how they reach out to prospective members, keep existing members engaged, and create an environment that allows new clubs to form and thrive.  

By Andy Rajapakse, assistant Rotary Coordinator for Zone 8 and a past district governor 

Last Rotary year was a year of opportunities for the Rotary Club of Warwick in Queensland, Australia. The club, chartered in 1932, had only seven members when I took office as governor of District 9640 on 1 July 2020. It dropped to three in March 2021. But on 30 April 2021, the club reported 15 members including eight women. It had 11 members under the age of 30 and three were previous members of a Rotaract club. What was Warwick’s magic? 

Continue reading →

Australian Rotarians speak out against family abuse

Posted on by
1

By Dorothy Gilmour, Rotary Club of Melbourne, Australia

As a grief therapist, I have assisted individuals impacted by suicide. My work as a therapist and as a lecturer in the areas of trauma, loss, and grief counseling included explaining to people how we cannot “save” a suicidal person ourselves, but need to refer them to trained professionals.

Continue reading →

Saving lives in the Pacific

Posted on by
4
Senerita Pouvi, 9, receives a measles vaccination in December 2019 as part of a UNICEF-supported National Vaccination Campaign in response to a measles outbreak in the Pacific region. Photo Courtesy UNICEF.

By James Allen, Project Director and member of Rotary Club of Sydney, Australia

I am part of a team of Rotarians that came together nearly four years ago to initiate a project to recognize and celebrate the Centenary in Australia and New Zealand in 2021. It started as a group from the original four clubs in this part of the world – Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, and Wellington. Since then, many other clubs and districts have participated and are providing support. We called the project Give Every Child A Future because importantly, it will reduce child mortality and ease the burden of cervical cancer, thus giving every child a better future.

Continue reading →

Australian Rotarians respond to brushfires

Posted on by
2

Meals for firefighters

Rotary members cook and serve meals for Emergency Services volunteers fighting the brushfires in New South Wales.

Ross Wade

By Ross Wade, Past President, and Issa Shalhoub, member of the Rotary Club of Milton-Ulladulla, New South Wales, Australia

From August through October of last year, residents of the coastal community of Ulladulla, New South Wales, Australia, watched somewhat passively as reports came in about the serious brush fires in other parts of the state and in Queensland.  But they were shaken out of their complacency the last week of November when a serious bushfire began spreading rapidly much closer to home. Continue reading →