Rotary Club of Mount Gambier in Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia | Community organisation

Rotary Club of Mount Gambier

Locality: Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia

Phone: +61 435 356 674

Address: Mount Gambier RSL 5290 Mount Gambier, SA, Australia

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• Non-profit organisation
• Community organisation

23.01.2022 We all need to be more ACCOUNTABLE! That was the message delivered to Rotarians by well-known local orthopaedic surgeon, radio broadcaster and political commentator, Barney McCusker. Barney regularly writes letters and EMails to people and organisations, in which he suggests ways they could improve their performance. In fact he actively encourages others to do the same, especially when those organisations rely on US (the public) to provide their revenue.... He gave an example where a series of letters (it often takes more than one letter to more than one person) to AFL administrators resulted in a change to the judging panel for the best and fairest award at the AFL grand final. No longer is it just left to a panel of Victorians! Barney has also asked pointed questions of the ABC and is campaigning to have High Court judges appointed from states other than NSW, Vic, Qld and WA. Yes, it's a fact; in the long history of the High Court (almost 120 years), there has NEVER been a judge appointed from SA, Tas or the NT! So follow my lead, and "get off yer bum and make people accountable" urges Barney. It all helps make our democracy more healthy.

22.01.2022 Busy sorting books for the forthcoming BIG BOOK SALE DAYS on Saturday mornings of December 5th, 12th and 19th at "5290 Function Centre" next to Sorrentos.

20.01.2022 "Duck Shovers" beware! The Rotary Club of Mount Gambier's oldest and longest-serving member, Neil Dickins, has appointed himself as the club's official "Duck Shoving monitor". With the Club adopting a much more "open" committee structure, it's now up to ALL members to put themselves forward for the various jobs and commitments that the Club takes on. ... Neil was concerned that the lack of formal committee membership and meetings could lead to Rotarians being somewhat less than fully diligent in carrying out their commitments. So he suggested to the Club appoint him to keep all members "on track" so that jobs are done and schedules maintained. The members unanimously endorsed his new role. As you can see in the photograph, he's armed with not just his usual walking stick, but also a mean-looking meat cleaver. Should be perfect for keeping the "Duck-shovers" in line!

20.01.2022 New President for Rotary Club of Mount Gambier...despite COVID complications! The hand-over of the Presidential regalia by Past President, Kathryn Weddell-Lucas and induction of new President Steve Phillips had to be done as two separate ceremonies, due to complications brought about by COVID-19. Steve had been working in Melbourne on a family project, so on return to South Australia, had to quarantine for two weeks. Meanwhile Kathryn had a new job to go to in Victoria in the... new financial year, and once there would not be allowed back into SA due to the border lock-down. So the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier held two "Changeover" ceremonies. One where Kathryn handed over her regalia to Past President, John Waters, and the two weeks later the regalia were formally presented to new President Steve Phillips as part of his induction ceremony. In recognition of her service to the club, Kathryn was honoured by being recognised as a "Paul Harris Fellow", named after the founder of Rotary. This entails the club donating US$1000 to the Rotary Foundation on her behalf, to help finance many international and local Rotary projects. In the photo, Kathryn is holding her PHF certificate, flanked by her son Aiden Weddell and her mother, Fay Weddell.

19.01.2022 Mount Gambier's recent CEO addresses Rotarians. Just before he departed from his leadership position in the community, the CEO of the City of Mount Gambier, Andrew Meddle, addressed the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier. He started by outlining his very impressive background in Local Government, including being Head of Planning & Transport for the Southend-on-sea Borough Council which has a population of around 175,000 people! There he helped drive several major projects includin...g the redevelopment of a major airport, and the rejuvenation of the very long and historic Southend Pier. He also had a key role in managing several Olympic venues during the 2012 London Olympics. On emigrating to Australia, Andrew became General Manager, Sustainable Communities with the Rural City of Murray Bridge where he gained an enviable reputation as a great administrator and strong "people person". No wonder he was recruited to be CEO at Mount Gambier! However, sadly for the community and for Council staff, some elected Council members were not supportive of Andrew in his new role. Too busy "playing politics" it seems. Despite his short tenure, Andrew did start to achieve a change of culture among Council staff (but not among elected members, sadly). He also set up a sound response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drove the development of a new strategic plan, achieved some positive sustainability goals and importantly, got the huge $41m Community and Recreation Hub project underway. Looking to the future, Andrew sees changes for Local Government with a strong need for elected member accountability, stricter financial control, more transparency and simpler regulation. In fact, he suggests that we COULD adopt the UK model and get rid of State Governments, consolidate Councils into much larger, more prosperous regional bodies, and have them deal direct with Federal Government. One less level of bureaucracy for taxpayers to support! After hearing all these fascinating insights, Rotarians agreed that it was very disappointing that our community had lost a community leader of Andrew Meddle's capability. We wish him well in his new role as head of the Murraylands & Riverland Landscape Board.

18.01.2022 A great new design of the 4 Way Test

10.01.2022 The great "strength of feets" Guest speakers at the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier on Wednesday the 9th were local Podiatrists, Bryce Strachan and Drew McKenzie from "Your Podiatrist" They enlightened us on just how important our feet are to our general wellbeing, and how a podiatrist can help overcome any deficiencies in our "plates of meat".... Most of their work involves older people, whose feet have trodden many paths and are somewhat worse for wear as a result. The first part of the treatment is to assess any obvious physical damage, to measure any misalignments, and to treat any issues such as ingrown toe-nails, bunions, corns, spurs and blisters. Often the next step (nice pun!) is to manufacture a pair of orthotics to correct issues such as fallen arches and structural misalignments. This is quite a high-tech process with a computer-driven laser scanner measuring your feet then sending the data to an on-site milling machine that creates the orthotic from blocks of varying density EVA foam. No more hard orthotics as were used in the past! A separate machine can be used to send small "shock waves" into your foot to help relieve painful conditions. This was demonstrated at the meeting by Drew. According to Bryce, the advent of high-tech footwear for athletes has certainly helped relieve the load on our feet, and with the technology now seen in podiatrist's clinics, most foot-related issues can now be successfully prevented or treated. Though they still haven't discovered a cure for "foot in mouth" disease!

07.01.2022 Farming by Drone Drone technology that was first developed for military use around 30 years ago, (remember "Desert Storm")? is now being used by a Mount Gambier spray contractor to kill weeds in hard-to-reach locations. Principal of South East Spraying, Michael Janeway spoke to our club recently and told he is the only fully licenced drone spray operator in South Australia. ... He runs two large commercial drones, costing between $30,000 and $40,000 each. They can carry 16 to 20kg of liquid and due to the design of the spray heads and the rotor down-wash, they have a very accurate spray pattern with little to no spray drift. This makes them ideal for use in or near very high-value crops where off-target spray kill is unacceptable. The drone can also spray in areas inaccessible to ground-based technology, such as quarry walls and steep slopes in places like Mount Gambier's Valley Lake. Next time you visit this beautiful location, watch for the patches of dead blackberries that have been hit by the drone! After telling the Club about these fascinating pieces of kit, Michael took us outside to take a close look at his big spray drones, and their accompanying trailer. One essential piece of equipment in the trailer is a decent-sized gen-set to power the battery chargers. Each drone has two batteries and they only last for 8 minutes! And yes, Michael HAS managed to prang a drone or two, but they're robust enough (made of carbon fibre) that they're quite repairable and soon back in the air.

02.01.2022 Our first Bunnings Sausage Sizzle Recently the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier held its first Bunnings Sausage Sizzle , Not that we're unfamiliar with the art of selling snags, but until now we'd done it at the weekly Rotary Market. The post- COVID experience is certainly more demanding, with the requirement to wear disposable plastic aprons, enforce social distancing and hand sanitising and the need to do regular sanitising of all touched surfaces.... We had to roster two teams of 5 people over the day and Rotarians and Friends of Rotary responded magnificently, It was certainly worth the effort though with over $800 raised for local causes. Our thanks to Bunnings for allowing us to use their impressive BBQ "kit" and for giving us the opportunity to feed their many customers with the now traditional Bunnings Sausage.