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From the District Governor

WHAT’S HAPPENING FOR THE DISTRICT 
District Conference
Registrations for the District Conference, to be held in Traralgon on the weekend of 25-27 February 2022, opened in September.  At last count we had 175 delegates registered for this exciting event.  The beautiful new venue is due to be completed next week.  I was able to visit the auditorium and it is exceptional.
Unfortunately, with the State Government’s Health Orders stipulating no dancing, the Saturday night Dinner Dance has been cancelled.  Those who have already registered will receive a $100 refund.  The cost to register for the conference has been reduced to $200.
A few things to remember:
  1. Accommodation needs to be booked as soon as possible, especially if you intend to stay on the Thursday night.
  2. It is a requirement of Latrobe City that all attendees be double vaccinated.
  3. Don’t forget to book the leadership breakfast, your golf tournament, or winery tour spot when you register.
 
February is Peace & Conflict Resolution Month. 
Have you considered completing a Rotary Peace Fellowship?  One of the speakers at our upcoming District Conference, Charlie Allen has done just that.
The Rotary Peace Fellowship is now accepting applications for the Rotary Peace Scholarships 2022-23.  130 Scholarships are awarded each year. The Rotary Peace Scholarship is a Fully Funded Scholarship for students to study a full-time Master’s Degree program or a Certificate program at one of the top universities in the world, and is one of the most prestigious Scholarship opportunities available.
The Scholarship will cover all the expenses.  Rotary Peace has given more than 1,400 fellowships to date, with a total of 50 Scholarships for Master’s Degree program and 80 for Certificate Degree programs each year.  The duration of the Master Scholarship is 15 to 24 months and 3 Months for Short Certificate programs. 
Students from all around the world can apply for the Rotary Peace Scholarships.  You will complete your studies at one of the partner universities of Rotary Peace Fellowships (USA, Japan, UK, Australia, Sweden, Thailand, Uganda).  There is no application fee required to apply for this Scholarship.
Membership
Membership numbers are falling across the District.
Numbers on 1 July 2021 were 1,132 Rotarians, however after six months we have fallen to 1,104 Rotarians.  Please consider the International President Shekhar Mehta’s suggestion that “Each One – Bring One”.
East Gippsland Cluster
The East Gippsland Cluster of clubs will be busy through February distributing Drought Aid Vouchers of $500 each, on behalf of RAWCS, to farmers still enduring drought conditions.  The vouchers will also be offered to farm employees and farm supply businesses affected by the drought.
 

District 9820 Conference 25 - 27th February 2022

 
 
District Conference Platinum Sponsor – Latrobe Health Services
Latrobe Health Services is an Australian-owned not-for-profit community-focused private health insurer with more than 81,000 members across Australia.
Founded in 1950, Latrobe Health was established by power industry workers to provide for the health care needs of residents in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, and at the time focused on providing medical services such as hospitals and ambulances. Much has changed since 1950, with Latrobe Health now providing hospital and extras coverage for members Australia-wide. However, the spirit of Latrobe Health Services founders remains. Latrobe Health Services is still a regionally focused and based private health insurer that exists to benefit and support its members and the communities in which they live.
Latrobe Health Services is a proud supporter of regional communities, most recently donating $25k for the Traralgon storm emergency and $25k for the 2020 bushfires to Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund. In support of its community throughout the COVID pandemic, Latrobe Health Services donated a whopping $1M to bolster much needed family violence, youth and mental health supports throughout Gippsland and regional Victoria.
In 1991 Latrobe Health Services established Maryvale Private Hospital, Gippsland’s only private acute medical and surgical hospital. Since its inception, Maryvale has cared for more than 44,000 patients in the Gippsland region. Today, it’s a key health hub contributing to education and clinical programs such as diabetic care, cancer services, palliative care, breast care and men’s health.
 
 
We have some excellent speakers: 
 
WINTHROP PROFESSOR FIONA WOOD, FRACS AM
Professor Fiona Wood is a British born plastic and reconstructive surgeon currently working in Perth.  She is the director of the Burns Service of WA, director of the Burn Injury Research Unit at UWA, co-founder of the company Clinical Cell Culture (now Avita Medical) and the McComb Research Foundation (along with Professor Marie Stoner) now the Fiona Wood Foundation.
Fiona is world renowned for her patented invention of spray on skin cells for burns victims, a treatment which is continually developing and focused on reducing the time to healing and reduced scarring. She leads a busy life as a highly experienced burns specialist and mother of six.
Perhaps one of Fiona’s most notable achievements was her leadership and management when in October 2002, she led the team at Royal Perth Hospital to treat the largest proportion of survivors from the 2002 Bali bombings.
Professor Wood was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003 and named Australian of the Year in 2005. Also in 2005, Fiona was awarded the Clunnies Ross award from the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering with co-worker medical scientist Marie Stone.
 
LEADERSHIP BREAKFAST SPEAKER: PRIP IAN RISELEY
Ian is a chartered accountant and principal of Ian Riseley and Co., a firm he established in 1976. Prior to starting his own firm, he worked in the audit and management consulting divisions of large accounting firms and corporations. His firm specializes in income tax and management advice for individuals and small businesses. He has a master’s degree in taxation law and graduate diplomas in accounting and income tax.
Ian has been a member of the boards of both a private and a public school, a member of the Community Advisory Group for the City of Sandringham, and involved in Sea Scouts and sporting groups, as well as honorary auditor or adviser for a number of charitable organizations.
His honours include the AusAID Peacebuilder Award from the Australian government in recognition of his work in East Timor, the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the Australian community, the Distinguished Service Award and the Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World from The Rotary Foundation.
A member of the Rotary Club of Sandringham since 1978, Ian has served as Rotary International President, Treasurer, Director, Foundation trustee, and member and chair of numerous RI and Foundation committees.
He and his wife, Juliet, a past District Governor, are Major Donors and Bequest Society members of The Rotary Foundation.
 
SPEAKER: VIC GROSJEAN
A Chartered Engineer, Vic holds formal qualifications in Electronics (Bachelors), in Mechatronics Engineering (Masters in Robotics) and Environmental Monitoring (Masters in Physics).
He was awarded the Bolloré Award in 2011, and IEEE Award in 2013 for his work in Ocean Engineering. More recently, Vic was selected to receive the UN Young Innovator Award. Vic is also “One of Six Rotary People of Action” to showcase his work at the United Nations in 2018.
A board member of the Australian Autonomous Unmanned System Association (AAUS) and Head of International Relations for an 8,000+ Engineer Network (ISEN), Vic also chairs the Institute of Engineering and Technology Victoria for the Young Professional Section (IET-YPS).
As a supporter of Rotary values and Past President of Melbourne City Rotaract Club (MCRC), Vic has been providing an innovative approach to clean water. He is a leader and community educator who delivers projects to reduce water pollution on a global scale making a long-term difference for humanity. His career focus is to build collaboration between organisations to advance Engineering and preserve the environment with the ultimate goal of saving our oceans.
 
Charles is the Director of Partnerships with the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).  He establishes and manages relationships with strategic, global and grass roots partners, inclusive of governments, multi-lateral, non-government, education and civil society organisations.  Through partnerships, he is activating IEP’s Positive Peace framework globally.
In his previous role with Victoria Police, he led strategic and operations change, shifting policing to better adopt community engagement.  His policing career including many years of operation service in general duties, investigations, then senior change management roles.
He is an experienced director with not for profits and experienced in hands on peace building at project and strategic levels.  He is vice President of the Rotary Club of Sydney, a Master in Leadership, Organisation and Change, and has studied Peace and conflict Resolution as a rotary Peace Fellow at the Chulalongkorm Rotary Peace Centre.  He is an alumnus of Leadership Victoria and Australian Institute for Company Directors.
Charles is well respected among peace builders for his pioneering work in resilience, and equally respected within policing for his community centre approach to police management.  He was awarded the Australian Police Medal, a Division of the Order of Australia, for his service to the community of Victoria, Australia.
 
ERIN COLDHAMSpeaker for Star of the South Project
Erin Coldham is Chief Development Officer at the Star of the South project, which seeks to harness Bass Strait winds to power more than a million homes with clean energy, while creating thousands of jobs.
Erin is proud to be part of the team progressing this critical infrastructure project for Australia, bringing her extensive experience working with all levels of government on major, multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects.
In her role at Star of the South, Erin is currently responsible for all development activities required to bring the project to construction and operation, working with industry, regulators, policy-makers and local communities to bring offshore wind to regional Gippsland and the State of Victoria.
Included in A Word About Wind’s Top 100 Women’s Power List 2021, Erin is a champion for female talent in the energy industry and is driven by the positive opportunities offshore wind represents for Australia.  
 
 
 
 
 
Gippsland Golf Classic - 28 March 2022
Yarram Art Festival April 2022
Multi District Australia Day celebrations
The Multi District Australia Day Celebration was hosted at Nossal High School, Berwick. This was a hybrid event with many Rotarians attending via video conferencing. 
 
Joy of clean drinking water in Papua New Guinea
Sigri is a village 45 minutes drive from Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea. The 1500 people who live there had no running water and the women and children would walk over one kilometre and return with water in buckets. There are several structures in the village with metal roofs but no guttering or means to capture water.
The project was initiated through Mt Martha Rotary Club (Jonathan Mayne and the International Committee) and was set up through Rotary Australia World Community Service to assist with funding of the project. Funds were received from Rotary Club of Mount Martha, Rotary Club of Warrnambool, Dragon Boats Australia, and individual donations.
 
The Sigri Team and community worked hard to complete the water project. Women and children helped out each day. Although there is a lack of cement mixer/ wheelbarrow and other tools for the job in the village, it did not prevent them from working and achieving the goal.
Great news for the water project is that the local council leader assisted in the process of obtaining an additional 9500L water tank for the village. The village will now have a total of 38,000L storage capacity. 
The water tanks have been positioned on slabs, plumbed and approximately 600m distance dug out for pipe placement. Taps at various locations within the village are fully operating.
 
It rained recently and people living near building one have started to drink out of it for the first time. It was pure joy for the villagers. Collecting water with a cup to drink straight out of the tap was very special for them.
 
A community celebration and some joyful celebrations and proud Sigri Village moments captured in marking the official opening of running water supply. The children, women and men have put together some lovely messages. They expressed thankfulness and joy towards the generous gift in supplying materials for this life giving water project.
 
One job left is painting the rusted tin rooves of two buildings as the villagers feel this may cause a health risk. They asked for a long ladder to access roofing and to paint the rusted tin.
 
In summary,
 
Installed 5x9500 litre water tanks
4 tanks on slab, tanks interconnected
All 3 buildings fitted with gutters, down pipes and other plumbing fitted to all tanks.
600 meters of digging done and pipes buried.
8 tap stands with running water
 
 
 
Club Visioning Facilitation 
 
 
Vision Facilitation helps a Rotary club design its own vision and to set out the steps necessary to achieve that vision. 
For more information click here:  Club Visioning | District 9820 (rotary9820.org.au) or contact: 
Brian Norris, on 0418 633 446 or 
Aled Roberts on 0409 136 005 or 
Rotary International Convention Melbourne 2023
 
For an update on the planning for the 2023 Melbourne Convention and hear about opportunities for Clubs and Rotarians to be involved in Host Hospitality Events and volunteering for the Convention see the video on the District website using this link.  
 
Drouin crowd barriers - available 
 
 
Drouin Club has just purchased new crowd barriers aka fences and so now offers its existing supply to anyone interested.
They are the type you see on footpaths for al fresco dining and there are: 8 x 120cm width + 18 x 160 cm width + 8 x 200 cm width (refer photos attached). All in good condition.
It would be preferred if they were all taken in one lot but Bill Petschack may consider offers for smaller lots. First in best dressed. Give him a call on 0418 595 540

What's happening in February

Editors Note

Request for inclusion in the newsletter can be made using newsletter@rotary9820.org.au.  

 
Janet Pugh 
0410 328 636