Rotary Club No. 17632, District 9510.  Chartered 24th April 1954
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Mondays at 6:30 PM
Nixon's Function Centre
Nixon Tce
Gawler, SA 5118
Australia
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Gawler Rotary Club Board 2021-2022

Meeting Roster No. 3083 - 23rd August, 2021
 
 
CHAIRMAN                          Wayne Murphy
 
GUEST SPEAKER                  Brian Burt
PROGRAMME                       My Great Rotary Adventure
                                                Committees
.
PLAQUES & FELLOWSHIP     Angela Moore
 
LOYAL TOAST                     Ian Sanders
 
BIRTHDAYS                           None
ANNIVERSARIES                 Kathy Heinrich 27th August. (9th)
 
 
August - Membership and New Club Development Month
    
DIARY DATES
                                                
Sun. 29th Aug. ROMAC Luncheon, at Adelaide Pavilion
Sun. 19th Sep. Swap meet.
Sun. 26th Sep. Zonta Community Chill & Fun Day
Sat. 20th-21st Nov.   Gawler Show.
Sat.  27th Nov   ‘One & All’ - Twilight Cr
 

PRESIDENT'S PIECE

  I hope you are all well and sorry I missed last week’s meeting. However, I was in Darwin spending some time with my daughter before she moves to Newcastle in Nov this year.
   It was an interesting week for Darwin with a COVID19 case over the weekend that was an essential worker travelling from the US via Sydney, Darwin and finally Kathrine.
  The Premier made his announcement at 11am Monday morning and by 12.30pm Darwin was put into 3-day lockdown and I must say it was impressive to see Darwin CBD turn from streets full of local businesspeople and tourists to a ghost town within 1½ hours. Anyway 3 days on and Darwin is back to normal with no new cases and business as usual.
  This week our guest speaker is Brian Burt and he will be talking to us about his Rotary Adventure so get along to the meeting as I am sure it will be of interest and some fun.
 
Quote of the week
 Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind, always.
 
Report on Meeting  3082 – August 16th, 2021
   
The attendance at the meeting was 28 members plus guest Brian Turner an accomplice of last week’s guest speaker Tim Harper but misinformed on date due to be present.
  Apologies were received from Bob Ahrens, Colin Bazeley, Helen Bourne, Dave Griffiths, Patsy Johnson, Mark Smeaton, and Julie Tekell.
Mike Williams was introduced as chairperson for the meeting, and he called on Lance Hatcher to propose the loyal toast, followed by President-elect Kathy Heinrich saying grace.
  Rotary spots:
  • Brian Burt reported that the results from a prostate cancer biopsy were favourable.
  • Steve Barilla thanked Kim, Wayne, and Dan for help with moving four blocks of stage floor, each five by four, donated to the club. The aim is to rent them out to folks running events needing a raised platform.
  • Ian Sanders relayed information from President Mark on Bob Ahrens who’s still doing rehab at Modbury.
  The fines session began with the barrel roll winners being Dan Berrett and Ron Lloyd, and then proceeded with Sgt Barry using the Bunyip pictures to roast those appearing in them.
  Chairman Mike introduced member Mark Forgie to give his talk on the History of Cremation. Mark is the owner of Taylor & Forgie Funeral Directors which has two funeral parlours in Gawler and operates a major crematorium located in the Gawler Belt Industrial Area. Mark spoke with authority on the various aspects of his topic.
  On completion of his talk Mark answered questions before he was presented a certificate of appreciation.
  President-elect Kathy announced that the club is sponsoring Tom Kelly’s son Nickolas on the Rotary 5-day sailing trip on the One & All vessel.
  Finally, Kathy thanked all those for attending, before calling for the saying of the Rotary 4-way test and then closed the meeting.
 
 
 
The History of Cremation
 
Mark Forgie
 
 
Cremation is a significant part of the funeral industry. Australia has followed the UK model in that cremation has always been treated as an alternative to burial in a funeral ceremony. Whereas in the US it is categorised as an alternative to a funeral.
The first evidence of a cremation in Australia was discovered in the 1950s at Lake Mungo near Mildura when a container of cremated remains was discovered.
A familiar example of cremation is the Hindu rite of burning corpses on the banks of the Ganges and dispersing the ashes into the river.
In Europe in earlier times, it was the rite of disposal in Greece and with the amongst others. However, the advent of Christianity saw the Vikings end of cremation as a sanitarily form until cremation societies began to advocate it as more hygienic.
In the UK it was not practiced initially by Catholics but later flourishing probably thanks to Henry VIII creating the Protestant Church for his own needs.
Burke and Hare the notorious grave robbers who also killed to order to supply anatomy specimens biased families to cremation with deceased loved ones being kept at home until they were no longer suitable for dissection.
Cremation began in Australia in the 1870s 1880s with some backyard bonfires and these did nothing to enhance the cause due to odious smoke and odour. It was on May 13, 1903, in Adelaide that the first cremation in a crematorium in the southern hemisphere occurred at the West Terrace cemetery.
The venture was not a success due to limited Council finances resulting in poor design and equipment restricting operation to a maximum of only two cremations per day. In 1947 only 3.5% of funerals at West Terrace ended in cremation whilst interstate the cremation rate was 30%.
A facility located by the Unley/Mitcham conglomerate in the new Centennial Park had its first cremation in 1955 and in the next two years they performed as many cremations as had been done at West Terrace in the preceding 50 years. In 1965 Centennial Park chapels were overbooked continually and a second chapel was built. Considered unsafe through neglect, the West Terrace crematorium was closed shortly afterwards and demolished in 1969.
With the large developments in northern metro Adelaide, Enfield applied for a license to operate a crematorium. The first cremation at Enfield was on the 1st Dec 1969 and by 1st Dec 1970, 488 cremations had been performed, whilst state-wide by 1973, 60% of funerals were cremations.
In Gawler the long cortege to Enfield was unpopular as it split mourners and reduced fellowship. The matter was resolved by mimicking a crematorium chapel using drapes at the committal through which the coffin was wheeled from view. The first mimic chapel in Australia was at Elizabeth, and later in Gawler at the Cowan Street chapel with modifications to the building.
In Gawler, despite council opposition a license was granted in 1989 bringing a new industry nearer at Gawler Belt. The first cremation was in November 1989 and by May 1990 one hundred cremations had been carried out. This new enterprise was widely supported by other funeral directors as many still do after 28 years.
Over this time, cremations are carried out at Gawler for all funeral directors in SA. Cremations are even performed for Centennial Park and Enfield as the Gawler chambers are large enough to accommodate the ever-growing size of population. Since 1989, 45,000 cremations have been carried out with Gawler ensuring that families in the community can be looked after entirely.
 
      
       Gawler Crematorium    Gawler Crematorium interior
 
Just a thought: 
A dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary is a thesaurus.
 
 

Rotary Voices

Stories of service from around the world

 
 

Some Rotary Projects

A shortlist projects our club wishes to concentrate our support on this year.
- click on heading to link for more information
 
Polio Eradication: Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease with no cure. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child worldwide until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.
Operation Cleft: - provides free cleft repair surgery for underprivileged children in Bangladesh. Many are ostracized by society, also suffer ear, nose, and throat infections, depression, and malnutrition. Surgery provides an opportunity for a normal life, an education, and to reach their full potential as contributing members of their community.
ShelterBox: responds instantly to natural and manmade disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need. Each box supplies an extended family (up to 10 people) with a tent and essential equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless.
Interplast Australia & New Zealand: provides access to life-changing reconstructive surgery and related medical services to those in need across the Asia Pacific region, with a focus on facilitating medical training and mentoring for in-country medical personnel by supporting and building the capacity of local health services.
R.A.M. – Rotarians Against Malaria: Objective: “The prevention of mortality, and a reduction in morbidity and social and economic loss caused by malaria through a progressive improvement and strengthening of local and national capabilities in malaria control.”
S.W.S.L. – Save Water Save Lives:  Encompasses the provision of water, water catchment, reticulation, and the construction of a variety of water tanks.  50% of the world’s population does not have ready access to safe drinking water – water-related diseases may claim as many as 25 million lives a year.
R.O.M.A.C. – Rotary Oceania Medical Aid (for) Children: ROMAC brings children under the age of 15 from developing countries to Australia for often life-threatening and dignity restoring surgeries not available in their home country.
D.I.K. – Donations in Kind: Provides donated equipment and material in two main areas – Education and Health. Container freight costs are met by contribution/donations. Every $1 donation results in $50 of goods delivering hope to needy communities.
A.R.H. – Australian Rotary Health: provides Research Scholarship in focus areas - Mental Health, Indigenous Health, Rural Medical & Nursing, also, Research Grants and PhD Scholarships in a broad range of general health areas including cancer, heart disease, children’s health, motor neuron disease, diabetes and more.
Rywell recognises that some of our youth are quite disadvantaged as a result of family circumstances and seeks to provide them with opportunities for enjoyable recreational activities. The Committee has formed a liaison with Families SA over recent years to organise holiday programs of activities for young people who live in Government Accommodation Units under the responsibility of the Minister.
 
Please nominate one of these projects for the fines box when you are Chairing the meeting
 
 
 
 
 
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Nearby Club Meetings
 
MONDAY
TIME
LOCATION
Clare
(meet 1st & 3rd )
6.30pm
Wk 1 Middle Hotel, 244 Main Nth Rd
Wk 3 Rotary Centre, Phoenix Ave
Elizabeth
6.45pm
Grenville Community Centre
*Barossa District
(meet only 2nd & 4th )
6.45pm
Vine Inn Hotel Motel
Gawler
6.30pm
Nixon Function Centre, Nixon Tce.
Kapunda
(meet 1st & 3rd )
6.45pm
North Kapunda Hotel
Salisbury
6.30pm
Old Spot Hotel
 
 
 
TUESDAY
TIME
LOCATION
Gawler Light*
7.30pm
Gawler Arms Hotel (Loft Room)
*Members wishing to eat may dine at the Gawler Arms from 6.15pm prior to the meeting start. Bookings by emailing gregory.morris.gm1@gmail.com or phone 0409 185 452
 
WEDNESDAY
TIME
LOCATION
Playford
1st Wednesday
3rd Tuesday
 
7.30am
7.00pm
Grenville Hub
 
 
 
THURSDAY
TIME
LOCATION
Barossa Valley
(meet 1st & 3rd )
(meet 2nd & 5th)
6.30pm
 
6.30pm
 
Clubhouse, 45 McDonnell St.
Tanunda.
Via Zoom or off-site
 
 
Apoligies & Guests
 

Members of the Rotary Club of Gawler should either:

  1. reply to the weekly email Attendance & Meal form

  2. or call or sms on 0437 759 256 before 10.00am Mondays.

Failure will be taken to be an apology and no meal will be ordered.

Visiting Rotarians and others should call or sms on 0437 759 256 before 10.00am Mondays.

  • Committee Meetings – please notify your host by 10.00am of the meeting day if you are unable to attend an in-home Committee Meeting.

Club Almoner – PP Mike Williams   0407 605 354

Bulletin Editor – Stan Roulston        8523 0158, 0439 305 389

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