Below is a summary of the club’s guest speaker on 21 July, Gwen Korebrits, as well as the three Members Behind the Badge who spoke on 28 July.
21 July – Gwen Korebrits – Dance Health Alliance
On Tuesday 21 July 2020, at the club’s second non-Zoom meeting, Gwen Korebrits from https://www.dancehealthalliance.org.au entertained and motivated even the most staid of our members to clap, stretch, click fingers and even sway as she demonstrated the benefits of body movement generally to our well-being. She claimed that dance is in our DNA!
The Alliance, founded in Australia in 2015 by Gwen and her cousin Andrew Greenwood, both with ballet backgrounds, is based on Andrew’s earlier work in injury prevention and rehabilitation for dancers.
The Alliance’s programs focus the dangers of inactivity at all ages, the effectiveness of 30 minutes of activity per day and the knowledge that dancing reduces the chance of developing dementia by 75%.
Gwen outlined the Alliance’s work in retirement villages and hospitals and with organisations supporting those who have Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Arthritis. She gave examples of quite unexpected responses by severely handicapped patients to being encouraged to dance, stressing that she wanted them to move, not just sit.
Gwen also spoke of the way Covid-19 has changed the organisation’s work from essentially face-to-face to what is now a very effective online service.
Barry Anderson
28 July – Members Behind the Badge
Three of our Rotary members each gave a very informative and interesting talk about their lives.
Peter Russell
Peter grew up in Innaloo, Perth where he spent a happy childhood which was very physical, rarely emotional and not at all spiritual. Peter spoke of his life as a series of life lessons.
Peter had one sister, however she died when she was 4 days old so Peter was brought up as an only child. He was told by his mother that her family came from northern England and that his father’s family came from Kent. His father arrived in 1929 and worked for his step brother in poor conditions and met Peter’s mother at the Southern Cross Hotel. His father went on to study bookkeeping. Lesson One: When you’re young and totally “me-focussed” you forget to ask the questions about things that really matter, such as questions about your family.
Peter’s father was a distant, reserved person so all the love he received came from his mother. At different times he would find this to be embarrassing, distracting and unsolicited. Lesson Two – Why didn’t I understand how much my mother loved me.
Peter graduated from university and wanted to be a print journalist so took on a cadetship. Through family connections he managed to secure a job as a part time casual reporter at a local newspaper. Lesson Three – It’s not what you know but who you know!
In the 1960s Peter switched to an English Honour’s degree at WA Uni. In his final Honours year two very pretty young women were in his course. Thanks to a particular professor in the department, one of those students had been allowed to repeat and the other was given numerous exemptions and extensions. Both ladies scored first class Honours and Peter scored a second class. Lesson Four – Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely!
At 20 Peter was working as a cub reporter in Perth. He decided to apply for the Diplomatic Corps and was one of a group of sparkling new West Australian university graduates to sit a comprehensive series of what used to be called “IQ tests” and he was one of 8 flown to Canberra to be put through a recruitment assessment centre. One of the others was Steven – Gough Whitlam’s son. All of them turned up at his hotel room to help Peter celebrate his 21st birthday. Next morning the hotel lodged a complaint with the Department of External Affairs about the state of the room. Peter was informed that his application to join the Diplomatic Corps had been unsuccessful! Lesson Five – Timing is absolutely everything (never host a significant birthday in your hotel room when a job seeker).
When Peter was working as a part time print journalist in Perth he contributed to articles in the WA University paper called “The Pelican”. In relation to a student demonstration, he wrote a strongly worded letter in “The Pelican” expressing his views as to the inaccuracies in the newspaper’s reporting of it. His Chief of Staff was not impressed with the article. To ensure his career in journalism continued he was given a few minutes to submit a written apology to the Chief, which he did. Lesson Six – Never put your name to anything. Loyalty and truth do not mix. Fake news will always prevail. Make friends with a good lawyer from an early age.
Therese Stubbs
Therese was born and grew up in Canberra, the oldest of three girls, and she studied at Canberra High School and Hawker College. Her first job at 14 was a shop assistant at a fruit shop and then she worked as a dental assistant.
In 1988 she joined University of Canberra in the HR/pay roll office and had various roles and promotions across human resources, industrial relations and Equal Employment Opportunity.
In her 20s Therese travelled to the UK, Europe, Egypt & Israel on a working holiday before returning to work at Canberra University Secretariat. She left Canberra University in 2007 for an executive role in DEWAR - Document processes for the administration and processing of Australian Workplace Agreements.
When asked to apply for her current role she moved to Sydney and now works for a large family business, Romani Pastoral Company. This was a totally new experience, in new city, with few acquaintances and a job that was completely different to what she had experienced before. Therese has worked for the family now for 12½ years and the job changes and evolves with the business requirements and activities. The business has five properties and several thousand sheep and cattle and produces merino and cross bred sheep (42,000 head) as well as 13,000 head of cattle. It also has several thousand hectares of summer and winter crops. She works across a few businesses so has a number of titles. In the Sydney office Therese has an assistant and various hands-on staff such as housekeepers, gardeners and other maintenance staff and contractors which she manages.
Therese joined Rotary in 2009 and married John Bolton in May 2018.
Susan Law
Susan comes from a very traditional background where the male reigns and the woman’s role was to get married. Her father felt that his legacy to his children should be the best education he could provide but even then he felt that Susan’s time at university should be a Bachelor of husband hunting! Susan married Ian and they moved to Australia but Susan felt unsettled and that she was living in her husband’s shadow. Farming was always Susan’s passion and despite her lack of background or experience in farming it was a challenge she decided to take. Once Susan started, it was do or die, quite literally as some of her mistakes initially cost the lives of several animals! However, she was determined to grow a top quality, financially viable primary production enterprise.
Susan was faced with an incredibly steep learning curve, both as a farmer in Wellington of 3500 acres and also in the Rotary environment where for years she was the only woman. As she battled to build a viable enterprise and at the same time contribute to her community in a meaningful way, it was the lessons she learnt about herself, that she was not a lesser person, only different, that enabled her to achieve the degree of self esteem and confidence that gave her the courage to stand in front of us.
Susan showed us a variety of photos of her property including the animals and the various pieces of farm equipment she had to learn to use – quad bikes, tractors and other machinery – to undertake such physical tasks as fencing. She also learned to fly a Microlight plane. Susan was and still is a very respected member of the Wellington community, and with her gained knowledge and experience she has held information sessions and judged sheep competitions which has greatly increased her confidence and self-esteem.
