President Jon introduced our 3 Members Behind the Badge, all of whom are past presidents.
Malcolm Lye joined Northbridge Rotary in 2001 and has been a very active member of the club having held several director positions over the years, including as president in 2019-2020.
Malcolm was educated in Sydney and studied Mining Engineering at USyd. He and his wife Penny have 4 children. His first job on graduating was with BHP. He worked in all types of the mining & commodities industry from gold mines in Canada, mineral sands mining, copper mining in the Philippines, at Mt Isa and Broken Hill to his final job with Pioneer Concrete in Sydney.
To qualify to work in the mining industry Malcolm had to have experience working in mines. At the age of 19 he worked for 3 months in BHP’s Old Bulli Colliery coal mine and he related some stories about his experiences. Once he gained his certificate, he never worked down a mine again.
Malcolm said that in his whole career he never had any difficulty in getting a job and his jobs took him many places he would otherwise have never gone and had experienced many extraordinary times in his career.
Peter McNair joined Northbridge Rotary in 2005, and has held many director positions over the years including as president in 2010.
Known as Mr Northbridge until his move to Cammeray a couple of years ago, Peter lived 63 years in Northbridge in the same house in which he grew up. He attended Northbridge Public School and North Sydney Boys High and attended Northbridge Swimming and Tennis clubs, Cubs and Scouts. He was involved with the Presbyterian Church becoming a youth leader and state president of Presbyterian Fellowship.
When he left school Peter started an architecture degree before switching to building and construction. His first job was with AV Jennings, and in 1966 he worked in property development building high rises in Melbourne before his career took him to Adelaide in 1974 where he moved with his wife Susan, whom he married in 1967, and their family. They enjoyed their time in Adelaide but moved back to Northbridge in 1980, where his three children attended NPS and he joined the School Council.
At that time he was General Manager of a property company, and in 1990 he changed careers becoming involved in the strata management industry setting up his own strata management company, and Susan joined him in the business. In 1991 Peter suffered a heart attack but recovered well.
Peter sold his shareholding in the business in 2005 and retired. Sadly Susan died in 2011. He was involved in many community activities, including as president of Probus and Northbridge Progress Association. In 2017 he received the honour of being awarded Willoughby Citizen of the Year which he said was totally unexpected.
When he finally sold his home in Northbridge and moved to Cammeray Peter has become involved in the local Cammeray Community.
David Perabo, a recent addition to our club, was a treasurer of RC of Orange, and twice president of Chatswood Sunrise RC as well as being on the Rotary Foundation Committee and RAWCS.
Of Italian heritage, David grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and started his working life as an industrial arts teacher before switching to nuclear medicine technology. He has worked in various areas of the health management sector across the state including the Red Cross, SW Sydney Area Health, Northern Area Health, Westmead and Concord.
David’s work also took him to Orange where he lived for some years. It was there that a friend introduced him to Rotary and he joined Orange Rotary Club where he became treasurer and was involved in local projects. He loved living in Orange but family commitments meant a return to Sydney.
Since his return to Sydney, David has worked with NSW Health and is currently manager in the finance and accounting aspects of mental health and drug & alcohol.
On his return to Sydney, David joined Chatswood Sunrise RC where he was twice president, and where he was involved in initiating club projects. When the club closed David wanted to join a large club in which he could become involved and so joined Northbridge RC.
President Jon thanked all our speakers for their presentations, and commented that through “Member Behind the Badge” you learn aspects of fellow club members’ lives of which you were unaware.
