Club Meeting July 20 2022 Glen Eira Historical Soc

    Club roles - the roles of Club Responsibilities that was distributed recently omitted recording Ron Brownlees from the Market Relocation Committee – Margaret wished to confirm Ron is a member of this very important committee.
    Board meetings - a summary of board meetings will be recorded in the bulletin moving forward, with the first summary provided in this week’s bulletin
    Rotary Regionalisation – District representative David Tolstrup will visit our club on 17/8 to provide information on major proposed changes for Rotary which all club members will be asked to vote on in September.   It would be good if all members could read up on the proposed changes and get a better understanding of the changes before the meeting – Ian has provided a link to the Rotary Regionalisation website in the club bulletin and encourages club members to check it.   David Tolstrup will be able to answer any queries at the meeting.
    Condolences – The club offers sincere condolences to Geoff Gledhill and his family on the recent passing of Geoff’s father.  The funeral will be held on Thursday this week.  

District Conference 2023 – Linda

    President Margaret and Linda attended the launch of next year’s district conference in Canberra 3 -5 March 2023.
    The main drawcard is the Saturday night dinner in the Great Hall of Parliament House.
    Early bird registration is currently $240 per person – the lowest for many years.  
    Everyone is asked to book their own accommodation which is going quickly – now is the time to book.
    Ian has provided a link to the District Conference Registration on the club website.  
    Ian provided a brief outline of the conference for each day
    – attendees can participate in sport arranged for Friday, or join guided tours or the hop on/hop off bus to travel around Canberra.
    - Friday evening is reserved for club dinners.
    - Saturday will have plenary sessions with guest speakers and presentations during the day, to be followed by the Saturday night dinner at Parliament House
    - Sunday morning will include more plenary sessions before the conference comes to a close around lunchtime.
    Ian advised he will be launching our own district conference for 2024 at next year’s district conference, adding it is an honour for club and members to be involved, and is hoping members will participate enthusiastically when the time comes.

Chairperson Announcements – Larry

    The rosters were announced for the next club meeting and Sunday market
    Happy birthday to Samantha who celebrates a birthday this week
    Next week’s club meeting will be an evening meeting at Cilantro commencing 6.30pm.  Partners are invited to join the meeting.  The topic for discussion will be Mental Health

Guest Speaker – Carol Stals from the Glen Eira Historical Society

    Carol commenced her presentation by acknowledging the traditional land of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation.  Carol is passionate about preserving and protecting our heritage and proceeded with a very informative session covering a wide range of historical facts, some of which are summarized here.  Glen Eira Historical Society commenced in 1972 under the former name of Caulfield Historical Society before changing to its current name following the amalgamation of councils in Victoria under the Kennett government in 1994.  Whilst Glen Eira Council supports the Society’s activities, the Society operates independently and is not part of Glen Eira Council. This is a special year for the Society being its 50th year with a variety of activities being held in celebration.  The Society is operated by volunteers who serve to collect, preserve and promote understanding of the history of its municipality covering all the suburbs within the City of Glen Eira.   The Caulfield area has a history of wide tree lined streets with large allotments and private homes in garden settings, whilst the East Bentleigh area had market gardens before gradually being overtaken with the establishment of housing estates, particularly after the Second World War when development occurred quickly.   They have an extensive collection of in excess of 5000 items that includes maps, documents, photos, books and memorabilia housed in their current location at 965 Glenhuntly Road, Caulfield.  Prior to moving to their current location, and having been moved around from one location to another, unfortunately many items and records were not preserved and dumped as a result –for example, there is little recorded history of street names and where they emanated from.  Carol displayed photos of their original and current logo medallions, both of which depict a farmer on the land with his plow – in recognition of the area’s former market garden activities.  Research is ongoing with new material often provided by the public. They are currently documenting aboriginal history within the area, and there is evidence of Chinese history with market gardens and shops.  The Society aims to preserve old homes and buildings of architectural and historical importance such as the Red Cross Rest Home in Caulfield (now listed by the National Trust) and works with other historians and groups to provide support – an example being the Box Cottage Museum in Jasper Road, McKinnon.  Three buildings of significance within the area are heritage listed by the National Trust for protection.  The Society was invited to consult in the railway level crossing project in 2017 on railway stations and buildings impacted by the project. The Society received a grant from Met Rail to research the history of the railway stations between Caulfield and Oakleigh that led to the publication of a book in 2019 with stories from the general public called “Along the Line – Caulfield to Oakleigh rail stories” that is available for purchase through the Society.   A major current project is preserving the land within the Caulfield Race Course that is attracting much attention - Carol warned beware anyone up against a team of historians committed to preserve what should not be lost for future generations.  The Society’s premises are currently closed for groups to visit due to the pandemic, however the public is welcome to visit during non- Covid times on an individual basis to view their office and operations.  They provide talks every second month, offer to research family histories, and answer queries via email.  They are a very active and passionate group.    Carol’s presentation was excellent, and helped to provide an appreciation of their work and the importance for preserving our past for future generations.  

 Sergeant’s Session – acting Sergeant Tim L

    In keeping with historical facts – Tim checked who knew what happened on this day 53 years ago  - and fined those who didn’t know that it was the first man landing on the moon.  All the golfers in the club and Tony Ryan were fined since Cam Smith won the British Open, teachers were fined with so many school children arriving at school with weapons, all the nurses were fined since they are in charge of dispensing cannabis, tennis players were fined since Lleyton Hewitt was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame, the bean counting accountants were fined because Starbucks sold all their stores, Ron B was fined because Geelong has crawled its way back to the top of the ladder, photographer and DGE Elect Ian was fined because the Vic police had to control photographers with pepper spray, and all the members with an English background were fined for sacking the British PM.  Another very entertaining fine session from our acting Sergeant Tim.

Meeting Close – President Margaret closed the meeting, reminding everyone, the next club meeting on Wednesday 27/7 is an evening meeting at Cilantro – the guest speaker topic is Men’s Health.