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Rotary Club of Burnie News

What is “Burnie Works”?

29/11/2022

Rodney Greene  (at right) is in charge of “Burnie Works”, a community collective, making change in the areas of education, employment, justice, and family wellbeing. Collective Impact concepts are as old as time, but nobody has tried to use this approach to tackle all of a community’s needs. We’re the first.

Rodney said it was clear that the local community considered its Council’s efforts to be poor: ‘We must do better!’

Local school attendance has dropped from 90% prior to Covid to 50% today. It is quite clear that many families in our community have a history of non-work generations. How can a child in such a family grasp the value of education and of gaining suitable employment?

Burnie Works coordinates actions of groups that tackle community issues in different ways, to achieve an enhanced overall outcome. One example is Books in Homes a concept that provides books-of-choice to children living in low socio-economic circumstances. Burnie Works encourages a love of reading by providing students in Burnie public primary schools with three new books of choice given to young children in each of terms 1, 2 and 4 of the school year . The kids get to keep the books. Information is included aimed at educating children and families about the uses of our local library.   

Marinus Link – Bess Clark

15/11/2022

Bess Clark, CEO of Marinus Link Project, is in charge of 70 employees working on this project.   

Marinus Link involves the laying of approx. 255 km of undersea HVDC cabling and approx. 90 km of underground HVDC cabling in Victoria and AC/DC converter  stations at the ‘old Tioxide site’ and at the Latrobe Valley in Victoria. For several reasons, there will be two cables; the first 750 MW stage is expected to be in  operation in 2028 and the second 750 MW circuit a couple of years later. Thus, the total capacity of the link will be 1,500 MW, which is of the same order of magnitude as Tasmania’s current power generation.
          Hydro Tas. is already building, and facilitating the creation of, new ‘greenhouse gas-free’ power generation to equal that of current hydro dam generation.

‘Marinus Link will also comprise the laying of a fibre optic cable of capacity 150 times greater than all three current Bass Strait fibre optic cables combined.’

One Mental Health Journey

18/10/2022

Visiting Rotarian, Lindsay Morgan, is a strong supporter of Beyond Blue, the Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation. In the past 12 months, this organisation had noted a 42% increase in the number of contacts made to their 1300 224 636 number.
          On Oct.17, Lindsay revealed his personal experience, which he convinced himself for too long was NOT a mental health problem. He fought against the advice of his GP, of a psychologist, of his wife and of his friends. The initial inkling of this situation arose when he suffered a heart attack. Rushed to hospital, he was saved, but his GP insisted that Lindsay would have psychological problems within ten years – if he did not already have such problems!
          Lindsay began avoiding meetings and parties where he felt incapable of conversing adequately. He left his job. His body strength weakened and his memory suffered as well. Still, he did not acknowledge that he had a mental problem.
          He suspected that he had been placed on a Suicide Watch by his GP. Eventually, he did accept that he needed to seek help to cope with his psychological problems. He ended his talk by saying:
            “If you think you might have a problem, for God’s Sake go to someone! Don’t deny that you have depression!”

Mental health consequences cost Australia about $600 million per day and there are 9 suicides a day (7 men, 2 women).

  • In any one year, one in four people will suffer from a mental health problem
  • Shizophrenia is the most common mental illness 
  • One in five people are affected by depression
  • Globally, 1.1 billion people have a mental health problem
  • About two-thirds of those with obsessive compulsive disorder are women
  • 200 Australians attempt suicide each day
  • A tendency to anxiety can be inherited
  • Half of all mental illnesses occur before the person turns 14 years of age

 

Rotary Tasmania Gynaecological Cancer Project

06/10/2022

Last week, several Burnie Rotarians were at a meeting in Ulverstone, where Ms Biddy Fisk, Co-Chair of Rotary Tasmania Community Care, informed us of the above-named Project.
A Tasmanian project, monies raised will go towards supporting access to vitally important clinical trials for Tasmanian women suffering from gynaecological cancer.
Clinical trials give patients the opportunity to obtain medications that they may otherwise not be able to access, and that are not always fully funded. Research shows that patients who participate in a clinical trial have improved survival.
There are 3 major focuses of this project and ways you can support it: 

1 AWARENESS PARTNER, e.g. putting our project logo/cancer ribbon on your products, or wearing our logo badge and/or beanie. (logo at right)

2 SUPPORTING PARTNER, e.g. organise an event/function to support patients in your community

3 FUNDING PARTNER, e.g. making a monetary donation (donation to RAWCS account gives tax deductibility) or holding your own fundraising event.
For more information, see Cancer Project

OR, contact: Biddy Fisk, Co-Chair | Rotary Tasmania Community Care
0419-345-835 | biddyandtom@bigpond.com

R-A-W: Rural Alive and Well

04/10/2022

Lauren Harper (seen at right with Secretary George Austin) works to promote RAW, which seeks to understand and improve the mental health of rural people, especially of farmers and farming families.
          Lauren explained that RAW is 60% government funded and also receives a good deal of corporate sponsorship.
          The RAW field staff prefer to ‘walk alongside’ rural people (not confront or arrive from behind); they find this approach is most effective in drawing out the inner thoughts of people who – by nature – tend to be reserved (‘toughing it out’). Mostly having rural backgrounds themselves, the field staff understand what it is like to live in that environment. They also undertake a series of training modules prior to being assigned to a rural area of Tasmania.
          Lauren said anyone can make a referral to RAW, if they are worried about someone: “We also accept self-referrals. To speak with us directly, call 1800 RAW TAS (i.e., 1800 729 827) – it is manned 24/7 365 days a year. In recent months, over 50% of calls have been self-referrals, which percentage is quite encouraging. Being prepared to ask for help is half-way to being healed.”

Little Penguins in Burnie

27/09/2022

Our club heard from Ms Perviz Marker, seen at right with Rot’n Paul Kearney, on Monday 26th September. Perviz arrived in Burnie in 1990; “the little penguins keep me happy here”, she said.

The Little (or Fairy) Penguin is the only species of penguin that breeds in Australia. There are dozens of colonies scattered from the NSW North Coast, south to Tasmania, and west, to an island off Fremantle. Phillip Island (Victoria) is perhaps most well-known, with over 30,000 pairs. Perviz said only around one-third of all chicks survive.

Burnie’s colony at Parsonage Point is a real tourist drawcard; the 600 penguins there drew some 11,000 visitors to see them in 2017. The Friends of Burnie Penguins, a volunteer organisation, started in 2004, runs tours at dusk every night during the six months – October to March – each year. There are 35 volunteers at present.

There is now a live, continuous YouTube video showing the insides of some burrows in the Burnie colony. See:                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhLQp6XxWt4  

Treasurer David Bennett handed Perviz a donation from Burnie Rotary Club to aid the Friends of Burnie Penguins.

Burnie’s Kommunity Kids and Ian Edwards

13/09/2022

Ian has been the chief organiser of Kommunity Kids, an activity that helps young people living in Shorewell Park. Not only is this Burnie suburb ranked in the lowest decile on the ABS Socio-Economic Index among all 55,000 Statistical Areas (“SA”) for Australia; it has been the second lowest of all SA’s in regard to this Index.
        Ian said he began working as a special community orientated police officer in Burnie in 2008. He is now a Board Member of Burnie Community House in Shorewell Park and a member of Somerset Rotary Club. He grew up in the Blacktown area of Sydney, not the most salubrious part of that city; he reckons he was a ‘bit of a larrikin’. He readily emphasises with the Shorewell kids – something young police officers these days can fail to do, as they often lack that background.
       The Kommunity Kids program runs every Wednesday afternoon. Children and parents turn up, ride bikes on a special bike track, play football, cricket, grab a sausage or some soup.  Ian said the bike track concept came about after some kids began raising money for its construction. With intersections, a roundabout and traffic lights, kids are taught the ‘two-second’ rule (the proper distance behind the vehicle in front of you). Thus, they learn the road rules long before they step behind the wheel of a car. 
         In the beginning, Ian said there was a lot of angry behaviour in Shorewell, but he believes strongly in doing things with people, not to people. Thus, he said, find some activity that a child may find interesting and a challenge, and so build the person’s self-esteem. The Kommunity Kids playground area now has an outdoor chess table and recently, Ian saw two boys – well known for being troublesome – sitting very quietly playing chess.

Past President Themba Bulle presented Ian with a cheque for $1,500 to aid in the good work he does for the Shorewell Park community.

Helping Cancer Victims

16/08/2022

Sue Radford and Virginia Stevens have been friends for 48 years.

They jointly formed Flickering Memories in 2014 to mark the passing of their mothers; one from Ovarian Cancer and one from Breast Cancer. The high tea in 2014,  attended by 100 people; raised around $5,000 towards helping the McGrath Foundation and Ovarian Cancer Australia. Last year, 380 men and women attended over two days and raised $28,000. In all, $100,000 has been raised in eight years.

See https://www.facebook.com/groups/360207381123566/

At right: Sue and Virginia with Burnie Rotarian Leanne Cullen

Sue said:

— We create “Bags of Hope” to support patients at Burnie Cancer Clinic and Hobart and Launceston Gynaecological Clinics. The bags may contain blankets, colouring-in supplies, water bottles, and food or petrol vouchers.

— This year, the Cancer Clinic asked us to produce emergency packs to aid cancer patients who ‘live rough’, but who still have to face having treatment. We produced 20 packs, plus 20 more for later use.

— After Palliative Care asked us,  we made 100 bags to hold syringe driver kits for use throughout Tasmania [A ‘syringe driver’ provides a continuous, subcutaneous infusion of pain relief medication].

— We support Women Can, which conducts research on all women’s gynaeco-logical cancers.

Thus, we are able to support every Tasmanian who is diagnosed with cancer.

– “We don’t say NO” –

 

A Men’s Table to START in Burnie

03/08/2022

On April 12, Burnie Rotary Club posted a news story on this website about the introduction of Men’s Tables in Tasmania. The Rotary Club is now pleased to announce: a Men’s Table will start in Burnie on Tuesday 13th September at The Beach Hotel

The organiser, Ben Hughes, welcomes men to come along to this event and find out what happens at a Men’s Table and why. Ben says:         

“The Men’s Table is a national organisation to get men listening, talking, supporting and being supported. Come and have a proper chat over a meal. We have 66 Tables nationally, 4 in Launceston and now we are starting one in Burnie.”

Book here:  https://events.humanitix.com/burnie-men-s-table-entree-tues13thsept

The cost ($30) covers a meal and a drink. There are no ongoing fees or membership costs. 

For more information please contact Ben Hughes at ben.hughes@themenstable.org or call 0424 99 33 66