President John combined Tim Tams and Bondi Beach in his invocation. Before leaving for another meeting. his announcements included:

Paul Duke introduced Steve who was a former colonel in the Australian Army and a major force behind the development of The RSL Virtual War Memorial........Connecting the Dots.

It can be found at  www.vwma.org.au and is easy to access through registration.

 

Steve explained that the inspiration for this site stemmed from his visit to France in 1998 when the remains of a South Australian soldier had been discovered after being lost in 1918. It was further elevated on a trip to Dernancourt in France in 2008 and again in 2018. As Steve clearly explained, there are counlless war records and photos in the Australian War Memorial, libraries, archives, 120,000 on honour rolls, grave sites,  RSL clubs and in homes. Many will be lost forever unless digitised and put on a website.....CDs are useless

 

The RSL Womens Auxiliary backed this ambitious undertaking to bring as much information as possible covering conflicts from the Boer War onwards under the banner of the VWMA in a fashion that data could be cross linked to build a more complete picture......WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!

 

Initial details of the soldiers who fought in WW1 were gleaned from the embarkation rolls and the nominal rolls at war end A Riverton couple travelled Australia collecting details from memorials for the site. The site is divided into People (over 1.5 million), Memorials (over 10,000), Conflicts, Units, Places, Cemetries (3477). Steve cited the record of James Larkin which included an eye witness account of how he was shot on landing at Gallipoli

Of the 332,000 who served overseas during WW1, 20% were killed and half were dead within 20 years after war end. Many have photos as well as the descriptions of their service included in their records. In WW1 the service numbers were often duplicated so access by name is safest. It has taken millions of key strokes to transpose information onto the files. Files are updated by accredited users (about 100/day) and the data moderated. Steve wants more effort to be made to capture details from WW2 to avoid losing important history.

 

Unley's 27th Battalian was the second battalion (after the 10th) to be formed in South Australia and 6086 men served under that banner with the Mayor as initial Commander (quite common back then). Commanding officers were often too old to serve and had a high attrition rate but Unley only had 3. There is a comprehensive history covering the attraction of volunteers from January - June 1915, training at Mitcham and landing at Gallipoli in September. The 10th Battalian had born the brunt of the initial misjudged assault with huge casualties. Typhoid was a deadly killer. From Gallipoli the 27th went to France.

 

To demostrate how well the site works, Judy Barton asked Steve to dial up relative Fred Nairn....and there he was.....he died from injuries after being captured. Equally impressive was Christina asking for details of James Henry Quinn who won a military medal and fought in both wars.....and there he was. Christina would like to add details of his testing childhood. Other interesting stories from the 27th included the 3 Choat lads who all joined up on the same day, 2 died at Frommel and the third won a military medal for successfully escaping a prison camp. Journalist Arthur Jacobs was notable for returning to the conflict after severe injury only to die. Arthur Durdin is another worthy of dial up.

 

The Honour Roll in the Unley Town Hall is excellent......there are 22 other memorials in the vicinity. Mt Gambier RSL saved its 500 strong and very fine Honour Roll from the dump.

Enthusiastic historians have thrown their efforts behind this venture.

 

Steve was applauded for his address

 

 

 

Patsy Beckett pursued registrations for the fabulous car trial on October 27 - last chance.

 

Vivienne Wood reported that Geofff Hill was home recuperating from his hospital visit.

 

Christina Way would apreciate volunteers for the morning of Thursday 24 October at Food on the Table. See nesage below

 

Greg McLeod reminded members of the need to book and pay for the meal being served for the Teachers Awards in 2 weeks time. The Thrift Shop showed a nice return of about $7100 for September.

Amazingly, the recent dominators of the raffle in the form of Greg and the Becketts were upstages by guests James Slape and Steve Larkin. Perhaps we should invite them back again.

Greg waxed lyrical about common sense (which made plenty of sense) and closed the meeting a tad late.

 

 

Rotary Foundation receives highest rating from Charity Navigator for 16th consecutive year

By Rotary International

 

For the 16th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S.

The Foundation earned the recognition for adhering to sector best practices and executing its mission in a financially efficient way, demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency.

“We are delighted to provide the Rotary Foundation with third-party accreditation that validates their operational excellence,” said Michael Thatcher, president and CEO of Charity Navigator. “The Four-Star Rating is the highest possible rating an organization can achieve. We are eager to see the good work that the Rotary Foundation is able to accomplish in the years ahead.”

Charity Navigator analyzes nonprofit performance based on four key indicators, referred to as beacons. Currently, nonprofits can earn scores for the impact and results, accountability and finance, culture and communities, and leadership and adaptability.

Charity Navigator is the largest and most utilized independent charity evaluator in the U.S. Since 2001, the organization has been an unbiased and trusted source of information for more than 11 million donors annually.

— Oct 2024

Coffee Chat at Impressa, Unley Shopping Centre