Opening
Meeting Chair Vivienne Wood commenced proceedings. President David opened the meeting and welcomed our guests. He announced:
- the Rotary walk on 7 November 2026 down King William Street to Say No To Domestic Violence is worthy of strong club support
- former POOTY of 1989 SC Ron Newton recently died and his widow had contacted us to express pleasure that the award is still operating - see Rogue's Gallery below
Vivienne decided that it was an opportune time for Judy Barton to enjoy a birthday
Guest Speaker: Professor Ian Plimmer - The history of the planet's environments
Vivienne called on Brendan Kenny to introduce Ian who served as a Professor of Geology 1985-1991 at Newcastle University, Professor of Earth Sciences at Melbourne University from 1991-2005, Professor of Mining at Adelaide Uni for 2006-2012. He has held a number of other academic posts, produced piles of scientific papers, was Broken Hill's Citizen of the Year and makes regular appearances on News 24.
It must be said at the outset the editor was ill prepared to take copious/meaningful notes on the evolution of the earth over the last 3 billion years.....but here goes!
The reason for life on earth as distinct from every other planet in our solar system is water.....we've got it.......Mars lost it. [But managed to drop a few bits of itself on Earth (13 found to date) when their water disappeared] Combinations of oxygen, iron, bacteria created living form. Way back when the place was a tad more prone to impactful asteroid collisions the balance kept changing. Ice ages with 6 mile deep ice caps covered various parts of the globe.
Of interest is that the 6 great ice ages which obliterated almost everything on much of our planet contained ice with very high levels of CO2....20% during the cryogenian period 635m years ago when the earth was a 'snowball'. Evidence of this has been found at Arkaroola Station in SA. When the snow melted as the earth's proximity to the sun changed, life emerged and flourished.
After near mass extinction of everything, the cycle just kept moving along.....new species evolved with the warmth....
Within this broad framework there have been events which have shaped the world eg
- .Due to massive volcanic activity 251m years ago sulphur dioxide exterminated 96% of life
- A meteorite struck North America 201m years ago with major impact on climate
- 66m years ago there was a meteorite strike in Mexico plus large volcano activity, with similar effect
Each of these events took the earth almost back to base zero. The grand cycles themselves seem to last 143m years. The configuration of the planet has changed dramatically. As recently as 100m years ago the southern land mass was joined; 33m years ago we were attached to Antarctica; 2.5m years ago North and South American were one land mass; 70,000 years ago volcanic activity blanked out the sun and the earth went into deep chill. The last ice age was 14,400 years ago. Sea levels have changed by up to 400 metres. In 536 AD 3 large volcanos blotted out the sun for 18 months, plunging the northern hemisphere into a mini ice age and resulted in a long period of misery commonly called the Dark Ages lasting 500 years.
The science indicates that humans can have very limited influence on the planet's environment ..... much larger forces are at work. While people complain about rising temperatures, Plimmer argues that we are in the cool part of the cycle......much hotter periods have been survived. The 3 macro influences are the intensity of the sun, our orbit proximity to it and continental movement. Volcanos and meteorites are the great disrupters.
Basically if volcanos misbehave we will be more interested in warm clothing and surviving massive crop destruction than worrying about hotter days.
The editor hopes that he got this vaguely right. It was a rollicking story.
Ian was applauded for his interesting address.
Spots
Jerry Casburn expressed frustration that people were still failing to respond to the meeting invitation and had to be followed up each fortnight.....this is about to end. He had a straw vote on whether to hold the Christmas event here or at Kooyonga - Living Choice won. He would like to see if the club could do another Bunnings BBQ on a currently vacant Tuesday.
Marie Rothe reported that she and Deborah had attended a brilliant performance of the Adelaide Youth Choir last Saturday.......we were thanked for our support.
Vivienne Wood reported that Susan Ponossov who has been a mainstay at the Thrift Shop [working 5 shifts a week over the last 11 years] has been at the QEH for 2 weeks and likely to stay longer. Visitations welcome.
John Kikkert announced that Adelaide Rotary had planned a March for Peace down King William St from Victoria Square 11am on Friday 23 October.
Robert Freak needs some handyman help.
Valerie Bonython reported that $1450 was taken at Bunnings BBQ yesterday....nicely done
Patsy Beckett advertised a High Tea in support of Treasure Boxes would be held here on 10 October.......see advert below. The new Rotary shirts can now be obtained from her.
Finale
Christina won the filthy lucre and Bridget scored the chockies.
Next week is club assembly/consultations. Happy Birthday for Judy.....badly sung as usual.
The Prez closed the meeting on time.
Rogues Gallery
SA Police Officer of the Year 1989 Senior Constable Ron Newton who died recently.
From the archives of our historian Bob Mills
High Tea for Treasure Boxes
Rotary International News
Clubs plan collective walk on World Polio Day
For World Polio Day, more than 450 clubs in multiple U.S. states are planning a polio walk, such as this one during the 2023 Rotary International Convention in Melbourne.
By Rick Reigner, 2026-27 governor of Rotary District 6440
In 2025, I attended the Zone 33-34 Conference in Pittsburgh due to a scheduling conflict that prevented me from attending the one in my own zone. I sat in on an interview session with Peter Salk, son of Jonas Salk who discovered the cure for polio.
I was moved by Peter’s story and his father’s unwillingness to patent the cure. It inspired me to pledge to do something to help eradicate polio during my upcoming year as governor.
When I returned home to my district, I shared the story with others and suggested we organize a walk that would take place in different locations but begin at the same time, raising awareness for Rotary’s polio eradication work. The idea caught on.
I next shared my story with my Midwest Presidents-elect Learning Seminar colleagues, and they wanted to participate as well, increasing the scope to six districts. We made a promotional video and highlighted it at our presidents-elect learning seminar last March.
While at zone institute in Minneapolis last fall, I was again asked to share my story and our plans with all the districts in our zone. Everyone wanted to be involved.
Coffee Chat at Impressa, Unley Shopping Centre
10.30 am on the second Friday of the month is good for a chat with Rotary friends and a caffeine fix - Next one is Friday 9 October 2026
Upcoming Meetings
Tuesday 6 October 2026 6 for 6.30pm Living Choice Nature's Providore
Event: Club Consultations
Welcoming Team: Jerry Casburn and Donna Cavallaro
Tuesday 20 October 2026 6.30 - 8pm Alwyndor Residential Home, 52 Dunrobin Road, Hove
Event: Vocational Visit to Jerry's Joint
Welcoming Team: Jerry +
Apologies and Meeting Enquiries to: Secretary Greg McLeod on 0417 811 838 or email to secretary@unleyrotary.org.au
Venue Set-up Enquiries to: Bulletin Editor Stephen Baker on 0403 687 015
Saturday Thrift Shop Roster
Early Shift: 10.00am to 1.00pm Late Shift: 1.00pm to 4.00pm
Week 1: 3 October 2026
Early: (Haydn & Sue Baillie) | Late: Robyn Carnachan & Leonie Kewen
Week 2: 10 October 2026
Early: Greg McLeod & Robyn| Late: Reno Elms & (Vera-Ann)?
Week 3: 17 October 2026
Early: David Middleton & Nathan White | Late: Deborah Forbes & xxxxx
Week 4: 24 October 2026
Early: Stephen Baker & Judi Corcoran | Late: Jason Booth & (Vera-Ann)?
Week 5: 31 October 2026
Early: Haydn & Sue Baillie | Late: Virginia Cossid & Paul Duke
Rotarians, who are unable to attend as rostered, please arrange a swap or as a very last resort contact: David Pisoni 0412 844 384; e-mail: hon.david.pisoni@gmail.com
Mitre 10 and Bunnings Barbeques
The Mitre 10 BBQs are the first and third Saturdays of each month. Morning shift 8.30am - 12 noon; afternoon shift 12.00 - 3.30pm, then clean-up.....next scheduled is 3 October 2026
ALL the Bunnings Mile End Barbeque shifts are from 8am to 5pm
Morning shift: 8.00am – 12.30pm | Afternoon shift: 12.30 – 5pm
We have been allocated the last Monday of each month. Our next one will be 26 October 2026
The Tale End.....
For church lovers.....perhaps only in the US
