Thirty-seven thousand Rotarians gathered in Taipei this week for the Rotary International Convention, more than twice the number who attended the convention in Calgary last year. While that remains below the approximately 45,000 who attended Osaka in 2004, it is nevertheless a remarkable reminder of Rotary’s ability to bring together people from every corner of the world around a common purpose.
Among the keynote speakers is Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani woman who began blogging about the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education at the age of eleven, was shot in the head at fifteen for refusing to be silenced, and received the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. She is twenty-eight years old.
What makes her presence particularly significant is that the issues she stood against have not disappeared. This week, reports from Afghanistan described women being arrested for allegedly breaching Taliban dress regulations, with protests against those arrests ending in violence and loss of life. The struggle for freedom, education and personal choice that Malala brought to the world’s attention remains unfinished.
Kylie Best, Librarian at the State Library of Victoria will share her stories and answer our questions about this fantastic icon of Melbourne. State Library Victoria, home to the State Collection, is a place where millions are welcomed into a ‘great emporium of learning’ each year, just as our founders envisaged over 160 years ago. Established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, State Library Victoria is Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free public libraries in the world. It opened its doors in 1856 as ‘the people’s university’, and every day since has strived to be a library for all in a changing world. https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/
UPCOMING CALENDAR
23 June: Zoom – Kylie Best, State Library of Victoria 30 June: Ms Tessa Sullivan OAM, Honorary Consul to the Kingdom of Thailand 7 July: Our Doherty Travel Prize awardee, Hisham Shakir Hussain 14 July: No Meeting 21 July: Assoc. Prof. David Szmulewicz, Device Mediated Solutions for Falls Prevention.
PROJECT UPDATES
DIK on Thursdays: Thank you again to John Perry for organising our regular monthly Thursday at DIK. Looks like John had only one helper this month, so thank you, Vincent, for your contribution in representing Rotary Hawthorn at DIK.
On the second Thursday of each month, we are committed to helping out at DIK. Please register your availability at https://forms.gle/rZF65dcdZhkpNohYA All you need to do is type your name and tick the boxes beside the dates you are volunteering to help.
SALVO HAWKS REPORT
Thank you, Big Mac for your Salvo Hawks Report: It was a very pleasant and sunny Melbourne Day that greeted all players with the Temperature reaching 18C, Wednesday 10 June 2026 for the Salvo Hawks / Windana V’s Cohealth Kangeroos for Round 5 at Victoria Road Reserve Park -Victoria Road, Hawthorn East. Who won?
David Pisterman and Dorothy attended an exciting online meeting last week, convened by John McCaskill (Rotary Canterbury), Rob McGuirk, and Peter Berg (Rotary Melbourne). There were representatives from 8 Rotary Clubs, all very keen to hear about a proposed Rotary Environmental Garden in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.
We were introduced to a first-cut plan for a pollinator garden concept called “Wildwood”. The Wildwood is an area of land in the Botanic Gardens near to the “Temple of the Wind”, the City Gate and Government House. Watch this space as further discussions take place and as the possibility that Rotary Hawthorn may play a role in this beautiful project emerges. If you would like to be our spokesperson at Rotary Hawthorn, please contact Dorothy or David Pisterman.
WHO AM I?
Clue 1: Prisoners were in awe of me!
Email or message David Pisterman (pisterman41@gmail.com with your answer to this month’s Quiz. A bottle of the best is waiting for the winner at our lunch meeting on 21 July, donated by the last prize winner. Be afraid! Do not incur the wrath of DP!
DID YOU KNOW? Thank you to Bill Troedel who responded to my last week’s inclusion re. Ngaire Cannon with the following:
“Last week I was a Grey nomad in the fast lane, flying around Lake Eyre taking in Williams Creek, Birdsville, Innamincka, Coober Pedy.
Your article on Ngaire was well received and I wanted to add the following: ‘I had just handed over the baton when I proposed Ngaire ( Who was a client). Two members got up left their name badges on the table and left the club. However, the high office of President not only included Ngaire, but was soon followed by our Anne Scott.”
DISTRICT CHANGEOVER
If you would like to join the group of Rotary Hawthorn members attending the District Changeover, please register as soon as possible and ensure you fill out the question of your membership at Rotary Hawthorn so we can have a fun day together. We already have a few members registered. Let’s make it a date!
Date: Saturday 27 June
Time: 12.00 pm
Venue: Hawthorn Arts Centre, 360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn
Kylie Best, Librarian at the State Library of Victoria will share her stories and answer our questions about this fantastic icon of Melbourne.
Email or message David Pisterman (pisterman41@gmail.com with your answer to this month’s Quiz. A bottle of the best is waiting for the winner at our lunch meeting on 21 July, donated by the last prize winner. 
