This week we had seven visitors, including our speaker Dr Kylie McQualter! Of these, John and Ben will be inducted as members once their badges arrive and others may soon follow. It helps that members make visitors so welcome so thank you all. Of course having such enthralling speakers adds to the attraction - see the report on Kylie’s reflection on her time working as a zoologist in Africa later in the Buzz.
What also keeps people engaged with our club is the variety of highly impactful projects in which members can participate.
Doug reported on the latest FORaMEAL foodpacking event, held at Yarra Valley Grammar, where 21000 meals were packed in the afternoon. Thank you to all those involved. He also informed us that we should be expecting the successful applicant for a Royce and Jean Abbey Vocational Study Scholarship, to come to Australia from the Philippines for further vocational training, to be decided shortly.
Thank you all who have volunteered to help with our Bee and pollinator educational activities for children at the Canterbury Neighbourhood Centre Open Day on Saturday 17 May from 10-1. I will email out the roster. For those with small children or grandchildren the Open Day will be worth a visit, especially as Lilli Ann will be leading a Waggle Dance at 12 noon.
Congratulations to North Balwyn Rotary who are celebrating their 45th birthday this week with a dinner at Greenacres. I’m looking forward to it.
We are moving into the Rotary party season with celebrations being held as each club inducts their President for the 2025-2026 year. Ours will be held on 30 June at the Box Hill Golf Club so stay tuned for the invitation and booking information.
See you on Monday when we will learn about electric cars. Our newest member, Craig Smith, has an electric car so he is going to chair the meeting.
Kylie McQualter, our speaker tonight, illustrated what you would consider to be the very essence of a zoologist who campaigns and actively serves the needs of wildlife in the world today.
Born and raised in Melbourne, she was always obsessed with animals.. Having completed a PhD on the study of giraffe ecology in Botswana, Kylie, after undertaking a tour of the overland of Africa, was searching for a way to return there, but this time, in her capacity as a zoologist.
She delighted in the sights and sounds of Africa, the raw energy displayed there. She admired Jane Goodall for most of her life, and was selected as a care giver to orphan chimpanzees in the Jane Goodall Institute. Her description of the ability of chimps to mimic human beings was intriguing. She described the way they would pretend to play, but wanted to steal the washing from the line. After five months, those chimps were incorporated into the Nagambe Island Chimpanzee Community.
The statistics about chimpanzees do not lie. There are now between one hundred thousand and three hundred chimps remaining and they have disappeared in three countries in the world. Chimps are endangered for several reasons - bush meat trade, for body parts and the way snares are used to capture them. Over one hundred and forty human viruses, including the common cold, can kill chimpanzees. Chimps that are sold as part of the illegal trade can cost above twenty thousand dollars.
Kylie also outlined that most lions are now located primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. Only twenty-three thousand lions have been tabulated. Changing the culture of a tribe can be challenging. The Massai now are paid to protect lions.
Kylie's very colourful , and spectacular visuals show us what a major player she has been in the world of animal conservation and protection. She gave us a thoughtful and energetic view of the methods used to save animal life. We enjoyed it.
Riz is the founder of carloop, specialising in Australian EV data, fleet insight reports and trends.
He has a passion for the automotive sector, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia while building the industry of the future.
He writes for Australia's leading EV publication, The Driven, is the director of Australian EV Association and co-hosts the leading Australian EV podcast, The EV show by Ludicrous Feed.
The Canterbury Rotary Club lunch usually meets bi-weekly at 12.30 for a meal and some fun.
David Zrna looks after the reservations for the lunch group. Please contact David at david.zrna@canterburyrotary.org or on 0467033092 to advise that you will be coming to a lunch.
Max Holland manages the "Tour de Canterbury Rotary" and provided this update of the recent adventures of the rotary bike group.
This week, the ride started from Craigieburn station and went southward along the Hume Freeway bike path to the Aurora Village Shopping Centre for some excellent coffee at the Degani Cafe. We visited Lehmann's Farm Park before heading east to the Darebin Creek trail, which we followed downstream and across to Reservoir for another excellent lunch at the RSL.
The Lehmann's Farm Park is a dairy-themed playground honouring the location's history. The Lehmann family settled in Epping in 1854, producing dairy products, hay, chaff, vegetables, fruit and eggs. In the 1920s, with improved transport, the property became a dairy farm. The family was forced to leave the farm in 1932 when the Great Depression struck. The park has a maze of paths with sculptured blocks of cheese for climbing, butter seats, milk agitator spinning cups, milk urns and many other bits to discover. The park also has the foundations of the original house constructed of local bluestone. The following link has 55 photos of the park.
Participants wanted for world first trial for Alzheimer’s disease
The Bionics Institute are recruiting participants to join our clinical trial to investigate examining whether a non-invasive form of brain stimulation, Theta Burst Stimulation(TBS), can improve the cognitive symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease such as memory and thinking difficulties.
Participation criteria can be found in the supporting documents attached. If you or someone close to you meets the eligibility criteria and would like to find out more, you can contact our team via email at dementia@bionicsinstitute.org
.jpg){kind=logo}
