Monday 13th October 2025

Fiona Kelly “Mental Health in Older Persons”

Fiona is a Clinical Psychologist and Executive Manager with over 35 years of experience across clinical, leadership, and executive roles in the government, not-for-profit, and corporate sectors in both Australia and the Middle East. At the core of her work is a strong commitment to evidence-based practice, and a deep respect for people—their strengths, skills, and the potential they hold. She gave a presentation on mental health and wellbeing in later life. The talk explored what mental health means, common challenges faced as we get older (such as changes in health, grief, and loneliness), and simple, practical ways to support our wellbeing each day.  There was also be discussion of when and how to seek extra support, and how to break down the stigma that still surrounds mental health.  

Monday 4th September 2025

Alan Thomas “Mawson’s Other diaries

Monday 4th August 2025

Robin Jarman – “My Life as a Professional tour director”

After a number of years as a school teacher Robin decided that he would use his interest and experience in travel to become a professional tour director. He told us about this experiences in the many places he visited. This included some positives and negatives of the touring business.

Monday 7th July 2025

Frank Miller and Jim Coombe, speakers for July’s meeting, are from The South Australian Sea Rescue Squadron, who promote safety at sea and provide rescue facilities from 4flotillas, based at Adelaide, Wirrina, Edithburgh and
Copper Coast out of Wallaroo.
Frank is a previous Commodore and has extensive experience having served as Operations Captain and on Executive Committee as well as helping out on the Promotions committee, Along with Jim. he does radio shifts at their Operations Centre. He resides at Brighton, and in his working life he
started with the family engineering business and progressed to running it with the help of wife Elizabeth. .
Jim is an operational crew member and has experience doing regular patrols on our vessel based at Lonsdale, launching out of O’Sullivan Beach boat ramp. He also does a regular radio shift on Monday afternoon.
industry in South Australia. Together, they presented the history, workings and occasional anecdotes of the life with the Sea Rescue Squadron.

Monday 2nd June 2025

“Life in 1948 nd the dramatic arrival of the Holden car” – Don Loffler

Volcanoes and Lava Fissures in Iceland – David Jarman

David described the effects of eruptions and fissure openings with lava flows in Iceland in 2023-4. these resulted in the closure of the Blue Lake, Breaching defensive walls, destroying houses, threatening the city of Grendavik and eventually flowing into the sea. Brilliant pictures and a very interesting talk.

Monday 7th April 2025

South Australian Zoos – Present and Future – Peter McCarthy

Remo Porcaro and Terry Simpson on “Aspects of their lives”

Rob Morrison spoke on “Growing old disgracefully”

Rob gave a very comical and at times risque picture presentation of how we age age and what we can/cannot do which had the audience in raptues at times. Oh, all so true!

Vesna Neuman, speaking on the “Torrens to Darlington project”

Vesna is the Stakeholder and Community Engagement Officer working for the consortium building this final section of the motorway. She firstly gave an overview of her experience in building road tunnels both in Australia and Asia. Then Vesna detailed the planning of the build including the tunnel construction, the sunken sections of the roadway, the overpasses required for East West movement, the access and egress points, the timelines for completion of each section and the greening of spaces left after completion. Their will be two tunnels, the North and the South tunnel connected by an open motorway to complete the 10.6 kilometres of this section, with 3 lanes operating in each direction.

Michael played 307 games for the Norwood Football Club from 1979 – 93. He was a Magarey Medalist, Premiership player with Norwood F C in 1980 and 1984, four times Best and Fairest for Norwood and won three All Australian. Michael was inducted into Norwood F C Hall of Fame and the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003. He won two Premierships with Norwood (1982 and 1984)

Rod is the husband of the Governor of South Australia and willingly deputised for her at our 40th Anniversary of our formation in 2024 Lunch Celebration. He spoke to us during our luncheon. Rod described growing up in Cornwall and Gloucestershire and studied physics at Oxford University at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In 1984,he joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and began a career as a diplomat in New York, Taiwan and Canberra. He met Frances Adamson, who was then an Australian diplomat in Hong Kong In 2009, he left life as a diplomat and studied to become a teacher. He commenced teaching physics and maths at secondary school. Apart from a period of three years where he accompanies his wife to Chinawhere she was the Australian Ambassador, he taught for 10 years at Melba Copland Secondary School in Canberra. He described life as a diplomat and provided us with some anecdotes (some amusing).

Our President presented him with a plaque of Appreciation from the Probus Club of Marion. As well, Louise Miller-Frost, Sarah Andrews and Kris Hana were presented with Certificates of Appreciation.

Louise spoke about her childhood and prior work experience which meant she was ready for Parliament. She explained how her various past work experience including through her role developing statewide mental health services, organising and recruiting overseas and local doctors for non-metropolitan posting in an executive position with the SA Health Country, working as General Manager in Local Government and CEO of Catherine House. Louise also told us of her very unexpected tap on the shoulder to stand as a candidate for the Boothby electorate in Federal Government in 2022 for which she was successful.

Ms Geraldine Cox AM “Sunrise Villages, Cambodia

Geraldine is an Adelaide girl, who has travelled the world in her working life setting up the Sunrise Cambodia. She spoke about her life leading up to setting up her first Orphanage at Kandal, Phnom Phen in Cambodia.  she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and embarked on a life-changing journey. In 1970 at the age of 25, she was posted to Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Even though the country was in turmoil during the Vietnam War, this first posting saw her fall hopelessly in love with this magical country and its children which and changed her life forever. In 1995, at the age of 50, Geraldine could deny the call no longer. She returned to continue her work with the children that are so much a part of her life and founded Sunrise Cambodia. Designed as a loving 24/7 residential home for vulnerable, disabled, trafficked and abandoned children, it also gives educational possibilities to community children from the outlying villages, where families are mainly poor rice farmers. Geraldine still lives at the Orphanage & plays an active part in the lives of the 60 children. She spends a lot of her time travelling the World doing guest speaking, while seeking sponsorship & donations and she proudly calls herself a “Beggar”.

Mr Robert George “On the Shoulders of Rontgen – The Story of the Braggs”

Robert described the development of X-rays by Wilhelm Rontgen, a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who in 1891 produced and detected X-rays, an achievement which earned him the inaugural Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. He then told us about Sir William Bragg who was born in England in 1862 and moved to Adelaide after earning the position of Elder Professor of Mathematics and Experimental Physics at the University of Adelaide in 1885. In Adelaide, he began working on X-rays and crystals. In 1895, his son Lawrence was born and trained as a physicist. In 1909, Sir William and his family returned to England and took up the position of Professor of Physics at the University of Leeds. It was here that William and with his son, Lawrence Bragg, then a research student at Cambridge, founded the new science of X-ray crystallography, the analysis of crystal structure using X-ray diffraction. In 1915, Sir William and Sir Lawrence were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, Lawrence to this day being the youngest to win the award. At the University of Adelaide, a lecture theatre is named after the Braggs. The new Australian Bragg Centre for Proton Therapy and Research (SAMRI 2) on North Terrace is named in their honour.

Mr Tony Spruzen “Atomic bomb testing at Marilinga”

Tony Spruzen knew the drill at the top secret Maralinga facility in the South Australian desert in the spring of 1956. Just like hundreds of others at the nuclear site at 11-mile camp during Operation Buffalo, he was told to turn his back and cover his eyes to protect himself from the gigantic glare of the exploding atomic bomb. What they didn’t tell the Australian Army sapper was, at the moment of the flash of detonation, he would see the bones of his hand through his tightly shut eyelids. “It was like a massive x-ray,” Tony, 83, from Glengowrie says. ‘Unlike anything I’d ever known before.”

Ms. Leanne Isaacson “Exploring Artificial Intelligence – Understanding AI in our Daily Lives”

Leanne devoted half her talk to the pitfalls of being online and how to prevent being scammed. She then gave us some examples of how we could use AI to produce images from written instructions and how you could use AI to generate reports, brochures, instructions and even generate recipes from what is left in your food crisper.

Mr. Chris Denton “Hearing Loss and Hearing Aids”

Our lives are improved when we can hear clearly what is said to us. Our April meeting speaker Chris Denton described how the ear consists of several parts which need to be all working properly for us to hear clearly. We should check if anything, such as ear wax, is reducing sound getting into the ear. You can have a basic hearing test to check if a hearing aid(s) would be helpful for you. A more detailed test will what type of hearing aid(s) would be appropriate. There are several types of hearing aids available. Financial help is available from government for people who have a pension or other government benefit. People who have hearing aids are advised to check every five years if they need replacing. It is unfortunate that many people who have hearing aids don’t use them. The many questions from members that Chris answered showed how important good hearing is to us. Chris is a qualified audiologist and manages the Audiology Section at Specsavers at Westfield Marion, where you can have a free basic hearing test.

Member Lou Leeuwrik

BloodBikes Australia is a volunteer group that transports medical supplies on their motorcycles. It originally started in the UK in 1962, and in Australia in 2019.
We formed the South Australian group in August 2022 with 8 starters with coffee at the Velo Cafe, Victoria Park Racecourse. To be a BloodBikes volunteer, we all need to pass the BloodSafe eLearning Australia course, and purchase our “BloodBikes” embroidered safety riding vest.
In SA we have about 10 riders, covering medical centres from Seaford to Elizabeth. It’s a worthy service, and gets us out riding our motorbikes, too.

Member Malcolm Sparrow

At the time when I undertook the trip, Elders were in control of several outback stations in the NT and Kimberley region and my job as Asset Manager was to oversee them. Hence the trip, which was both exciting and interesting with plenty of hands on experiences. It also enabled me to see and understand some of the issues facing the cattle industry in the NT. Eventually Elders sold their interests in cattle stations to several well-known pastoralists.
A brief summary of places visited -Alice Springs – Katherine – Mainoru Station and Mountain Valley bordering on Arnhem Land – Killarney Station 350klms SW of Katherine

Mr. David Kilner “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”

David Kilner (who is an author himself) spoke about ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for “A Study in Scarlet”, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction. Doyle was a prolific writer; other than Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.