Marianna Boorman

Ben Porter

Ian Burnett – Concrete construction and life’s experiences outside Australia

Ian described the highlights of his journey through the concrete & construction Industry. He started with ReadyMix in Adelaide in 1964, then onto many other world-wide places including Hobart – Melbourne – Johannesburg – Melbourne. His roles were Technical, Operational, Management, Marketing & Development. Some of the major projects were; Bourke Place – Melbourne, Baiyoke 2 Tower – Bangkok, RC&C Towers – Manilla, Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor, Litigation – Tsing Ma Bridge – Hong Kong, Alice Springs to Darwin Rail Link, Taiwan High Speed Rail, also other countries including Vietnam, China, Russia, USA, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar & Singapore. He worked on various developments of quick-setting concrete which could be pumped to the top of towers under construction

Mr Rod Barton

“I was no James Bond with a licence to kill, but I did work with the British intelligence services and for the CIA. I had guns pointed at me, death threats issued, a price placed on my head.“
In 1971, Rod Barton applied for a junior scientist role in the Australian Department of Defence. Little did he know what it entailed: as the Cold War intensified, Barton was inducted into the murky world of espionage.
For the next few decades, Barton lived a life straight from an adventure novel. In war-torn Mogadishu, he disarmed militia, while sleeping in rat-infested barracks. As a UN weapons inspector, he flew to Baghdad on special missions, interviewing top scientists to uncover an illegal weapons program, and raced to chemical firms across Europe, tracking materials sold to the Iraqis.
After 9/11, Barton became senior advisor to Hans Blix, seeking the truth on Iraq’s WMDs. His clashes with the CIA over what he saw – and what he didn’t find – reveal the terrible politicisation of the War on Terror. It prompted him to step from the shadows and share a truth about Iraqi prisoners – and to tussle with the Australian government. This is an extraordinary behind-the-scenes account of a world marked by risk, secrecy and individual acts of courage. The Life of a Spy will introduce you to a man of principle in a time of chaos, and take you to the frontlines of politics and war. Rod was a very interesting Speaker, telling his life’s Story as a Spy.

Mr Graeme Hall AO

Graeme Hall gave an informative and emotive talk on the SUNRISE CAMBODIA orphan villages at our May meeting. SUNRISE CAMBODIA run by founder Geraldine Cox has been a very special charity that Graeme and Elaine have supported for over 20 years. Graeme was pleased to advise that members had donated $579 towards the charity.

Honorable Kris Hanna, Mayor City of Marion

Kris spoke on the spending of nearly $100M per year income for the City of Marion, breaking spending down to approx. 8 categories. He gave details of spending on significant infrastructure projects recently completed and those planned for the future

Members, David Wilkinson and Remo Porcaro

Both David and Remo spoke for 12 minutes on aspects of the their lives. Both had lived through WWII or its after effects in Europe and had emigrated to Australia. They described specific events or memories from their lives with bits of humour along the way

Cate Clements spoke on the topic “A flight Against All Odds”

Cate described her emigration to Australia in the 1960s with her newly married husband as inexperienced pilot and navigator, naive 20 year olds in a single-engine aircraft with no navigation aids and certainly no GPS. As the range of the aircraft was only 3 hours maximum and with a jerry can of aviation fuel sitting on her lap, careful consideration was necessary in planning the next hop on their adventure. Cate described just about every impediment possible, but after a very hair-raising trip they eventually made it to their new home, Adelaide. This was a thoroughly enjoyable talk provided by Cate with some great slides of their adventures.

Andrew Clark from the RAA “Modern Motor Vehicles“

Andrew spoke on advantages and disadvantages of current and future design of standard combustion, hybrid, electric and hydrogen vehicles. As well, he illustrated how sensors on modern vehicles are featuring front, back and side sensors to assist drivers to avoid vehicle collisions

Gerry Guerin and Marlene Haese – Introduction to Advance Care Directives and Enduring Powers of Attorney and the role of Justices of the Peace

Spoke on the consequences of not having a completed ACD form, how to complete the form and the role of the Justices of the Peace in ratifying the form. They also outlined the Enduring Power of Attorney form and it’s importance in financial decisions on behalf of a person who is not able to manage their own financial affairs.

Phil Hoffmann “Travel – Moving forward after Covid19 challenges”

Phil spoke on how the pandemic had affected his travel business & the travel industry as a whole. Before Covid19 started, he had 10 travel offices & employed around 230 staff. The city office was the only one he had to close & today he is now operating with about half the staff. He, like a lot of businesses, is looking for more staff, but they are not available.
Australia was very strict with its lock down during this time which caused us to become very isolated. He believes that it will take up to 3 years to be that number one tourist destination again. He says that the World is once again opening up to travellors. To date, the most popular is the USA followed by UK, Europe & NZ

Four of our own members – Ray Brand, John Godden, George Newson and Pieter Boschma spoke on Aspects of their Life

Emily Johns “Improve your life with new technology”

Emily spoke on the range of useful “smart” devices available for your home available at the present time including smart lights and globes, smart speakers, door security systems etc. As well, she highlighted some futuristic devices which at this stage are more fanciful.

Darren Davis “Road Safety – We can all help”

Darren is the President of the Get Home Safe Foundation and described the various functions and activities of the group

Pamela Rajowski “Pioneering Afghan cameleers of Australia”

Pamela spoke on the opening up of outback South Australia and beyond in the 1850s by the cameleers of Afghanistan, Pakistan and North-Western India. On finding bullocks and horses were unsuitable for pulling supplies into inland Australia because of the lack of water for the animals, Thomas Elder began importing camels and cameleers from Pakistan in 1866. They were employed for the transportation of goods to remote sheep and cattle stations, the transportation of wool and ore back to Port Augusta and proved of immense value in carrying supplies during severe drought. Over 100 camels were engaged in the construction of the Adelaide-Darwin Overland Telegraph in 1872, to carry wire, insulators and supplies.

Rosie Allen “Communication Centres in WW 2”

Rosie described preparations for invasion in Adelaide in 1941 and showed historical photographs of documents and air raid shelters built at that time, including the one adjacent to the Glenelg Oval. This was built to handle communications for the Zone H, including the Holdfast Bay and Marion areas back to the Central Control Centre in the CBD

Nicole Flint, MHR, Federal Member for Boothby spoke on “Women in Politics”

Nicole spoke on her early influences which led her to politics, problems with radical protest groups, difficulties with women in Parliament and what led her to not continue in Federal parliament. After two terms in Parliament she has decided to do other things in her life. Like other members of Parliament, Nicole has helped many groups and organisations in her electorate, including the Marion Probus Club

Dr Tony Lake a forensic orthodontist,  “The tooth, the whole tooth and nothing about the tooth“

Tony spoke about how modern forensic orthodontology can be used in victim identification and causation of injury including his experience in natural and man-made disasters and criminal justice.