Meetings
Club meetings are held at the Club Marion, 262 Sturt Road, Marion on the 1st Monday of every month (If a Public Holiday, then 2nd Monday) with the following program:
• 10:30 am Club Business
• 11:15 am Tea Break and Fellowship
• 11:45 am Guest Speaker
• 12:30 pm Close
After the meetings, many members enjoy a lunch at Club Marion
Past Speakers
Monday 2nd December
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.
Monday 4th November
Michael Aish, speaking on “Footy, faith and family”.
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)
Monday 14th October 2024 40th Year Anniversary Meeting
The Probus Club of Marion celebrated its 40-year anniversary with 79 members, wives and partners and Special Ladies in attendance. Highlights of the meeting were the ceremonial cutting of the Anniversary cake and the presentations of five past Presidents of significant events and anecdotes.
After the meeting, Mr. Rod Bunton, the husband of our present SA Governor Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, gave an address at the celebratory luncheon. The lunch was attended by Louise Miller-Frost, member for Boothby (federal), Sarah Andrews, member for Gibson (state) and Kris Hanna, the Mayor of the City of Marion.
Mr Rod Bunten
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.
Monday 2nd September 2024
Ms Louise Miller-Frost MP “My Journey to Canberra”
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.
Monday 5th August 2024
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”.
Monday 1st July 2024
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.
Monday 1st July 2024
Monday 3rd June 2024
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.”
Monday 6th May 2024
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.
Monday 8th April 2024
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.
Monday 5th March 2024
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
Monday 4th February
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.
Monday 4th December 2023
Mr. Don Hopgood AO
Don bought along 4 different brass instrument, showed how they were played & explained the difference. His knowledge of music & these instruments was excellent. Quite ironically, our Club visited The Hopgood Theatre at Noarlunga later in December, which is named in Don’s honour.
Monday 6th November 2023
Mr. Kim Cheater “Alwyndor – Past, Present and Future”
Kim Cheater is a former Managing Partner with PwC and led their Governance and Risk Consulting practice in Adelaide for over 20 years. He is also the great-grandson of George, who had a blacksmith business in Hove, and Anne Riddle. His grandfather was Henry Riddle (who took over the blacksmith business and had a reputation of building the finest windmills in SA), the eldest son and original owner of the grand homestead on Dunrobin Rd, Hove built in 1901. The house was named Alywndor after the three children Alfred, Wynne and Dorothy. The property’s extensive grounds featured a working dairy, vineyards and a substantial almond orchard. Alfred and Wynne died early in life and Dorothy looked after her parents in the house until their deaths in 1942 and 1943. Dorothy married Stephen Cheater and Kim is a son of that marriage. In 1971, Dorothy sold 4 acres to the Marion Council for a public park and set up a Trust with the council for an Aged Persons Home and Nursing Home to which Dorothy would give the remaining two-and-a-half acres and house, leaving her a life occupancy in the house rent free. Alwyndor was built in 1974-7 and officially opened in 1977 with 90 staff and 48 people in the nursing home. It was the first such project built and operated by a local government body. Nowadays it is a Residential Living, a Therapy and Wellness Centre and provides Support at Home. Kim is presently the Chair, Alwyndor Management Committee.
Monday 9th October 2023
Mr. Ian Henschke “National Seniors”
Ian discussed the role of National Seniors and gave examples of their successes in lobbying at the State and National level on behalf of older citizens. For instance, they successfully lobbied the SA Government in making travel on public transport free at all times. On a national level they successfully lobbied against the taxing of franking credits and the effect that would have on superannuation. He advocated the benefits of joining National Seniors suggested that we all should become members of cost of $50 p.a.
Ian Henshcke
Monday 4th September 2023
Ms. Marianna Boorman “Port River Dolphins”
Marianna talked about her role as a volunteer for Whale and Dolphin Conservation. From the age of 13, she has learnt how to identify the individual dolphins and how to observe and recognise their different behaviours and characteristics. Marianna has grown up with and loved dolphins for as long as I could remember and first met many of the Port River Dolphins at a very young age on trips with my family out on my grandparent’s boat. As a volunteer she have been involved with rescues of entangled, sick or injured dolphins. As well as providing education to schools and community groups, I spend the majority of my spare time observing and monitoring the Port River and Patawalonga Dolphins. A keen photographer, she showed images of various dolphins and described characteristics which enable her to identify individual dolphins.
Marianna Boorman
Monday 7th August 2023
Mr. Ben Porter “10 Clubs for 25 Years – The Golden Age of the SANFL”
Ben gave a very informative presentation about the 27 years of South Australian National Football League when there was 10 teams before Adelaide joined the A.F.L. He spoke about numerous players & all the Clubs. Ben has written a book about this period.
Monday 3rd July 2023
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
Monday 5th June 2023
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.
Monday 1st May 2023
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.
Monday 4th April 2023
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
Monday 6th March 2023
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
Monday 6th February 2023
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.
Monday 6th December 2022
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
Monday 7th November 2022
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.
Monday 10th October 2022
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
Monday 5th September 2022
Four of our own members – Ray Brand, John Godden, George Newson and Pieter Boschma spoke on Aspects of their Life
Monday 1st August 2022
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.
Monday 4th July 2022
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
Monday 6th June 2022
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.
Monday 2nd May 2022
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
Monday 4th April 2022
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
Monday 7th February 2022
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.
Monday 1st November 2021
Michael Peachey, SA Home Therapies: “Healthy ageing – what’s normal and what’s reversible”
Michael spoke about the importance of mobilisation, balance, and simple measures to assess and increase your mobility and strength
Monday 11th October 2021
David Jarman, one of our Life Members and recognised historian spoke on the life and importance to South Australia of Sir Hubert Wilkins
Monday 6th September 2021
Members Alan Marriage, Peter Laver, Colin Burford and Jim McInerney spoke on aspects of their lives
Each presenter was restricted to a 12 minute presentation from a particular aspect of their life, whether from the work experiences or their personal interests
Monday 4th July 2021
Adjunct Professor Haydon Manning – “How Australia is governed and what might change the system”
Monday 7th June 2021
Angelo Mastripolito ” Home Fire Safety”
Angelo, from the Metropolitan Fire Service, gave a very informative talk on the common causes of fires in the home, the use of door safety locks, smoke alarms, storage and use of electric blankets, the use of heaters, and the placement and alternatives of using candles. He demonstrated how to extinguish oil cooking fires using a fire blanket. He finished with an impressive video of the spread of a fire in pre-plastic era room compared with a room with modern-day furniture, carpets and curtains.
Monday 3rd May 2021
Graeme Hall “This is your life”- David Jarman
Graeme surprised David Jarman by “selecting” him to come to the podium where he spoke of David’s life and achievements. A message from David’s twin brother in Canada was read out and addresses from his daughter, Tanya, Kris Hanna, the Mayor of the City of Marion and Nicole Flint MHR, the Federal Member for Boothby.
Monday 12th April 2021
Max Anderson – “A Golden Dilemma”
Journalist Max told us about his experiences, when in 2002 he spent six months learning to be a gold prospector and gathering information for a book he was commissioned to write. He spoke about arriving in the town of Kookynie, a small outback town in Western Australia, 200k north of Kalgoolie population 13, with his 4-wheel drive vehicle, tent and his trusty dog, Digger. and setting up camp on the outskirts of town near the water tanks under a pepper tree.
Monday 1st March 2021
David Simpson – Chairman, Board of Probus South Pacific
David described his general background in SA and the roles he has filled in Probus. He expressed his pride in the opinion that SA Probus “punches above its weight”. He presented a Probus South Pacific PowerPoint summary of a variety of perspectives of Probus membership and enunciated the elements of support that the organisation has offered to clubs since its establishment in 1981.
He offered suggestions about what makes a successful club; viz, an effective leadership team and less focus on administration. Meetings to be kept simple, with business being minimal, good speakers and operating as many interest groups as are practical and relevant to members.
Monday 1st February 2021
David Kilmer – “History of Crime Writing”
Tony Henwood introduced David Kilmer, a local crime fiction writer with three published books to his credit. David discussed the elements of crime fiction and outlined its history. Crime fiction does not just entertain but tells a little of the dark side of human nature, giving example of coping with fear, besides educating in aspects of law enforcement and detective methods.