14th Feb 2026 - Rotary Leadership Institute. (see details below)
14th Feb 2026 - RC Bendigo South Valentine Ball (see details below)
17th Feb - Invitation from RC Bendigo to listen to Gemma Sisia (see details below)
24th Feb 2026 - Lawn Bowls evening with RC of Bendigo South. (see flyer below)
1st March 2026 - Clean up Australia Day activity. Start time 9:30am. Meet at the Epsom primary school carpark.
7th March 2026 - Songs at the Silos (see flyer below)
19th - 23rd March 2026 Barham weekend. Phone 5453 2553 to book a site/cabin and say you are from Rotary.
27th - 29th March 2026 - D9800 Multi District Impact Summit @ Horsham
Welcome to Issue 30 (2025-26) of our weekly bulletin. Find out about our upcoming events, our guest speakers, what we covered during the last meeting and more!
Can't make our meeting in person please join us via Zoom:
Opportunities to volunteer -for non-Rotarian friends and volunteers:
* Upcoming BBQs - Contact Kevin - 0428 996 619
Meeting Roster
Week 2
Feb-11
Feb-18
Feb-25
Mar-4
Speaker
Abbey Brown
Carers Victoria
Paul Henderson
AI Possibilities
Patrice McCarthy & Julie Sloan
Phoenix FM
Club Morning
Meeting Location
Peppergreen Farm
Peppergreen Farm
Peppergreen Farm
Peppergreen Farm
Chair
Chris Purton
Linda Barrow
Kevin Dobson
Rob Rosaia
Computer
Toni Carrington
Cathie Miller
Doug Lougoon
Allie Lyall
Set-Up 6.45am & pack up
John Cannon
Toni Carrington
Liz Commadeur
Ray Carrington
Welcome, raffle & roaming microphone
Stew Annan
Ray Carrington
Ted Gretgrix
John Harkin
Co-President's report
Co-President Report for 4th February 2026
Welcome back – we hope everyone has recovered from Australia Day.
Thankyou everyone for the great effort you all put in.
In spite of the very hot day, the market and BBQ were successful.
Welcome to our guest speaker, Dianne Dempsey and welcome back Andrew.
Jim has arranged Toni West (our Ambassador) to speak to our Club in March. We look forward to hearing more about Impact Recovery.
Liz (Community Services) has been liaising with RC Castlemaine regarding support for Harcourt.
An immediate need is washing and drying facilities for the people who have lost their homes. We have donated $1000 towards getting these installed in the Community Centre at Harcourt. A longer-term project is currently being explored – Liz will keep us informed as this evolves.
Di Dempsey: “Saving Dragons. The Life and Times of Russell Jack”
Di’s latest book is a biography tracing Russell Jack’s life, in particular his strong connection to the Chinese community and his efforts(thankfully successful) to preserve and restore the Golden Dragon museum.
Russell, one of 9 children born to Joan and Ah Juk (later changed to Jack) surrounded by goldfield shacks and diggings, attended Long Gully P/S while his father encouraged him to seek out his Chinese culture.
By 1964, the area known as Chinatown was looking rundown. The O’Hoy family had a store there where old men would gather post goldrush, to exchange stories, receive mail from China, and perhaps play on the gambling tables. Basically, to keep their culture alive. The Council considered Chinatown an eyesore, had it bulldozed, and the contents were looted by the populace. At the time, the Town Clerk (considered a “bigoted bastard”) hated the Chinese and wanted the area for a carpark. Racism, fear and prejudice were common.
So began Russell’s fundraising efforts to establish the Golden Dragon museum. He felt that it was essential to store and display the dragon Loong and all of the artefacts and regalia, to have a space where the dragons could be assembled prior to the Easter processions, and where elders could pass on stories and lore to children. Russell, along with 6 other notable Chinese families, appealed to all the service clubs to raise funds for the Bendigo Hospital and the museum through the Easter procession.
Joan, Russell’s wife, loved the Chinese culture and worked hard to have and run the museum and collate the huge number of exhibits. It is through their efforts and Russell’s quiet manner and strong resolve that we still have this integral, proud part of Bendigo’s history. He is now in his early 90’s living with his daughter and granddaughters. He deserves our great gratitude.
A working bee was held at Camp Getaway recently to fold reo mesh for the new games room foundations.
Rotary Peace Fellow Applications
This year, The Rotary Foundation will award up to 50 fellowships for master’s degrees and up to 120 fellowships for the advanced professional development certificate program at leading universities. Rotary District 9800 is seeking peace and development professionals earlier in their careers for the master's programs and experienced mid-career peacebuilders for the certificate programs. Since 2001, District 9800 has sponsored round 45 peace fellows, far more than any other district in the world.
If you know of anyone interested, please share this with them. You can contact RC Bendigo Sandhurst on our email or one of the contacts below if you need more information/help.
The Noticeboard
Each week various information come into the Bulletin email, small bits to add into the bulletin that doesn't really go anywhere else but may be good to know. Sometimes it's an announcement, an invitation, an update or advertisement.
Here are this week's tidbits:
"On to Conference" or "On to Impact Summit"
Are you considering going or have already booked to go to the Impact Summit in Horsham, then I would really like to know so that we can look at whether we hold a club event or not. At this time, I know that we have five members with accommodation booked. Please email or text me if you are already booked or are considering going.
I will keep you updated when I know more about the Summit program.
Note: Two speakers have been added to the Summit Speaker list. Click on the link below to see details.
"Lexiphile" is a word used to describe those that have a love for words, like: You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish, or: To write with a broken pencil is... pointless. When fish are in schools, they sometimes... take debate. A thief who stole a calendar. ... got twelve months. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles,... U.C.L.A. The batteries were given out... free of charge. With her marriage, she got a new name... and a dress. When you've seen one shopping center... you've seen a mall. Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was... resisting a rest. A boiled egg is....hard to beat A dentist and a manicurist married.... They fought tooth and nail Did you hear about the fellow whose whole left side was cut off?... He's all right now. A bicycle can't stand alone; ... it is two tired.
Cluster club meetings
Bendigo
Tuesday 12.30pm for 1.00pm, an evening meeting on the 4th week - 6pm for 6.30pm start.
The Bendigo Club, 22 Park St. Strathdale
Bendigo South
Thursday 6.00pm for 6.30pm
Boatshed Function Room, Lakeview Hotel, Bendigo
Eaglehawk
Wednesday 6.15pm for 6.30pm
Mechanics Institute, California Gully
Kangaroo Flat
Monday 6.00pm for 6.30pm
Rotary Gateway Park, Kangaroo Flat
Inner Wheel Bendigo
2nd Tuesday, 11.15am – lunch after meeting
Mechanics Institute, School Street, California Gully
