Well, we had a busy weekend across a few different events.

 

A bunch of people helped at the Canberra Show with parking - from all accounts it went very well. Michael, Bill and I were at Lennox Gardens on Saturday evening at the end of the Lunar New Year festival. There were heaps of people about on a warm late summer evening. We had a great time spreading the message of peace to a wide variety of people from near and far.

 

And of course, Taylor Swift has been playing in Sydney. All the cool kids were there (well, Jess was anyway). From all reports it was worth all of the excitement, crowds seem to have been very happy, super busy weekend down there.

 

The regionalisation project is rolling out some more information. Is this something that people would like to hear more about? I think it is important but we haven't spoken much about it. Please let me know your thoughts and I will try to communicate more on this if it is what people want (or organise a speaker for it).

 

We are at LJ Hooker in Dickson this Thursday Evening - NOT the Commonwealth Club at lunchtime. Look forward to seeing you there.

 

Guest speaker: Linda Peek, whose grandparents and mother survived the siege of Malta during World War II, author of the book Malta: A Childhood Under Siege.

 

The Battle for this small island in the Mediterranean was ferocious and Malta’s survival helped change the course of the Second World War to an Allied victory. The courage of the people was rewarded with the British Crown awarding the whole Island the George Cross for bravery, which is the equivalent of the Victoria cross but in the Civil Award system. By the end of the war Italy had lost 70% of Maritime Fleet and this was due to Malta attacking the convoys to supply Rommel’s Army in North Africa. Malta hosted a submarine fleet as well as bombers and Spitfires that harassed many convoys. The Island endured 3343 air raids by both the German and Italian air forces.

 

The story follows Linda’s mother and grandfather through his postings with the British Army to Hong Kong and then to Malta where he was posted in 1939 before the War started. Malta had been a British colony since 1850 and the Maltese had British citizenship.

 

Linda’s grandfather was a Garrison Engineer and oversaw some of the major engineering projects during the siege, including the building of military headquarters in tunnels.

 

The women and children were to be evacuated during the siege but Linda’s grandmother refused to leave with her five children. Unfortunately, the ship taking the evacuees was sunk and all on board were lost. The family left after 1946, by which time Linda’s mother was aged 15 years.

 

Linda believes her mother was traumatised by her experiences of the War and in those times treatment for the trauma was unknown and not even considered. The concept of Keep Calm and Carry on because they were British was a prevalent concept in the 1950’s.

 

Linda believes the exercise in writing the family history was cathartic for her Mother and would be a testament for future generations of family members to hear about how people survived great depravation, even without a mobile phone.

 

Thanks to Michael for his presentation on several recent trips. He thoughtfully referenced Russell Dew’s earlier analysis of the economics of various forms of travel, It’s not every Rotary Club you get an economic analysis followed by independent field expeditions to test the conclusions of the analysis!

 

Michael’s travels have included destinations in Victoria, New South Wales and Norfolk Island (part of the Bean electorate, so let’s just say the ACT). He and Joan have driven and stayed in hotels; driven towing a caravan; caught an Uber or two; and flown to a destination.

 

Michael asked if anyone knew why there was a Chinese restaurant in practically every town in Australia. No one did. It’s because the White Australia Policy had an exemption that allowed cooks, chefs. and cabinet makers to enter Australia regardless of race, and many Chinese took advantage of that.

 

Here’s what Michael concluded:

Michael, Warrick, and Bill helped out at the Lantern Festival last Saturday, 24 February, as the Chinese community heralded in the lunar New Year. Many visitors came to the Peace Bell to ring in the prayer for peace. The Peace Bell is incorporated into the Lantern Festival as a special feature.