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When someone is asked to talk about themselves, they are faced with a dilemma “Which story do I tell?”  “Which of the many versions of me do I choose from?” And where do I start?  The convention is to start at the beginning, from when you were born.  So that is what I’ll do tonight.  However, the story of me that I am telling tonight is of someone who wants to focus on the here and now, and where what has happened in the past may take her.

 

I am originally from Sydney where I grew up in the western suburbs.  I’m the youngest of five children. Dad was a high school teacher and mum worked part-time in a primary school as a clerical assistant.  Mum and Dad moved to Sydney from country New South Wales just before I was born.  They made the move to the city because they believed that would give their kids the best opportunity for a good education.  They were passionate about encouraging us to be active learners and to be aware of the world. 

 

 

 

      Catherine O'Meley (now Lawler) the youngest of               five children, the littlie on the left.       

 

However, they were still country at heart and they would escape the rat race as often as they could.  For many years, our family holidays were spent camping in the Eurobodalla area of the NSW south coast hinterland. They were carefree happy times of hiking, swimming, chasing cows, and we learnt to chop wood, light a camp fire, collect mushrooms, watch out for snakes and a host of other things we would never have experienced in the suburbs. In later years, we undertook several long road trips into outback Queensland and across the country to Perth.  In this way I think Mum and Dad bestowed all of their children with a desire to learn and a passion for travel.  Not least of which was me.

 

When I finished high school I deferred the university place I was offered, deciding to work for a year so I could move into a place of my own, before attempting to study part-time while still working. That was a bad idea.  I didn’t even finish first semester.  So, I stuck out the daily grind as a Superannuation Administrator for another year while I regrouped. 

 

The next plan was to work part-time while studying full-time.  I found part-time work as a waitress and held down both jobs while I saved a nest egg, ready for Uni the following year.  That idea had potential until I realised that, although I had gone through high school thinking I was good at maths and science, clearly that wasn’t the case.  First year science at Uni NSW left me cold and disinterested and frankly, feeling pretty dumb.  I think I managed to hang around campus for about six weeks. 

 

The restaurant chain I was working for offered a full-time position and promotion that involved a transfer to Canberra.  I accepted and off I went.  I was there for only 10 months when management decided to close the store.  What to do now? It was literally on a whim that I decided to move to Adelaide with one of my brothers.  He was looking for somewhere cheap to live while finishing his degree and I didn’t want to go back to Sydney. We came to Adelaide.  That was 33 years ago. My plan at the time was to work for 12 months and then go overseas.  But then I met John.  So, I didn’t go overseas as planned, opting instead for 30 years of incredible adventures with him.  However, those are stories for another time.

 

I finally found a university course I could love on attempt number three.  Some serious soul searching had led me to realise that my real passion lay with the arts and writing, not science and maths.  I applied for a BA in journalism, but nominated a BA in Communication Studies as my second preference.  I will be, forever grateful that I wasn’t accepted into journalism. I completed both my BA and Masters part-time and almost finished my PhD.  These endeavours involved a great deal of writing. I was in my element when crafting my essays: settling on an overarching theme; searching for the right words; imbuing the sentences with rhythm and dynamics; carefully packaging my ideas in well constructed paragraphs. 

 

It was at this point in my life that I realised, although my employment continued to be in superannuation, insurance, and later legal administration, writing was indeed my vocation. 

 

It is what makes my heart sing.  It is what puts me in my zone.  It is what brings me fulfilment.  And when I start writing, I find it difficult to stop until I am exhausted. This is the reason why, when I joined Rotary the first time and I was asked to nominate a vocation for my application, I opted for Writer. At that time, I was partially motivated by the idea of it being a self-fulfilling prophesy.  However, as I was thinking about what to do for this, my New Member presentation, I realised I am now, and was then, already a writer. Not only have I spent more than a decade writing essays, conference papers, and then churning out the penultimate draft of a PhD thesis, I have actually been paid as a writer.

 

I have been the editor, staff writer, and layout designer for two publications.  The first was the Law Society of South Australia’s monthly journal for members.  The second was the fortnightly community newspaper Palm Island Voice, which I established and ran for the first 7 months, before handing the reins over to the community. It will come as no surprise to some of you that I have also had a number of articles published in the sailing magazines.  These are the most fun of the non-fiction writing that I have done, because they combine two of my passions, sailing and writing. I have also written some articles about this Rotary Club, which have been published by The Barossa Leader.  The most recent was the piece about our very cute visitors at the last meeting.

 

And so, I turn now to Rotary, and why I have become a member again.  When John and I joined in 2009, I thought at first that it was a very middle class and middle aged thing to do, and I felt a bit out of sorts because I believed I was neither. However, I soon learned my presumptions were wrong.  We loved the depth and breadth of Rotary’s activities both locally and globally and were keen to get involved and learn more. 

 

Even though John’s ill health stopped us from continuing our membership, one event in particular stood out for both of us.  This was the chance encounter with a young boy and his father on a beach in Papua New Guinea, while we were sailing there as part of a yacht rally.  The boy, Jonathon, had a significant disfigurement of his tongue and his father, Amos, had come to the gathering of yachts to see if someone could help. We were incredibly thrilled, proud and relieved to be able to tell Amos that, although we didn’t know exactly how it worked, we did know that Rotary could help.  Two days later Amos brought another child, Gregory, to meet us.  Gregory was in even more distress with a severe deformity of his skull.  He could no longer close his eyes, even when sleeping. Together with ROMAC and support from this club both boys were helped.  Within twelve months the ROMAC teams had Gregory was diagnosed with Crouzon’s syndrome and brought him to Melbourne for cranio-facial surgery. The next year this club provided financial assistance to Jonathon to attend Port Moresby hospital for clinical treatment on his tongue lymphangeoma. 

 

This all happened because we knew that Rotary has programs and systems in place to help children like this.

So, last year, when I found myself on the verge of a new kind of life, with encouragement and support from Phil and Mary Martin, I contemplated joining again. 

When I thought of the potential of Rotary to make things like this happen I was keen to join again, and, at the same time, I discovered my heart could still sing.

 

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Margaret Northcote chair of NYSF in our D9510 has advised that travelling outside of our State for the 2021 January program has been cancelled.

However, an exciting program for the successful students is being arranged. The number of students has been increased from 46 to 56 and the overall cost for each student has been significantly reduced because cost of travel, accommodation and meals has been removed.

Whilst some disappointment is inevitable, all those involved must remember that this is the only chance that these students have to become NYSFers. They will remember it as a good experience in the pandemic. The cost is almost halved: now $1900, not $3250 and it is a 14 day program of leading educators/speakers covering all aspects of STEM.(Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).   

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 THE ROTARY HEART NEVER STOPS BEATING

 

 

 

 

                   Family is life's greatest gift

                                         

 

 

                                      in life

 

 

 

 

 

                               Lest we Forget   

 

 

 

           

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