GENERAL MEETINGS  

                            

We meet for two hours from 10.00am on the second Tuesday of each month at theWhitehorse Civic Centre, in the Willis Room.

This comprises a brief general meeting, outlining important club matters and a summary of the most recent Management Committee meeting.

Morning tea and socialising is followed by a guest speaker.

All are invited to a post meeting lunch at The Coach in Ringwood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2026 SPEAKERS       

 

MAY SPEAKER - KAREN BOWLES

“Australia’s True Crime Queen”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APRIL SPEAKER –  Dr Janet Werkmeister

Wireless to wallabies. A Life of Norman McCance.

- CHris Summers

What an interesting morning. Janet spoke about her grandfather, Norman McCance.

Photos Courtesy Dr Werkmeister’s presentation.

Norman was a passionate animal lover and had a ‘mini Healesville Sanctuary’ in Avonsleigh near Emerald (Vic) and was ahead of his time for animal welfare. He wrote a nature column in the Weekly Times for 25 years.

He left school at 16 years old but made a great life for himself and his family. He ‘fell into radio’ and did broadcasts of the wrestling from Festival Hall. With the various holds used in wrestling, his catch phrase was ‘he can’t get out of it, he can’t get out of it – he got out’. 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While doing the wrestling, he worked full time with the Argus newspaper. He was broadcasting at the opening of the old parliament building in Canberra for its opening and it was said 2 million people listened to him on radio.

He married Dot and they met at a bridge club and they had a house in Manor Grove, Caulfield. He had lots of birds and reptiles in the back yard which was the start of his life at Avonsleigh. He wrote several nature pieces for the paper which proved very popular.

In mid 1930’s, 3UZ wanted Norman to broadcast a news service at 7am which meant starting at 4am and he said ‘No’. So 3UZ organised a phone line to his home so he could report from home. Radio 3UZ owned the Argus paper In 1940, Murdoch got Norman for the Herald and he was there until 1946.

He became a judge for chickens at the Melbourne Show.

In 1946 aged 50 years, he resigned from the Herald, sold his magnificent home in Caulfield and moved to an old cottage at Avonsleigh where he expanded his animal welfare property and was great friends with ‘the boss’ from Healesville Sanctuary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARCH SPEAKER

 

Elida Brereton - Antarctic and South Georga Island.

At very short notice, Elida Brereton stepped in and gave a very hurried but brilliant talk on her 2020 excursion to South Georgia Island and Antarctica. Her slides were most interesting featuring life on the ship, rough seas, the zodiak trips and land trips, which featured penguins, seals and glaciers. A highlight was seeing Sir Ernest Shackleton’s grave – Elida’s favourite explorer. He was 37 years old when buried in the far distance from his homeland, but where he  would want to be.

The biggest table top glacier in the world (then but no longer) measured 35ks across and 175ks long and moved at 4cm per year.  Following the huge fires Victoria suffered in 1966, ash from those fires settled on the surface of this huge iceberg. 

The largest penguin rookery had over 100,000 inhabitants The trip was at the time of Covid, so many parts of the trip were altered as they travelled back up the South American Coast.

 Photos Courtesy Elida’s presentation