The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick actively supports a wide range of very worthwhile projects locally and internationally.
Since 1 July we have:
Supported The Timor Leste Consul-General Luciano Valentin da Conceicao in his fund raising to publish a book on the recent history of his country
Sponsored Teams from Sydney Children's and Prince of Wales Hospitals in the City to Surf, with their aim being to provide improved support for the families of indigenous patients
Support for the Honest Ocean Project, in their quest to combat plastic ocean waste in South East Asia
During the period 1 April to 30 June we supported:
The Rotary Foundation, including the Polio eradication program
ROMAC - Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children
Rotary Overseas World Community Service - for projects in Timor Leste
Ukraine Appeal
Northern NSW Flood Appeal
Australian Rotary Health - supporting mental health research and an Indigenous Health Scholarship
Prince of Wales Hospital - Maroubra Centre
Circus Quirkus - allowing attendance at one of their performances by two disadvantaged families
Project Kindness - to provide a lawnmower for a needy family
After several years of inactivity due to COVID restrictions, ROMAC - Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children, is now back doing what it does best - facilitating much needed major surgery for children of the Oceania Region that they don't have available in their own country.
Baby Melenaite, from Tonga, was born with a massive teratoma, larger than a football, on her lower back/posteria - it weighed almost as much as the baby herself. Whilst benign, without urgent surgery her future looked very bleak indeed. The ROMAC Team, all Rotary volunteers, worked with the Ministry of Health in Tonga to arrange for this urgently needed surgery to be undertaken at The Canberra Hospital. Passports, visas and travel were all arranged in record time, and the baby with her Mum Michelleanne, together with a nurse escort, Hulita, arriving at Mascot on 7 July.
They were met at Sydney's International Terminal by Botany Randwick member Richard, accompanied by Tasimani Telefoni from the Tongan High Commission. Richard arranged overnight accommodation for the family and their medical escort before putting them on a flight to Canberra early the next morning.
Immediately on arrival in Canberra, baby Melenaite was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at The Canberra Hospital and underwent a series of scans and tests. In an 8-hour operation by large team, that included two senior Paediatric Surgeons and a Neurologist, the 2.5kg tumour was successfully removed several days later.
Melenaite is now out of intensive care and can look forward to a bright future - thanks to ROMAC and Rotary. The Botany Randwick Rotary Club is pleased to have played a small, but important, part in the success to date of her treatment.
Wonderful to see the Club recognised in the Annual District 9675 Awards at the recent District Changeover, held at the Strathfield Golf Club.
The very well attended function, attended by members of Rotary Clubs across southern Sydney down to the Illawarra and Southern Highlands, marked the handover over District Governor responsibilities from Jeremy Wright AM to Janice Hall. It was a great opportunity for Rotarians to come together and celebrate the wins we have had over the last 12 months as a District and look forward to the year to come.
A number of awards were presented, with Botany Randwick recognised for its membership growth over the past six months.
Long standing Rotarian and member of our Club, Andrew Daniels, passed away on 10 June 2022. Andrew is the father of fellow member, Mark Daniels.
Andrew was born on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in 1944. Andrew and his family left Cyprus by ship in 1950 and arrived in Sydney 6 weeks later at the beginning of 1951. Living in Kingsford and later Maroubra, he attended Daceyville Public School, South Sydney Junior and Maroubra Bay High Schools, completing his Leaving Certificate in 1963.
School life was difficult at first, with having no English and, in the 1950's, being from a foreign culture, it was difficult to fit in. With an inner toughness and resilience, Andrew was a quick learner. This stoicism is something he kept all his life. With a fascination for history and technical subjects, he began his pursuit of knowledge, a trait that would continue for the rest of his life. Andrew excelled at sport, and with his size and speed played rugby league all through high school, playing full back from first year to second row in his final year. He also played cricket, rugby and soccer, but rugby league was his first love. It was the toughness of sport that encapsulated his disposition. In his final years of school, he made Sydney and NSW representative sides, was a school prefect and made fierce friendships that he held and cherished throughout his life.
The refurbishment of the Maroubra Center, part of the Prince of Wales Hospital, has now been completed, with significant funding support from the former Rotary Club of Randwick, just prior to its merger with the Rotary Club of Botany, to form the new Botany Randwick Club.
The Maroubra Centre ‘Inspiring Recovery’ refurbishment project was created by lived experienced mental health Peer Support Worker - Cheryl Wittingslow. The vision was to transform The Maroubra Centre, a community mental health centre which is part of Prince of Wales Hospital, into a trauma informed, calming, safe and empowering space for the clients of the service, staff and all who visit the centre
Members of the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick were proud to participate in two very moving ANZAC Day Dawn Services at Bondi and Coogee beaches, to commemorate the 107th Anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and to remember the sacrifice of members of our armed forces in subsequent conflicts.
In a very moving service at Coogee Beach, attended by a capacity crowd of over 6000, members Richard Woodburn and Alan Segal, with Rotary Foundation Global Scholar Aya Murakami, laid the wreath on behalf of the Club. Alan was wearing the WW1 medals of his grandfather, who was decorated for bravery in the field, with the award of the Military Medal, presented by General Sir John Monash. Richard is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and a former Commanding Officer of the 21st Construction Regiment, Royal Australian Engineers.
Our Honorary Member Aunty Barb also gave a very moving Welcome to Country at the very well attended commemoration at Bondi Beach.
The annual Rotary District Conference was very well attended by members of the Club. This major event on the Rotary calendar was held at The Warwick, Cabramatta over the weekend 18th to 20th March 2022.
It featured a fantastic array of guest speakers covering Rotary and general interest topics, with plenty of time to mingle and meet with likeminded Rotarians from across the District over morning and afternoon teas, lunches and evening dinners.
The Conference was a reminder that Rotary is a lot more than activities and projects at Club level. The combined resources of Rotary Clubs achieve incredible results at District and International levels, many of which were showcased at the Conference.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick is very pleased to welcome Aya Murakami to Sydney.
Aya, from Japan, will study a Master of Laws at the University of NSW, sponsored by the Rotary Foundation's Global Scholar Program. The focus of her studies with be on peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Our Club has joined with the Rotary Club of Nara, in Japan, in sponsoring Aya.
The purpose of the Rotary Global Scholarship program is to further international understanding and peaceful relations among people of different races, nationalities, ethnicities, and religions while pursuing an approved program of graduate study at an institution of higher education in a foreign country.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick has donated $1000 the Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) project to to provide funds for humanitarian programs to assist the people in Tonga recover from the volcano and tsunami disaster.
Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) will be working with Rotary New Zealand World Community Service (RNZWCS) and Rotary Club of Nuku'alofa (Tonga) in providing aid and assistance to the affected communities and restoring their livelihoods. The aim is to get Tonga back to normality as soon as possible so that they can look after their own communities again.
The Club will also continue its association with the Its Time Raffle, with tickets selling at $10 a ticket for 1, with a generous discount for purchase of multiple tickets and use the funds raised to further support the people of Tonga.
Our Club retains 50% of the sale of the tickets, with all these funds being further donated to the RAWCS Tonga Appeal. 40% of the funds raised will go to Its Time Foundation in Fiji (Solar Schools Project) and 10% to Plastic Free Oceans, an Its Time Foundation initiative.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick Inc is very pleased to award a number of fantastic local Community Service Organisations with Grants to help them serve those in need. Congratulations to
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort. The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick has actively supported this effort with regular donations over many years.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) is a leadership program for young people aged 18 to 25. Participants are chosen for their leadership potential with their expenses covered by the Club. The event takes the form of a camp to discuss leadership skills and to learn those skills through practice. RYLA is a life-changing program, providing an incredible opportunity to develop yourself as a leader alongside 75 participants.
This will be a week of your life that you’ll never forget, and we’d love you to be involved!
The next RYLA Program will be conducted by District 9675 from 3 to 9 January 2022 at Stanwell Tops.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick was invited by the Rotary Club of Corrimal in Wollongong to participate in a fund raising raffle at $20 a ticket for 1, with a generous discount for purchase of multiple tickets.
Our Club retains 50% of the sale of the tickets, with 40% going to Its Time Foundation in Fiji (Solar Schools Project) and 10% to Plastic Free Oceans, an Its Time Foundation initiative.
The $1103 proceeds of this raffle will support the Club's local and international projects. Refer to the "Our Projects" pages on our website for more information.
The aim of Graffiti Removal Day is to highlight the problem of graffiti across NSW and encourage people to volunteer their time to remove and prevent graffiti. Since Graffiti Removal Day was established in 2012, volunteers have removed 141,000sqm of graffiti, saving our community about $10.40 million.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick is pleased to have been part of this important service to our community.
After initial preparation works completed, the paint out was completed in just over an hour. The scope of works accomplished by seven volunteers was a warehouse roller door, adjoining brickwork wall, a galvanised fence, the adjacent walls and stairwell leading to a walkway to Hale Street, Botany.
At our meeting on 29 April we were honoured to have as our guests the Consul General, Timor Leste, His Excellency Luciano Valentim da Conceico and Judy Charnaud OAM, OZ Green Program Manager Timor Leste. They provided us with an overview of the political and community situation of the region.
Judy also spoke of the the work she is doing in Oecussi Province, an enclave sitting remote from the rest of Timor Leste, within Indonesian West Timor. Our Club has been supporting her endeavours with donations for water supply projects and the Green Games.
Members of the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick were proud to participate in two very moving Dawn Services, at Botany and Coogee, to commemorate the 106th Anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and to remember the sacrifice of members of our armed forces.
In a very moving service at Coogee Beach, President Christine, supported by members Alan and Richard, laid the wreath. Alan was wearing the WW1 medals of his grandfather, who was decorated for bravery in the field, with the award of the Military Medal, presented by General Sir John Monash. Richard is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and a former Commanding Officer of the 21st Construction Regiment, Royal Australian Engineers.
At Booralee Park, Botany, the club was represented by members Rohan and "Aunty" Barb. Barb also gave the Welcome to Country at the ceremony and later at the breakfast at the Botany Golf Club.
Earlier this year the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick was pleased to provide a donation to the Rotary Club of Norwich in the UK, to further their project in support of the Kekeli Foundation in Ho, Ghana.
The two Clubs have a close connection through Rita Douglas, a member of the Norwich Club who has family in Sydney and regularly visits (at least pre-COVID) the Botany Randwick Club.
Good progress is being made as this photo of the new preschool/ kindergarten building shows. It's coming along well.
In recognition of the massive challenges that have faced our front line workers over the past twelve months, members of Rotary Clubs across District 9675 are distributing lamingtons to our hardworking hospital staff on Australia Day.
Members of the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick distributed some 1300 lamingtons to staff at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney Children's Hospital and Sydney Women’s Hospital.
Here are some of the grateful staff from the Delivery Ward of the Royal Hospital for Women receiving their lamingtons from Rotary members Christine, June and Greg.
Five local Rotarians were recognised for their service to Rotary and the Community on the occasion of ou recent Inaugural Dinner.
Recognised as Paul Harris Fellows were:
Rotarian Rohan Calvert, for his dedicated service to the former Rotary Club of Randwick over many years.
Past Assistant Governor Hilary Lloyd, of the Rotary Club of Iron Cove. As Assistant Governor for clubs in the Eastern Suburbs Group, Hilary had the challenging task of co-ordinating the eight Clubs in the Group, to ensure the ongoing viability of Rotary in our part of Sydney. Her enthusiasm dedication and wise counsel resulted in the amalgamation of the Randwick and Botany Bay Clubs.
President Christine Baramilis for her leadership of the Rotary Club of Botany Bay over the past two years and her support and drive of the amalgamation with the Randwick Club.
As they are already Paul Harris Fellows, the following were recognised with Sapphire Pins to their existing awards:
Past President Greg Lill, for his leadership and dedication to projects undertaken by the Rotary Club of Randwick.
Past President Richard Woodburn for his leadership and involvement in a range of projects undertaken by the Rotary Club of Randwick.
Due to COVID restrictions on interstate travel, it now appears very unlikely that our two Peace Scholars, Rachel and Molly, will be able to travel from Brisbane to Sydney, so unfortunately we have had to cancel this function. Hopefully alternative arrangements can be made at a later date. Refunds will be made to those who have already made their payment.
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The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick Inc. is delighted to announce that a very special dinner will be held in Randwick on the evening of 3 February 2021. Two Rotary Peace Fellows, as well as a Youth Exchange student currently studying in Brisbane, will be our guests.
Rachel and Molly are two Rotary Peace Fellows from the US who are currently undertaking a Master of Peace and Conflict course at the University of Queensland. This is one of five Rotary International sponsored courses conducted across the globe.
Members of Rotary and interested community members are all very welcome to come along and hear their inspirational talks. For further information and details, read on ...
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick is delighted to support the Little Heroes Swim Academy with a donation of $4,940 for filtration equipment for their new swimming pool. The Grant was provided in conjunction with The Rotary Foundation, which also provided $4,560. The joint donation was presented to Little Heroes CEO Tracey Ayton by Rotary District Governor Warwick Richardson on the occasion of the Club's Inaugural Dinner.
This Rotary Grant will provide the cleanest and most sanitized water for the health and wellbeing of the students and staff. This is paramount at all times but with the introduction of COVID to the world it is even more relevant. Whilst it is important for the chemical composition of the water to be correct, it is equally as important to make sure that the water is not too harsh on skin and also the airways of the students. The system chosen for the centre allows this to be managed and to find the perfect balance for both. It is also a system that is constantly monitored and alerts sent out if there is a wrong reading in the pool.
The Inaugural Dinner of the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick Inc. was held on 27 November 2020.
Inaugural President Christine Baramilis was pleased to welcome official guests Rotary District Governor Warwick Richardson, Matt Thistlethwaite, Federal Member for Kingsford Smith, Ron Hoenig, State Member for Heffron, and representatives from a range of community organisations, neighbouring Rotary Clubs, as well as our own members and their guests, to the Inaugural Dinner held at The Randwick Club.
The new Rotary Club resulted from the amalgamation of the Rotary Clubs of Randwick and Botany Bay, both of whom have been active in their local communities for many, many years. With the Randwick Club formed in 1949 and Botany Bay in 1960, those present heard about the wonderful support that these former clubs have provided to both their local and wider communities. They have laid an impressive foundation on which the new Club can build into the future.
The Sydney Childrens' Hospital School came to the attention of the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick when it provided significant support to a long term Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) patient from the Solomon Islands who was undergoing long-term treatment at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Over many years, numerous ROMAC children have benefited from attendance at the School at no cost to ROMAC or Rotary. It is a great example of mutual support between Rotary and the School.
The School provides education for children undergoing long term treatment at the Sydney Children’s Hospital. The school enrols inpatients, outpatients (unable to attend their census school) and siblings of patients where the whole family have either temporarily relocated to Sydney for their child’s treatments.
14-Year-old Mourine Kikisia from the remote Solomon Island of Vella Lavella has spent nearly twelve months in Randwick undergoing life saving medical treatment. Mourine had developed a large mass on her neck, the size of a small football and doctors in the Solomon Islands were unable to treat her. With the support of Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) and local Rotarians she was successfully treated at the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick.
Whilst the tumour was found to be benign, it was "strangling" other vital organs, and could well have proved fatal without treatment. It posed a significant challenge for the medical staff who liaised with international colleagues in search of a cure. With a maze of blood vessels and nerves throughout, there was a major risk of Mourine being permanently disabled or disfigured. After nearly six months of chemotheraphy to stop the growth of the mass, it was finally removed in a very successful nine-hour operation. Then followed several months of radiotheraphy to ensure removal of any remnants.
After several years of inactivity due to COVID restrictions, ROMAC - Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children, is now back doing what it does best - facilitating much needed major surgery for children of the Oceania Region that they don't have available in their own country.
Wonderful to see the Club recognised in the Annual District 9675 Awards at the recent District Changeover, held at the Strathfield Golf Club.
The refurbishment of the Maroubra Center, part of the Prince of Wales Hospital, has now been completed, with significant funding support from the former Rotary Club of Randwick, just prior to its merger with the Rotary Club of Botany, to form the new Botany Randwick Club.
Members of the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick were proud to participate in two very moving ANZAC Day Dawn Services at Bondi and Coogee beaches, to commemorate the 107th Anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and to remember the sacrifice of members of our armed forces in subsequent conflicts.
The annual Rotary District Conference was very well attended by members of the Club. This major event on the Rotary calendar was held at The Warwick, Cabramatta over the weekend 18th to 20th March 2022.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick is very pleased to welcome Aya Murakami to Sydney. 
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick has donated $1000 the Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) project to to provide funds for humanitarian programs to assist the people in Tonga recover from the volcano and tsunami disaster.
$10 a ticket for 1, with a generous discount for purchase of multiple tickets and use the funds raised to further support the people of Tonga.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick Inc is very pleased to award a number of fantastic local Community Service Organisations with Grants to help them serve those in need. Congratulations to
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
and encourage people to volunteer their time to remove and prevent graffiti. Since Graffiti Removal Day was established in 2012, volunteers have removed 141,000sqm of graffiti, saving our community about $10.40 million. 
At our meeting on 29 April we were honoured to have as our guests the Consul General, Timor Leste, His Excellency Luciano Valentim da Conceico and Judy Charnaud OAM, OZ Green Program Manager Timor Leste. They provided us with an overview of the political and community situation of the region. 
Rotary Club of Botany Randwick was pleased to provide a donation to the Rotary Club of Norwich in the UK, to further their project in support of the Kekeli Foundation in Ho, Ghana. 
past twelve months, members of Rotary Clubs across District 9675 are distributing lamingtons to our hardworking hospital staff on Australia Day. 
Due to COVID restrictions on interstate travel, it now appears very unlikely that our two Peace Scholars, Rachel and Molly, will be able to travel from Brisbane to Sydney, so unfortunately we have had to cancel this function. Hopefully alternative arrangements can be made at a later date. Refunds will be made to those who have already made their payment.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick is delighted to support the Little Heroes Swim Academy with a donation of $4,940 for filtration equipment for their new swimming pool. The Grant was provided in conjunction with The Rotary Foundation, which also provided $4,560. The joint donation was presented to Little Heroes CEO Tracey Ayton by Rotary District Governor Warwick Richardson on the occasion of the Club's Inaugural Dinner.
ramilis was pleased to welcome official guests Rotary District Governor Warwick Richardson, Matt Thistlethwaite, Federal Member for Kingsford Smith, Ron Hoenig, State Member for Heffron, and representatives from a range of community organisations, neighbouring Rotary Clubs, as well as our own members and their guests, to the Inaugural Dinner held at The Randwick Club. 
The Sydney Childrens' Hospital School came to the attention of the Rotary Club of Botany Randwick when it provided significant support to a long term Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) patient from the Solomon Islands who was undergoing long-term treatment at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
14-Year-old Mourine Kikisia from the remote Solomon Island of Vella Lavella has spent nearly twelve months in Randwick undergoing life saving medical treatment. Mourine had developed a large mass on her neck, the size of a small football and doctors in the Solomon Islands were unable to treat her. With the support of Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) and local Rotarians she was successfully treated at the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick.