Bronwyn’s Blurb
hat a trip many of us have had since the
last meeting!
Two groups have managed a two-day trip to
Kakadu where we shared the sights, food, gentle
walks and loads of fun. All four Probus Clubs in
Darwin were represented so there were new
friends to make as well. Even though many of us
have visited the region previously, there were still new places to visit
and new tour guides to tell us their stories. Thanks to everyone who
made this possible and to the people who were there to share the
occasion.
I think the influx of visitors to the NT is in full swing. Kakadu was
booked out, accommodation and restaurants are full much of the time.
The clubs at Fannie Bay are doing a roaring trade with people enjoying
the sunsets and parking spaces are scarce. Staffing has become quite
an issue so if anyone wants a part time job there are plenty to be had!!
I am sure many of you are expecting families and others to arrive
before too long as well.
I am looking forward to a busy dry season and hope you are too.
PROBUS CLUB OF DARWIN INC #355594
The Probus Club of Darwin Inc. is not for profit and non fundraising. It is non sectarian. Its objects are to stimulate thought, interest and participation in activities at a time of life
when it is easy to become complacent and self-centred.
Sponsored by Rotary Club of Darwin North Inc
June Bulletin
Volume 16
Issue 3
PATRON
Her Honour The Honourable
Vicki O’Halloran AO
Administrator of the NT
PO Box 40452
CASUARINA NT 0811
Web Page: www.darwinprobus.org
Email: secretaryprobusdarwin@hotmail.com
Next meeting
Tracy Village
Social and
Sports Club
Wednesday,
2 June, 2021
10:30am
Meetings begin at 10:30am and are held on the first Wednesday of each month
June Guest Speaker
Senior Sergeant Greg Pusterla
Officer in Charge Casuarina Police Station
Will speak about his role as Officer in Charge of the Police Station and provide some advice on reporting
to Police. He will be accompanied by a working patrol dog and a pup in training together with their
respective handlers.
Welcome New Members
Rosemary Burkitt
Hugh Roberts
June Birthdays
Barry and Jenny Darben Bill and Shirley Porte Betty Lam and Charlie
Ian Dawson Fred Barlow
Marian Trobbiani Patti Jacobson Rosemary McEwen Maxine Dienelt
Liz Macleod Valmai Scott
June Ireland Dot Chapman
Hope you enjoy your special day
June at a glance
Event Date
Meeting/Event
May 28 9:30am Casual morning tea at Boatshed, Cullen Bay June 2 10:30am Meeting at Tracy Village June 4 12:00 Lunch Dining—Santa Fe June 7 11:00am Book Club at
Tracy Village bar area June 9 10:30am Garden Club at Allora
Gardens June 14 8:30am Golf at Marrara
June 15 11:00am Writing Club at Tracy Village
June 16 11:00am 10 pin bowling King Pin
June 16 6:30pm Dining out—
Silks at Fannie Bay June 18 9:30am Sports Challenge
Tracy Village June 23 10:00am Museum tour June 24 7:30am Tiwi Islands trip June 25 7:30am Tiwi Islands trip June 29 1:00pm Board Games
July 1 9:30am Territory Day Breakfast at Trailer Boat Club
Literature, Lunch and Laughter
Our change of venue for this month was very successful and agreed to continue at Tracy Village.
Books discussed today and members reviews. The Choice by Edith Eger.
Review—Empowering on Trauma and recovery. Powerful book. Abandoned after chapter 2, Thoroughly enjoyed and recommend. Readable.
The Queens Gambit by Walter Tevis.
Review — Orphaned child very intelligent. Real page turner and sorry when finished. Excellent story, well written and excitingly competitive.
The Truths we Hold by Kamala Harris
Review - Started well and got very political. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Anna und Gunther" By Jacob Hendry
Review Great read. Read by one member while others are still waiting for the book to be available.
Angel of Waterloo By Jackie French
Review -Excellent, enjoyable story mostly based in Australia 18th century. Excellent with 15 year old daughter working beside her surgeon father on the battle field of war. Travelled to Australia early days of settlement and built for herself an amazing life. Recommend this book. Good read. Some members are still waiting for availability of the book.
Books to read May and discuss June
Any title by Greg Iles
Troubled Blood by Robert Gilbraith
How to avoid Climate Disaster by Bill Gates Australia Day by Stan Grant
Next meeting—7th June, 11:00am at Tracy Village Sports Club Happy reading, Stay safe Bev Barnes
Interest Groups
June
Dining Out
Restaurant
16 June 6:30pm
Contact:
Barb Slattery Ph 0413 119 180
Board Games
Come and join us playing your favourite Board Games at Pearl Recreation Centre.
Tuesday, 29 June, 2021— 1:00—3:00pm. Maxine Dienelt—Coordinator
Golf
Probus Golf at Marrara.
Second Monday of the month at Marrara
Golf is on at other golf courses each Monday.
Contact Jeff Mosel ph 0422 187 263
Heart Foundation
Walking
Mondays, leaving from Casuarina Square, near the K Mart car centre
at 7:30am.
Out and about in May
March General Meeting
Dining Out
Dining at Sailing Club
TRIPE CLUB
Enquiries to Jenny Parish 0424 341 616 Bookings to
Peter Pusterla 0408 947890
Smile – the power of a smile . A
smile can cross all languages and channels.
2021 Senior Beautiful Gardens Competition – 3
categories – Small – Large and Rural Judging June and July winners announced Senior Month 30th August 11am Italian Club so get your nomination in to Heimo Schober CEO KAB
ceo@kabcnt.org.au
Grandmothers Patrol in town’s CBD – Alice
Springs a group of Traditional Owners who are all grandmothers are volunteering to patrol Alice Springs at night to attempt to prevent anti-social behaviour. The same could help Darwin/
Palmerston.
NT 2021 Budget – concern no funds allocated to
increase Senior’s accommodation. Advised 40 Seniors in RDH that should be in a nursing home.
Federal Gov Budget – a range of improvements
listed to be implemented over the next 5 years, a couple that may assist NT Seniors
• Additional 80,000 (Aus.) Home Care packages over the next 2 years
• Support for Carers and Dementia care • Extension of the Pensioner Loan Scheme to
access small lump sum payment up to $12,000 for single and $18,000 for couples for
unexpected costs
• Significant changes/improvement in residential aged care.
Rainfall – our rain gauge at Ludmilla recorded
1363 mm for first 3 months 2021- 32% up on last year but April has been lower than last year and now we are only up 24.2%
Senior’s Snippets
By Ken Cohalan OAMTable Tennis Interest Group
Every Thursday 9.00 am—11.00 am $5— 3 hours including bat and ball hire. Organised by Charles Darwin Club.
Probus Writing Group May 2021
We met at Tracy Village and enjoyed Fun, Friendship and Fellowship. We read out our stories on the month’s topic of “Slam Poetry” or some variation of it. This is a type of poetry which is meant to be performed and judged, and if not judged to be up to standard it is “slammed”. It is non rhyming and on a topic that the writer feels strongly about. We found it a difficult topic to write on, but we were glad of the exercise to go beyond our usual comfort zones.
We also had our usual fast write-up, which is writing on a topic for 7 minutes. This time the topic was “On
swallowing a raisin”, and raisins were passed around. A
lot of laughter when each person wrote entirely differently to the next.
Anyone can now read our imaginative and unbelievable stories and more at our new publically available cloud-storage at: https://tinyurl.com/y8839h8b
The next meeting is scheduled for 11 am at Tracy Village
Social and Sports Club on 27 June, but contact us
anyway. Some members just prefer to email their stories in, and this is fine – the idea is to write after all. The next topic is “Sounds…” and is meant to include ordinary sounds of our life, such as mobile phones. Please see Ron Ninnis at the Probus Meeting for more information. Ron Ninnis
Exploring Fannie Bay
Historical Walk of Fannie Bay - A morning of Happy Walkers!
Many thanks to Allan Mitchell, who has a strong passion of history, met 23 of our Probarians on May 16th, for a 3km walk around Fannie Bay.
We met at Pearl Leisure Centre and were given the guidelines of the walk.
Even though many of the walkers were local to the area they were surprised by the hidden parks with such historical significance.
Allan gave a narrative on the history of Fannie Bay area, including:.
• Fannie Bay had the first Botanical Gardens.
• The salt pans at East Point supplied Vesties Meat
works with salt.
• An overview of the aviation history to the area.
• WW2 Military presence.
• 1950 Fannie Bay became a suburb.
• An overview of the street naming.
• After cutting our way through the bush, we
returned to Pearl Leisure Centre for a
scrumptious morning tea and a quick quizz by Allan. Many thanks to Allan, Maureen Reiter, Maxine Dienelt and Elaine Prosser for organizing the morning tea. Fred Barlow thanked Allan for a fun, informative morning and asked when the next walk will be.
Two groups of Probarians headed off on separate tours of Kakadu National Park commencing with a 6:30am pick up by the AAT Kings bus at the Darwin Bus Centre and continuing to Palmerston for the balance of our passengers. There were representatives from the Darwin, Charles Darwin, Marrara and Palmerston Probus Clubs.
We headed off down the Stuart Highway, and onto the Arnhem Highway commencing our tour to the Kakadu National Park.
Our first stop was the Warradjan Culture Centre to learn about the Binini/Mungguy culture with a variety of displays and artifacts to illustrate the local history and traditions of the area. After a light lunch at the Cooinda Lodge we moved onto the Yellow Water Billabong for a boat tour of the Billabong and South Alligator River. Our guide o the cruise was able to identify the vast array of birdlife and vegetation in the region as well as finding a number of saltwater crocodiles on the river banks.
Returning to Jabiru we booked into the Kakadu Crocodile Hotel for dinner and overnight accommodation. After a comfortable night’s rest we had an early start to the day’s activities heading off for a Guluyambi Cultural cruise on the East Alligator River. We drove to Cahill’s Crossing, and boarded the boats.
This was a wonderful tour as we viewed the pristine wilderness of the World Heritage landscape. Our local guides provided us with an insight into their culture, local mythology and the river’s abundant food chain, traditional uses for many plants and animals together with bush survival skills. With special permission of the traditional owners we were able to go ashore on the northern bank of the river into Arnhem Land. We saw a number of vehicles crossing the river at Cahill’s Crossing.
Next we explored World Heritage Area of Nourlangie, including the extensive Aboriginal Rock Art and Galleries. Lunch back in Jabiru before commencing the journey back to Darwin. On board the bus, John Brears, a member of Probus Club of Charles Darwin spoke about the design and
construction of the Kakadu Crocodile Hotel from his time as Project Manager.
Our bus driver and guide, Paul, was very knowledgeable, extremely helpful and a great ambassador for both Kakadu and the AATKings Tour company.
In conclusion, I am sure all the Probarians who went on the Kakadu tour enjoyed themselves very much.
Comments made by participants
Fantastic, well organised, absolutely beautiful wetlands, excellent food, great and informative tour guides. Many thanks to Gwen Leggett and Christine Illic for organising and assisting with such a wonderful time.
So when you are dining in the belly of a
crocodile then it is only proper that you eat croc
spring roll!
Magnificent scenery with Kakadu on one side of the river and Arnhem Land on the other
Probus Writing Club
Seniors Running Amuck
by Marilyn RobertsThere was an article in the paper the other day about gangs running wild through Palmerston and Dawin. They are calling for an inquiry into why nothing is being done about them. Witnesses reported 70 and 80 year olds out as late as 9 o’ clock at night, laughing and enjoying themselves. They gather in packs and haunt restaurants and clubs eating whatever they choose and talking loudly and animatedly.
They also travel in gangs throughout the Territory barging around with their walkers and prodding people with their walking sticks. It is rumoured they can clear a path in seconds. When members of the public
remonstrate with them they fake being unable to hear or to be frail or they start limping pathetically.
Their main redeeming feature is they seem to have a weakness for little children, especially those bearing biscuits. They can spend hours listening to the little ones and have infinite patience although they do tend to drop off to sleep each afternoon.
These gangs are spreading nationally and the communi-ty are calling for an end to fun, friendship and fellow-ship for mature age people. Why should these people, who call themselves Probus members, be out enjoying themselves when everyone else is hard at work? Seems to me, they are just jealous that they are not in my Probus gang.
GARDEN CLUB
Many thanks to Bunnings and staff, Palmerston.
Thirty five garden lovers had a great morning
with demonstrations on planting and taking
cuttings from chrysanthemums. Bunnings
provided several lucky door prizes and
giveaways for questions asked. Several
gardeners joined together for lunch
at the tavern.
Next meeting 10:30am Wednesday, 9 June at Allora Gardens Nursery.
Bev Aitken—Coordinator
TEN PIN BOWLING
.A great turnout of 19 Probarians for our first visit
to
KINGPIN
who made us very welcome. Monika
from the Charles Darwin Club joined us for the
first time. After settling into our new venue and
finding suitable bowling balls we split into 4
teams. 8 players scored 100 and over. Ron (W)
had the highest score of 129 (1 strike), Anne 112,
Fred (1 strike) and Jeff tied on 111, Gelita (1
strike) and Elaine tied on 103, Ron (N) (1 strike)
and Monika tied on 100. Henrietta also had a
strike.
After a different but very enjoyable game 10 of us
stayed for a coffee/snack/lunch at Kingpin.
Next month we meet up again on
16 June
at
KingPin 11.00am for a 11.15-11.20 start
as
it takes a while to sign in and get ready for the
game
Thank You
Probus Club of Darwin very much thank NT Government Minor Community Grants for the
provision of a grant to purchase a portable sound system, microphones and stands. The
system has proved to be a wonderful addition and great benefit to all of our members and across the
wider community of Probus members in the Top End.
This equipment has made a huge difference to our outdoor activities, projecting the speakers so all
attendees are able to participate fully. As one example, our monthly garden club meeting has made
good use of the equipment ensuring all of our gardeners can hear the guest speakers.
We also used the sound system at our last Christmas function where Her Honour, the Administrator
spoke to a group of 90 members. It will be used at our Territory Day breakfast meeting, particularly for
our trivia quiz, at National Probus Day in October and will be used at the annual Probus Sports challenge
and Club Revue and dinner, where all 4 Top End Probus Clubs come together. Several other social
events have been planned in conjunction with the other Top End Probus Clubs where the sound system
equipment will be used. So again, we have very much appreciated this grant and the use made of it.
Management Committee Probus Club of Darwin Inc.
Tracy Village Social and
Sports Club
The home of
Probus Club of Darwin Inc.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Extracts from the Minutes 4 June 1997
Held at the Darwin Bowls Club
Present: Messrs Dimery, H Giese, M Taylor, Simmons, L Penhall, J Fisher, H Roberts, K. Thompson, R Chin, Apologies: Dr Darvall, Dr Bromich, Messrs H Fuller, R Eddy, I MacGregor, W McLaren, Leonard, W Arthur, B Plew, A Thompson
Visitor: Mr Frank Haensel, Warradale SA
Minutes: The meeting adopted the Minutes of the previous meeting.
Correspondence:
Inwards—HHA Dr N Conn, Territory Business Magazine, Tambling Report, Nature Territory, NARU Publications list, Allan Thompson, card from USA
Outwards—annual returns to Probus Centre
Treasurer’s Report: Opening balance $417.43, Receipts $120, Expenses $37.93, Closing balance $499.50
Guest Speaker: - Mr Fisher introduced Ms Gretel Parker and Ms Wendy Peltshardt from Dept Mines and Energy. Ms Parker spoke to a paper listing water and waste management, cyanide tailings dams and birds, rehabilitation and
revegetation and wetland filtration. A booklet entitled Mining and the Environment, was distributed and an aerial
geographical survey map made available. Many questions were answered by the ladies, and they were presented with a small memento.
Close: 11:20 am.
Music by Darwin DJ Hire; Petting Zoo; Face Paint-ing; Reptile Encounters with Darwin Wildlife Sanctuary; Bubble Play; Stilt Walking; Seedling Planting
Workshops with Bunnings; Bush to Beach Nature Crafts; Dawn Beasley Art Workshops; Various Workshops and talks about composting, critters in your garden, orchids, aquaphonics also lots of walks and stalls. Massive Plant sale from 8am-12pm or until sold
Join us at the Botanical Gardens for a fun day filled with free activities and entertainment.
PRIVACY STATEMENT
The information collected in relation to members shall be held in accordance with the information privacy principles contained in the Privacy Act ( Privacy Act, Australia 1998 ). Each Probus Club shall ensure that it complies with such information privacy principles and shall not
INSURANCE
All financial members of the Probus Club of Darwin Inc. are covered by Probus Insurance. Insurance covers members, visitors and guests whilst attending or participating in a recognised Probus activity function or meeting (age restrictions may apply). Prior conditions may be taken into
DISCLAIMER
This Directory of Members is for the exclusive use of members of the Probus Club of Darwin Inc. and should not be made available to Non-Members. The information contained in this publication is "Private and
