Bulletin - Rotary Club of Eaglehawk (Jan. 28, 2026)

28th January 2026

Co-presidents report

Hello everyone, I hope you're managing well in this hot weather.

Our Australia Day event had an impressive turnout, you made the club proud by preparing a wonderful breakfast, which was greatly appreciated by those who attended. We were lucky with the weather that morning; it was ideal. While I expected fewer people because of the long weekend, I was happy to see so many in attendance.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who assisted: the City of Greater Bendigo, Eaglehawk Citizens Brass Band, our vocalist Julia Vine, the Eaglehawk Fire Brigade, Phoenix FM, Anne Conway, Cr Damien Hurrell, Josh Kurz (Audio), and
the 1st Eaglehawk Scout Group.

This year's Eaglehawk Citizen of the Year, Terry O’Brien, was thrilled to receive his award. And gave a heartfelt speech praising the Eaglehawk community.

This weekend we are catering for the CFA competitions on Sunday, John very wisely said that we were unprepared to work on the Saturday due to the forecast 42 degree day. The CFA were in total agreeance. John has circulated a roster, so please help if you can, the weather will be much cooler on Sunday, we are cooking breakfast and lunch.

Next Wednesday we have a joint meeting with The Rotary Club of Bendigo South at our clubrooms. Their president, Lindsay Jolley will give a presentation on his recent trip to Ethiopia where he inspected a toilet facility that their club had contributed to. (Some of you may have heard of the “Toilet Warrior” Mark Bella from the Rotary club of Box Hill Central who conceived this now international project). So please come along to what promises to be an informative night.

Plans are in progress for the BBQ to be held next Saturday evening in Harcourt, as mentioned last week this is for a commemorative gathering for the Eaglehawk and Harcourt fire brigades to mark the anniversary of the Black Saturday fires at Bendigo in 2009.

Our fearless travellers are finishing their stay in Greece and from a recent report are withstanding snow in the Greek Alps, we could use just a little cool weather back here. They look to be having a marvellous time, and we look forward to hearing all
about it on their return.

Geoff Gallagher

Citizen of the Year 2026

Rotary Club of Eaglehawk announced the Eaglehawk Citizen of the Year - congratulations to Terry O'Brien, a stalwart of the Eaglehawk Community, as a member of the Police force for some 52 years and stationed at Eaglehawk for the last 27 years, Terry's connection and commitment to the community were evident as the long list of his involvements was read to the crowd in attendance. Also lovely to see the many comments on the club's Facebook post from members of the community congratulating Terry on his award, great to see the community getting behind such a worthy recognition.

Thank you to all who came along to our celebrations, enjoying the occasion in the cool comfort of our beautiful Canterbury Gardens.

Read more...

Australia Day Community Breakfast

Another great Australia Day Breakfast put on by our club for the community, getting underway before the heat really set in. The brilliant Canterbury Gardens were the perfect setting for the morning's celebrations. With many arriving early to take advantage of the shaded area, the club's BBQ was in great demand. Serving up a feast of bacon and egg sandwiches, accompanied by the option of a fruit juice, a pretty good start to the day.

a collection of photos from the day can be found here - Australia Day 2026 | Rotary Club of Eaglehawk

Recycling and Fundraising

Since the introduction of the container deposit scheme the statistics as to the volumes recycled are somewhat staggering. For those who may not have read the recent press releases on this subject here is a snippet of the information that is to hand for the program in Victoria -

So, the question is, are Rotarians participating in this recycling option? Given Rotary's commitment to the environment it would be expected that we are - but just in case some are yet to jump in, there is an additional incentive that not only contributes to us addressing the environmental impact but doubles as an opportunity to fundraise.

Our club is registered as a recipient of the proceeds of your containers that you deposit for a refund - a simple process of downloading the app, and when you take your containers to the depot (of which there are several available locally) you simply nominate our club to receive your funds.

If a member averages 10 cans/bottles per week, that's 520 per year, equating to $52.00, if all Eaglehawk Rotary members participated then that's around $1,200 for the year. Our club has been supporting the Karen community at the clubrooms with this since the CDS kicked off - but I know there are members who want to support the club as well - so here is how you can -

Download the App - (that looks like this)

and select Eaglehawk Rotary for your donation

(simply put Eaglehawk into the search feature and then select Eaglehawk Rotary).

Recycling Blister Packs

and on the topic of recycling -

Blister packs are small and often discarded to end up in landfill. Have you ever stopped to think about the volume? It seems like such a small item to consider recycling but if you simply threw them into a draw instead of the rubbish bin, you would be amazed at just how quickly the drawer fills up!

Not sure what we are talking about? Here is a pile of blister packs heading for recycling.

Blister packs are currently being recycled, with the salvaged plastic making decking products and the foil is being used in steel-making.  Blister packs contain reusable plastic and infinitely recyclable aluminium foil. Sending your blister packs for recycling saves them from landfill and gives them a second life.

So, next time you empty a blister pack, throw it in your bottom drawer, then when you have a few (doesn't take long to get quite a collection), drop them into the recycling box at your nearest Chemist Warehouse. It is this simple and if we all do it, that is a massive contribution to recycling and yet another way to minimise the quantity in our rubbish bins heading to landfill.

Valentines Day Event

Rotary Club of Bendigo

Songs at the Silos

District Conference/Impact Summit 2026

Member Birthdays

Rita O'Brien

January 12

Lindsay Walkington

January 25

Benjamin Hill

February 16

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