was our speaker on Zoom this week for the Rotary Club of Murray Bridge leading discussion on the Effect of Covid in the Murraylands with the focus on working with employers and unemployed to get into sustainable work. There are 684 registered employers in the Job Keeper Scheme and 720 in the Riverland with 394 in Murray Bridge. The Job Seeker supplement has been useful to stimulate the economy. South Australia has done very well and above the national average. Youth allowance to support young people has been important. The highest increase in unemployment has been in the 50 years and over cohort. There is significant input into Job Trainer Packages to upskill existing workers. Regional Employment opportunities are an important focus.
Mallee Emu Wren at Ngarkat Conservation Park
On Friday 28th August 2020 Rotarians from Murray Bridge travelled to the Ngarkat Conservation Park which is located east of Keith in the SE of our State.
The purpose of the visit was to look at a building located in the Park, with the view to upgrading for use as a base camp for further research into establishing a sustainable population of mallee emu wrens within the Park.
Robin LeGallez, Jack Redden, John Scarvelis, Andrew Heard, Peter Phillips and Sam Cozens negotiated a very sandy track into the Park, and met with Park Officials Ryan Hamood and Luke Ireland. The meeting discussion focussed upon how the Rotary Club of Murray Bridge could form a joint venture with Parks and Wildlife, and progress the project to re-locate a sustainable population of mallee emu wrens from Victoria into the Ngarkat Park. Part of this consideration is to upgrade the shed facility on the Park to be used as a base camp. The group came away with a plan to be developed further, mainly using the volunteer labour skills from Murray Bridge, working with materials sourced through Park funds.
This proposed project progresses our previous involvement in assisting to save the mallee emu wren, and has the added attraction of addressing the environmental goals of Rotary International.
Photo and story Sam Cozens.
Ngarkat Conservation Park
Ngarkat Conservation Park has over 120 species of birds. Its situated just before Keith at its southern end about a 2 hour drive from Murray Bridge. Its an interesting mixture of heath and mallee. Six of us from Murray Bridge visited there today in two vehicles to further develop a Rotary environmental project. Further interest was provided by an area burnt in 2017 and now regenerating. We travelled the 4 wheel drive track to the northern boundry to Lameroo. The clustered Everlasting made a spectacular display and the blue boronia we found on top of the sandy rise was perfect a photo opportunity in the white sand. The Davesia genistifolia Broom bitter peas added colour. Astroloma conostephiodes Flame Heath added interest. The banksia ornata desert banksia were regenerating and some of the older bushes were in flower. Several of the wattle species were begining to flower and the ground orchids were in leaf. Drosera the insectivourus plants had benefited from the recent rains. We matched the bird call of the spotted pardalope with that on my phone app then saw the bird. A great day in good company.
Sister Craft
Sister Craft is another program being run at the Australian Migrant Resource Centre in Murray Bridge with the Murraylands Migrant Network in Second Street Murray Bridge on Fridays for 6 weeks. It aims to link local Migrant women to share their craft skills and socialise. Becky Zhu and Eman Atif led the first session on Friday decorating mugs. Starting time is at 10am.
CALENDAR WINNERS 18th August 2020
1st $ 100 No. 502 Kaitlin O'Sullivan (M.B.) (sold by L. Sickerdick)
2nd $30 No. 432 Caroline Bussell (M.B.) (sold by D. Price)
3rd $ 20 No 128 M.B. Vet Clinic (M.B.) (sponsor)
AUSSIE BREAD TAGS FOR WHEELCHAIRS
We have it from a reliable source that we currently collect 5% of bread tags in Australia, so for every bread tag we collect, there are twenty out there waiting for us - now that's a challenge! And we now have 397 collection points, so there is probably one near you, ..... or you could host one and help us get to 400! So get your family, school, child care centre, retirement village, church, community centre, bakery, cafe, or fast food joint collecting, and find a collection point on our map, or post your tags to us. It's all on our website : https://ozbreadtagsforwheelchairs.org.au/
What's happening on our Facebook page
John Scarvelis has been posting up a storm with some great content.
