The Canberra Nara Festival 2026 which was held last Saturday evening, was the biggest event yet. Perfect balmy weather made for hungry appetites both for our selection of beers and drinks, and Taiyaki  pancakes. We were flat out until ordered to stop at about 9.00 pm with queues stretching cack into the park. It was great seeing club members involving family members, students from Queanbeyan High School and friends in the stalls and at the Peace Bell where Michael and the team involved record numbers of bell ringing participants.

President Neil an Yvonne were busy and thanked the club:

" A fabulous day - lots of fundraising and lots of fun. Excellent community relations too! Our volunteers       were fabulous too especially from Queanbeyan High School. The satisfaction of seeing most of the club pitching in together on a shared project was exhilarating!

I would like to express our special thanks to wives, children, grandchildren and students all of whom made a wonderful contribution."

President Neil

We hope the final profit calculations demonstrate a record profit for our efforts to help the ongoing Rotary projects in our programme.

Ed

 

 

Last Thursday, 22 October, we had the privilege of hearing from Rod Nicholas about the role of Justices of the Peace (JPs). Rod has been a JP for 26 years and is still active today.

Rod started with some history: in 1195, English King Richard I, who spent most of his reign on crusades in the Middle East, appointed “keepers of the peace” to help maintain law and order in his absence. These forerunners of today’s Justices of the Peace were appointed at the King’s pleasure, without any legislative basis. Legislation was enacted by Edward II in 1327, setting out limited criteria for appointment. In 1344, Edward III expanded their powers, and the term “Justice of the Peace” first appears. Appointments were to the wealthy, who often used their position for personal gain.

The first JP in Australia was Governor Phillip, who landed with the First Fleet in 1788. He appointed others — mostly military officers — because there weren’t many free settlers. Early JPs had enormous power, with which came predictable problems: corruption, favouritism, and “gaming the system” were common. Governor Macquarie tried to reform the system by appointing successful ex-convicts as magistrates. This caused uproar among wealthy free settlers. The British government eventually stepped in and ruled that ex-convicts couldn’t judge serving convicts.

Over time, each of the then separate colonies appointed JPs independently, with variations across jurisdictions, some of which remain today. 

In the ACT there are around 1000 JPs, one for every 2000 people (far lower than the national average of 5 JPs per 1000 people).  The role of a JP includes the following:

A JP will spend most of his or her time on duty certifying true copies or administering statutory declarations. In doing so, they will ensure the client understands what they are signing and the potential consequences of a false declaration – this is an important service.

JPs bear costs for their service – including paying for mandatory training (in the ACT, not in all jurisdictions), unless sponsored by an employer that needs their services. They cannot charge or accept any payment, but are always pleased to hear a “thank you” for their help.

If you want to see a JP, head to https://actjpa.org.au/ and click on “FIND A JP” and a map will appear with locations and times where JPs go to public places (typically public libraries) and are available for any member of the public that needs their services.

 

 

Members of the Rotary Club of Canberra Burley Griffin were delighted to welcome and host members of the Australian Military Wives Choir to the Canberra Rotary Peace Bell last Friday. The choir are in Canberra for their annual meetup. They sang a beautiful song with words suggesting if we all sang in harmony then we can could all live in peace together. The members then stepped up and struck the peace bell quoting the words of Laozi and sending their own messages of peace to the world.

Members of the choir also presented folded paper cranes which were placed around the deck of the Peace Bell.

In turn each choir member quoted the words of Laozi below and then struck the bell:

“If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace between nations”
“If there is to be peace between nations, there must be peace between cities”
“If there is to be peace between cities, there must be peace between neighbours”
“If there is to be peace between neighbours, there must be peace in the home”
“If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart” 

 

 

Michael drew our attention to  2 great articles in the Rotary Foundation On the Move  newsletter October 2026 - worth a read.

Ed.

Save these dates in your diary         13 November Visit Hay to present scholarships to Indigenous students Hay War Memorial High School 19 November  AGM and Annual Elections   26 November Christmas Party   10 December UN Human Rights Day with Zonta Canberra remembering victims of domestic violence. Peace Bell Next meeting Our next meeting will be lunch at the Royal Canberra Golf Club on Thursday 29th October at 12.30pm. Please respond to Eric’s invitation if you can come.   Duty Roster Date Chair:       Guest speaker Member to propose Toast to Rotary, thank guest speaker, and write up.or Bulletin: 29th October Pres. Neil An Architects view about the renovations to the Australian war memorial. Rebecca Conway Warrick 5thNovember  Pres Neil The last Flight of the Zepplin- Margaret wright  Eric 12thNovember Pres. Neil Hats off to the Australian Constitution – John Christensen Michael  19thNovember  Pres. Neil Elections and AGM   John  26thNovember    Christmas party.     If you cannot perform your allocated duty, please arrange a replacement and advise the Acting President for that meeting (listed above). Please advise the Bulletin Editor of any planned absences to avoid being rostered on while away.   To see the program of future meetings, visit: Rotary activities Spreadsheet