One of my favourite quotes about our organisation is by Sir Clem Renouf, the first Australian Rotary International President: “Rotary takes ordinary men and gives them extraordinary opportunities to do more with their lives than they ever dreamed possible”. Well, allow me to mangle that and say “Rotary allows ordinary men (and women) to meet people who have done more with their lives than you ever dreamed possible.” This morning, Christine O’Connor (picture right),
who recently transferred to Surfers Sunrise from another club, presented her ‘Rotarian behind the Badge’ talk. “I am a lighthouse keeper’s daughter!” she proudly declared. The uncommonness of such a childhood only became clear as she outlined, in the clear and concise manner of a former University Professor, some of the difficulties of daily life when one is stuck in a lighthouse, for obvious reasons deliberately built in a location of extreme exposure to the weather. All up, her upbringing occurred in four locations on the eastern coast of Victoria, from Gabo Island, to Wilsons Promontory, to Cape Everard and Cape Otway. Gabo Island? How did you get there? From the Mallacoota bar... the trawler was often in poor condition... going through the bar, we lost a rudder once... had a fire, ran aground... And talking about the need to be self-sufficient: No electricity.
who recently transferred to Surfers Sunrise from another club, presented her ‘Rotarian behind the Badge’ talk. “I am a lighthouse keeper’s daughter!” she proudly declared. The uncommonness of such a childhood only became clear as she outlined, in the clear and concise manner of a former University Professor, some of the difficulties of daily life when one is stuck in a lighthouse, for obvious reasons deliberately built in a location of extreme exposure to the weather. All up, her upbringing occurred in four locations on the eastern coast of Victoria, from Gabo Island, to Wilsons Promontory, to Cape Everard and Cape Otway. Gabo Island? How did you get there? From the Mallacoota bar... the trawler was often in poor condition... going through the bar, we lost a rudder once... had a fire, ran aground... And talking about the need to be self-sufficient: No electricity. Home schooling. Eventually, at Cape Otway, a 45 minute trip by bus to the school. Yet that did not stop Christine to have a career as a highly recognised Psychologist and Academic for over 35 years. Visiting Professor at Washington State Uni, working in Paris, Bordeaux, Vienna, Norway.
There was almost no time to talk about her passion: ‘The Arts’. Yes, that's a very broad subject, and certainly the remaining 7 minutes were nowhere near adequate. So we’ll have to have you back, Christine! You can download Christine’s PowerPoint (in PDF format) with lots of great pictures – go the the Download Section on the right.