Home Page | Rotary Club of Barwon Geelong

Vale PP Graeme Fleet

Our club mourns the passing of PP Graeme Fleet, a Rotarian whose service, leadership, and good humour enriched our community for more than 35 years.

Graeme joined Rotary in 1989 and served in many roles, including President, Foundation Chair, Membership Director, Bulletin Editor, and long‑time Board member. He was recognised with PHF +7 and awarded Honorary Membership last year.

Beyond his service, Graeme brought joy — none more memorable than his 2005 YMCA “Leatherman” dance, performed half a step out of sync to make everyone laugh. It was Graeme at his best.

We remember Graeme for everything he gave to Rotary and to Geelong. Our love and thoughts are with his family.

2026 Geelong Science & Engineering Challenge

What an incredible two days at the 2026 Geelong Science & Engineering Challenge!

350 students, 14 schools, huge energy, big ideas, and outstanding teamwork.

Congratulations to our winning schools: Geelong Grammar – Corio Campus and St Joseph’s College Geelong.

Proudly delivered with our partners: Deakin University, GHD Consulting, Hanwha Defence Australia, IXL, and the Rotary Clubs of Geelong & District.

Thank you to every volunteer and sponsor who helped inspire the next generation of STEM leaders.

Pitch Up 2026

A fantastic night at Pitch Up 2026! Andrea, Liz, Jenny and our bear joined hundreds at the Geelong Library for an inspiring, fun and uplifting event.

Rotary Barwon Geelong donated $1,000 to each organisation — matched to $6,000 — helping Cultura, Killara Foundation and Cloverdale Community Centre continue their amazing work empowering women in our community.

Proud to be part of a night that raised almost $100,000 for local impact. 💙💛

What a day at Ocean Grove Bike Park

Perfect weather, huge crowds, and a BBQ team that absolutely smashed it.

We kicked off with supplies for 200… and were swamped before we even started. With CoGG’s blessing we doubled the order, fired up the grill, and the crew went into full action mode — cooking, prepping, serving, and keeping the line moving.

The queue snaked up the hill, but the vibe stayed brilliant. Families, kids, everyone patient, polite, and full of good energy. Huge thanks to the Ocean Grove community for making it such a positive day.

Great to see so many Police members there too — friendly, engaged, and grabbing a well‑earned sausage when they could.

Only photos wasn't until pack‑up because we were flat out the whole time.

Massive thanks to the whole team for an awesome effort. 

Launch

Last Tuesday marked a defining moment for our members as we officially launched the Rotary Club of Barwon Geelong — a united, energetic beginning built from the proud histories of Geelong East and Bayside.

Gold Award for Environmental Work

A number of Rotary Districts from Victoria and South Australia have held a Joint District Conference this weekend in Horsham.

Rotary Geelong East members who attended were there to see the club be presented with an Enviro Gold Club Award. The club now has the full set - Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Club members can be very proud of the work they have undertaken over many years to improve the environment in different ways and places.

Activities have included:

A monthly Walk Against Waste. Carried out at different locations once a month and followed by the essential coffee. Areas members have worked in include Barwon River, Rail Trail, Eastern Park BBQ area
Tree planting. The club was involved in a major tree planting activity early in the 2000's in which most Geelong clubs were involved. This was extending a Bird & Wildlife corridor from near Avalon airport toward Ballarat

Tree planting of 450 trees again to link up with a Bird & Wildlife corridor in Saint Leonards
A 600 tree planting on a private property, that would allow birds to nest
The club members and some members of the public joined together to carry out three Clean Up Australia events over the last three years
The club is providing prize money for an Environmental Art Prize being conducted by the Geelong Art Society
Rotary Geelong East together with Rotary Club of Highton used a grant from City of Greater Geelong, to provide funding to 10 pharmacies in Geelong to set up and accept Blister Packs (aluminum packs for holding tablets) for recycling. As a result of this trail, Phamacycle who do the separation of plastic and aluminum and then make new products with them. As a result of this trial, the project was taken nation wide by Pharmacycle and the last report had over 1 million blister packs recycled. Most phamacies in Geelong now allow customers to return their blister packs
Members and the public collect plastic bottle tops for re-use or recycling. Some are used by the Gordon Technical College for using in 3D printing, while others are sent away for recycling into a variety of products. A local school used an innovative approach of using the bottle tops to create a welcoming and graphic wall piece at the school.
Rotary Geelong East is one of a number of Geelong Rotary clubs that is taking part in a Nature Strip makeover. The nature strip ends up with native vegetation which attracts pollinators and saves water as well as making the local areas look better

There are many other activities members are involved in from an Environment & Sustainability point of view. All this, in addition to the work and funding we do for local Community groups, Youth development experiences, International needs following war or meeting development needs that allow communities to become self sufficient

Members of the public are always welcome to take part in any of our activities. You don't have to be a member. If you are interested, simply call the number on the front page of this website or the Contact Us button at the top of the front page.

Rotary Foundation Month

Rotary International President's message

𝗥𝗜 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁'𝘀𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 - 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

This November, as we celebrate The Rotary Foundation, I invite you to consider not only what we give but why we give. The Foundation is more than a fund for projects. It is the beating heart of our promise that service, rooted in trust and friendship, can create lasting change.

Our Action Plan calls us to increase our impact, and the Foundation is how we make this vision real. Since 1988, Rotary and our partners have immunized nearly 3 billion children against polio. We have committed more than $2.6 billion to this cause, and last year alone we directed $146 million toward the final push for eradication. These numbers are significant, but the true impact is not in statistics — it is in the lives of children who will never again fear polio. It is in the hope restored to families and the peace built in communities once defined by disease.

But polio is only one story among many. Each year, Rotary Peace Centers train new generations of leaders who will transform conflict into dialogue and division into understanding. In 2023-24, nearly 100 new fellows began their studies, continuing a legacy of more than 1,800 peacebuilders from over 140 countries. When we invest in them, we are planting seeds of peace that will bear fruit for decades to come.

The Foundation also touches lives through district and global grants, supporting projects large and small. A clean water well for a rural community, scholarships for young professionals, medical care in the wake of disaster — these are not temporary gestures, but steps toward dignity, resilience, and opportunity. This is how Rotary service becomes lasting impact. And when natural disasters strike, our Foundation allows Rotary to act quickly with disaster response grants.

Our Foundation is not about what we can do alone but what we can do together. Each contribution, no matter its size, joins with others to create a collective act of faith in humanity and in the future.

The last mile of any great journey is always the hardest. We see this in our final steps toward ending polio, in our work for peace, and in every project that seeks to lift people out of despair. Yet every time we give, we declare that our work will continue regardless of the challenge.

This November, let us give with gratitude, with joy, and with hope. Through our Foundation, we Unite for Good, and in doing so, we leave behind not only projects but a legacy of peace, trust, and Service Above Self.

Francesco Arezzo

President 2025-26

The Rotary Club of Geelong East donated $1,500.00 to the Mark West Foundation during the senior game of football at St. Albans ground.

The funds will be used to assist disadvantaged children from missing out on the opportunity to play football. In the 2019 season, there are sponsored children playing at 25 Geelong clubs, due to the assistance of the Mark West Foundation.

The Mark West Foundation was established following the tragic death on the football field of Mark West at the age of 19. Mark had played football at all levels of club football and began coaching at the age of 17. A very talented footballer and someone who believed that he had to give back to the game, for the enjoyment he gained from it.

The Foundation has two Mission Statements:

To ensure no child in the greater Geelong region misses out on being able to play Australian Rules football due to financial reasons.

To strengthen the legacy of Mark West who set an amazing example of how to make a difference to those around him through participation, community involvement and striving to be the best you can be.

Details on the Mark West Foundation can be found at the website: http://www.tmwf.org.au/the-foundation

The Rotary Club of Geelong East – Connecting with Other Community Organisations

The Rotary Club Geelong East, together with the City of Greater Geelong and the Corangamite Catchment Authority, launched the Barwon River Safety Markers.

This six year start-to-finish project was the brainchild of Rotarian Keith Dawson of Rotary Geelong East. The idea of the project was to TRANSFORM and make SAFER the activities areas along both sides of the Barwon River. Safer for Walkers, Runners, Riders, Tourists and Families.

A total of 46 double sided Location Marker signs were installed along the Barwon River on both sides. Along approxi

mately 10 kilometres of river on both sides stretching from the Breakwater to the Ring Road.

The two most important pieces of information during a Triple Zero call is the nature of the emergency and its location. When an incident occurs at a specific street address, it is generally easy for emergency services to find the caller. However, if it takes place in large open-spaces, walking trails or beaches where no obvious reference points exist, it takes extra, valuable, life saving time to identify and verify the specific location and vehicle access point.

Another Community Service of The Rotary Club of Geelong East

River’s Gift and Sailability were the recipients of a combined $15,000.00 from the most recent Rotary Club of Geelong East Dinner Auction.

River's Gift is the largest source of funding for laboratory-based SIDS research in Australia. To date, River's Gift has generated over $1 million to save babies lives, by funding scientific research, delivering Safe Sleep Education and raising awareness of Sudden Infa Master Logo - Navy RG-Sky tagline-Sky he

nt Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Sailability is a “not for profit” organisation, volunteer-based, and through the activity of Sailing enriches the lives of people of all abilities – the elderly, the financially and socially disadvantaged as well as people with physical challenges.

The Dinner Auction attracted 150 Guests and was MC’d by media personality and Rotarian, Gary Newton and the auction was conducted by Joe Grgic.

Dozens of local businesses supported the auction by donating goods and services to be auctioned on the night and the club thanks them. The club’s Dinner Auctions are held every two years.

Rotarians working in the Community

The Rotary Club of Geelong East hosted ten Canadians visiting our District. Four couples and two single women travelled from Canada to Australia on a Rotary Friendship Exchange. Ten Australians will go to Canada in August on the return leg of the Exchange.

The visitors were home hosted by local Rotarians both on their way into the District and again on their departure. In Geelong they toured the Bollards, Narana, National Wool Museum, did a tour of Corio Bay, Anglesea Golf Club, attended an AFLW match at GMHBA Stadium, toured Queenscliffe and a Picnic in the (Eastern) Park.

They spent time in Portland, Warnambool, Grampians, Port Fairy and Drysdale.

The feedback from all, was that they thoroughly enjoyed their 14 days in the area.

The Rotary Friendship Exchange allows small groups of Rotarians to go to other countries and meet with locals and experience the culture and so see local sites of interest and animals. A component of the Friendship Exchanges is creating greater understanding and friendships between people of the world.

Rotary Friendship - Worldwide

It is with great excitement that we announce Melbourne as the host city for the 2023 Rotary International Convention, the largest conference secured this century for Victoria.

Melbourne is a Big Events City! Set to deliver over $88 million to the Victorian economy, the Convention is the most valuable conference ever won for the state, with the four-day event anticipated to attract more than 20,000 Rotarians from around the world. The global spotlight will be on Melbourne and how we present ourselves to the world.

The Convention will take place 27-31 May 2023 using superb venues; Rod Laver Arena and the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. All activities and events are within the Heart and Soul of Melbourne. Over 7000 hotel rooms over 50 properties across Melbourne. Our transport plan uses our famous trams, ferries and buses to quickly and easily move delegates between venues, hotels, event and restaurants. And of course, Melbourne is a very walkable city with many interesting routes and laneways to tantalise visitors.

In addition, the Victorian visitor economy will be bolstered with expenditure from thousands of visiting Rotarians utilising transport, hospitality, entertainment, venues, attractions, tourism services, event planning, freight customs broker services, technology rental, security and various other members of the local business event and tourism supply chain, as well as the flow on benefits across regional Victoria for pre and post touring. Rotary has a business heritage as well as community service. We are proud to make an impact on local business and create jobs.

Rotarians Supporting Victoria

Rotary world-wide, is dedicated to making the world a better place for all.

Through its 32,000 clubs, the organisation and its 1.2 million members work in their local communities, internationally, through youth and professions to do those things that will lead to a more peaceful world.

The illustration below shows Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus. Working to improve five, will help the world move toward the sixth, Peace.

Rotarians - People of Action

‘One simple word’

Leaders highlight the power of gratitude at The Rotary Foundation Donor Summit

Talking reading and Rotary with Dolly Parton

The entertainer and philanthropist Dolly Parton died 25 August 2026. This Q&A was originally published in the March 2010 issue of The Rotarian (now Rotary) magazine. Later that year, she spoke at the Rotary International Convention in Montreal, Canada.