John Martin , the guest speaker, talked on tin mining in the early days of Emmaville – often recollections of his grandfather. Details can’t be recorded here for reasons of copyright, (and the note taker was attempting to video the talk for John’s grandchildren). However it was a great yarn of times gone by, rated G (for grandchildren), despite rumours off burning the joss house (the first one!)

Rotarian Mike Massey (thought that guy looked familiar), development officer with the Council , spoke on a number of things in the pipeline – Community FM radio – “Hightop FM”; lot of admin and technical work done, and looking to official airwaves launch next Australia day. Threatened “practice static broadcasts “from premises in main street – (will nearby business owner Bill pay him enough to keep the volume down?). The second topic was Oberon’s presence at Country Week – a big success with families and business quite interested in the local facilities and location. Potential industries may include hydroponic vegies, and fibreglass water tanks. The discussion ranged from all Mike’s topics to Telstra/CDMA vs 3G, and so on. Good presentation Mike.

 Tim Graham (distant relation to Malcolm Graham) who talked on his two and a half years as a volunteer in Vanuatu – the types of Govt funded volunteers, and also his experience of Vanuatu culture and people. Good pictures – thanks to Brenda for the screen, data projector etc. Thanks Tim for a short notice (but interesting) talk.

David McMurray – the Steam and Heritage Fair and Ian Davis – Oberon Men’s Shed.

• Ian Davis talked briefly about the Oberon Men’s Shed, a place for men with time on their hands to hang out and /or do something useful. To date, they have restored a pavilion at the showground which they hope to lease as a base, and also restore another pavilion to house what was exhibited in the original place. He invited any men to visit and have a yarn and a cuppa. Graham P thanked him for facilitating a facility that met a real need among a particular segment of our community.
• David McMurray spoke about the Highland Steam and Vintage Fair – held last year at the showground at the same time as the Oberon Show. He emphasised the large number of participants and visitors at the initial Fair, and spinoffs for Oberon. The aim is to make this event the premier vintage fair in the Central West. The 2010 Fair is scheduled for the same weekend, apparently at a venue to be decided. This year he is asking the community to get behind the event by donating sponsorship money – ranging from small to naming rights for the entire event. Bob Conners thanked David for an interesting talk, and wished him every success.

Danielle Ballinger – Bathurst girl just returned from GSE trip to Italy
Danielle gave a very interesting account of her GSE trip to Northern Italy – D2070 – San Marino and Tuscany. Among the highlights were – catching up with the Italian team members, home stays, wineries, Ducati factory, wineries, Vocational visits – car dealership, and council at Guisetto(?), fun with the language. She found the Rotarians were very interested in her life and family back here in Australia – a reflection , Danielle thought, of the importance of those aspects in Italian life. She also managed to add some time after the Italian leg to visit France and England.

• Jasmin Pasalic of Oberon High. Jasmin attended the Honeywell Engineering School a few months ago. Jasmin gave a very good account of his time in Sydney at last December Honeywell Engineering Summer School. (HESS). A week long, checked out the various engineering courses at the different Unis, only 80 people there (so need to get in early); He seemed to change his mind about the engineering discipline (from mechanical to civil) after the school;
• Meeting in Bathurst (Bathurst Entertainment Centre – 6.30) – speaker Tim Flannery, with dinner at OConnell Cafe afterwards. A very good talk was enjoyed by the large group of members who attended Tim Flannery’s presentation. A nice change not to see the commonplace powerpoint support – he got his message across without the need for pictures! (to quote an anonymous member – “I went home and read about half of ‘Now or never’ (Black Inc. 2009). Easy to read, most important for all to get hold of ($22 from Books Plus in Bathurst). Dinner at the O’Connell Cafe was great.
• Dinner and Cave tour – at Jenolan Caves
• Hans Guldberg -. ‘Biodiversity Hotspots’
  Hans gave an excellent talk on biodiversity hotspots – areas of great biological diversity that warrant preservation, and will be threatened by global warming. The identified 10 areas in 1998 (by Conservation International?) have been expanded to 34 now. These vary from for example, one area in Australia (a spot in WA) to the entire country of NZ. Hans covered a wide range of issues – why these areas should be preserved, why they were threatened, Funding alternatives to assist preservation. He had also spent some time gathering great pictures to illustrate his case. His mention of global warming was followed by the comment along the lines of it’s easier to bury your head in the sand if half the world is a desert. Comments and discussion ranged from the significance of the problem (is it a continuing part of world climate evolution) to alternative approaches to preserving biodiversity. Thanks Hans – an excellent coverage of the issues, and very professional presentation

The Oberon Rotary Club is now providing quality food products at the monthly Oberon Farmers Market.  With significant support from local businesses, the Club sold quality beef sausages and lamb cuts including cutlets, roast, chops and sausages, packaged in smaller weight packs to suit all comers. Importantly, the meat is sourced locally from free-range animals and the sausages are low fat and gluten free. The Fitzpatrick brothers from Edith are sponsoring the fresh lamb and our local abattoir, PBM Prime, is subsidising the processing and dressing. In addition, the already proven favourite, fresh broccoli, donated by Bruce Armstrong will continue to be available until the season finishes.  As well as the fresh produce we also provided delicious pea and ham soup with a bread roll in a special hygienic container. We also produced barbequed samples of the sausages being sold.