District Rotarians and your partners, Immediate Past President Chris and your wife Janet, my dear wife and best friend Kaye, my son Brett, daughter Lisa, grandson Callum, fellow Rotarians, guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Chris, my friend, thank you sincerely for the gracious and kind words of introduction you delivered about me as the 91^st President of one of the truly great Clubs of the Rotary world.  I am deeply honoured and truly humbled, nay; only the great can be humbled, thus I am proud to be chosen to fill this exalted position within the Rotary family.  I am walking in the shadow of many respected and highly regarded Australian citizens, who have gone before me in a similar role, and will strive to ensure that before the end of my tenure, I will be out of their shadow and fully enjoying the warmth of the southern sun on my back.

Congratulations Sir, on your leadership, your humanity, your unique style of fellowship and hospitality – how we all enjoyed the experience on a number of occasions of sharing a glorious feast in a well chosen Chinese Restaurant with you and Janet.  The Chinese enjoy one of the great cuisines of the world.  This coming year with my father being of Celtic stock and my mother from France we can all look forward to Haggis garnished with snails washed down with a single malt or a vintage French champagne.

Congratulations also to you, District Governor Bernie Walsh and your wife Margaret for the enormous contribution you have both made to the Victorian community through the family of Rotary – truly ‘Well Done’.

Chris, I have much pleasure in presenting to you your Past President’s badge.  There have been only 90 of these special decorations ever presented. It would be fair to say this particular club, you are now a fully fledged member of, is far more exclusive than the venerable Melbourne Club or any other club that readily comes to mind.

I am delighted to also present to you a bound copy of the Club’s Weekly Bulletin for the 2006 – 2007 Rotary year.  I am certain this very special volume will be placed on a prominent shelf in your library.

Both Kaye and I have been the recipients of unswerving friendship and hospitality from both Chris and Janet and trust we can continue that friendship into the future.

I would be honoured if my wife, Kaye would be so kind as to present Janet with a delightful array of flowers as a token of our respect and gratitude for the countless hours of service and support she has given to Chris on his Rotary journey over an extended period of time. I have a small number of presentations to make.  Immediate Past President Chris, a reminder that you were the President in the Year of the Pig.  This little gift is for Rotarian Barry Murphy our Honorary Secretary and to Rotarian Michael Selth our Honorary Treasurer.

This day, June 27 is an important day in the history of this wonderful Club.  It marks the induction of yet another President, the 91^st in real terms over 87 years.  It also marks a joint celebration of Birthdays, the clubs second President in 1922, at the age of 57 Sir John Monash and the clubs 91^st President, yours truly in 2007 being only marginally older at 66. 

‘Mighty Oaks from little Acorns grow’

On a cold miserable evening in 1905, four men seeking fellowship, met in an office in Chicago.  From that humble gathering, over a meal, was born a world-wide voluntary organisation with a membership numbering now in excess of 1,200,000. Men and women doing exactly what Paul Harris, and his dinner companions did on that night so long ago, striving to make a more enduring life for themselves and the human race.

The premise was as sound then as it is today, friendship, fellowship, personal enrichment and engendering fairness to all.  How, the simplest things in life are also the most enduring. 

There was no television to entertain the men in the isolation of their hotel rooms, there were no multiplex movie houses to entertain collectively in the dark, scant use of the telephone was the norm, certainly no such thing as the internet, I-Pod, Walkman or other device created to make mankind the most singularly entertained but paradoxically the most depressed and lonely in history.

Those men accepted the invitation of one Paul Harris to share some of his personal time in a relaxed environment discussing, no doubt, the day’s events and future opportunities.  How everything changes but everything stays the same.

Alexander the Great remarked, the peoples of Asia were kept in slavery because they didn’t learn to pronounce the word ‘No’.  

If those men, who knew the pronunciation of the word ‘No’, muttered it to the invitation of Harris, would we be here today celebrating the institution of Rotary?

I am challenging you all this year to say ‘Yes’ when called upon to accept the baton of duty.  It is very easy for educated men and women to say ‘No’ but saying ‘No’ will not change the world.

My theme this year is ‘Honour the Volunteer’.

If the cream of the Australian youth, our bravest young men and women said ‘No’ when asked to answer the call to bear arms the world we know and enjoy today would most certainly be a much different place. 

If the brave Australian men and women said ‘No’ to the call for support and assistance when bushfires, floods and other natural catastrophes, that so often ravage our wonderful country occur, we would not be here in this place today. 

If our women folk said ‘No’ when their men left the farms and factories to help their neighbours Australia would be poorer for their answer.  We must learn to once again say ‘YES’. ‘YES I can’, ‘YES I will’, ‘YES, how can I help’? 

Financial support is crucial in an organisation as vital as Rotary but without the voluntary service of men and women saying ‘Yes’ the institution will not survive.

Now more than ever contemporary society is seen to be relying on “The Government”. No longer do we make a casserole, knit a pullover, a pair of socks or give a blanket to our neighbour who has fallen on hard times.  The comment is ‘Let the Government do it’. 

Why, so often is the case that we don’t even know our neighbour, least of all, well enough to give them a hot meal.  That must not be allowed to continue.  We must get to know our neighbours, the residents of our town.

Friends, we must get to know each other here in this Club. That would be a great start.

If there was no South Africa, there would be no ‘Lion King’, if there was no Paul Harris there would be no Rotary. If there was no Rotary, there would be a million souls still suffering from the scourge of polio.

I have an ambition to leave this office in twelve months time with three hundred members of which 50, at least, will be women.

I Challenge the Membership Development Committee to say ‘Yes’.

I have an ambition to work jointly with the Brotherhood of St. Laurence to break the cycle of homelessness in this great State.

I Challenge the Community Welfare Committee to say ‘Yes’.

I have an ambition to ensure the Founder of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, Oxfam Australia and Community Aid Abroad, a saintly Melbournian, named Father Gerard Kennedy Tucker becomes as well recognised and revered as a number of our more publicly acknowledged Australian heroes that would include John Monash, MacFarlane Burnet, Peter Doherty and Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop.

I Challenge the Board to say ‘Yes’.

I have an ambition to work with a professional body to ensure the male members of our community receive education of the highest quality in the fight against prostate cancer, testicular cancer, male infertility and the use and abuse of androgens.

I Challenge the Health Issues Committee to say ‘Yes’.

I have an ambition to work jointly with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on a Scholarship Program for young Conductors.

I Challenge the Arts Committee to say ‘Yes’.

I have an ambition to ensure this Club, the Rotary Club of Melbourne, has its own home. A free-hold office and meeting suite that will encourage and ensure professional administration of the club’s activities in a modern, inviting and secure environment close to the heart of the Central Business District.  A professional facility visiting local, interstate and overseas Rotarians can attend and use as a friendly Rotary haven when in Melbourne. A complex that will adequately and proudly exhibit the wonderful array of Rotary memorabilia collected over many years, currently secreted away from the eyes of most in a room at International House.

I Challenge the Club to say ‘Yes’.

I shall be publishing each month a ‘President Update’ Bulletin to be distributed to all members enabling them to be informed of the great work that is done by so many, often unspoken about, often unnoticed.  I am inviting all Directors and Chairs of Committees to submit articles of no more than 350 words for inclusion in this journal.

On a matter of governance, my Board has been directed to review all projects under their charge, with particular reference to the efficacy of the project or task being performed, the proposed and actual outcomes and the amount of financial support being sourced and expended.  The Board will review and report monthly on the progress of all programs the Club is committed to. 

I shall be seeking the successful recipients of grants to report back to and address the Club on the result of their activities.

Particular attention will be placed on our members who are not keeping good health and support offered to their partners in the Rotary way of helping those in need.  With this very important responsibility at the forefront of my mind I shall be appointing an Almoner to assist me in speaking to and supporting our needy friends.

It is proposed to change the format of our weekly luncheon meetings from time to time with the introduction of a quarterly ‘Special Luncheon Series’ hosted by an eminent moderator with a panel of contemporary commentators in the field of Business, Medical Research, Ageing, Sport and Communications.  The ‘Special Lunch Series’ will conclude later than 2:00pm but no later than 2:30pm on each of the four meetings planned.  These meetings will attract a premium to assist the Club’s Community Foundation.

I throw down a challenge to all Rotarians who proudly embrace membership of this honourable club – the challenge is this – become actively involved in at least one project during this year.  Say Yes when invited to assist, embrace the challenge and give your time willingly and freely until it hurts. 

Become a Volunteer – You shall be Honoured.

Before the Chairman is introduced at our regular meetings, I intend to share with you my ‘Thought for the Day’.

Today it is:

“The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows, it is what the man or woman is able to do that counts”.

My deep love and respect to you, Kaye, Brett, Lisa and Callum.

Rotarians and Guests, I am delighted and thank you sincerely for joining me today to share this very special chapter in my community life and in the life of this wonderful club – The Rotary Club of Melbourne.

God Bless Us All.

Peter McCall

President 2007/2008