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Our Speakers

Our aim is to invite speakers who are informative or entertaining and who can talk on a variety of topics.  

Recent speakers include:

James Haynes OAM made a welcome return with an entertaining presentation to welcome the New Year. When he spoke at our August 2019 meeting, we heard intriguing tales of convicts and forgers as well as the history of the “tiny silver urn” that contains “the ashes of English cricket”.  But it was way back when he was in Teachers College that  Haynes  began to sing in a folk trio and since then he has sung with famous singers such as Slim Dusty and Ted Egan and he has recorded many of his own witty songs.  He has also published books of verse including some of his own.  His song Don’t call Wagga Wagga is much a loved send-up of Australian place names!

 

Annie Gibbons, the CEO of Glaucoma Australia, gave a vivid presentation about Glaucoma.  It is estimated 300,000 Australians have glaucoma, but only 150,000 know they have, thus leaving a large number of people unaware of how important it is to achieve early diagnosis and treatment.  Early diagnosis is important as the condition can be managed most successfully if identified and treated early and even if there is a 15% loss of vision glaucoma patients can still drive.  It is also estimated that 1 in 8 people aged 80+ have glaucoma.  Annie described the three main treatments - drops, laser treatment to effect drainage and minimal invasive surgery involving micro-stents.  Glaucoma Australia has a free advisory hotline 1800 500 880 and educational programs. https://www.glaucoma.org.au

 Annie also recommended visiting optometrists to check for glaucoma as many GPs are not expert at diagnosing glaucoma.  Towards the end of her presentation Annie entertained us with slides of some of her mountaineering exploits!   

Dirk Hansen, of Dirks Health shared some secrets of how to remain healthy, strong, and stable.   After stressing the need for careful attention to dental and medical care, good nutrition, good quality sleep and social activities, Dirk differentiated between “exercise” and “recreation”.  For instance when walking, for effective exercise it is necessary to challenge yourself. Set yourself harder targets each day.  Cycling even on an exercise bike is aerobic, not weight bearing and very helpful for strengthening legs.  Swimming helps with flexibility and can be a good overall workout.  Yoga is also useful to improve flexibility and facilitates detoxification.  Pilates is good for strengthening the core.  Weight training is excellent for bone density; it boosts the metabolism, reduces body fat, and improves balance.  Dirk demonstrated why some falls are due to a lack of strength rather than a balance problem.  

 

A relaxed Dave Sharma entertained nearly 90 members and visitors with an off the cuff amusing talk about his background and his experiences as an Australian Diplomat.  His West Indian father and 5th generation Anglo-Australian mother met in London in the 1960’s, and he explained that his mother chose typical English names for his older sisters, but his father chose Devanand for his son’s name after a Bollywood actor!  However, after arriving in Australia from Canada, his son preferred “Dave “when he found no one could pronounce nor spell his name correctly!  Dave outlined briefly his experience working with the Howard government and then the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd governments in Canberra  before being posted to Port Moresby, Washington (during the Bush and Obama administrations), and Israel.  Following his experience overseas, he stressed how fortunate we are in Australia to be protected by surrounding oceans from those who may want to harm us, and he commented on the extraordinary success of Israel in providing services to its people in education, health, agriculture, science, innovation, industry etc.  Although positive that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be resolved, he explained why it will take time.  When asked about the conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims, he commented he sees this primarily as a religious issue, exacerbated by Iran which is 95% Shia.