John Forrester's pastime involves working with other like-minded volunteers to ensure that the state of the Werribee River is always healthy and that it is an ongoing attractive waterway for everyone. Unfortunately, there is much work to be done to bring the river up to a suitable condition. The water quality is poor, many areas are being damaged and the amount of litter in and along the river is disturbingly high.

John is officially known as the Werribee River's Riverkeeper and is an important member of the Werribee River Association (WRA) which was formed in 1981. It is obvious from his talk that he wears the title with great pride and responsibility. As a Riverkeeper, he has a variety of different roles including organising clean-up working bees and being an advocate for the river within the community and to local and State authorities. Some other projects include revegetation and collecting information for research.

Unfortunately, with the exponential growth of Werribee over the past 20 years, the ongoing protection and maintenance of the river has been treated as a low priority by State and Local Government authorities. However, thanks to much lobbying from John and his coleagues, the State Government has established the Waterways of the West program as a means to raise the profile of the many streams in the area.

Some of the factors that have affected the river in recent times or will have a significant impact in the near future include:

• Protecting both sides of the river from Werribee to Werribee South by establishing buffer zones instead allowing land owners and businesses to have direct access to the water's edge.
• Expansion of Werribee Open Range Zoo in the next few years.
• A future port road and railway corridor at Werribee South.
• To the north of Werribee, farming land on the west side of the river will be converted to a new regional park - similar to Presidents Park.
• However, on the east side, much of the farming land will be superseded by housing estates which will result in minimal corridor width.
• Increased presence of blue-green algae.

President Graham has cordially invited members and partners to a weekend away at the Yarra Valley Lodge on 4th and 5th May. The facility offers luxury accommodation and a top-class restaurant and is surrounded by two 18-hole champion golf courses and several wineries. What more could you want in a wonderful weekend away?

Graham urgently requires numbers. So, if you are interested, please call him now.

Click here to see a brochure about the weekend.

Here is a picture of President Graham exchanging club banners with Gautum Acharya from the Rotary Club of Bombay North-West who was a visitor to our club last week.

Gautum is in Werribee to see his son who lives in Tarneit. He has been a Rotarian since 1985. His club has 80 members. He said that one of the cornerstone projects of the club has been to establish and run a Rotary eye hospital which provides free operations to cataract patients. 

The 2019 Werribee Rotary Golf Day is almost upon us. The big date is Friday 1st March. We have about 106 players registered at this stage so it promises to be another great day.

Ross Conley is still seeking extra volunteers to assist on the day. He's specifically looking for people to run the hole-in-one comp and the putting comp. So, if you can't play golf, we would still love to have your involvement.

Just a reminder that the majority of the proceeds will go towards the upgrade of the dementia unit at Manor Court Aged Care.

There will also be the traditional raffle with some fabulous prizes. Ticket books are now being distributed and we are asking members to sell their allocated books.

Click here to download the registration form.