The Robert Fels Peace Award Purpose & Criteria:
The annual Robert Fels Peace Award recognises a person who significantly enhances sustainable peace building, conflict prevention and conflict resolution at international, national, or local community levels.
The nominee may or may not be a Rotarian.
The Fels Peace Award acknowledges Bob Fels, a past, and now honorary member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne, and his profound leadership in finding and mentoring peace builders and making District 9800 a global leader in peace development
Unfortunately, Bob Fels cannot be with us today, but he enthusiastically approves of the selection of this year’s award recipient - Robert McGuirk
Robert McGuirk
- Rob’s commitment to social justice and peace building has been exhibited in many ways throughout his life.
- As a lawyer he worked primarily in commercial law in the UK and Australia.
- But for more than 20 years he worked in the evenings as a volunteer lawyer at a community legal advice centre in Melbourne.
- He has been a member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne since 1993
- Chair Indigenous Programs 2012-2018
- Director Community Service 2013 – 2015
- Vice President 2017-2018
- He has a longstanding involvement with another peace promoting organization - the Youth Hostels Association.
- Rob has served on both the YHA Board of Australia and its 00International Board. - Chair of YHA in Australia for 5 years.
- President Hostelling International 2018-2020.
- In 2016, Rob was the founder of Rotary’s End Trachoma project. Over the past 10 years the project has, engaged more than 250 Rotary clubs (including 35 from this district), raised $1.2 million dollars, partnered with 40 other organizations and delivered enormous practical health and hygiene support to remote central Australian communities most affected by trachoma. In April of this year, the World Health Organization formally announced that Australia had eliminated trachoma as a public health problem.
- Rob also conceived and managed the Rotary Peace Bell project in time for the 2023 RI Convention held in Melbourne. He liaised with various stakeholders (Rotary International, the Melbourne City Council, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the indigenous community and the designer of the bells) to have the bells placed in the Rotary Peace Park in South Yarra.
- There are four bells and each bell has engraved on its base one of the four steps to peace. These are:
- Seek Peace Within
- Make Peace at Home
- Create Peace in Your Community
- Foster Peace Between Peoples & Lands
Robert lives his life by these four steps and is without doubt a worthy recipient of the Robert Fels Peace Award.
Congratulations Robert.
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