As part of the Rotary Melbourne’s ongoing work to build peace in our city, at 11am last Saturday, ~ 30 Rotarians and friends met at the Rotary Melbourne Peace Bells, which are located in Rotary Melbourne Peace Park, at the corner of Anderson Street and Domain Road adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Rotary International has as a main area of focus to promote and build peace throughout the world and Saturday 21 September 24 was the UN International Day of Peace.
The four bells recognise that peace building is a collective responsibility and that every person can take Four Steps towards Peace that contribute to making the world and more particularly their world a more peaceful place.
The Bells have engraved on each base the steps which are to;
Our City’s Rotarians invite members of the Public to visit the Bells to ring them and make their personal commitments as to how they will take these four steps.
The Peace Bells were designed by Assoc Prof Neil McLachlan who also designed the internationally renowned Federation Bells at Birrarung Marr. They were launched for the Rotary International Convention, held in Melbourne in May 2023, and have now been installed in Rotary Melbourne Peace Park. The Park was inaugurated in 1935 when the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris, planted its first tree. Over 90 trees and commemorations have been planted there over the next 90 years.
In addition to the Peace Bells, Rotary Melbourne has hosted a Future of Peace Leadership Symposium, sponsored by multiple University Peace Fellowships, and last weekend supported the South Sudan Peace Leadership Program at the University of Melbourne.
Our club’s special guest speaker on Wednesday 18th September was the United Nations’ representative to Australia and the Pacific, Damian Cardona Onses, discussing “Cultivating a Culture of Peace". He recognised the Peace Bells as being a wonderful and innovative contribution to Melbourne and to Rotary’s work of building peace.
Rotary International is an international service organisation with over 1.3 million members across more than 220 countries. The Rotary Club of Melbourne, is Australia’s first and largest Rotary Club, established in 1921.
About the Rotary Park Melbourne Peace Park (rotarymelbournepeacepark.org.au)
About the Rotary Melbourne Peace Bells Peace Bells (rotarymelbournepeacepark.org.au)
About Rotary International Rotary International (rotary.org/en/about-rotary)
