In 1993, when I settled in South Yarra, discovering the nearby Rotary Park of Remembrance was like coming home as I was familiar with Rotary and its foundation principles of service and international understanding thanks to my father’s membership of the Warragul Rotary club throughout my early life.
My appreciation of Rotary’s commitment to fostering peace in the world grew exponentially in 1961 when I attended the International Rotary Conference in Tokyo with my parents. The first international conference to be hosted by Japan after World War II gave me the opportunity as a young teenager to see and learn from the hand of friendship and shared humanity extended by our Japanese hosts - and accepted in good faith by their international guests. Knowing now that this conference was the fruit of Sir Angus Mitchell’s negotiation and re-admission of Rotary Clubs in Germany and Japan following World War II, I better understand the significance of the three hundred Australian and New Zealand Rotarians who sailed to Japan sixty three years ago to attend that significant post-war conference.
Against this personal background, I applaud the renaming of the Rotary Park of Remembrance as the Rotary Melbourne Peace Park, based on the principle that ‘Peace is a collective responsibility’ It is a joy to see people, especially children, reading the plaque which explains the bells’ history and purpose and then to hear the bells rung, their rich sound ringing through the air and carrying their message.
By Janet, South Yarra Resident
