The Peace Bells are ringing! Officially opened on Wednesday 24 May 2023 at Rotary Melbourne Peace Park with Lord Mayor Sally Capp, Nobel Prize Peace Laureate Tilman Ruff, designer Neil McLachlan, Rotary Melbourne President Adrian Nelson, and Project Leader Rob McGuirk. An historic day for peace and Rotary in Melbourne.
The idea for this project began to develop during discussions in 2019 between Rotary Melbourne and the City of Melbourne. We were looking for a way to recognize Rotary’s 100 years of work in Melbourne with a public interface or connection with the city.
In 2020, due to COVID these discussions were put on hold, but committees including our District Peace Committee, continued to work via zoom meetings throughout this time and we were discussing ways and possible projects to build peace.
I think COVID made us all realize the significance of our individual responsibilities and the responsibilities we had to our community which required us all to work together to help prevent the spread of the disease. There was the same realization about peacebuilding, that we could all individually even while locked up in our homes, commit to steps to help to build peace in a collective way. Hence the idea of the four steps towards peace was born based on this principle that “Peace is a collective responsibility”.
When we began to reopen after COVID, Neil and I turned these ideas into this project of the four peace bells. This was then adopted by Rotary Melbourne with the goal for them to be produced in time for the Rotary International Convention. The project caught the attention of Rotary International President Jennifer Jones, Rotary International then agreed to support the project and President Jennifer designated it as the first legacy project from an international convention......
So here today we have the four peace bells. Each bell representing a step towards peace that we can all take. The base of each bell is inscribed with the step and the ringing of the bell serves to signify a personal commitment to take it.
You can read Rob's full speech HERE.
Following is an extract from President Adrian Nelson's speech at the opening.
Today is a momentous day in the history of Rotary in Australia. Today, as we officially launch these beautiful Peace Bells, we officially rename the park the Rotary Melbourne Peace Park.Peace and Conflict Resolution is one of Rotary International’s 7 Areas of Focus. Rotary holds the highest status offered to a nongovernmental organization at the United Nations, and annually holds a Rotary Day there to highlight our shared vision for Peace.Rotary Melbourne has a history of involvement in Peace Initiatives. Following World War II Sir Angus Mitchell led the negotiation and re-admission of Rotary Clubs in Germany and Japan to Rotary International. In 1989, Rotary Melbourne hosted and organised the sixth ever Rotary Peace Forum, and the first in Australasia.In recent years, Rotary Melbourne is unmatched in the world, sponsoring a record number of Peace Scholars, with Bob Fels recognised internationally by the Rotary Foundation for his development of Rotary Peace Centres. Ours is a club of promoting peace. With the installation of the Peace Bells, we will now hold an annual event here at the Peace Park to celebrate the International Day of Peace each September.You can read Adrian's full speech HERE