Alistair Murray

The highs and lows of manufacturing in Australia

The sailboat hardware market and the architectural rigging market are worlds apart, but in Australia they’re both dominated by one powerhouse player.  Ronstan’s end-to-end design, manufacture and distribution operation has grown to become the only serious competitor.

Ronstan’s head office in Melbourne is home to state-of-the-art design facilities, primary manufacturing plant and advanced warehousing and a global distribution system, which handles more than 4 million units each year.  The home market is further supported by sales offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth .

Internationally, Ronstan is one of the top three sailboat hardware brands in the world, instantly recognised and respected in 45 countries.  When Ronstan moved into the architectural sector, it had to establish a reputation in this new market. The results speak for themselves. If an Australian architect thinks tensile architecture for a showcase project, he or she thinks Ronstan.

Each year well over 7000 secondary school students participate in this program worldwide. Students are typically between the ages of 16 and 17 years of age. Rotarians and other people voluntarily open their homes to these students as host families for periods of approximately 12 to 14 weeks of a 12 month exchange. During this time the student is obliged to go to school and participate in all school activities. Students are expected to become participating members of the host family and share in all of those responsibilities.

Our District outbound team is ready to go and now need we to address our  hosting of the inbound students.  

Can you help?   In particular we have a male student from Japan District 2610 [Honshu, central west coast]  who has not yet been placed in  Melbourne.

Please contact President Roy promptly if you are able to assist.

• Roger Thornton reminded members of the date for the Changeover dinner is the 26^th of June and will be held at the Savage Club. To date Roger has only received 7 applications and encouraged members to make their bookings as soon as possible.
• George Mackey informed the members that the District Assembly will be held on Sunday 17^th May  and for those interested in attending to please inform him and highlight the sessions that they would be interested in attending and if they will be staying for lunch.
• Allan Driver reminded everyone of the Echuca Moama Steam Rally to be held over the Queen’s Birthday weekend. To date Allan has had a commitment from one member.

President Roy welcomed Warwick to his first meeting and announced that Paul Fraser’s [photo with Anne]  application for membership has been approved by the board and Paul will be officially inducted in the coming weeks.

Over a period of 25 years Peter travelled overseas on more than 13 occasions to world championships, Commonwealth Games and other events as physiotherapist to Australia’s athletics teams.