Club Meeting at the Auto Lodge, Monday, 25th September, 2023s
Present : President, Wally Garrett; Immediate Past President, Jan Dempsey; David Brownson; Geoff Harding; John Pitman; Myles Derry; Dennis Eales; Simon Northrop, Murray Gillespie, Ian Smiley, Des Friedrich ( 14)
Apologies : David Gibson LOA, Gary Brown, Sally Morch, Harry Duynhoven, Michael Archer ( 5).
Grace :David Brownson
Raffle was won by David Brownson
Fines were levied by Murray Gillespie based on a recent quiz he was involved in.
Three Minute Talk : Myles Derry- Artificial Intelligence
Talked about how this is becoming increasingly prevalent in society and is reshaping the world. Has far reaching ethical and social implications. On one hand great for problem solving and decision making but the ability to process data quickly from publicly available sources has implications for the future workforce with the rise of robotics and potential job displacement. This will lead to the need to up skill for the job market.
Great potential for healthcare and the early detection of diseases.
Privacy will be an issue with the exploitation of a museum of information.
Myles revealed that his 3 minute talk was generated from Chat GPT (an AI freely available APP) in about 30 seconds. He often uses it to assist him with writing reports for his job.
Guest Speaker: Rob Green- Heritage Taranaki
Introduced by Des Friedrich: Rob is the coordinator for Heritage Taranaki Month as well as The Secretary.
he is passionate about preserving both Maori and European Culture.
Our club has supported Heritage Taranaki month for 2 years through The Club's trust this was acknowledged at The Panel Discussion- Who Owns History?
Rob thanked the Club for our support for Heritage Month.
He is Taranaki born and bred, grew up on a property in Brixton that was next to the site of the first Land Wars on 7th March 1860 Te Kohia Pa.
His father new nothing about the history of the site. When he was 6 the family moved to a 100 acre West Coast Lease farm in Dorset Rd
He described this land as being confiscated from Maori twice.
1863- NZ Settlers Act- Military Settlers were given land confiscated from Maori regardless of whether they were loyal or rebellious. Taranaki Maori were the worst effected by this Act
In those days depending on your military rank you were given more land
Ordinary Soldier- 50 Acres
Next rank 100 acres.
Leppers got 400 Acres
This of course displaced Maori that lived there.
The West Coast Settlement reserve Act of 1881 instructed the Public Trustee to consult with Maori about managing reserve land in accordance with the interest of natives interested in the reserves.
Rob taught Maths and Computer science from 1971 and slowly became aware of the Maori history in Taranaki and became curious about Parihaka etc in his 40's.
When he retired he took the opportunity to find out more through Ron Lambert- Founders Society and Heritage Taranaki.
He realised that while much was documented about colonial development buildings and the need to preserve their heritage little was documented about archaeological sites below ground and therefor Maori heritage.
In coordinating Heritage Month for Taranaki he was determined to explore all ethnicities to enable the sharing of stories.
One of the speakers at the Discussion on Who owns History: Prof Richard Shaw (Professor in Politics, Massey University has written a book (Chards of History)of his own family history discovering that his forebears were volunteer Militia that stormed and occupied Parihaka. As a result they were given 3 confiscated farms in the Rahotu area. He became aware that the history was deliberately overlooked and exposes this in his book.
Rob's passionate address reminded us all that we need to walk in both Pakeha and Maori worlds he concluded with a Kairikia.
.
Thanked by Jan Dempsey.
President Wally Notices:
We won't be sending anyone to RYLA this year too late to get an applicant.
District 9940 AGM via Zoom, Regionalisation strategy mainly Australian driven
District 9940 now less than 1200 members could be merged with District 9930
Owen McCluggage has resigned- direction club now taken was cited as the reason for resigning.
Alzheimers Taranaki Club Official opening
Attended by 5 members
Trust Business
A working bee (date to be advised) will be held shortly to wash down further Rotary Flat units.
Forest project tree planting almost completed 50 trees still to be planted by Sponsors.
Some trees will still need to be staked.
Final amount has been paid, particular congratulations by The One Million Tree Trust for using youth to plant the trees.
Next Dinner Meeting November 13th - Auto Lodge
Guest Speaker Kylie Hawker- Green
Its intended to use this night as a special night for inviting potential members and friends/family.
Kylie is the Head of Major Events under The Ministry Of Business and Innovation.
She has been recently involved with both the Rugby Women's World Cup and the Women's Football FIFA World Cup
She also has her own PR and Marketing Company (PR Plus) and been involved in establishing a Rotary Club in Taupo.
Her husband is Gareth Green The CEO of New Plymouth District Council.
