Community Events

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:16): I would like to continue my remarks from 10 May and expand on the garage sale at St Luke's Anglican Church and the craft sale at the Modbury Church of Christ. St Luke's is led by parish priest Reverend Joan Riley, and a very enthusiastic band of parishioners were on hand on the day of the garage sale. A large community of Sudanese people also call St Luke's home and were in attendance at the recent International Women's Day service. At the Modbury Church of Christ, there was a very large showing of community craft on offer. The Church of Christ is led by ministry team leader, Paul Pinci, and helpers at the Church of Christ gave me some timely assistance preparing my flag for the May Day rally.

Later that Saturday, which was 6 May, I joined the Port Adelaide Caledonian Society to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of their Semaphore hall and recognition of past chieftains. Chief Jenny Niven had four generations of her family present. The wonderful piping and highland dancing by Leonie's Garrick-Stewart School of Highland Dancing made the ceilidh a great event. Watching the young children join in with the highland dancing was a real highlight of the day.

On that same weekend, the 75^th anniversary of the commemoration of the Battle of the Coral Sea also took place. The dinner at the Naval Military and Air Force Club was hosted by Dana and David Stoba of the Australian-American Association here in South Australia. It was a pleasure to meet that night Ms Cecelia Coleman, the Consular Chief of the US Consulate-General in Melbourne, on her first visit to Adelaide, and chat with Walter Stamm, a man with an amazing history in engineering.

It was also a great pleasure that night to hear from the guest speaker, Commander Andrew Burnett ADC RAN, himself not long in Adelaide. We learnt an awful lot about Andrew from Dana Stoba's introduction, and he gave us a great insight into the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was really a great talk, which may actually be online through the Australian-American Association.

On the following day, the Sunday, in the Botanic Garden, the Naval Band accompanied the service held in the presence of the Governor and Mrs Le, who were at both Coral Sea events. Former viceregal couple Kevin and Liz Scarce were also in attendance, as were you, sir, and representatives from local, state and federal government.

I would like to also talk about the work in the community of the ReGen Shop in the member for Newland's electorate. They have been assisting me lately with acquiring cutlery and crockery sets, which we are giving to Sister Janet Mead and her helpers at the Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons here in Adelaide.

Rounding out this busy fortnight, which highlights the work of volunteers throughout Adelaide, I ended up at the 70^th anniversary gala concert by the Adelaide Harmony Choir. Andrew Chatterton led the afternoon at the Elder Hall. I was invited along by the bass sectional representative, the Reverend David Purling. It was great to see David and Judith again, and the Governor and Mrs Le were also in attendance at that event.

I should also mention the group behind the clipper ship City of Adelaide, another of my favourite projects. They had another event to mark the 153^rd anniversary of the launching of the vessel, one of only two such left in the world, the other being the internationally renowned Cutty Sark. The event was held on board the ship in its temporary location at Dock 1 and it was a remarkable evening. The member for Hammond and the former member for Schubert were also there. We saw the progress being made by this loyal and hardy bunch, led by their board and a large group of supporters. Peter Christopher was there, who is a friend to many of us here in the house, and for him the clipper ship is very similar to what Muriel Matters has become to me.

I must slip in here that the book Miss Muriel Matters has been launched, with The Society monograph for all schools and libraries, which has been supported by the education department and the Premier's office to be available soon, as I said. All this shows how vital the contribution of so many people in a voluntary capacity is to so many events here and all over the state. It shows the commitment and dedication that every day go to making South Australia a great state.

I sincerely thank all who have been involved in making the past couple of weeks so enjoyable, and I encourage everyone to get involved in History Month because so many of the events of History Month will be supported by volunteers in the community and it is one really special way to learn an awful lot about South Australia and, in particular, the Centre of Democracy, which will open next Wednesday.