General meetings are held on the first Saturday of the month, commencing at 2.00 pm, in the 1st floor Meeting Room, Lotteries House, Civic Boulevard, Rockingham.
Speakers and Topics for 2023
A charge of $5 per head for members and non-members includes afternoon tea. School-age children welcome.
All topics are subject to change.
2023 | TOPIC | SPEAKER |
7 Jan | No meeting – library closed | |
4 Feb | Beginning your research and Trying to solve brick walls | Betty Vanderlande |
4 Mar | Convicts to Australia | Peter Godfrey |
1 Apr | Q and A | |
6 May | GM and CY O’Connor Pipeline | Bill Culter |
3 Jun | Shipwrecks off the WA Coast | Peter Godfrey |
1 Jul | Broome Pearlers | Peter Godfrey |
5 Aug | Fremantle Roundhouse | Frank Duffy |
2 Sep | Underage Soldiers of WW1 | Moira Wills |
7 Oct | Bob Kucera Jewish Ancestry | To be confirmed |
4 Nov | About U3A worldwide and WA | Judith Amey |
3 Dec | CHRISTMAS QUIZ | |
2024 | ||
6 Jan | CY O’Connor part 2 | Bill Cutler |
3 Feb | Lucy Saw Rockingham History | Sharyn McCaskey |
2 Mar | Success Convict Ship | William McCaskey |
NEXT MEETING
RE-CAP – 2 September 2023
Moira Wills presented a talk on ‘The Under-age Boys of World War I’ inspired by reading the book ‘The Lost Boys’ by Paul Byrnes. Moira mentioned the experience of her own previous generations’ war experiences then concentrated on the stories of the young Australian volunteers some as young as 14.
Moira discussed topics such as the attitudes to women serving in the armed forces, conscription attempts due to waning numbers of volunteers, Patriotism (including shaming with the ‘white feather’), Duty to Country, the Economic Depression at the time, a sense of adventure among the young, Underage Enlistment and the conditions these young men experienced during the war.
Moira spoke in some detail on stories of young soldiers Miller Mack (an Aboriginal volunteer) who survived the war but died of illness in 1919, Rufus Rigney (another Aboriginal who enlisted 1917), Hughie O’Donnell, Douglas Wood (14 years 5 months when he joined up) and Charles Church (joined under fictitious identity at 15 years 2 months and died at Pozieres in 1916).