Katoomba Area Local NewsStrengthening community, healing Country, and restoring the health of our planet.
The Community Builders Who Have Our Backs
Wentworth Falls Food Hall owner, Sereen Dirani with Rotary member, Allan Byrnes. (Photo: Viv Byrnes)
As challenges mount globally there is one group of community builders who, for 120 years now, have been strengthening the world’s social fabric and addressing ways civil society can help alleviate suffering and inequality; improve people’s quality of life; and create a more peaceful, healthier planet: whether it’s working to eliminate polio, providing Shelter Boxes to house families after disasters, developing Mental Health First Aid programs or providing Community Defibrillators, like the one recently installed outside the Food Hall supermarket in Wentworth Falls.
Key Points:
Sudden cardiac arrest is Australia’s biggest cause of death and disability.
Immediate CPR and defibrillation in the first few minutes may reverse a sudden cardiac arrest to save a person’s life.
The Heart 180 Community Defib Program has partnered with Rotary in the Blue Mountains to provide public and accessible defibrillators to save lives.
Our communities are dotted with programs and infrastructure, funded and supported in other ways, by Rotary volunteers.
With clubs in over 220 countries and geographical areas, Rotary has created an evolving global network of people bridging political, religious and social divides and committed to uniting for the common good – something the world has never needed more!
Community Defibrillators Saving Lives: Chris Djekic explaining how to use Community Defibrillators at a Rotary meeting in Wentworth Falls
Since the middle of World War ll, Rotarians have been guided by a nonpartisan, nonreligious ethical guide called the Four-Way Test. It asks four questions: “Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?”.
On the 27 July 2025, the Planetary Health Centre hosted the launch of the world’s newest Rotary Club: Greater Blue Mountains Rotary. It’s a world-first collaborative club aiming to operate with more flexibility and less administration using a ‘hub and spoke’ model.
Greater Blue Mountains Rotary Launch at the Planetary Health Centre
Bringing together the expertise and resources of the former Blackheath, Katoomba and Central Blue Mountains Clubs, Greater Blue Mountains Rotary will act as a hub with a range of localised ‘spokes’ or special interest groups to offer more ways for the community to engage.
L to R: Rotary International Director, Jennifer Scott AM, Katoomba Rotarian Faye Woodward, Club President Barry Taylor and Michele Ellery, Rotary District Governor. (Supplied by Rotary)
The first community service project of this new Rotary Hub is to fundraise to provide rooming-in cribs for the maternity ward at Blue Mountains District Memorial Hospital.
“The Koorana Maternity Unit is the only maternity service between Penrith and Lithgow providing comprehensive antenatal, birthing and postnatal services. The hospital has four modern birthing suites, built in 2005. Our aim is to provide four Rooming-in cribs at a cost of $3000 each. They are a new design with a drop-down side, giving the mother easy bedside access to her baby,” said Barry Taylor, president of the new club. “This creates a natural and intimate maternal bonding experience and allows safe transfer of the baby, which doesn’t need to be lifted from the crib to be given to the mother.”
Rotarians have also been working with the Planetary Health Centre to offer learning programs like the monthly Fashion Upcycling program on Skill Share Saturdays. If you’d like to get involved contact Lis on 0407 437 553 or email [email protected] .
Take Action:
If you’d like to find out more, make a donation or join Rotary contact Barry Taylor on 0448 812 359.
Do a CPR Course to help save lives.
Become a GoodSAM volunteer and receive alerts to help in nearby CPR emergencies while the paramedics are on the way. Learn more here: https://www.goodsamapp.org/
This year, the Australian Bushfire Building and Asbestos & Hazardous Materials Management conferences are joining forces with the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative for Full Cycle 2025, to increase collaboration across sectors, from design to disposal. This vital conference and community expo will explore approaches to reducing risks in a changing climate: from multi-hazards like fire, flood, heatwave and extreme humidity, to hazardous materials like mould, microplastics, PFAS, asbestos and engineered stone. Registration will be live in the coming weeks. In the meantime, visit the Full Cycle 2025 website for more information and to sign up to the mailing list (link in profile) https://www.fullcycleconference.com.au/
Yesterday the community gathered to celebrate Sister Jacinta Shailer`s 98th Birthday! Earlier this year at the Planetary Health Centre she urged us all to join a revolution centred in the transformative power of love, by joining heroic communities that foster compassion, justice, care of the needy, creative imagining, ways of life-giving thinking, ways of contemplating the wonders of our world in the small and the large, the weird and the wonderful. Watch an excerpt of her speech here or read our full story published earlier this year in Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/create-heroic-communities/
Council is calling on the community to contribute to the development of a Community Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan (CCRAA). There will be a Community Climate Risk and Adaptation Workshop on Saturday 30 August, from 10am to 1pm at Springwood Sports Club, followed by lunch.
You can also contribute by completing the online survey before 29 August.
Your knowledge and experience are critical in helping identify local risks, priorities and practical solutions. Many in our community are already taking action, and these stories, along with diverse perspectives, will help shape a more resilient future for the Blue Mountains.
We encourage you to attend and share the event with your networks to help ensure every voice is heard.
Places are limited for the workshop, so register early here (link in profile): https://climateriskworkshop.eventbrite.com.au Complete the survey here (link in profile): https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/community-climate-risk-and-adaptation-plan-community-survey
The development of this plan is being funded by the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grant Program.
This video captures the most moving speech at the Peace Symposium: that by journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, who described the true horror and tragedy of nuclear weapons. She went on to describe how, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of both cities dedicated themselves to peace building from the grassroots. Small yet courageous actions by these individuals have reached and changed countless lives in the world. After her presentation, Harumi taught families at the Community Peace Picnic how to fold paper cranes.
At the Peace Symposium, Rotarian Jennifer Scott AM outlined how Rotarians around the world are taking action for peace: from providing mental health first aid in our local community to working for social and environmental justice on a global scale. You can watch an excerpt from her presentation in this video.
In his opening speech for the Peace Symposium Dharug man Chris Tobin shared a Dreamtime story about the Waratah, which emerged from a bloody conflict as a symbol of reconciliation.
@mark_greenhill_oam, Mayor of the City of Blue Mountains, welcomed participants to the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium. As a signatory of Mayors for Peace he spoke of the urgency to act to prevent nuclear war and to end the genocide in Gaza.
The Peace Symposium was organised to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
You can watch our full playlist of videos for Making Peace on our YouTube channel (link in profile): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&list=PLBu_QF9Pp5hPoaLWW0ZLHhwS6hPd-x-Rl
View Ecopella`s rousing anthem `You`re Needed Now!` They performed it at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on the eve of the March for Humanity and the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Contact them if you`re interested in joining the choir which has branches around Eastern NSW.
If you`d like to hear the other presentations at the Symposium visit the Planetary Health YouTube channel (link in profile)
Renowned Permaculture teacher and Katoomba resident Rowe Morrow has been a Quaker for 40 years. She spoke at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium about the extraordinary work Quakers have done, and are doing, for Peace, and the strategies they`ve developed: from working to abolish slavery, to being instrumental in starting Oxfam and Amnesty International, to training communities in non-violent communication and conflict resolution, conscientious objection, direct action, divestment strategies and more. You can listen to her discuss these in her presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&t=5s
This week President Trump gave an order for two nuclear submarines to proceed towards Russia. This act was the starting point of Robert Tickner`s talk at the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty in the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium yesterday.
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and, as ICAN Ambassador, Robert Tickner helped launch ICAN`s Week of Action for Abolition at the Symposium. You can listen to his full talk in the video below or view it on YouTube via link in profile:
Despite the very challenging weather for the Peace Symposium yesterday we also enjoyed an indoor `Community Picnic` with delicious food, origami crane and badge making workshops, a book stall by RoseyRavelston books, and wonderful performances by Ecopella and the Bearded Ladies Community Choir. The venue was dotted with historical posters reflecting a long history of the Blue Mountains taking a stand against war and nuclear weapons and we were thrilled to hear during the Symposium that the Supreme Court had authorised the March for Humanity today.
With 23 shops to explore, including lots of funky vintage clothing stores and op shops, Katoomba is a growing hub for sustainable fashion and the circular economy. Take a tour of what’s on offer where..
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