By Callum Ludwig
While the Wandin Family Fun Day scheduled for the public holiday on Monday 27 January was postponed due to the extreme heat, Wandin Rotarians and community members still gathered on Sunday for the annual Australia Day Breakfast.
The Wandin Community Hub was filled with Rotarians and guests, with volunteers in the kitchen working hard from before 7am on 26 January to prepare fresh fruit, cereal and a cooked breakfast for all in attendance.
Ben Vallence was the MC for the day and outgoing Rotary Club of Wandin President Paul Martin gave an introduction and welcome. Evelyn MP Bridget Vallence then led a toast to Australia and paid tribute to Rotarians Cliff Riseborough for 40 years of service and to the late Peter Manders who died in 2024. Casey MP Aaron Violi also arrived to lead attendees in an affirmation, based on the Australian citizenship pledge.
The exciting guest speaker for the day, Monbulk resident and international tunnelling expert Professor Arnold Dix then took to the front for a presentation on his life-saving feats in northern India in 2023.
Prof Dix, the current president of the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association, flew at short notice to the Himalayas to help in efforts to rescue 41 workers who became trapped in a tunnel that collapsed on 12 November 2023.
Mr Dix was charismatic and friendly, entertaining the crowd with quips about the rivalry between Wandin and Monbulk and their famous families before delving into his presentation.
After a call with the Chief Engineer and Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Prof Dix flew over with no contract or money for his help but a steadfast message which he told local media; ‘We will bring these men home’.
Prof Dix, presenting a cool, chill figure in the crisis despite his own doubts about the rescue mission, given he himself had never rescued anyone alive before, nonetheless aimed to inspire hope, even bowing at a small temple set up at the site and learning about Kali, the Hindu goddess of death on his flight.
There had been as many as 21 collapses at the site prior to the one which trapped the workers, who relied on a pipe fed through to them to provide oxygen, lentils and peanuts to survive. Days of extremely technical risky work followed and eventually, there were able to feed through cooked food through a bigger pipe and a camera, which revealed the roof in the part of the tunnel the workers were in was collapsing and steel was poking through.
By Day 14 or 15, they were within 10m of the workers through crumbled rock but ‘it felt like 10,000km’ according to Prof Dix, with specialist equipment that was brought in having broken or unable to work. The risk was enormous, with any wrong move capable of both causing a further collapse that could kill both the 41 workers and the workers and rescue teams attempting to save them. By this stage, they had resorted to hand-mining inside the 800 mm, 60-metre-long homemade metal pipe surrounded by millions of tonnes of rock.
Eventually, on Tuesday 28 November 2023, there was a breakthrough but it was another six hours before rescuers could wheel the men out on stretchers through the pipe, which itself took another hour. All the men survived largely unharmed though they were taken to hospital for observation and later, 20 of them surprised Prof Dix at their airport before he was to head home to Monbulk. Prof Dix was a hero in India and back home, receiving commendations from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in Parliament and even inspiring a young girl in India to dress up as him, grey beard and all, for a Fancy Dress Day.
Just a few weeks ago, Mr Dix returned to India, visited the girl and her family who dressed as him and also attended a party with over 2500 people there to see him and his famed ‘Monbulk dancing’.
After Mr Dix’s lively and enthralling presentation, attendees enjoyed their second cooked course of breakfast before the Rotary Club’s Australia Day awards.
The first Community Service award was presented to Jake from Wandin Primary School and his father Wayne, recognising Jake’s efforts in 3D printing various toys to sell to his classmates to raise money for the Rotary Club of Wandin. Jake raised $1016 which has helped provide 50 frozen meals to community members in need, installed a water well in a village in Cambodia and some put aside to help feed the homeless this winter.
Community Bank of Wandin-Seville Branch Manager Jackie Butler was the next to receive a Community Service award, dedicated to her efforts in supporting the Rotary Club of Wandin, various community events and local groups as well as her efforts as a firefighter for the Seville Fire Brigade.
The final Community Service award was presented to the Star Mail’s very own Upper Yarra reporter Callum Ludwig for reporting and supporting the Rotary Club of Wandin and Upper Yarra community through the local newspaper.
All community service award winners were presented with a box of apples from Rotarian Garry Byrne’s Hillndale Orchards and Prof Dix received a tray of cherries from Rotarian Cliff Riseborough’s CherryHill Orchards.
A Paul Harris Fellow award was also presented to two-time Rotary Club of Wandin President Alan Henderson for his contributions to the club.
The event was wrapped up with the presentation of a grant of $10,000 to each of the Wandin, Seville, Gruyere and Coldstream CFAs by Community Bank of Wandin-Seville Chairman Ray Barrett.
Thanks were also given to all the Rotarians and community members who helped with the event, whether by donating fruit and breakfast items or helping in the kitchen.
