Australian 25th Anniversary Conference 2008

Hosted by: NWR Castle Hill Group.

This year on Saturday 25th October 2008 NWR Australia celebrated its 25th Annual Conference. The venue was Mary MacKillop Centre which is situated in North Sydney. This Conference Centre is a tranquil and peaceful oasis in the hub of a very busy business centre and centrally located to views of the Sydney Harbour with easy access to public transport. Very worthy of consideration for travellers.

Theme for the Conference was "Step Up and Celebrate" and I have to say this was achieved without too much difficulty. There were three guest speakers:

• Detective Superintendent Deborah Wallace who was also celebrating 25 years with the NSW Police Force.
• Terri Neilan who started Line Dancing 18 years ago when it was first introduced to Australia
• Marlene Mathews who represented Australia in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games in her field of athletics And
• Anne Burns who was the "Guest of Honour." Anne was responsible for starting NHR (National Housewives Register) in Australia after arriving in Australia in 1981 and having been part of the organisation in Edinburgh.

Our guest speakers all gave a unique presentation with Terri Neilan giving us all lessons in line dancing which was great fun and challenged many of us who felt we had two left feet. Line dancing is also a great way to test the powers of concentration. Lots of fun!!

Det. Sup. Deborah Wallace gave us tears and laughter as she told of her experiences as a young constable in the early years of her career, moving to the more serious cases which would challenge the toughest amongst her peers. When Deborah had concluded many of us felt we were in safe hands and very grateful that there are so many dedicated police who truly love their work and who are honest and hard working men and women. She was inspirational.

Marlene Matthews gave us the contrasting methods of her training for the 1956 Olympics compared to the much more sophisticated approach used today. This lady also had some wonderful stories to relate and like many of us is not exempt from personal tragedy. The loss of her son has taken her on a different road now where she is a passionate advocate for palliative care. Marlene has experienced the highs and lows life can throw at you and has come through it would seem with her sense of humour in tact.

After the activities of the day we had some free time before dinner where some enjoyed a walk down to the harbour or a quiet reflective time in the Rose Garden. There were also others who decided a glass of wine might be a truly good option!!!

Dinner was lots of fun with good food and much talking about the day's events. During the meal we were kept amused by the slide show, which thanks to the wonderful age of computer technology and the relatively easy application of digital photography we were able to view ourselves with some really great snapshots of the day's activities. Trivial pursuit was also played and the table I was part of had the dubious honour of coming in last.

For the ladies of NWR Australia our Annual Conference is the only time we have the opportunity to come together as a whole organisation. It was great to see so many making the effort and for those who did attend, it certainly was a great experience.

On behalf of the Australian National Executive Committee
Robynanne (National Secretary)