SI ADELAIDE INC.... Changemakers for Women

SI Adelaide is the oldest club in the Soroptimist region of South Australia, chartered on June 24th 1949, by Florence Rutter. Our membership is comprised of women across the lifespan, who are committed to supporting women and girls to reach their fullest potential.  Young women are very welcome to join and we have a subsidised student membership.

As the city based club of our region, here’s our meeting information.

Date: Usually 2nd Monday of each month, unless there’s a public holiday.
Location:  National Council of Women (NCW House) 95 South Terrace Adelaide
Online meetings: Yes, sometimes
Time:  Usually 7pm

Further information: Don’t hesitate to email siadelaide@siswp.org, for clarification.  We wouldn't want to miss you. Follow us on our social media sites.

centenary celebration

SI Adelaide Birthing in the Pacific…(2011- 2017)

april 2023 - guest speaker

On April 11, our guest speaker was Dr. Susan Evans CEO Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia. She is an author, gynaecologist, pain specialist and excellent communicator. Susan's subject and speciality is endometriosis and pelvic pain in teenagers an initiative of former Health Minister Greg Hunt.

march 2023 - guest speaker

MCCSA was established in 1975, inspired by the Good Neighbour Council of SA.  They support and advocate for all people from CALD backgrounds. Miriam herself, is from the Phillipines and she outlined that one of the major roles of the organisation is to mentor those from other cultures, by assisting with navigating our system, particularly in relation to upskilling qualifications, to enable participation in the workforce in Australia.

There are various programs offered by MCCSA including home visiting for many older community members.
https://mccsa.org.au/about/

Our second presentation of the evening was a 100 year Soroptimist badge, to fantastic Soroptimist supporter and former Lady Mayoress Genevieve Haese.  Genevieve is an Honorary member of SI Adelaide. We greatly value her support.

august 2022 - guest speaker

Our August meeting was supposed to be Soup and Dessert night, but with COVID still around, we decided to move to an online meeting.

In a lovely moment of synergy, former member Catriona Standfield was visiting Adelaide and wanted to catch up. Of course, we said yes of course and she became our speaker for the meeting. Click here to read more...

july 2022 - guest speaker

It was both a pleasure and honor to have Ruth Russell – SA branch President of WILPF, as our guest speaker on the 11th of July 2022.

She spoke about herself as a peace activist in the context of the organization she has been a member of for around forty years - Women's International League for Peace & Freedom - established in 1915 by suffragettes in Europe with branches now all over the world.

Read more to know about Ruth’s journey

april 2022 - guest speaker

Margaret Calder from The Effective Living Centre 26 King William Rd Wayville, was our speaker on 11th April, Monday night. https://effectiveliving.ucasa.org.au/

The Centre was founded in 1998 as an outreach project of Christ Church Wayville. Margaret spoke about the purpose of the centre and the varied areas, issues, projects and excellent speakers the yearly program covers. These include an Environmental Action Group, Progressive Christianity Network, Sacred and Creative group, Social Issues, Equity and Justice.

For the very first time, we were able to offer members the face-to-face option and a Zoom meeting. We both recognize and appreciate our members' incredibly dedicated efforts and are proud of our progress.

march 2022 - guest speaker

On the 16th of March, our club was thrilled to welcome Abbey Kendall Director of the Working Women's Centre Adelaide. This night she spoke about the work of the WWC, Legal, Advocacy, and Education. 

Abbey was one of the dynamic speakers at the 2021 March4Justice. The Protective Power of Job Security is an ongoing campaign being organized by the center.

Achievements and impact of the WWC:

• $662k - Recovered in stolen wages, compensation, penalties, and lost income for working women and vulnerable workers (2020/2021 FY)
• 1349 - Vulnerable workers provided with legal advice in relation to their workplace rights (2020/2021 FY)
• 81 - Vulnerable workers represented in Commissions and Tribunals

Are you interested to know more? Visit the website: https://wwcsa.org.au/

February 2022 - guest speaker

Our first speaker for the year was Rae-Anne Holloway from Aussieghana.

Click the link to know more about - AussieGhana

Aussieghana Relief was founded in 2010 when Rae-Anne (Aussie) and her husband Shanton (Ghana) moved to Ghana for a year. They both wanted to do something to contribute to the plight of the most disadvantaged; the women and children.

SI Adelaide is supporting them to link with SI Ghana and clubs in Ghana to work with them in setting up programs for the women once the shelter is opened.

In 2016, they embarked on their most ambitious project – building the Aussieghana Relief Women’s Shelter. This will be the first Women’s Shelter in Ghana. – Read the full story to know how the journey began!

Reinventing the friendship link wheel - 2022

SI Bangsar

An afternoon in Friendship - our friendship with SI Bangsar began on 31st July 2021 (marking the celebration of World Friendship Day or International Day of Friendship on 30th July) that resulted in fruition on Monday night, 14th Feb 2022. A perfect Valentine’s Day!

One of our visitors on Monday night was Indira Devi from SI Bangsar a friendship club of ours. During the week, Marrion and Lesley showed Indira around the city and had a photo taken on the seat bearing our plaque, celebrating our newly planted tree in Veale Gardens. On Monday night Indira from Bangsar came to our meeting and told us about her club's teenage program. We thank Indira Devi for spending her precious time and effort to have met up with our club members during her stay in Adelaide. We are looking forward to connecting with SI Bangsar for a joint project in the future.

christmas and breakup dinner party 2021

Monday, 13th Dec 2021 night at our final meeting at Rydges, we heard from Kathy Lilis, from Women's Safety Services SA, who is an extremely experienced DV sector worker. Kathy thanked our group for the donation recently made and spoke of the changes in working in the DV sector, during her career. The club presented Kathy with some shopping gift cards at the conclusion of her speech. These will enable some women to select items of their choice.

It was a lovely night to finish off a very busy year. However, we finish with some pride in our work, supporting Women’s Safety services, Talking Realities, Magdalene Centre and more.

centenary celebration

Information re our tree posted on Facebook page October 8th 2021

Today SI Adelaide celebrated 100 years of Soroptimist International by planting a tree in Veale Gardens, South Terrace Adelaide, opposite the home of National Council of Women.

This is a special location for our club, as SI Adelaide affiliated with NCW in 1950, and SI Adelaide has met at NCW for many years. Club President Sharon Norton welcomed guests and spoke of the significance of the occasion and thanked Martin Cook, Principal Parklands Planner, Adelaide City Council, for his generous support and guidance through the planning of this event. We later learned that Anthony also from ACC, has been nurturing this tree, a Chinese Mahogony Toona Sinensis, for several years and will nurture it through the upcoming summer. Pat Ellis, a member for 35 years, spoke about the history of Soroptimist International and some of the work undertaken by SI Adelaide over the years.

Click the links below to learn more about our centenary celebration 

• General information re our tree posted on Facebook page October 8th 2021
• Pat Ellis's speech - a member for 35 years
• President Sharon's Centenary Speech

SI Adelaide Birthing in the Pacific…( 2011- 2017  )

SI Adelaide’s meeting with several midwives from PNG by Marrion Saunders - THE STORY SO FAR

We are proud to share one of our incredible achievements - soroptimists.. changemakers for women

Birthing in the Pacific, was a SISWP project which started in 2011 in PNG. The first Co ordinator of the project was Janet Askern, a midwife from Queensland.

When Janet couldn’t continue due to ill health, May Lamont, a former teacher, took over the co ordinating role.
The situation in PNG was as follows: Continue reading...

august speaker

Fiona Dorman President of National Council of Women SA 

report from marrion saunders

We were honoured to have Fiona Dorman President of National Council of Women SA and Chair of the Premier's Council for Women, as our speaker, online on Monday August 9th. COVID restrictions necessitated the postponement of our much enjoyed annual Soup and Dessert Night, which we hope to hold at another time.

NCW is an advocacy-only organisation, which meets on the 2nd Thursday of the month and has done so,  since the 1920s. Fiona spoke about the history of the organisation, making special mention of our SI Adelaide founding members, who had also played a big part in NCW in the 1940s.

Continue reading

July speaker - FROM FLINDERS UNIVERSITY. 12/7/21

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MARINELLA MARMO - modern slavery

Pam lacey  

A/Prof Marmo holds a PhD in Applied Social Science (University of Lancaster, UK) and an LLB (Honours) (Università di Salerno, Italy). 

She joined the Flinders Law School in 2005, after having held positions in the UK (University of Leicester and the Liverpool John Moores University).

A/Prof Marmo is a leading expert on human mobility, human rights and cross-border migration.

Her research has been cited by academics and senior policymakers worldwide, profiled by several prominent international and national media outlets, formed the base for a British Parliamentary Q&A session and used to inform a documentary in Britain.

Morning tea with our patron

On the 29th June 2021, SI South Australians members enjoyed morning tea at Government House with our patron for the last 7 years Mrs. Lan Le. It was a wonderful experience and a privilege for the six of us who were the guests of Mrs. Lan Le.

Mrs Le has received several CRS Australia National awards.  In 1997, she was the recipient of the Australia Day Achievement Award for her outstanding and consistent contribution to CRS Australia client services.  In 2000, Mrs Le was presented with a CRS Australia National Award for Excellence in her contribution to quality service delivery and team leadership.

We thank Mrs. Lan Le for her patronage of SISA and wish her well.

SI Adelaide 72^nd birthday celebration

Mayfair Hotel Adelaide….Sunday June 20^th 2021

Marrion Saunders

With piano music playing in the background, we started the afternoon with a glass of Mumm champagne – served in a flute especially made for the Mayfair.

Next, came an array of the most delicious afternoon tea delicacies, from slivers of chicken sandwiches, through tiny hot pastries, to morsel sided cakes.  No- we restrained ourselves and didn’t ask for Rosella tomato sauce for the sausage rolls.

All this was served from three- tiered china cake plates onto fine china smaller plates.

June speaker 

Madelyn  Duckmanton and Ruth Cece from the  Letitia Linke  Research Foundation Ovarian Cancer Charity.

Click the link to know more - Madelyn is Letitia’s mother and Ruth is a friend of Letitia’s and a survivor of Ovarian Cancer

The foundation is raising funds for a screening test as many women are misdiagnosed. Early detection is best but many women aren't diagnosed till Stage 4 because the symptoms can be vague. Diagnosis can also sometimes be vague…….”women’s issues”.

Helen Donovan Councillor for South Ward

Recent speaker at a club meeting was Helen Donovan Councillor for South Ward of Adelaide City Council. Helen spoke about her work as a councillor, gave us an insight into the workings of the council and her role within the local community, which she enjoys very much.

Helen is a practising behaviour change psychologist and wants Council to consider impacts of decisions on mental health and wellbeing at every level of policy and decision making.

Our club greatly appreciates Helen's support. She's also the ED of Walking SA and keeps us up to date with new developments....there's always something new happening at Walking SA.

Helen encouraged us to undertake the walking checklist from the Heart Foundation and was interested to learn the outcome of our Steptober fundraiser last year. Our participating club members walked 1,687,919 steps during October and some of us included our steps in the local 2020 Walktober event, which was organised by Walking SA.

https://walkingplans.heartfoundation.org.au/?gclid=CjwKCAjwlrqHBhByEiwAnLmYUDfumKG-VDS-OAhzcSqG0tVturvi8fBOBGzfGZRRR7nwJeJnoCAYnxoC_xcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

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