The International Day of Peace 2021: Rotary District Governor

Leo Farrelly

Canberra Burley Griffin Rotary is partnering with the United Nations Information Centre for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific to organise this very special event.

The Keynote speaker is: Australian Diplomat and singer songwriter Fred Smith. Fred has just returned from Afghanistan. He has had an exceptional career. Canberra Times writer Sally Pryor wrote the following about Fred Smith: When Fred Smith was a toddler growing up in India, he would scoff when his parents tried their Hindi out on him. At three, his Hindi was better than his English, and much better than his diplomat father’s. He was also aware of two very distinct worlds in his very young life: that of the domestic servants, and that of his family. Four decades later, this awareness of different worlds, and of the multiplicity of world views, is a crucial factor in Smith’s own diplomatic career.

Once described as “Australia’s secret weapon” in international diplomacy, he was the first Australian diplomat to be posted to Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province in 2009, an experience that he

turned into a highly acclaimed album of songs, “Dust of Uruzgan.”

The following links take you to… Fred singing “Dust of Uruzgan” and Fred’s website and Fred’s Facebook page.

This is the one day each year that all World Peace Bells are rung on the same day.

The ceremony will include the announcement of the winner of the Chief Minister’s Rotary Peace Prize. The Rotary Club of Canberra Burley Griffin makes a donation of $1,000USD to the Rotary Foundation and the recipient is named a Paul Harris Fellow.

This is an event that should not be missed. Congratulations to the Canberra Burley Griffin Rotary Club and their partners the United Nations Information Centre.

Leo Farrelly
District Governor
Rotary District 9705