President
January is the month of Vocational Service, a major objective of Rotary as a philosophical statement of Rotary's purpose and the responsibilities of Rotarians, which means Rotarians practice high ethical standards, recognise the worthiness of all occupations and use professional skills to serve society.
This is manifested in the projects we are involved with such as with 12 Buckets and their mentoring program; and involvement with the Sri Lankan eye camps coming up next week - to name just a few. These are the ways in which Rotary is set apart from other service organisations.
About Time - Wayne Muller
Our very knowledgeable member Wayne Muller saved the day after the short-notice cancellation of our planned speaker. He was able to step right in with a very informative presentation on About Time, having set the scene with his Fines session based on a mathematical analysis of the year 2025….
Wayne’s presentation is based on the book A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks, by David Rooney, the son of a clockmaker, one time technology curator at the Science Museum in London, later curator of timekeeping at The Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
The twelve chapters (probably for the twelve hours of the clock…) are named for an event that happens that year.
1 Order - Sundial in the Forum, Rome (263 BCE)
Manius Valerius Maximus, war hero who captured Catania, in Sicily, from Carthage, returned to Rome and erected a stolen sundial in the Forum. Additional sundials were set up all over the empire to establish order. One writer proclaimed “The gods damn that who first discovered the hours, and – yes – who first set up a sundial here, who’s smashed the day into bits for poor me! You know, when I was a boy, my stomach was the only sundial…… But now what there is, isn’t eaten unless the sun says so”. (Photo of Tower of the Winds, Athens ~140BCE)
2 Faith - Castle Clock, Diyar Bakr (in today’s Türkiye) 1206
Automatom water clocks such as this one were regularly built in Islamic city mosques as a sign of Faith, setting the hours for prayer.
Christians followed. these for the routine of monks in monasteries. Also, Jews, Hindu and Buddha, Sikh and so on.
The more accurate, elaborate, obvious, spectacular, clearly the deeper your faith. [Photo -14th century engraving]
3 Virtue - The Hourglass of Temperance, Siena 1338
This is Temperance holding the hourglass containing sand, the oldest known depiction of this device. Other paintings depict the horrors of war, death, tyranny, the horned Devil, and the various vices.
They are mounted in the room at the Sala dei Nove
4 Markets - Stock Exchange Clock, Amsterdam 1611
[engraving 1612]
Rising above the square was a tower with a clock, the only one used to date or time every transaction. Transfers began person-to-person, shifted to agent-to-agent, (nowadays in massive numbers between high speed computers….)
They are now timed by oscillations within atoms built into atomic clocks.
- In 1955 accurate to about 1 second per 300 years
- by 1980, 1 sec in 300,000 years
- now closer to 1 sec per 160 million years based on a Cesium atom.
The UK’s National Physical Laboratory acts as a “Grand Master”, setting the timestamp on each transfer to an accuracy within a millionth of a second.
5 Knowledge - Samrat Yantra. Jaipur 1732-1735
A new city was established by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727. About 3 ha of the 50ha Palace was set aside for the observatory named Samrat Yantra (President Kelly has been here….)
The flight of stairs standing 23m high is aligned north-south. Its shadow on the east-west concave semicircle acts as a sundial with a scale marking each 2 degrees.
Rulers such as Singh II wanted to show their legitimacy of sovereignty by getting calendars and astronomical tables drawn up to show their knowledge of the universe of which they were the centre.
We are still doing the same! The James Webb Radio Telescope launched this year will enable astronomers to see back close to the first stars created billions of years ago.
6 Empires - Observatory Time Bell, Cape Town 1833
England established the Board of Longitude, Astronomers, Navy and Government in 1714 to call for solutions. 22,000 pounds was offered for a winner. They expected a winner to use the positions of stars. John Harrison (a direct ancestor of Brian Conway) provided a mechanical clock, but was ridiculed. The clock was so accurate it could handle being on sailing ships and provide a reference for Grenwich Mean Time (GMT). This was compared to noon local time on the ship and the difference used to calculate longitude.
James Cook, known as top mapmaker, best navigator, great maritime explorer, carried Harrison’s clock.
Cape of Good Hope Observatory signaled to ships with a large ball falling off a high point at 1pm, so ships could view the signal without having to enter the harbor and dock. (Cannon shot too slow.)
7 Manufacturer - Gog and Magog, London 1865
In the 18th Century Britain was the leading manufacturer of timepieces. 150,000 per year at the end. When the textile industry’s Richard Arkwright wanted skilled workers to make mechanical looms, he recruited clockmakers. Factories started working shifts, needing clocks.
The Swiss started making clocks. In Connecticut, Eli Terry, who began making wooden clocks, built a factory to make 100 metal clocks at a time.
Henry Ford bought the entire front of Bennett’s shop and moved it to US 1929.
8 Morality - Electric Time System, Brno, Czeck Republic 1903-1906
Railways have forced towns across the country to have the same time.
In 1884 the Meridian Conference was held and agreed, after much argument, the zero was the line of longitude passing through Greenwich.
Standard time across the country. In UK laws now related to this new time. Victorian morality decreed that all pubs would open and close as determined by standard time.
9 Resistance - Telescope Driving-Clock, Edinburgh 1913
Standardisation of time was seen as a means of control and enforcing power. Science itself was an enaction of control. George Woodcock wrote The Tyranny of the Clock - Tyranny leads to resistance, Luddites are rioting, Factories have weaponized the clock, workers are slaves of the bells.
The body of a Frenchman was found at night in the grounds of Greenwich Royal Observatory. It was suggested he was making his way to the Greenwich Public Clock, when the bomb he was carrying exploded.
10 Identity - Golden Telephone handsets, London 1935
This chapter suggests we and the clock are one. Our nation is defined by the time we keep. Soldiers in the First World War started wearing wristwatches. We talk to our watch “Hi Siri, what will I have for lunch?”
Wayne unfortunately ran out of time. The remaining chapters (from his notes) is included for the continuity of his presentation.
11 War - Miniature Atomic Clocks, Munich 1972
GPS signals are subject to four problems: errors in complex coding; loss through natural causes; deliberate jamming; spoofing – another nation destroys your system.
12 Peace - Plutonium Timekeepers, Osaka 6970
Now, 5,000 years since it was buried in 1970, it is about to be retrieved, giving access to the other 2,000 objects it contains as a record of life on Earth.
One is a message written by a fourth-grade student in Tokyo. “A society in which everyone lives cheerfully and happily ….. this must be the same goal for me and you, I believe. We must do our best until the next age takes over. Goodbye from 5,000 years ago”.
Directors' Reports and Member AnnouncementsRaelene: Sri Lanka project has 20 Australian representatives setting off on Thursday 16 January. 8 are from WA, 1 from Melbourne and 11 from Sydney. The largest contingent so fa! Raelene raised $11,000 from the BNB to help against budget of $18,000 so hopefully others have also raised funds to help out.
Astrid: Camp Opportunity is on from 19 - 25 January, with Mill Point supplying lunch at the Zoo on 20th January. Assistance has been offered from Brian & Siew Johnson, and Dianna Goh but a few more helpers would be welcome (contact Dianna on 0406 370 022). Also please consider supporting us with your attendance at the Camp Opportunity Dinner on Wednesday 22 ($40 per head). Please see flyer under EVENTS for further details.
Brian: Club duties/dress/attendance roster is now being spread across the membership so please watch out for when you are rostered. 6.30am start and instructions will be prepared for those not familiar with what needs to occur. Thanks for your support.
Gorbi: Wongan Hills visit on 4 February is now imminent to celebrate their 60th year of existence, new member induction and PHF awards. Please contact Gorbi direct on 0417 935 504 or mjgwaconsuslting@gmail.com if attending. See flyer under EVENTS for accommodation bookings
What make a Fine(s) Number?
If this makes sense to you 'you are a better man than I, Gunga Din...'
Wayne the Elder amazed (and confused) everyone with his fines session but only in order for us all to pay up to gong him off! It worked even though Astrid fell asleep...
Apparently 2025 was the perfect square - 45 x 45 = 2025, it's only happened once before in 1936 when 44 x 44 = 1936, the rest of it was just blah, blah, blah - for a numpty like me!
Winner of Heads and Tails
Attendance
31 attendees in all, including visiting Rotarian Bill Boekman.
