Guest Speakers
2026
Greg De Moore
Well, we had another entertaining meeting with Psychiatrist Greg De Moore this month. He even placed our president in a "straight jacket"! Greg kept us all engaged with his captivating talk on the history of mental health, how far the subject has come as well as treatments used in the current day. He also mentioned how a large cross section of people are affected by mental health, from Judges, Doctors, to Australian test cricket and AFL players.
Greg is very inspiring, witty, and informative about a topic he has a lot of passion for in his everyday life.
He also brought books he has written on interesting subjects for us to purchase to read. I would gladly have him again to attend one of our meetings.
Christine Hunter
Christine has lived with hearing loss for most of her life and is an active hearing loss advocate.
She also represents Deafness Forum Australia (DFA), Australian Federation of Disability Organizations (AFDO) and is on the Transport for NSW Accessible Transport Advisory Committee (ATAC).
Christine focused on the needs of the individual and on strengthening the quality of hearing care and hearing loss management.
She was very entertaining, talking about a topic which a lot of us older generation are dealing with. Chris also brought along a lot of new devices to display, which are on the market to help with hearing difficulties, some I've never seen before. She also explored some simple tips & strategies that can make hearing & communication much easier.
Charles Fellner
Our guest speaker this month was Charles Fellner.
He gave a very interesting and practical presentation on how to be scam aware and how to avoid scams.
His presentations gave easy-to-understand advice on how scams work, the psychological tactics used, and guidance on how to report it and seek support if a scam occurs.
At the end of his presentation Charles handed out an 8-page document with very helpful information on Scam Awareness –
Your Best Defence.
Terry Smith
Historian
Terry Smith was a Mental Health nurse, beginning his career in the historic buildings of Cumberland Hospital. He has since become a historian of mental healthcare and a collector of vintage photographs.
Having lived in Parramatta for over 50 years, Terry has witnessed many changes, and has made his collection of photographs into a presentation titled “Parramatta - Then and Now”.
Terry concentrated on The Church Street area and showed us many familiar buildings we remember from our youth, and also recent photographs as to what has sadly happened to some over the decades.
Deborah Wallace
Throughout a stellar career spanning 36 years with NSW Police, Detective Superintendent Deborah Wallace faced murderers, drug manufacturers and extortionists, ‘armed’ with her trademark high heels and colourful suits. Deb definitely kept us all entertained and awake with her animated chat about all the different kinds of drugs, and their effect on Australia. Australia being either first or second in the world for us, not an accolade we should be proud of! She requested that we all try to be influencers, and talk to our young family members about the downfall and effect drugs can have on all of us.
When Deb joined the NSW Police Force in 1983, there were very few women on the front line. She quickly discovered she had the cool-headed resilience ideal for police work. In the 1990s, her assignment was to break up the gangs in Cabramatta. Later in her career, Deb led Strike Force Raptor to break up the Bikie gangs.
Today, being retired, she continues to volunteer at Grace’s Place helping the families of victims of murder, and speaks at conferences in Australia and overseas. She is now also involved with the NSW Parole Authority.
We are very grateful and appreciate that she could find the time to come and talk to us, sharing all her knowledge.
Isabelle Marcarion
Safewill Legal
Our first speaker for the new year, Isabelle Marcarion, was extremely knowledgeable and an excellent imparter of the information on estate planning.
Isabelle is the Principal Solicitor for Safewill Legal.
She was specially chosen to speak to us on having sound plans in place for distribution of our estate assets at the relevant time, avoiding the pitfalls that can occur.
David Short
RFDS Dubbo
David Short, our Guest Speaker, worked in education in the NSW Public School Education system for 48 years as well as the University sector.
David represents the Dubbo Support Group of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
His talk covered the history of the RFDS, the current work of the RFDS particularly the activities at and from the Dubbo Base, and the initiatives that they plan to undertake.
The RFDS is an amazing organisation that relies solely on charity donations and was the first of its kind in the world.
For over 90 years the RFDS has provided essential emergency medical services to the people living, working and travelling in rural and remote Australia, where there are often few other health services available.
Guest Speakers
2025
