Charlie Hili posted on March 17, 2010 08:56
Last night, past member, Dougie Hutchinson took our club on a tour of his inner city warehouse, which is filled with his “old wares and rustic antiques collection”. Some may say that one man’s garbage is an- other man’s treasure, well, when it comes to Dougie and his passion for the peculiar, that phrase fits the bill. Chomping on a seemingly ever lit cigar, our very own “Mr Steptoe”, explained how magazine and production companies pay to use his “old wares and rustic antiques” as props for photo shoots and movies. Most recently, some of his old wares appeared in the movie, “Australia”, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. If you’re looking for an interesting afternoon of browsing through a warehouse choc full of old furniture, miner’s lamps, stop signs, oil cans, stuffed camels and alike, you may want o visit “Doug up on Bourke’, some time soon. By the way, every item has a price tag on it, so you may well be taking home a slice of movie history.
Following our tour of the facility, our thirty or so travellers boarded the luxury coach provided free of charge by prospective member, Mario Alfonso, Managing Director, of the Mascot based Opal Coaches and continued on to “The Original Maltese Café”, in Darlinghurst. The café has been in continuous operation for just on sixty years, which means that it could well be a candidate for Dougie’s warehouse. Our hosts, Karin, Sri and Rhagu, kept the café open late for us, serving an assortment of tasty pastizzi, Maltese ravioli, lasagne, cannelloni and salads. It’s just as well Mario had a slight problem with the coach doors, as it allowed time for everyone to enjoy one of the café’s great coffees. On behalf of our club I would like to extend a big thankyou to Dougie and his staff at “Doug up on Bourke” , to Karin and the boys at The Original Maltese Café, for their hospitality and great effort on the night and to Mario Alfonso for the Coach. Peter Houghton did a great job organising this vocational visit and as usual his efforts didn’t disappoint. Next time though, it would be appreciated if Helen could put Joe to sleep before his impromptu singing lessons begin.
This Friday, The District Conference begins in Forster. Our club has fifteen attending. I’m sure DG Paul Reid has a very interesting weekend arranged for the 350 people who will be in attendance. Next Tuesday’s meeting at LCC is a sea food night. Our club will host any prospective members who wish to attend, so please invite those you think would make a good Rotarian. I will report on The District Conference and more next week.