The Wagner Rotary Club was host to an Australian Cultural Exchange Team consisting of five membersonWednesdaySeptember 14th. The team consisted of two women and three men accompanied by two tour guides. They called themselves the “Wiradjuri Mob.” They were escorted from Winner, South Dakota, where they toured the school and tribal locations and arrived in Wagner at 10:00 at Wagner Community School. Superintendent Matt Yost, Rotary President Becky Brunsing, and Rotarians Patty Frei and Linda Soukup were present for the greeting and the brief overview of the WCS which was followed by a personal escorted tour through the facility by Superintendent Yost.

The regular weekly meeting began at 12:00 Noon at the Rotary building on Main Street. President Bronzing abbreviated some of the usual items on the agenda to give the exchange team members the opportunity of speaking to the club members. President Brunsing read a prayer and Rotarian Gerrit Juffer had his accompaniment ready to lead all in singing “R-O-T-A-R-Y.” Sergeant at Arms Jamie Soukup kept the fines to a minimum also: $2 to Jerry Henke for his joking remark at the last meeting about his twenty-two year old girl who became his wife; $2 to Gerrit Juffer on his wife Michelle’s retirement from Director of Wagner Area Growth; $2 each to Jordan and Jerry Weber for skipping the meeting and going to the Nebraska Farm Show; $2 to Amanda for picking on the Sergeant at the dessert table. Happy Fines came from Becky Brunsing for her first grandchild having his first birthday that day. Two of the guests offered Happy Fines also. Team Leader Lynette Bullen offered up $1 for being able to participate in our club meeting and Tom Katus offered up $5 for having a wonderful time with the five guests and the way the trip is going.

Lynette drew Rachel Woods ticket number which allowed Rachel to try for the Queen of Hearts card. She only found nine of Clubs so the Queens drawing will go up another $13.00 collected for the day. The attendance team report was bleak again. There were three misses on each team bringing the totals to sixteen misses for the Juffer Team and nine misses for the Frei Team.

Ina Winter was introduced as the Past District Governor in our District #5610 who was instrumental in arranging the Australian Mob to be able to come to the US. Tom Katus oversees the group and helps to arrange for each exchange member to spend time in an element that pertains to their present job in Australia.

The Exchange project seeks to introduce Aboriginal Australian professionals to experience different Indigenous cultures, share experiences, and build connections.

Each exchange member took five minutes to talk to the Rotarians and explain their background, their employment at present, and their hopes to spend more time obtaining background information that will help them in their current situations.

The Wagner Rotary Club exchanged banners with the exchange group. They were extremely excited to see Australian banners on the walls of the club building from past trips by Wagner Rotarians to Australia. Several of the banners were from clubs remarkably close to where they live at home. The Wagner Club also handed out as many Rotary T shirts as were available, and cards and key chains with our Four-Way Test so the guests could join us in reciting to adjourn the meeting.

Group pictures were taken, and they were ushered off to meet with Yankton Sioux Tribal leaders, and to visit the Wagner HIS facility. At 6:00 PM in the evening everyone met at the Choteau Creek Brewery for food and fellowship. It was an evening of fun and several guests were present from the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the HIS facility.