Building a Culture of Peace
Peace isn't a distant ideal. For our club, it's a Tuesday night conversation.
The Rotary Club of North Hobart has spent years asking what peace actually looks like — in our schools, on our land, across our region, and around the world. We've heard from historians, diplomats, war correspondents, activists, and students. We've planted Peace Poles in local schools. We've hosted speakers who have worked in conflict zones and others who have given land back to its original custodians.
Peace, we've found, is always local before it's global. And it always starts with someone deciding to show up.
Our Impact at a Glance:
The Rotary Club of North Hobart has spent years asking what peace actually looks like — in our schools, on our land, across our region, and around the world. We've heard from historians, diplomats, war correspondents, activists, and students. We've planted Peace Poles in local schools. We've hosted speakers who have worked in conflict zones and others who have given land back to its original custodians.
Peace, we've found, is always local before it's global. And it always starts with someone deciding to show up.
Our Impact at a Glance:
- Local Action: The Peace Pole Project We are actively planting "seeds of peace" in local schools by installing Peace Poles—internationally recognized symbols of hope found in over 180 countries. By bringing the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" into educational settings, we spark vital conversations about respect and difference among the next generation.
Global Leadership: Rotary Peace Fellowships Know Someone Who Could Change the World?
Rotary International offers fully funded postgraduate Peace Fellowships at world-class universities — equipping professionals with the skills to resolve conflict and build lasting stability. Fellows join a network of over 1,800 alumni working in 140 countries.
Our club actively looks for qualified Tasmanian candidates to put forward. If you — or someone you know — has a background in peace and conflict studies, international relations, law, or related fields, this could be an extraordinary opportunity.
Applications for the current round close 15 May 2026.
Find out more and apply: rotary.org/en/our-programs/peace-fellowships
Or get in touch with us first — we're happy to talk it through with anyone who's interested.
Rotary International offers fully funded postgraduate Peace Fellowships at world-class universities — equipping professionals with the skills to resolve conflict and build lasting stability. Fellows join a network of over 1,800 alumni working in 140 countries.
Our club actively looks for qualified Tasmanian candidates to put forward. If you — or someone you know — has a background in peace and conflict studies, international relations, law, or related fields, this could be an extraordinary opportunity.
Applications for the current round close 15 May 2026.
Find out more and apply: rotary.org/en/our-programs/peace-fellowships
Or get in touch with us first — we're happy to talk it through with anyone who's interested.
- Deep Learning: Insights from Thought Leaders We go beyond the headlines by hosting extraordinary speakers—from UN Peace Award-winning journalists and legal experts to pioneering historians. These sessions challenge our members to ground their commitment to peace in an honest reckoning with history and a sophisticated understanding of international law.
Voices That Have Shaped Our Thinking on Peace
At the Rotary Club of North Hobart, we believe that understanding peace requires hearing from people who have lived it, studied it, fought for it, and built it — often at great personal cost. Over the years we have been privileged to host an extraordinary range of voices.
David Brill AM ACS One of Australia's most decorated war cinematographers, David Brill spent nearly fifty years filming conflict across the world — from the fall of Saigon to the wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chad and beyond. Twice awarded the United Nations Media Peace Award, for his SBS documentaries Good Morning Vietnam and Chad – Crisis in The Desert, David's lens was always trained on the human consequences of conflict rather than its spectacle. A Tasmanian by origin, his visit to our club was a reminder that bearing witness is itself an act of conscience.
Rev Fr Michael Tate AO Parish Priest, St Francis Xavier's, South Hobart. Former Senator for Tasmania, Federal Minister for Justice, and Australia's Ambassador to the Netherlands and the Holy See. Honorary Professor of International Humanitarian Law at the University of Tasmania. Fr Tate brought to our club a lifetime of experience at the intersection of law, diplomacy, faith and justice — and a rare ability to make the most complex questions feel deeply human.
Professor Henry Reynolds FAHA FASSA Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Tasmania and one of Australia's most significant and courageous historians. Henry Reynolds spent decades documenting the frontier violence of Australia's colonisation at a time when it was deeply unfashionable to do so. His scholarship helped lay the groundwork for the Mabo decision and changed the way Australia understands its own history. Hearing him speak on truth, reconciliation and the long road to peace on this land was a privilege our members will not forget.
Tom Teniswood Peace activist, Peace Pole maker, and a man who put his land where his values are. Tom and his wife Jane made history in 2019 when they became the first private landowners in Tasmania to return land — more than 100 hectares at Little Swanport — to the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania. Tom has long been involved in interfaith peace work through Byakko Shinko Kai and Religions for Peace Tasmania. His message is simple and radical: reconciliation is not a document. It is an action.
An Le A student at Hobart City High School and one of the most remarkable young community leaders in Tasmania. An began volunteering at the Migrant Resource Centre at the age of 10. She advocates for environmental causes through her Nest for Life project, champions youth inclusion through the Youth Network of Tasmania, the CCYP Ambassador program and the Make it 16 campaign, and was a 2024 finalist in the Tasmanian Young Achiever Awards. She spoke to our club about the installation of Peace Poles at her school — a school where students speak over 40 languages — and about what peace means to a young person navigating a complex world.
Robert Jarman Director, performer, writer and 2022 Tasmanian Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Robert brought to our club a firsthand account of his time as a volunteer in Gaza — a experience that challenged and moved everyone in the room.
At the Rotary Club of North Hobart, we believe that understanding peace requires hearing from people who have lived it, studied it, fought for it, and built it — often at great personal cost. Over the years we have been privileged to host an extraordinary range of voices.
David Brill AM ACS One of Australia's most decorated war cinematographers, David Brill spent nearly fifty years filming conflict across the world — from the fall of Saigon to the wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chad and beyond. Twice awarded the United Nations Media Peace Award, for his SBS documentaries Good Morning Vietnam and Chad – Crisis in The Desert, David's lens was always trained on the human consequences of conflict rather than its spectacle. A Tasmanian by origin, his visit to our club was a reminder that bearing witness is itself an act of conscience.
Rev Fr Michael Tate AO Parish Priest, St Francis Xavier's, South Hobart. Former Senator for Tasmania, Federal Minister for Justice, and Australia's Ambassador to the Netherlands and the Holy See. Honorary Professor of International Humanitarian Law at the University of Tasmania. Fr Tate brought to our club a lifetime of experience at the intersection of law, diplomacy, faith and justice — and a rare ability to make the most complex questions feel deeply human.
Professor Henry Reynolds FAHA FASSA Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Tasmania and one of Australia's most significant and courageous historians. Henry Reynolds spent decades documenting the frontier violence of Australia's colonisation at a time when it was deeply unfashionable to do so. His scholarship helped lay the groundwork for the Mabo decision and changed the way Australia understands its own history. Hearing him speak on truth, reconciliation and the long road to peace on this land was a privilege our members will not forget.
Tom Teniswood Peace activist, Peace Pole maker, and a man who put his land where his values are. Tom and his wife Jane made history in 2019 when they became the first private landowners in Tasmania to return land — more than 100 hectares at Little Swanport — to the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania. Tom has long been involved in interfaith peace work through Byakko Shinko Kai and Religions for Peace Tasmania. His message is simple and radical: reconciliation is not a document. It is an action.
An Le A student at Hobart City High School and one of the most remarkable young community leaders in Tasmania. An began volunteering at the Migrant Resource Centre at the age of 10. She advocates for environmental causes through her Nest for Life project, champions youth inclusion through the Youth Network of Tasmania, the CCYP Ambassador program and the Make it 16 campaign, and was a 2024 finalist in the Tasmanian Young Achiever Awards. She spoke to our club about the installation of Peace Poles at her school — a school where students speak over 40 languages — and about what peace means to a young person navigating a complex world.
Robert Jarman Director, performer, writer and 2022 Tasmanian Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Robert brought to our club a firsthand account of his time as a volunteer in Gaza — a experience that challenged and moved everyone in the room.
Storytelling: The Peace Film Because stories foster empathy and inspire action, our club produced a dedicated film documenting Rotary's approach to conflict resolution. It serves as a creative testament to our belief that sharing a vision is, in itself, an act of peacebuilding.
- The Power of Rotary No individual can take on global disease, fund international scholarships, or drive lasting change alone. Through Rotary, you don't have to. We provide the infrastructure, the global network, and sixty years of proof that determined people working together can achieve things that seem impossible on their own.
