Ms Sheralyn Holmes, Company Secretary of FCMHW Ltd welcomed His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC Governor of South Australia and 120+ guests to the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute for the official launch the SA Division of the Freemasons Centre for Male Health & Wellbeing on Monday 8 February.
We were honoured to have Jack Buckskin, a proud Kaurna Narungga man, welcome us to Country. Jack is a young leader in the community who is dedicated to learning and passing on his knowledge and language of the Adelaide Plains to future generations of Kaurna people. He shared his experiences growing up as a boy, a young man and now as a dedicated father and described how learning to dance gave him his strong connection to his culture.
His Excellency, Patron in Chief of the former Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men’s Health and current Patron of Masonic Charities, acknowledged the importance of and the quality and impact of the research the Centre has carried out and how proud he is that Australia’s only multi-disciplinary male health research centre calls SA and NT home.
Professor Steve Wesselingh, Executive Director of SAHMRI and Director of the Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing Ltd, spoke to the significance of the Centre working across SAHMRI’s themes addressing the significant health challenges facing our community – cancer, chronic disease, mental health, social wellbeing, and, as COVID has highlighted, infectious diseases to ensure a gender lens is applied to how we better understand, educate about and reduce the burden of these conditions and importantly improve on our delivery of health services.
Grand Master of Freemasons of SA/NT, and Chairman of the Board of the FCMHW Ltd and former Director of Masonic Charities, Dr Neil Jensen MBBS FRACGP FAAETS (USA) Colonel (Retrd), spoke to the importance of benevolence to Freemasons. Freemasons are taught to be ever alert to the needs of others and to promote happiness. This centre is an iteration of our desire for a better tomorrow. “Through the work of this Centre, we see our great masonic family providing tangible help for our fellow citizens: men, women and children.”
Professor Gary Wittert, Director of the FCMHW SA Division, acknowledged the now 13 year history of the Centre and the major investment of the University of Adelaide and Freemasons of SA/NT through the Freemasons Foundation, and now Masonic Charities, that has led to the success and growth of the Centre from a handful to now more than 50 researcher. He thanked those involved and spoke with great pride of the many young outstanding researchers and students who the Centre has supported. He cherry picked just some examples of how the Centre’s research has influenced and changed practice.
The formal part of the event concluded with His Excellency and Dr Jensen unveiling a plaque commemorating the establishment of the Centre which will be placed in the Hall of Fame in the Grand Lodge building of Freemasons of SA and NT on North Terrace.
FCMHW thanks Morgan Stanley Australia for its generous sponsorship of this event.