Monica Schott has lived in Werribee for over 30 years and is currently doing a PHD on the ghost town of Cocoroc which was located on the MMBW Farm.

Back in the 1880’s all of Melbourne’s sewerage came to Werribee in open channels. 

The farm workers lived on site, mainly in the township of Cocoroc, which was situated in Farm Road, about half way between the Princes Freeway and the Werribee South beach. The MMBW policy at the time was that there were no female workers on the site.

In 1880, Melbourne was bestowed with the award of the smelliest city in the world thanks to the open sewer. It had the unenviable nickname of Marvellous "Smellbourne".

There were about 30 houses in Cocoroc, which boasted a hotel, primary school, shops, and the only swimming pool in Werribee.

As Melbourne grew, so did the work force to manage the treatment of the sewage, and a community of workers and their families that lived on site. The population peaked to over 500 in the 1950's. All but one family left the township in 1974; the last family moved off site in 1980.

The plant continues to treat Melbourne’s sewage and is now known as Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant.

Sadly, the MMBW has very little of the history of Cocoroc.

A newspaper article in the Yea Chronical on 23 March 1899 said “For the information of those whose Victorian geographical education has been neglected, “Cocoroc” is a small but “rapidly rising" township located between Little River & Werribee, close to the shores of Port Phillip Bay. It is chiefly noted as a health resort, and is guaranteed to contain a more varied collection of germs to the square inch, than Footscray.

On Friday March 1^st , 29 cyclists and 8 support crew will be embarking on a 1100 km bike ride from Sydney to Melbourne in support of RoCan (Ovarian Cancer Research).

Amongst the group will be Phil Purdy who will push his little legs all the way on his bike and Geoff Smith who will be doing support duties - and maybe even giving Phil a rub down after a hard day's ride. Other members of the support crew include Barb Purdy and Lexie Smith.

The group will complete their ride at the Royal Yacht Club in Williamstown at 1:30pm on Friday 8th March. Maybe some of our members could be there to see the riders cross the finish line.

RI President-elect Mark Maloney’s theme for 2019-20, Rotary Connects the World, asks Rotarians to strengthen the many ways that Rotary Connects the World, building the connections that allow talented, thoughtful, and generous people to unite and take meaningful action through Rotary service.

Mr Maloney says that Rotary is built on connection. When Paul Harris came to Chicago as a young lawyer, he formed Rotary for one compelling reason: to help him connect to others in a new city. More than a century later, we have at our disposal countless ways to form friendships and networks, most of which Paul Harris never dreamed. Yet Rotary’s ability to connect us remains unique — and unrivalled.

While the club remains the core of the Rotary experience, we are now far more creative and flexible in deciding what a club can be, how it can meet, and even what can be considered a Rotary meeting. We need to be organized, strategic, and innovative in how we approach membership, forging wider and deeper connections to our communities and forming new club models to attract and engage more — and more diverse — members.

Rotary is indeed a family. Yet too often, the structure of membership or the demands of leadership seem to place Rotary out of reach for today’s younger professionals. Rotary can and should be an experience that complements our families instead of competing with them. When our Rotary clubs are warm, welcoming places where service and family go hand in hand, we give family-oriented young professionals the opportunity to embrace Rotary service and model positive civic engagement. And when we make the expectations of Rotary offices realistic and manageable for busy professionals, we develop the skills and networks of a new generation of Rotarians — who will become Rotary leaders.

Our planned weekend away at the Yarra Valley Lodge on 4th and 5th May looks doomed due to a lack of support from members. We currently only have 4 couples who have registered their interest. If you would like to attend this social weekend, please contact President Graham or Peter Ross as soon as possible.

Click here to see a brochure about the weekend.

The 2019 Werribee Rotary Golf Day is only one week away and the hole-in-one prize awaits all golfers. You can win a car from Ballan Holden if you can just coax that little white ball into the hole. Sounds pretty easy. Thanks to Tino for making this prize available for the 4th time. Much to his relief, no-one has been successful so far but Murphy's Law suggests that the time is nigh.

We almost have a full list of contestants. 112 players have registered for the day so there are not many places available.

We are still seeking a few extra volunteers to assist on the day. So, if you can't play golf, we would still love to have your involvement.

There will also be the traditional raffle with some fabulous prizes. Members are asked to return all their raffle books (preferably sold) and the raffle money to Ian Hovey at next week's meeting. Any unsold tickets will be made available for sale at the dinner after the game.

Just a reminder that the majority of the proceeds will go towards the upgrade of the dementia unit at Manor Court Aged Care.

Click here to download the registration form.