Australian Rotarians Robyn Sullivan and Geoff Kennedy look through the glass casing at the Old Court House Museum Wednesday while touring Vicksburg as part of a Friendship Exchange of Rotary International. (The Vicksburg Post/Melanie Duncan)

[09/19/02]The people of Australia are known for their hospitality, but a group of Australians who stopped in Vicksburg Wednesday said the people of this city and Mississippi have them beat.

The six couples who arrived in Vicksburg just before noon Wednesday are on a Friendship Exchange arranged by Rotary International. They arrived in Memphis Friday and traveled to Greenville Saturday. They left Greenville Wednesday morning before spending the day in Vicksburg and heading for Jackson Wednesday afternoon.

In return for Mississippi Rotarians’ hospitality, Australian Rotarians will be the hosts for up to 10 couples from the Rotary district that covers central Mississippi. That trip will take place in May and June 2003 in time for the Rotary International convention in Brisbane.

The Australian couples visiting Mississippi were Clive and Rae Walker, Lance and Robyn Sullivan, Brian and June Greed, Geoff and Jennifer Kennedy, Andrew Treadwell and Jan Macdonald and Keith and Heather Rogers.

“The people here are the most hospitable we’ve ever met,” said Brian Greed as he was waiting for their transportation to return following lunch at Walnut Hills. “We have been overwhelmed with the hospitality. We thought Australians were good at it but you’ve got us beat.”

Greed said he was also impressed with the food they have been served since arriving in Mississippi. “The pork is wonderful,” he said.

Another of the Australians, Geoff Kennedy, lifted the sleeve of his shirt to show off a large bruise on his upper arm. “Do you know what that is?” he asked. With the first Mississippi dove season still open, the answer was obvious and Kennedy said they were treated to dove shooting two days and one evening of skeet shooting while in Greenville.

“It was my first time hunting,” he said. “We had a ball, and I actually got one.”

Greed, who is a hunter and fisherman in Australia, envied the Mississippi outdoor ethic.

“I wish Australia had the same attitude toward hunting and fishing as Americans,” Greed said. “In Australia, if you say you hunt deer, they look at you like you are a wife beater.”

Clive Walker said he was a little upset.

“I got on the scales the other day,” he said. “I think they were broken.”

He and Andrew Treadwell both said they expect to return to Australia heavier than when they arrived in Mississippi.

“I love the food, especially those Southern sweet potatoes,” Treadwell said.

The hospitality offered the Australians has at least one of the women on the tour scratching her head.

“The hospitality has been just amazing,” said Heather Rogers. “I just wonder how we are going to repay it.

“We were talking about that in the bus” on the way to Vicksburg, Rae Walker said. “We will look after (the Mississippi Rotarians visiting in 2003) just as well, but it will be different.”

After lunch, the group went to the Mississippi Welcome Center on South Washington Street to see the Mississippi River. They then visited the Old Court House Museum, some of the museums on Washington Street and the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The group will visit Natchez before heading to New Orleans and their flights home.