Rob Greaves

One door closes but a brighter one opens

On November 11th 2010 Publisher Mick Pacholli revived the original paper-based Toorak Times which had commenced in the 1970's by his father Jack, as a multimedia on-line paper.

It is common knowledge that Jack Pacholli was not looked upon favourably by the law, the establishment and even by other publications. Jack Pacholli was his own man and he saw the need for a paper to get out and "say' what other elements of the media were not able or willing to say.

Several years after the death of the first incarnation of the Toorak Times, Mick saw the need and the opportunity of an on-line paper based around the concept of "Citizen Journalism". ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

This is the second and final part of the story of Max Borchardt, in which Max brings his story to an end in this program. It commences with Max sharing more stories about ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.


This is Part 1 of a 2-part program featuring the Life & Times of eighty six year old Max Borchardt. Although well educated Max’s first job was in a foundry, which ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.



This is the 3^rd and final part of the Life and Times of 69 year old music legend, Phil Manning. In this final part of his story ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.


Phil circa 1971

In Part 1 we followed the development of Phil’s musical career, of which a significant part of his ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.


Phil circa 1967

This is part 1 of a 3-part program featuring 69-year-old Phil Manning. Phil is another Baby Boomer who has ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

Letti Bartlett’s story was originally aired in October 2004 but is replayed so that those who missed it the first time can hear it now. Letti is a dynamo and what she has ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

In the final part of the story of eighty year old Jim Walker, we cover a lot of ground and in doing so learn of Jim’s love for motorcycles and there are some great stories ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

In Part 2 of the story of John (Jim) Walker, we follow his story from him working as an industrial electrician to starting his own company. We learn how he comes to meet ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

This is part 1 of a 3-part program featuring the Life & Times of 80 year old Jim Walker. We follow Jim’s life from his earliest memories of being bought up in the Melbourne ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

This program was originally aired in February 2008 and is being repeated as part of our "Golden Moments" programs, where we feature a program from the past that warrants ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced by Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

This program was originally aired in February 2008 and is being repeated as part of our "Golden Moments" programs, where we feature a program from the past that warrants ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

This program was originally aired in February 2008 and is being repeated as part of our "Golden Moments" programs, where we feature a program from the past that warrants a second ...

"Ruminate - to think deeply about something" (Oxford Dictionary)

Oh what a year it was . . . it really was such a year!

Hi, I'm Rob Greaves.


This is the forty-sixth posting in this on-going, if not somewhat ad-hoc column, called "Ruminations From My Verandah" and it's the last for 2016.

The sun is beaming down, the wine is a nice chilled 10 degrees C and I am feeling very mellow. For the umpteenth time this year the Kookaburra’s are singing loud and heartily. My pond is gurgling as the water runs down the rocks and the cicadas rise and fall in a never-ending opera of the bush.

It is hard to accept for a frozen moment in time, as I sit here, ...

Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program produced Rob Greaves for Wesley Mission Victoria and podcast through the Toorak Times.

Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principal of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.

This is the 3^rd and final part of the story of 96-year-old Mary Davenport. A well-educated, thoughtful and assertive woman with a great sense of humor, Mary’s stories continue ...