|
|
| SEARCH |
Rotary Club of North Sydney |
| District 9680 |
|
The decision to form the Rotary Club of North Sydney was made at a
meeting held in the Board Room of the North Shore Gas Company on 24 May
1928 in the presence of the President and several members of the Rotary
Club of Sydney formed just seven years earlier in 1921. The Club was
chartered on 16 August 1928 as Club No.2952 and the 19th Club chartered
in Australia as part of District 65 which covered the whole continent.
Sam Janes (later District Governor) was the first President with a club
membership of just 18 members. It formed the Inner Wheel Club of North
Sydney in December 1932, the second Inner Wheel Club to be formed in
Australia. Current membership numbers about 75 having reached a maximum membership of 130 in 1970. Between the end of World War II and about 1975 it ceded territory to directly form 6 new clubs from which all 68 clubs in District 9680 have been developed. Eight members have served Rotary International as District Governors.  On 14 March
1935 the Club welcomed Paul Harris, the Founder of Rotary, to its
meeting following which he planted a memorial tree (Queensland
fire-wheel) in nearby St Leonards Park, after which a photograph
recording the occasion was taken in the grandstand of North Sydney Oval
next door. In September 1949, when the tree was some 15 years old (it
still lives into the 21st century), and following the death of Paul
Harris in January 1947, a commemorative plaque was placed at the base of
the tree. A second fire-wheel tree was planted nearby in August 1978 by
the then R.I. President,
Clem Renouf, on the occasion of the Club’s
Golden Anniversary.After meeting at the Milsons Point Hotel for the first 12 months the Club met for 30 years at the Crows Nest Hotel, then for 15 years at the North Sydney Police Boys Club followed by 4 years at the Cammeray Golf Club and since 1978 the venue for all weekly meetings has been the North Sydney Leagues Club, only five meeting places, during the Club’s 75 years, since its charter was received.  For the first six years until July 1934 the Club did not produce its
own weekly bulletin. During that time minutes of each meeting were kept
and members received, monthly, a copy of “Pinion” produced by its
“mother”, the Rotary Club of Sydney. Issue No.1 of “Cogs”, the Club’s
weekly bulletin in the form of a 4 page printed “magazine”, is dated 5
June 1934 and continued in that form for 7½ years, the last Issue being
No.356 dated 9 December 1941 when for reasons of war and paper shortage
publication was suspended. However, on 28 March 1944 Issue No.357 rolled
off the presses, again in a magazine format, which by and large has
continued since then for some 60 years. Except for public holidays and
special occasions “Cogs” has been produced weekly about 49 times each
year such that by mid 2002 when these history notes were prepared Issue
No.3215 was current. Commencing in the late 1970s the District has made
an annual award for Club Bulletins with North Sydney winning that award
on four occasions. The Club has been a strong supporter of the
Rotary Foundation through several of its activities. It has nominated
successfully two Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars, provided three team
leaders for overseas Group Study Exchanges, actively participated in the
3H and Polio Plus Programmes and, through the Paul Harris Fellows scheme
has directly financed the recognition of more that 70 Paul Harris
Fellows, six of whom have also been recognised with a Sapphire Pin.
Approximately one third of those 70 have been non-Rotarians of whom
about half have been women.In 1994 the Club established, with matching grants from the Rotary Foundation, a facility in Uganda for the manufacture and supply of low cost appliances such as calipers, clogs and crutches to physically disabled children and teenagers. A second grant was received some seven years later to expand this highly successful venture. After several years of hesitation following R.I.’s decision to admit women into Rotary the Club elected its first female member in 1989 who then served as President in 1995?1996. Since then the Club has had a second lady President, in 2000-2001. Both are Paul Harris Fellows, the second also receiving a Sapphire Pin in 2002. Earlier in the Club’s life the great depression created many opportunities for service to the needy in the community then shortly afterwards World War II provided a greater range of service opportunities. One of the service to youth activities in that era was the major participation in the establishment of a training centre (camp) for Boy Scouts in north western Sydney. During the post war years of the 1950s and 1960s disadvantaged children were entertained at Sydney’s Luna Park when the Club took over that venue on a Friday night twice each year. A major air-show was organised in 1969 to raise funds for local charities. This successfully increased the awareness of Rotary in the community at that time. In 1981 the Rotary Club of North Sydney Benevolent Fund was established with some $300,000 since then distributed to various charities and, in 1982, the Allan Stephens North Sydney Rotary Trust was set in place to support research into cancer and arthritis with more than $120,000 having been provided in its first 20 years. In 2001 the Club donated a bus for the Hope Healthcare Tom O’Neill Centre to transport dementia sufferers and their carers. In March 1983 the Club sponsored the Probus Club of North Sydney. In 1967 a Rotaract Club was formed and it flourished for about a dozen years before a steady decline in member numbers led to its closure in 1982. Two unsuccessful attempts were made over the next decade to get it going again. Current on-going local community services include for more than 25 years the management and co-ordination of the North Sydney Regional Centre for the Annual Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal; for some two decades the distribution of food hampers in July and at Christmas to needy and elderly citizens in the North Sydney area; and for ten years, the operation of the Rotary Markets at the Crowns Nest Community Centre on the 3rd Saturday of each month. In the late 1970s Rotary District 9680 established an award, the District Governor’s Shield, to be presented annually to the club with the best “all round” performance. The Rotary Club of North Sydney has since then won the Shield twice, in 1982-1983 and in 2000-2001. It has a proven record and completes 75 years of service in 2003 and looks forward with confidence to continuing that service for another 25 years…at least. Malcolm S Nicklin PHF Past President 1982-1983 |
| This page was compiled and provided by PDG John Louttit |
RGHF members, who have been invited to this page, may register RGHF members, who have been invited to this page, may register If a DGE/N/D joins prior to their year, they will have more exposure to Rotary's Global History by their service year. This will be beneficial to all concerned. *Based on paid members, subscribers, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, mobile app users, History Library users, web pages, and articles about Rotary's Global History RGHF Home | Disclaimer | Privacy | Usage Agreement | RGHF on Facebook | Subscribe | Join RGHF | |