Charter number 7349 was presented to the Rotary Club of Hornsby on 4th November 1949 and the Governor of what was then District 29, “Ollie” Oldberg inducted 27 members, of whom the Charter President, Charles Turnbull, was the only former Rotarian. Hornsby was the fourth club on the North Shore of Sydney, North Sydney (1928), Manly (1937) and Chatswood (1948), Hornsby’s sponsor, being the first three.

At first the Hornsby Club boundaries included all of the Hornsby Shire and part of the Municipality of Ku ring-gai, but the area gradually contracted as Hornsby sponsored four “daughter” clubs, Pennant Hills in 1960, Turramurra in 1968, Berowra in 1977 and Waitara in 1981. These in turn sponsored “grand daughter” and other descendant clubs such as Dural (1967), Beecroft (1972), Kenthurst (1973), Wahroonga (1975), Galston (1978), Thornleigh (1981) and more recently West Pennant Hills. In all there are now eleven Clubs in the Shire of Hornsby.

Originally in District 29, Hornsby became part of District 275 in 1956, District 268 in 1961, District 968 in 1977 and eventually part of District 9680. During the year 1962-63 when Hornsby member Fred Higgins was District Governor, the District was divided into 268 and 269. Membership of the Rotary Club of Hornsby grew from 27 in 1949 to nearly 80 at its peak in 1970 and then declined with the charter of new clubs over the years. Current membership (2002) is 28. Since its inception the Rotary Club of Hornsby has inducted about 300 members.

Over the years the Rotary Club of Hornsby has participated in a wide range of fellowship, community, vocational and international activities. The main recipient of the Club’s charity funds has been the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai Hospital for more than 50 years but support has been given to a wide range of other community activities. The Club has been involved in Group Study Exchange, in sponsoring and hosting Ambassadorial Fellows and in sending and receiving Youth exchange students from many countries including U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Russia. Hornsby has had a Rotaract Club and three Interact Clubs and the Club is a regular supporter of R.Y.L.A., the Model United Nations and many other youth programs.

The Club has also conducted many programs and activities of support for senior citizens and other community groups. Rotary Park at Waitara, a small oasis amid hundreds of units in new high rise residential buildings, is a testimony to the Club’s activities in the late 1950s.

In the International field, Hornsby Club has supported projects in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and various Pacific Islands. The Club was instrumental in helping to set up Rotary Clubs in Siberia in the mid 1990s. It has also been the principal fund-raising club for the Rotarians Against Malaria project, through its coin collection and repatriation program.

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