1.         ROTARY – THE EARLY YEARS

 

The Rotary Movement was born in Chicago, U.S.A. on the evening of 23 February 1905, when Paul Harris, then a young lawyer, met with three friends, Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer, Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor and Gustovus Shorey, a mining engineer in whose office they met. The ‘Club’ grew in size steadily so that by year end it had about 30 members and by the end of 1908, 200 members.  In 1909 three more clubs were formed in the U.S.A., the first of these being in San Francisco. By the end of 1910 there were 16 Clubs with 1500 members and in that year those 16 Clubs with 1,500 members and in that year those 16 Clubs were united as “The National Association of Rotary Clubs” when Paul Harris was elected President.

 

In 1911 Rotary moved out of the U.S.A. with the formation of The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Canada and the Rotary Club of Dublin, Ireland.  By 1912 the number of Clubs had increased to 44 with 5,000 members and when the Convention of that year changed the name to “The International Association of Rotary Clubs”, and subsequently “Rotary International”.

 

 2.         ROTARY COMES TO AUSTRALIA

 

During the World War I years 1914 – 1918 Rotary continued to grew apace in the USA from 120 Clubs in 1914 (15,000 members) to 415 Clubs in 1918 (38,800 members). However, Rotary did not become truly global until the 1920’s which commenced with 516 Clubs with a total membership of 45,000 and during which decade the movement spread beyond Great Britain to continental Europe and reached South and Central America, Africa, Asia and Australia.  But for that War, Rotary might have come to Australia sooner, than 1921 when there were about 800 Rotary Clubs in USA, Canada and Great Britain. Two Canadians were appointed Special Commissioners for Australia and New Zealand. They arrived in Sydney on 22nd March 1921 but were ‘put off’ by the Royal Easter Show, so Melbourne became, as a consequence, the first Rotary Club formed in Australia (on 1st April, 1921) and Sydney second (on 1st May, 1921) with 72 members between them. The first President of Melbourne Club was Professor W.A. Osborne of the University of Melbourne and for Sydney, Sir Henry Braddon, Director, Director of Dalgety & Co.

  

3.         ROTARY COMES TO NORTH SYDNEY

 

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 24th May, 1928, Empire Day. The President of The Rotary Club of Sydney, Mrs. W. H. Ifould and others from that club were present and it was explained that ‘their club would sponsor and guide the footsteps of the infant club until it became well established”.  The records state that the Sydney Rotarians did this in a splendid way. It had been decided that the district from which the club should draw its members should embrace the Municipalities of North Sydney, Lane Cove, Willoughby and Mosman and the Shire of Ku-ring-gai – indeed a large area.  The Club was charted on 16th August 1928 and the Charter Night was held on 10th October, 1928 at Warringah Hall, Neutral Bay. It took the form of a dinner dance. Same Jones (later District Governor) was the first President with a Club Membership of just 18 members.

 

4.         WHERE OUR CARAVAN HAS RESTED

 

When our Club was first formed in 1928 its first few meetings were held in the office of the North Shore Gas Co. Ltd., but by the time of the Charter Night in October of that year the regular venue for club meetings was the Milsons Point Hotel.  It soon became apparent that the club needed a larger room for its meetings and so the club moved to the Crows Nest Hotel.  The business area of North Sydney was then very small; also our Club members included to a high degree, retailers in the Crows Nest area.  Then in 1959, after nearly 30 years at that venue, there was a change not because of any dissatisfaction with the Hotel, but because our Club was becoming too big to fit in.  Hence in that year we moved to the Police Boys’ Club in Falcon Street. We met happily there for some 15 years but, among other things, parking became difficult. In 1974, therefore we moved to the Cammeray Golf Club. There was adequate parking there but the dining room was too small. So, on our way again, we moved to the North Sydney Leagues Club in 1978.  From the beginning until now the Club has always met for lunch on Thursdays.

 

 

5.         PAUL HARRIS

 

Even the newest Rotarians know that Rotary was founded by Paul Harris, but what manner of man was he?

Paul was born in Wisconsin USA on 19 April, 1868.  He was brought up, however, by his grandparents in a small town in the State of Vermont. He studied law and graduated in 1891. He felt, though that he should broaden himself through travel before beginning to practise laws. As a result he had a number of positions in a number of places over a period of five years. In 1896 he moved to Chicago, which became his permanent home, and opened a law office. In 1900 he had the idea of a businessmen’s club which would recapture the atmosphere of friendship he had experienced in his boyhood in Vermont. It was not until 1905 that he formed such a club. Rotary was born on 23 February 1905. He visited Australia in 1935 when he only visited one individual club – our club North Sydney, on 14th March. On that occasion he planted a tree in North Sydney (St. Leonards) Park.

 

 

6.     SLOGANS ON OUR CHARTER CERTIFICATE

 

This framed certificate is displayed at each of our regular meetings behind the official table.  It is somewhat flood damaged but perhaps more on that in a later article.  There are two slogans on that certificate. They are “Who Serves Best Profits Most” and “Service Before Self”. The first of these two slogans is not now much used because it can be given a mercenary connotation, and indeed is difficult to translate without doing that. Both slogans were coined by Arthur Sheldon, a friend of Paul Harris, and who became a member of the Rotary Club of Chicago in 1908. He expressed his ideas to the first Rotary Convention in 1910. At the following Convention in Portland many of them were written into the Rotary platform. Paul Harris certainly founded Rotary, but Arthur Sheldon gave Rotary much of its character as an association of service clubs.

 

7.     ST. LEONARDS PARK

 

If you can spare the time during our spring season you should be able to find a parking space, out of peak hours, in Miller Street, North Sydney near to where it intersects Falcon Street. In St. Leonards Park near that intersection there is a rose garden well worth seeing at this time of year. Your trained eye will pick up immediately that that rose garden is bounded by a large replica of the Rotary wheel.  It has been there since 1954. Slightly nearer the intersection of the two streets you will find a Queensland firewheel tree (stenocarpus sinuatus). A bronze plaque records that it was planted by Clem Renouf on 30 March 1978 to commemorate 50 years of service by the Rotary Club of North Sydney. Clem at the time was President-elect of Rotary International, the second Australian to achieve that distinction. Nearby there is another, but older, firewheel tree and another bronze plaque which records that the tree was planted by Paul Harris, founder of Rotary on 14 March 1935. It was on this date that he called on the North Sydney Rotary Club – the only club visited by him in Australia.

  

8.    DISTRICT GOVERNORS

 

District Governors are officers of Rotary International (R.I.).  They are elected at the Annual Conventions of R.I. Nomination, though, is a function of each Rotary District where candidates are proposed by a Nominating Committee. Additionally, any Club may of its own volition select a candidate. Voting on the candidates is by a committee of ‘electors’: one elector for each 25 members (or major fraction thereof) in the Clubs concerned.  District Governors attend an International Assembly (and leave as District Governors-elect) about two months before his or her year of office as District Governor commences. These Assemblies, 30 years ago, were held in Lake Placid, new York; then for a period in Boca Raton, Florida and currently in Anaheim, California. The functions of District Governors include organising the District Conference and the District Assembly, helping to strengthen the Clubs in the District, making an official visit to every such club, chairing monthly meetings of the District’s Club Presidents and issuing a monthly newsletter to all Rotarians in the District.

  

9.   CONSTITUTION OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

 

The members of Rotary Clubs are human beings, while the members of Rotary International are Rotary Clubs.

 

Clearly the Constitution of any particular Rotary Club cannot deal with the conduct of another Rotary Club. It follows that Rotary International must have a separate Constitution of its own. This Constitution gives power to the Council on Legislation or the Convention of Rotary International to make By-Laws for the conduct of R.I. Most of our readers do not have copies of the Constitution or By-Laws of Rotary International.  They will include comment on the Council of Legislation and the Convention of Rotary International.

 

10.            THE COUNCIL ON LEGISLATION

 

The By-Laws of R.I. provide for a Council on Legislation. In broad terms the main function of the Council is to consider and decide on proposals to amend the Constitution and by-Laws of R.I. and the standard Club Constitution.  Proposals for consideration by the Council may be made by a Club, a District Conference, the Council on Legislation itself or by the Board of R.I. The Council meets every third year at a time and place determined by the Board of R.I. but usually just before an International Rotary Convention.

 

The membership of the Council is about 500 and includes a representative from each Rotary District. During the year prior to each Council meeting each District solicits “amendments’ from Clubs which are then consolidated into a single set of resolutions which are circulated to all clubs and their members. A vote is taken at club level to give guidance to our District representative when he or she attends and votes at the triennial Council on Legislation.  The 1998 Council met in New Delhi, India while the 2000 meeting will be held in Singapore.

  

11.            ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

 

Rotary International Conventions are held annually in the month of May or June. The Board of R.I. chooses the place from the proposals and description of facilities put to it by Clubs which seek to host the Convention.  Conventions may not be held in any one country for more than two consecutive years.  The U.S.A. has been the only country to have hosted the Convention in two consecutive years and history tells us that the Convention is held in the U.S.A. at least every third year. In recent years in excess of 20,000 registrants from about 5,000 Clubs have attended (although there were 40,000 registrants at the 1978 Convention in Tokyo). The Rotary Club of Sydney hosted the 1971 Convention (to celebrate 5- years of Rotary in Australia) while the Rotary Club of Melbourne was host in 1993. The Rotary Cub of Brisbane will host the 2,006 Convention. The Rotary Club of Buenos Aires hosted the 2,000 Convention while the 2,001 Convention will be hosted by the Rotary Club of San Antonio, Texas.

  

12.            PRESIDENT OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

 

The Presidents of R.I. serve for a term of a year which commences on 1 July. There is a Nominating Committee for the position of President. It consists of 15 members elected from zones and regions set out in the By-Laws of R.I. Any Club may make a recommendation to the Nominating Committee or even of its own volition make a nomination.  The nominated Rotarian must have served previously on the Board of R.I. and the President cannot be selected from the same country in any two consecutive years. Australia has provided four (4) Presidents of Rotary International viz. Sir Angus Mitchell of Melbourne (1948-1949), Sir Clem Renouf of Nambour, Queensland (1978-1979), Royce Abbey of Essendon, Victoria (1988-1989) and recently Glen Kinross of Hamilton, Queensland (1996-1997). In 1999-2000 the President was Carlo Ravizza from Italy. Our 2,000-2,001 President is Frank Devlyn from Mexico while the 2,001-2,002 President will be Richard King from the U.S.A.

   

13.    ADMINISTRATION OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

 

As most readers will be aware the members of Rotary International (R.I.) are not the approx. 1,200,000 members of Rotary Clubs (Rotarians) but the nearly 30,000 Rotary Clubs to which they belong. The President and Board of R.I. through a Secretariat in Evanston near Chicago serves Rotary Clubs worldwide, but how are those clubs ‘arranged’ to be able to do that?  Firstly the world is divided into 34 zones of approximately equal numbers of Rotarians and then each zone is divided into a number of Districts ranging from 7 in Zone 3 to 33 in Zone 19, 528 Districts in all. Examples of zone/country arrangement are Japan (Zones 1 to 4), Australasia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Pacific Islands (Zones 7 and 8), Great Britain (Zones 17 and 18) Central and South America (Zones 19 to 21), while Canada and the USA take up zones 22 to 34. The Board of  R.I. consists of the President, President-elect and 17 other directors nominated and elected by the Clubs in the 34 zones.  Each zone nominates a director every fourth year, that director serving on the Board for a two year term.  The President and President-Elect serve one year in that position and are drawn from former R.I.directors. The President appoints some 70 committees and subcommittees involving hundreds of Rotarians worldwide to administer all aspects of Rotary “Service” generally via the 528 Districts.

 

14.            ROTARY OFFICIAL DIRECTORY

 

Rotary International produces, annually, a comprehensive “Official Directory” which lists

(1)   the names of the current R.I. Board members and members of all committees and sub-committees worldwide appointed by the Presidents

(2)   the past presidents and directors of R.I. for each year commencing the 1910-1911.

(3)   The R.I. themes each year since 1949-1950

(4)   The locations of R.I. conventions each year since 1910

(5)   The lands and geographical regions in which there are Rotary clubs

(6)   The zones and their districts

(7)   The senior personnel in the Evanston Secretariat

(8)   A single line alphabetical schedule of all Rotary clubs worldwide and the District in which they are located and

(9)   The purpose and main body of the publication a list, chronologically, of all 528 Districts and in alphabetical order the clubs in that District. The information given about each club is best shown by an example from District 3450:

 

“The Kowloon Club in Hong Kong was chartered in 1948, has 73 members meets on Thursdays at 12.30 pm at the Peninsular Hotel. The names and addresses of the president and secretary and a contact phone number are also given”

This sort of information is useful in a number of ways. For example if you propose to holiday in North Queensland you can see that the Rotary Club of Cairns (D 9550) meets on Thursday at 6.15 p.m. at the Reef Hotel, Casino and that the Rotary Club of Atherton meets on Tuesdays at 6.30 p.m. at the International Club.  Similarly, if you propose to visit the United Kingdom you can obtain information about the clubs in the cities, towns and villages you might be visiting. In the past several members of our Club, by using the Directory, were able to undertake trips around the world, for business and/or pleasure, while maintaining 100% attendance.

  

15.            ROTARY IS AS ROTARY DOES

 

The practice is, in most of the World, for Rotarians to meet and eat; but not every Rotary Club in the world holds its regular meeting in association with a meal.

 

For some Rotary Clubs in India, for example members have their evening meal at home and then go to the Rotary meeting. The situation is the reverse of that in Jakarta in Indonesia. The Club meets in the early evening and, when the meeting has finished, the members go home for their evening meal. This is particularly convenient during the Muslim month of fasting. It is easily possible to make-up in some countries on Saturday or Sunday. Friday is the Muslim holy day and is avoided for Rotary meetings by clubs with a significant Muslim membership. But, if you are so inclined in these countries it is not difficult to find clubs that meet on Saturday (Bandung-Dago in West Java) or Sunday (Bandung Utaro also in West Java). Many Rotary Clubs do not say grace before meals that not being part of the habits of their country. Likewise a singing of a national anthem or song is by no means a Rotary practice everywhere.