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History
 Rotary International
Rotary Club of Hurstville
Rotary
International
The
world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois,
USA, was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris. Rotary's
popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade that
followed and by 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents.
As
Rotary grew, members began pooling their resources and contributing
their talents to help serve communities in need. The organisation's
dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto:
Service Above Self.
An
endowment fund, set up by Rotarians in 1917 "for doing good in the
world," became a not-for-profit corporation known as The Rotary
Foundation in 1928. Today, contributions to The Rotary Foundation total
more than US$80 million annually and support a wide range of
humanitarian grants and educational programs that enable Rotarians to
bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world.
In
1985, Rotary made a historic commitment to immunise all of the world's
children against polio. Working in partnership with nongovernmental
organisations and national governments thorough its PolioPlus
program, Rotarians have immunised more than one billion
children worldwide. By the 2005 target date for certification of a
polio-free world, Rotary will have contributed half a billion dollars
to the cause.
As
it approached the dawn of the 21st century, Rotary worked to meet the
changing needs of society, expanding its service effort to address such
pressing issues as environmental degradation, illiteracy, world hunger,
and children at risk. The organisation admitted women for the first
time in 1989 and claims more than 90,000 women in its ranks
today. Today, 1.2 million Rotarians belong to some 29,000
Rotary clubs in more than 160 countries.
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Rotary
Club of Hurstville
The Rotary Club of Hurstville has a sixty year
history as a "Service Club" in the Hurstville District and has founded
several of the adjacent Clubs. The peak membership numbers were around
eighty to ninety members in the 1980's. The Club currently
has forty members.
Early History (1939 - 1959)
The Club was chartered on
2nd September, 1939; with Mr. Charlie
Barter, a prominent Hurstville businessman as its first
President. The Charter Night was held at the Hurstville
Masonic Club, Croft Avenue at a cost of 6 shillings and 6 pence. Among
the 26 Charter members were, Bruce Ferguson, nurseryman; Dr. Alf
Thomas, surgeon; Dr Tom Greenaway, physician; Tibby Knapp, butcher;
George Morris, Town Clerk; Arthur Scott, Scotts Pies; Dud Cox,
pharmacist; and Arthur Diment, Hardware.
During WW2 a War Emergency Relief Fund was
formed to assist bomb victims in Britain and to supply food parcels
until well after the end of the War. Several Hurstville
members were granted extended leave to join the Armed Services. In the
early days, The Rotary Club of Hurstville has provided
assistance to the following organisations:
- Royal Blind
Society
- St George
Hospital
- St George
Area Boy Scouts
- Mortdale Police and Citizen's Boys Club
- The Cripple Children's Association of NSW
- St George Legacy
- The Penshurst Branch of the Red Cross
- Hurstville Home Nursing Service
- SAINTS
- Learning Links
- The Salvation Army
- Cystic Fibrosis NSW
- State Emergency Services
- Meals on Wheels
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This page last Updated on 9th July
2008
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