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The first
Rotary Club was organised in Chicago USA
by a young lawyer, Paul Harris and several friends and the first meeting was
held on 23 February 1905. Membership
grew rapidly and there were soon too many to meet in the business places of
the members so that meetings began around the luncheon table. Clubs around the world now follows the
system of weekly meetings, usually held in conjunction with breakfast, lunch
or dinner.
From Chicago, Rotary soon spread to other cities in USA and then to Canada
in 1910 and Britain and Ireland
in 1913. Extension of Rotary resumed
after World War 1 and in 1921 the Rotary Club of Melbourne became the first
to be formed in Australia.
Rotary
continued to grow in the south-eastern area of the Melbourne metropolitan area as a result of
the post- World War 2 residential and business development. The Rotary Club of Moorabbin was formed in
1962 and then in 1971 it sponsored the Rotary Club of Mordialloc.
The first
meeting of the Rotary Club of Mordialloc was on 20 July 1971, Rotary
International granted the charter on 14 August 1971 and the formal
presentation night was held on 12 November 1971. The Charter President was George Snow, a
local businessman who proved a driving force throughout the early years of
the club until he moved to live interstate in 1987.
At the time of
charter, the Club’s territory was based on the boundaries of the then City of
Mordialloc, covering the suburbs of
Mordialloc, Parkdale, Mentone and parts of Cheltenham,
Beaumaris and Braeside. Following revision
of boundaries and municipal amalgamations in 1994, the club’s territory is
now defined as the City of Kingston and that
part of the City of Glen Eira within Rotary District
9810. The Rotary Club of Mordialloc
shares this territory with several other clubs.
The Rotary
Club of Mordialloc contributed to the growth of Rotary in the local area by
sponsoring a new club, the Rotary Club of Braeside, formed in 2001.
Over the 34
years of its existence, The Rotary Club of Mordialloc has undertaken projects
across all areas of Rotary service providing for a huge range of needs both
locally and in the wider national and international communities. A strong spirit of friendship has always
been promoted throughout the Club with members, partners and other family and
friends always welcome to participate in meetings, working bees, outings and
social events.
The list of
activities undertaken in the first ten years included assistance to local
charities such as Red Cross, drug support groups, life saving clubs, a
half-way house, local hospitals, Salvation Army, bush fire appeals and the
Spastic Children’s centre. The Club
assisted training for aboriginal apprentices from Northern Territory, building of a bus
shelter and children’s playground, a community garden, creation of a Rotary
village for the aged and arranging outings for migrant groups. Many activities involved programs for young
people including international youth exchange, youth leadership awards,
sponsoring of a Rotaract club and providing careers advisers to local
schools. The Club also became involved
with a number of international projects such as Rotary Foundation group study
and humanitarian projects. Support was
given to a foster child in Bolivia. In these early years the Club commenced two
fundraising and community events that still continue namely the Annual Art
Show and the Annual Jumble Show.
In later
years, some of the above programs continued while new activities were
developed to meeting the needs of a changing community. Support for aged citizens has always been
an important activity. In the early
1980s the Club agreed to deliver the City of Mordialloc
(now Kingston)
Meals on Wheels Service for those elderly citizens requiring the service at
weekends. Every weekend (and at Christmas)
a club member delivers a pre-cooked nourishing meal to between 12 and 20
housebound people who might not have any community contact.
In 1987, along
with six other local clubs, the Club organised a major air show at Moorabbin Airport that was attended by some
40,000 people and raised funds for the Salvation Army. In these years club members undertook
volunteer work on projects in the Solomons and
PNG. The Club also took a leading role
in promoting health awareness and organ transplants, for which we won the
District Community Service Award.
In more recent
years the Club has increased its activity on a range of International
projects while continuing to support a range of local community and youth
activities. Club members have been
volunteers on humanitarian projects in Laos,
East Timor and India
while providing financial support and donating goods to these and many other
countries. Since 1997 we have held an
annual golf day at Rossdale Golf Club with the profits, totally about $40,000
to date, going to assist Interplast undertake urgent plastic surgery in poor
Pacific and Asian countries.
The Club has
continued to support The Rotary Foundation, financially and by participation by
nominating successful applicants for Group Study Exchange teams and the
prestigious Ambassadorial Scholarship.
The 2005 Group Study Exchange was undertaken with District 6000
covering the Iowa region of USA. The District 9810 team was lead by a member
of the Rotary Club of Mordialloc for the first time, Past President Kay
Gordon. Furthermore, the club was also successful in nominating Kathryn
MacDonald, a chemical engineer with Orica, to the
group study team. The team visited Iowa in May/June 2005 and participants then attended
the Centenary International Convention of Rotary held in Chicago.
Over the years
many Mordialloc Rotarians have served on district committees and in various
senior district leadership roles. Two
members have had the honour of serving as Governor of Rotary District 9810 –
the official representative of Rotary International and the highest position
in the District organisation. They are Don Holderness in
1992-93 and Brian Foley in 2001-02.
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