ROTARY IN AUSTRALIA

In February 1921 the Board of the International Association of Rotary Clubs authorised the establishment of Rotary clubs in Australia and New Zealand.
Melbourne became the first club in Australia to be chartered and Sydney soon followed. Brisbane and Adelaide were formed in 1923, Hobart a year later and Perth in 1926.  Meanwhile, Rotary was being extended to provincial cities and large towns and by 1928 there were 17 clubs in Australia. For the purposes of administration, Rotary clubs throughout the world are allocated into districts.
A Rotary district covers a number of clubs within a defined geographical area. Australia became District 65 in 1928.
By the 75th anniversary of Rotary’s arrival in Australia, there were 23 districts with 1,178 clubs and some 42,000 members. 

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF LINDFIELD

The first meeting of the Rotary club of Lindfield occurred on 17th March 1970, which was coincidently the bicentenary of Captain Cook’s discovery of Australia. Presentation of the Charter occurred at Macquarie University on Friday 24th April 1970 with dinner for the princely sum of $6.50 per head. The sponsor club was Ku-ring-gai and representatives of 50 clubs were present. District Governor Tom Howieson presented the Charter to the first Lindfield President, Keith Kirkpatrick. Sadly none of the charter members remain in the club today.  

Starting with 24, the club membership rose steadily to reach a high of 59 during the Presidency of Peter Icely in 1986.

 Since then, whilst there have been fluctuations, our membership  

Rotarian Keith Wallace receives a District Award for the best Bulletin  1979-80 from President Tim Gordon

is  generally in the mid forties and we are one of the largest clubs in our district.

In 1971 the Club assisted in the International Convention held in Sydney and in 1983 was responsible for the organization of the District Assembly and as a result in 1984, Geoffrey Basser was awarded a Presidential Citation by the Rotary International World President, Bill Shelton.

In 1988 Don Durie was selected as District Governor Nominee for 1989-90 and District Governor for the following year. As a result, in March 1991 the club ran the first District Conference held at the then new Darling Harbour Conference Centre. It was also the 21st birthday of the club. The club was immensely proud to have run the best ever District 9680 Conference under the able leadership of PP Geoffrey Basser and his Conference Management Team.

1989-90 saw the club in conjunction with Northbridge Club, sponsor the formation of the Rotary Club of Roseville Chase. In this same year it was recognized that there was a need to protect members from liability and the club became an incorporated body.

In 1993 then Past District Governor John Carrick was elected to serve as a Director of Rotary International during 1994-96 and in 1994 Past District Governor Don Durie received the Distinguished Service Award for District 9680. Don remains an active member of the club to this day. Sadly John has recently passed away.

In 1996 the club began a new community service activity by starting a Fun Run/Walk. The organization of this activity was placed in the very capable hands of Max Elliot, at that time a relatively new member of the club. Max laid down a planning process and allocation of tasks that has stood the test of time as this event grew from some 200 participants in the first year to more than 2000 in 2013. Our first major Sponsor came aboard in 2003.
Over the years significant contributions to the furtherance of Rotary ideals have been made by the club as a whole and by individual members through the provision of funds and time. The club has contributed financially to various overseas aid projects, supports the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund and many other worthy causes. 




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P.D.G. John Carrick presents the Paul Harris Fellowship Award to 
Nola Beatty on the 26th of February, 
1985