History of the Rotary Club of Parramatta City

The Association of Rotary Clubs was formed at a convention in Chicago when there were 16 clubs in existence and there were 60 delegates present.

At the 1912 Convention, following the admission of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Canada, the name International Association of Rotary Clubs was adopted, which was shortened to Rotary International in 1922.

Rotary International is now a global network of 1.4 million friends, neighbours, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

In 1905, a group of businessmen, led by Paul Harris met in Chicago and, thought about a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. 

A month later they set about finding a name for the new organisation. 

Among the first ideas were: The Chicago Civic Club, Windy City Round-up, The Chicago Fellowship, the Chicago Circle and, The Lake Club. That was followed by The Trade and Talk Club, Friends in Business, The Boosters Club, The Blue Boys, Men with Friends, and FFF (Food, Fun and Fellowship) Club. 

Finally, The Round Table, which gave way to Paul Harris’s idea of “Rotary”, which came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.

At the end of the Great War in 1918, the world was ready for a global movement to help create an environment for lasting peace.

As the first international service club, Rotary was ready for the challenge. 

Australia joined when two special commissioners were appointed to visit Australia, for the purpose of beginning Rotary…

Mr.James Davison and Mr. Layton Rolston, who were both Canadians arrived in April 1921

Their arrival led to the Rotary Club of Melbourne being admitted to Rotary International on 21st April 1921.

Melbourne started with 37 members.

Sydney followed on a few weeks after the Melbourne club was established. 

The Sydney Rotary Club held its inaugural meeting with 35 charter members and both commissioners in mid-May 2021. The meeting was also attended by three members of the Rotary Club of Melbourne.

The Rotary Club of Parramatta was chartered, as the third Rotary club in New South Wales.

The Sydney Rotary Club covered a very large territory, extending to Bathurst. and decided to relinquish a large portion of this territory.

Parramatta Club took over the area extending West from Burwood to Bathurst. 

Sydney Rotary Club sponsored the Rotary Club of Parramatta and from then, the Rotary Club of Parramatta was to sponsor Rotary clubs at Bathurst, Katoomba, Burwood, Penrith, Auburn, Granville, Holroyd, Blacktown, Baulkham Hills and Parramatta North.

The founder of Rotary, Paul Harris, during a goodwill tour of Australia, visited Parramatta and planted a tree in Prince Alfred Park.

He gave an address in Parramatta’s Woolpack Hotel. Mr. Harris on this occasion made a profound statement about the “international character” of Rotary.

Nearly three years after Paul Harris’s death in January 1949, a commemorative plaque was placed at the foot of the Paul Harris Tree in Prince Alfred Park, Parramatta.

IFFR is one of the oldest Rotary Fellowships and was formally established through the efforts of a dedicated Rotarian, E. Edison Kennell, of Seattle, Washington, in 1965.

Parramatta City Rotary Club Has a long relationship with the Aviation Industry. Three of its Founding members flew their own planes.

Rotarian Ray Wells and his wife Nancy had a long relationship with the Flying Rotarians. and flew into many of the club’s International Annual Fly-ins

Ray was an active member of North Parramatta Club and had a residence in Coffs Harbour. He regularly flew his Cessna plane back and forwards.

Rotarian Alan Smith and his brother Dick spent many hours flying around Australia in various planes from the early days of flying. Alan also decided t build his own plane.

It started over a few beers with mates but enthusiasm waned for his mates. Alan persevered and completed the project with a  licensed aircraft. It had two propellers, belt-driven by a Rolls Royce engine. He exhibited his plane at a number of Airshows.

Ken Hale, after avoiding capture by the Japanese Army in Rabaul,, New Guinea Rejoined the services as a pilot and flew Sutherland Flying Boats during the remainder of the war. He joined Qantas after the war and served as a pilot for his career

Our Club was started as North Parramatta Rotary Club (Later to be changed to Parramatta City).

Once the idea of a North Parramatta Rotary Club was mooted, Charles Robinson worked diligently to approach and recruit new members who lived or worked in the North Parramatta areas. Rotary boundaries were ceded from Parramatta and Rydalmere Rotary Clubs and strictly adhered to. There were a few preliminary meetings held with prospective members, their references diligently checked and finally, a list of 17 willing and enthusiastic new members was assembled. Members of the two sponsoring Clubs were offered membership transfers. Ray Wells came from Rydalmere. From Parramatta Rotary Club came Ken Hale Alan Thomas, Dick Millers, and Don Champion, who accepted the offer and were mentors to the new members.

The Rotary Club of Parramatta North was organised, through the agency of the Rotary Clubs of Parramatta and Baulkham Hills, which ceded some of their territories. Transferees from other clubs determined most of the arrangements and several prospective members were approached to form the new board of Parramatta North RC.

Richard Oakden said years later: “Charlie Robinson and Don Champion came into my office in Briens Road Northmead and invited me to join a new Rotary club being planned for the area. I jumped at the opportunity and so began a trip of a lifetime making new, lifelong friends as we shared fellowship at meetings, projects, picnics and conferences et al.” Charles Robinson of the Parramatta Rotary Club invited Ralph Cadman to join. 

Ralph Cadman said: “I recall being approached to be Club Service Director and although accepting the role, I admit I was quite overwhelmed with the task. Being rather shy, regular speaking spots and organising older members was daunting for me at the time. As new members, most of us quite young, I was 31, found associating with older business people who we would normally refer to as ‘Mr’ and now calling them by first names rather confronting.” The meeting venue was the Northmead Bowling Club.

Rotary Parramatta North Area of Operation.docx

The charter was officially granted to the club. The first meeting was held of the “Provisional Rotary Club Parramatta North”. Present were the president, Ken Hale (Senior Active), Vice-President Dick Millers, and Sergeant-at-Arms Don Champion (lawyer), Toby Harvey (Senior Active), Ralph Cadman (automobile air conditioning), Colin Gray (contract cleaner) and Allan Thomas (lithographic printer). There were 26 members, including Keith Henning. Among them was Methodist Minister, Allan Jackson, and Don Smith from Corrective Services. An amount of $910 was deposited in the Bank of New South Wales, North Parramatta branch. The District Number was 268.

Ken Hale was a most interesting character. He joined the AIF in World War 11 and served in New Guinea, finding himself at one point in a company which only had ammunition enough to hold out for 40 seconds. Only 17 of the company he was with survived. Ken returned to Australia, joined the RAAF and became a rear gunner. He performed so well in bombing practice that he was made an instructor. He then joined Qantas and flew in northern Australia and the north of Australia, carrying loads for the Americans. He then transferred to Perth for the Indian Ocean run and married. He set his wife Jean up in a small business.

Ken was discharged from the RAAF in 1946 and began flying for Qantas from Perth to Ceylon and India, for an annual salary of $1,040. He opted to be first officer on flying boats operating in the Pacific Islands. Leaving Qantas, he went into business, setting took up gift shops in Parramatta and selling jewellery and other items. He became a Mormon and was appointed a bishop. He joined friends of Parramatta Park and took part in successful legal action against the State Government being satisfied with the compromise that was reached over development.

Ralph Cadman said: “Ken Hale was highly regarded in the Parramatta business community and led us capably in our first year. He was supported by the other experienced Rotarians in educating us in Rotary ways. It was challenging for me, but exciting, as the enthusiasm of members and families was stimulating. Dress code was jacket and tie for us, which in a few cases required a service station owner, Graham McIntosh to scrub up and change for our Monday lunch meeting.”

Four hundred Rotarians and guests attended the Charter Night of the Rotary Club of Parramatta North at the Parramatta Masonic Club. The Parramatta Advertiser reported the formation on 31st August. The District Governor, Fred. Higgins, inducted and introduced 26 charter members of the new club. The new president, Ken Hale said in response to the inductions: “Rotary does more than pay lip service to the community.”

The event was sponsored by the Parramatta Rotary Club which had sponsored 10 new clubs since its chartering in 1926. At that time, the number was claimed to be a world record. The charter night was chaired by the president of the Parramatta Rotary Club, Mr G.K.Matthews, and the Master of Ceremonies was a Parramatta Rotary Club past president, Mr E.Gough.

The club directors were Ken Hale (president), Alan Thomas (Secretary), John Hart (Treasurer), Dick Millers (vice-president), Don Champion (international Service Director), Tom Harris (Vocational Service Director), Ralph Cadman (Club Service Director), Colin Gray (Community Service Director), and Doug Harris.

Present was the Mayor of Parramatta, Alderman B.C.Wilde. An address was given by a past District Governor, Mr H. Pickett. Mr Pickett said that 504 new clubs had been formed during the past year, a sure sign that business and professional men throughout the world, of many nationalities, creeds and colours, were united to a common bond of friendship and service. “I believe the crowning glory of our Rotary principles is the constant admonition to its members to practise high ethical standards in their business and professional lives,” he said.

Colin Gray, the youngest of six children of an Arnotts factory worker, John Gray, and Ivy, homemaker and seamstress, was born in Parramatta on 2nd January 1936. Though travelling widely in Australia and overseas through his life, he never had any other base but Parramatta. Fatherless from the age of five when John was killed in a car accident, Col completed his schooling, playing cricket and Rugby. In Rugby, as a schoolboy, he turned out for Parramatta and Western Sydney. And he became a lifelong supporter of the Parramatta Eels. Colin left school at 14 and at 15 became an assistant, then manager, of a Parramatta fruit shop. He also attended Leigh Memorial Church, and it was there that he married a schoolteacher, Faye Gillett, in 1960. He also joined the Christian outreach, becoming involved in the Parramatta Mission and numerous charities. He became a member of the Northcott Society and supported the Children’s Hospital, Westmead and Vision Australia. Through his life Colin was to be, in the words of daughter Elizabeth de Reland, “full of charity, endeavour and benevolence”. That included visiting the sick and injured, in emergency wards, in children’s hospitals and psychiatric hospitals, and in doing so “still found something positive, solid and refreshing”.

Long Term Relationships –

I don’t think any of us when we first signed up for Rotary, had any idea of how deep and lasting the initial acquaintances would turn into life-long friendships. In looking back at a Membership List from a 1984 Bulletin, there are only 5 names I’m unable to place, the remainder I would really enjoy having the opportunity to chat with again. I believe that comes from quite a number of things that were part of being a Rotarian, such as –

1. Regular involvement and interaction in weekly Club meetings.
2. Regular Service Committee meetings in members offices and homes where a lot of planning went into them.

Our early Bulletin cover –

It was designed to indicate what our local Club area consisted of which became a talking point with visitors and especially those from interstate or from overseas: depicted on it were –   Lake Parramatta, St Johns Cathedral – 1802, Richie Benaud Oval, Sydney Woollen Mills (oldest industrial site in Australia), Parramatta Gaol (1798-2011), Roseneath Cottage  (privately owned from 1835) located near the Parramatta Female Factory (1826-1848)

Make-ups – (local or overseas):  As weekly attendance (with conditions) was a requirement of being a member of Rotary up until the 1980’s?, if someone missed a meeting, it was normal practice to make up at another Club in the week before or week after. This could be done anywhere in the world and simply required a signed, dated make-up card or other evidence such as the Bulletin of the visited Club. It made for a good deal of fellowship and camaraderie and especially on return visits to that Club at other times. A list of nearby Clubs meeting places and times were always printed in the Bulletin for the use of members.

Banners – One of the features of doing make ups was to swap banners with any club that did not already have one from your Club. Often when the banners were being swapped, you would be asked to share some info about your own Club and its activities. That was a bit difficult with popular tourist and business city clubs like Singapore or Bangkok, the latter having 3500 (or was it 6500) swapped banners with 350 on show at any one time! Having 2 members from the Sydney Woollen Mills ((Keith Houston and Ron Clements), one of our early banners were made from wool with sketches of a large wool bale, sheep, and wheat.

Sgt at Arms – One of the highlights of our meetings depended on the imagination (and belligerence?!) of the Sgt at Arms. Misdemeanours (normally real but also imagined) were the subject of good stories and a lot of laughter, some thousands of dollars being extracted over the course of a year and well used in supporting various causes. Ken Hale, Colin Gray and Dick Smith were among the most successful “finers” in the first 20 years for they extracted cash with such hilarity that it almost didn’t hurt!  And who could follow in their shoes anyway – who carries cash nowadays and who would willingly hand their credit card over for a “wave” entry?

Hands on projects –  

picnics,

car rallys,

progressive dinners and the

commaraderie that came from all those.

The club held its first Changeover Night at the Kalinda, George Street, Parramatta.

President Ken Hale handed over the presidential title to Dick Millers.

The changeover evening was attended by Parramatta’s Lord Mayor, Alderman Barry Wilde.

An article appeared in the Parramatta Advertiser featuring two students from Singapore, Diane Fung Mei-Lin and Jeanne Peacock who were to study for a year at Northmead High School and Doonside High School respectively.

Exchange students are billeted with Rotary families and meet with other Exchange students during their year in Australia.

Mei Lin  was the first Exchange Student for Parramatta North Rotary club and topped her year at Northmead High School

Parramatta North set up an  Interact Club at Northmead High and Mai Lin was also involved in our clubs activities.

Ralph Cadman has fond memories of his involvement with the Northmead Interact Club.

The club wrote to the headmaster of Northmead High School saying that Diana Fung had been to a RYLA Conference at Vision Valley for the week and would return to classes the following Monday.

The club was addressed by Hon. James Cameron NSW MP, member for Northcott, on the subject of “Parliamentary Democracy”.

There were 23 members at the meeting. Jim said he hoped that in the future, “parliaments will be able to break through to a better plain of political activity through better leadership and better public support”.

The diary noted that in the Darwin Appeal following Cyclone Tracy, district 268 had contributed $13,500, the target being $17,000.

Cyclone Tracy was the name of the tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin Northern Territory, Australia from 24 to 26 December 1974.

Wiki: Cyclone Tracy

It was announced in the bulletin that by an overwhelming vote, of 23 to three, the club’s new home would be Oatlands Golf Club, effective from our next meeting.

The idea of a Probus Club was introduced, when a Scottish Rotarian visited the Rotary Club of Parramatta North, and followed this up with a letter containing information to the Rotary Club.

The matter was referred to Rotary District and as a result, the Probus Club of Hunters Hill was formed, the first Probus Club in Australia, this year.

Parramatta North Rotary Club was later responsible for the forming of the Parramatta Probus Club

Support for Australian Rotary Health (Research Fund) has been ongoing since the charity was established 41 years ago.   Australian Rotary Health has focussed on Mental Health research since 2000 but prior to that the focus was on Cot Death, Aged research and Adolescent research.

In 2000 Australian Rotary Health, with the new focus on Mental Health research, introduced funding PhD Scholarships, Post Doctoral Fellowships and Project Grants .  Since 2008, the Rotary Club of Parramatta City has co-funded 11 PhD Research Scholarships in various areas of health – Mental health including depression, suicide and schizophrenia, breast cancer, heart disease, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and Parkinson’s Disease.  All scholarships were funded totally and jointly with the Henning Family.

In total over the last 40 years, the Club and various members have contributed over $560,000 in research funding, with $378,000 directly to support PhD Scholars and the remainder supporting health research in general.  Special recognition to PP Keith Henning OAM who has been instrumental in providing the majority of this amount as well as championing club support.

In addition, Australian Rotary Health provides a small scholarship to Indigenous scholars who are studying a health related university degree.  Since inception of this program in 2000, the Rotary Club of Parramatta City has contributed $7,500 to this program and the Henning Family has contributed $73,700 so over $80,000 contribution.

PP Keith was named the recipient of the Australian Rotary Health “Medal” in 2016, which is awarded to one person in Australia each year and acknowledges significant and meritorious support.  Keith and his family have also attained “Diamond Companion” status as major donors.

At the board meeting, Ralph Cadman said that the Hassell Street School wanted to buy a bus to transport its students to various locations. The P&C would not buy one by law. The school headmaster was to speak to the school on 14th September. Club Service Director John Bailey advised that a 22-seater bus could be bought for about $7,000, which a number of clubs could contribute.

The bulletin published a map of the boundaries of our club area, which was common also to Parramatta Rotary Club, which took in Rosehill Racecourse, Parramatta and Westmead railway stations, Northmead, Lake Parramatta, The King’s School the Burnside Homes and Parramatta Park.

The club took a Rotary Youth Exchange student from Japan. Ralph Cadman said later: “Sandra and I were attracted to the Youth Exchange program, having visited Japan several times and seeing the stark differences in culture to our own. I had a home in Japan for many years and the fascination of Japan and its people enveloped our family. When the Club decided to host international students, we volunteered and Takako Kakami came to our family for three months in 1982. We still regard Takako as our daughter as we do Anette Jensen from Denmark and Midori Ohashi from Japan. We have visited them in their home countries and continue to enjoy a special bond.

My connection with the Program led Sandra and I to serve on the district YEP committee following my presidential year for several years and without doubt was the highlight period of my Rotary membership. Our daughter Jane was accepted as an outbound exchange student to Gifu Japan and since has hosted school friends from Gifu and visited several times to renew relationships with families and friends.”

Alan Smith was to go to the Solomon Islands for a rebuilding program which was necessary following a devastating cyclone. It was a FAIM (Fourth Avenue in Motion, now Rotary Australia World Community Service) project. Alan asked that the club support one of his employees by funding his air fare to go the Solomons. President Ralph Cadman said the board would look favourably at the request.

President Ralph Cadman passed over the keys to a bus that had been financed by the club for the Golden Oldies Club, which had been raised during the year that John Surian was president.

The club was now meeting at the Parramatta RSL but the name was unchanged.

The club then had 31 listed members.

Group Study Exchange (GSE)

From its inception in 1965 until 2013, the Group Study Exchange program provided grants for teams of men and women in the early stages of their business and professional careers to travel abroad and share vocational information with the representatives of their respective professions in another country. Many exchanges between paired Rotary districts occurred each year, advancing the program’s ultimate goal of promoting international understanding and goodwill. More than 70,000 individuals participated in a Group Study Exchange over the program’s history.

Many participants have personally grown and developed into industry, community and political leaders, including past member John Surian.

John Surian said: “It was in about 1978 when the very energetic and no less effervescent Reverend Dr. Gloster Udy, the Minister of the nearby Leigh Memorial Church bounced into my office and suggested that I should apply for the Rotary International Group Study Exchange (GSE) program being conducted by Parramatta Rotary Club. I was successful in being chosen and was soon off to Denmark for 6 weeks compliments of District 969 and Rotary International. On return, I joined my sponsor club the Parramatta Rotary Club which met on Monday nights. However, with a young family and a demanding career choice in terms of after-hours appointments, I transferred to our Club.” That was to begin a 40-year membership that would terminate in 2019 when John sold his real estate business and retired.

John Surian (r) with other members of 1978 GSE team to D1470 Denmark at the Alumni Dinner March 2013  

Another club member, David Ross, was the Team Leader for a Group Study Exchange with D7820 in Atlantic Canada in 2010.

David Ross said: “One of the major highlights of my Rotary career was leading a team of four young people to Eastern Canada. The club had a long history of involvement in the GSE program and was amazingly supportive. The exchange was a huge success and I still have regular contact with team members and the many Rotarians I met in Canada. As is common with many GSE participants, two members of the team became Rotarians on return. One of them, however, took the goal of promoting international understanding and goodwill to heart and returned to Newfoundland to marry a young lady Rotarian. They now have a son together and are very involved in the Rotary Club of Exploits in Grand Falls-Windsor.”

2010 GSE team to D7820 Canada l-r Cate Robinson, Shannon Tonkin, David Ross T/Ldr, Suzzanne Wright & Colin Wilkes prior to presenting at D9690 Conference at Port Macquarie – March 2010

Over the years the club successfully sponsored team member nominations for.

Ian Briggs – Financial Controller to D1180 Nth Wales

David Longworth – Police Officer to D6900  Atlanta, Georgia

Elizabeth Farquar – Police Officer to D1460

Michael Sampsom – Police Officer to D1230 Scotland

Danielle Donnolly – Council Co-ordinator to D5890 Texas

Ian Briggs off to Northern Wales in Australia’s Bi-century Year

The Club had a Ladies Night in which the speaker was the female aviator, Nancy Bird Walton who was commandant in the Wartime Women’s Air Training Corps and past president of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association.

Rotary International laid down rules on women’s membership in clubs, following a US Supreme Court decision in March 1987.

It continued: “In the meantime, the presidents of all clubs that have admitted women contrary to the requirements of the constitutional documents will be informed that the board will take disciplinary action under the provisions of Article 11, section 2, of the by-laws of RI against those clubs that do not correct the mistake in the specified time.”

The RI Council on Legislation eliminated the requirement that membership of Rotary should be limited to men. This followed moves by the Rotary Clubs of Canada and the United States to admit women. At the time of that decision there were already 12,000 women in Rotary clubs in North America. PDG Ray (Reed), who was to be District Governor 969 (as it then was) in 1989/90, said his term coincided with the introduction of women to Rotary membership.

“Suddenly I had 40 Rotary clubs to administer, of which 36 were very opposed to it,” he said. It was a time for the democratic processes to take over, he said. But he found that a lot of the opposition came from older members who were resistant to any change. It was a phenomenon he had seen all over the world, that no matter how good an idea was, it would be resisted. But at the time Rotary was faltering and needed an injection of membership.”

Joy Gillett and Judy Donovan were inducted as members of the club. Joy was secretary of the Australian Health Research Fund and Judy worked with Rotary Down Under, selling Rotary merchandise. Both were living at Leonay in Sydney’s outer west. Joy Gillett and Judy Donovan were inducted as the first female members of the club.

Both Joy Gillette and Judy Donovan served as Parramatta North Rotary Presidents.

Joy said: “We were the first females in the club and among the first females in Rotary in Australia. Bob Rosengreen was president and inducted me into the club and I understand there was some debate about admitting women although I can never recall being uncomfortable or not feeling welcome. Judy and I both worked for Rotary. At the time I was the General Manager of RDU and Judy was the manager of Rotary Supplies. Shortly after this time, I changed employment to Australian Rotary Health – staying within the Rotary family.”

The Polio Eradication campaign was in full swing. It was reported that more than 600 million children were yet to be immunised and there were nearly 280 million children who had been.

The club did a revamp, changing its name to Rotary Club of Parramatta City and set about increasing its membership, with the aim of, as Ralph Cadman put it, to become “the leading Rotary club in Parramatta”.

Ralph said: “After a few years, the gloss seemed to wear off. We had lost some members through change of circumstances or due to ill health, Ken Hale, Alan Thomas,John Foley and others. To revitalise, it was decided to rename our Club Parramatta City, but we had no idea the ruckus it would cause, particularly amongst the older members of Parramatta Club. Understandable to some extent, as Parramatta was one of the oldest clubs in Australia and they probably saw our Club members as cheeky upstarts! I recall playing golf at Oatlands and Mick Shepherd, past President of Parramatta and I think PDG, saw me two fairways away and chased me down to tell me we had absolutely no right to change our name to City! We did feel the name change would link us more closely to Parramatta CBD, which it did and provided a choice within the Parramatta area for members and visitors.”

The club through DIK forwarded to Donnie Phirie in Zimbabwe a fully restored wheelchair. The cost to the club was $100, representing the amount owing to the NSW Society for acquisition of the wheelchair.

The club celebrated its 21st birthday at Oatlands House (below). With her (from left) John Jenkins (clapping), Richard Oakden, Jean Hale, Ralph Cadman, Colin Gray, Don Champion, Keith Henning.

Joy Gillett became the first female president of the club. Joy said: “Bob Aitken, the editor of RDU at the time was elected as District Governor but what was more important, so Bob tells me, is that I was appointed Club President. It was fun to serve as President with Bob as DG. I can remember being very nervous about becoming the first female president of the club but with 4 older brothers and working for Rotary for a long time, which was up till then a male only group, I was quite comfortable being there, just with Judy.”

Glenn Gardner, the outgoing president, said: “I feel extremely proud to hand over the presidency of this Club to our first-ever woman President in Joy Gillett. She had already earned the respect of all and I, for one, look forward to being a member of the club of which she is President.”

When Joy  finished her year as Club President she said of her year: “I do not remember my year as president being anything out of the ordinary, but I do recall that we purchased a van for the Parramatta Mission in that year, so I will take some of the credit for that. We were also very supportive of all youth programs, youth exchange, RYPEN, RYLA, MUNA and others. It was a favourite of the club and we have maintained many relationships with former Youth Exchange students. This continued on until very recent times when the program became very difficult to be part of.”

RAWCS was established. Until then, the various aspects of RAWCS were practised in Australia as totally separate programs, each with its own constitution and each answerable to a separate authority, RAWCS was established to coordinate the activities of Rotary FAIM Australia, International Projects Advisory Committee (IPAC)< Donations in Kind, and later, Save Water Save Live and Rotarians Against Malaria.

The bulletin said that hopes were high that the World Health Organisation’s Western Pacific Region – comprising countries in easternmost Asia and the Pacific – would become the second region to be declared polio-free. America had become the first region in 1994. The Pacific Islands were now considered polio-free while the continental Asian portion, the Mekong Delta and South Vietnam and Cambodia, were the last places where the transmission of the virus had occurred.

The club announced that over 30 years of Christmas sales, it had earned $300,000 in profit, which had been returned to the community. The club had pledged to raise $60,000 to go to a building for the Northcott Society and had already handed over a cheque for $30,000.

Community Services Director Amanda Ellison said that the club had met its commitment in providing $61,000 over three years to the Northcott Society, President Lou Casmiri had presented a cheque to Glenn Gardner, CEO of the Northcott Society and a longstanding club member.

The club completed its Centenary of Rotary project by constructing a Bench Seat in Parramatta Park.

The Treasurer’s Report for the year said the total income was almost $127,000, which included more than $39,000 from Christmas tree sales, more than $37,000 from a Golf Day and more than $15,000 from barbecue sales. The government had made a grant of $3,000 for the purchase of a barbecue trailer. Payouts for the year had included $25,000 to the ARHRF, $6,000 to Shelter Box, Total payout was more than $114,000, leaving an operating surplus of more than $12,000.

President Aidan Leatham decided on a new project, to give toys to children in a country town. A friend suggested Tingha in the New England Tablelands. Aidan, who had had an Aboriginal neighbour for almost 20 years, was attracted to the idea because there was a high proportion of Aboriginal children involved. He contacted the Rotary Club of Inverell and the principal of the Tingha Primary School, to identify if the concept was agreeable and what number of toys would be needed.

Barry Antees said later: “Promoting a ‘Toys for Tingha’ flyer through the members of Parramatta City and their businesses, the gifts arrived at collection points in great numbers, the staff of some members elected not to hand out gifts to each other this year, but instead give to the Toys for Tingha appeal. The giving was so successful the Club was able to extend beyond the primary school children and include the pre-schoolers of Tingha. Come the day to transport the gifts, two other members were able to travel with Aidan and Fran Leathem to Inverell, Kerry Stubbs, Barry Antees and partner Megan Upton with a very large trailer and raised sides. The Inverell club provided fairy floss on the day to the children as the named gifts were handed out. The children certainly enjoyed themselves on the day, but also the teachers were moved by the generosity. During our stay we were able to see some of the projects of the Rotary Club of Inverell and meet many amazing Rotarians from a very beautiful country town.”

Director of Club Services Lou Casmiri said that the Sergeant at Arms Glenn Gardner had managed through fines to “extract coins and notes from members for raising $1,969 for “Operation Cleft”.

International Director Kevin Wyllie said the club donated more than $14,000 with a matching grant to provide safe drinking water for a village in Bangalore.

Outgoing president Aidan Leatham announced that during the year there had been a Golf Day which had produced more than $20,000 in profit. The committee decision that the funds raised would be divided between Australian Rotary Health Research and prostate cancer research, and locally the Parramatta Mission. Donations for the year came to more than $80,000.

During the 12 months in which Stephen Burfield was president, the club donated $147,923 to charity, $33,356 going to the Kolkata Eye Hospital $30,000 going to the Dr. Gosh Charity and $22,000 to Australian Rotary Health, $20,.000 to a RAWCS project, Swami Verekananda, and more than $10,000 going to Northcott Disability Services.

Outgoing president Phil Brophy said the year had been a difficult one for membership, with four gone and two joining. The decision had been made to shift from Barnaby’s Restaurant to the Sebel Parramatta, which was to become the Novotel Parramatta. During the year the club had launched “Friends of The Rotary Club of Parramatta City Inc.”, for people unable by work commitments to fulfil ongoing obligations. Alf Smith and Kerry Stubbs were the inaugural Friends of Parramatta City Inc and would invite other people to join them.

RAWCS Project at St. Peter’s Junior School
A RAWCS project began at St. Peter’s Junior School, Uganda. The project was registered with RAWCS, Project 99/2010-11. The project was to purchase a school van to take the children to school, The project would be hosted by the Rotary Club of Gulu, District 9200. The cost of the van was $US 18,000. The reason for the project was that some children lived so far away they could not come to school because of distance.

For more than 15 years the population of Northern Uganda had been displaced by violent armed conflict and people were just returning to their homes. That had provided disruption to education. The project would benefit 120 children.

Our Club in the past year had funded four RAWCS projects, being Operation Cleft in Bangladesh to provide cleft surgery and speech therapy for disadvantaged children; the Vendata Centre in Bangladesh, a van for a Northern Uganda school and a donation to our sister club, the Rotary Club of Ramon Magsaysay in the Philippines.

Outgoing president Johnny Ching said that during his year as president, the club had changed its meeting place from Barnaby’s Restaurant to the Novotel Hotel. He said that through the efforts of Barry Antees, the club members had increased again.

Johnny said that one of the club’s donations had been $5,000 towards a children’s hospital in Uganda. He said the club had been “inundated” with requests from other organisations to host a barbecue for their functions in the Parramatta area. He said that donations for the year had come to more than $19,000, including more than $66,000 to the Ramakrishna Mission, more than $10,000 to the St Peter’s Junior School and more than $5,000 to District 9690 Children’s Hospital.

President Johnny Ching Presents Paul Harris Fellowships to Glenys Rosengreen, Karen Ross and Maureen Reed.

Outging President Keith Henning with two of his fellow Foundation Members Ralph Cadman (left) and Colin Gray (right),

The bulletin noted that Barry Antees had just returned from a District Governor’s training course in San Diego, California, and was “full of beans and bursting with enthusiasm”. Barry said a theme he would have to work on was “Lighting Up Rotary”. He was looking at areas he could reach into within the District.

News then came that Barry had suffered an accident while cleaning his roof and had badly broken his ankle in two places. He was destined to carry out his year as District Governor on crutches.

Rotarian Ben Jackson said Parramatta High School would be putting in a team in the Model United Nations Assembly event at a venue to be decided.

He also said that Our Lady of Mercy College, which was also a school our club had special links with, should also be involved.

Keith Henning said it was important to maintain links with the schools and colleges.

Lunch was held for our exchange students: Natalie Poschl, who was off to Germany, Frederick Andersen from Denmark was enjoying life in Australia and Georgia Naulty, being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Illawarra Sunrise was off to Denmark.

Frederik, who attended a local high school in Parramatta, was for some strange reason a wow with the local girls.

Dr. Geoff Lee, State Liberal MP for Parramatta, was inducted as an Honorary member of the Rotary Club of Parramatta City. Geoff Lee replied that it was “a real honour and privilege” to become a member of Rotary. He said he had been a member of Rotary before, in 1999 when he was running a garden centre in Hassall Street, Parramatta. But he undertook post-graduate studies, requiring him to work by day and study by night, which made it too difficult to continue with Rotary.

He said Rotary was “a fantastic organisation” and did “a great job”, and he noted the decades of service from the likes of John Surian, Ray Reed and Keith Henning. It was hard to fit everything in with his busy schedule as a politician but he would do his best to get to meetings.

Honorary membership is an honour reserved for persons who have given generously of their time to their community or to Rotary.

The bulletin noted that Ralph Cadman, a charter member and the inaugural Service Director, had also been made an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club.

The District Governor, Stephen Britten, visiting the club, said that, like Martin Luther King, he had a dream. Part of that was that 65 million people who had been displaced through conflict would no longer be displaced. Another was to alleviate the suffering of 795 million people who did not have enough to eat. He dreamt that by the year 2030, people throughout the world would have safe water and hygiene. As it stood now, there were 21 million people who had adequate sanitation because of Rotary. “I have a dream that nobody dies in childbirth and that cancer screening is available to all,” he said. “I have a dream that polio will be eradicated that we are on the way to medical solutions to such diseases as cancer and malaria. I have a dream that literacy and education be available to all.”

There was an element of drama in the year’s Christmas tree sales. A huge bough from a “Widow Maker” eucalyptus tree a few metres from our shelter decided enough was enough and split from the tree, colliding with a bough just beneath, and both came down in an almighty crash, perhaps a tonne of wood, which would have crushed any car underneath and killed anyone it hit.

It was only the fact that the boughs were pointing in a different direction that they did not hit the shelter, where PP Malcolm, Bob Rosengreen and Parramatta Daybreak member John Richards were sitting. In fact, Bob had had a narrow escape because he had driven in a few minutes earlier and had considered parking his car under the tree but found difficulties getting to it and parked somewhere else.

(Malcolm Brown amid the near miss)

Andrea Torresan, an indigenous scholar, started studying physiotherapy at Sydney University in 2015 as a recipient of an Indigenous Health Scholarship, which our club contributed to. Now in her last year, said the high points in her experience were hospital placements. In her first such placement, at Nepean Hospital last year, she had gained good experience and was looking forward on graduation to a placement at a hospital that supported first-year graduates.

Andrea said she had come to terms with her indigenous heritage and had taken it up with her family, in order to reconnect with the family’s indigenous ancestry. She had “bridged the gap”. “I think it has made me understand it is important to have educated indigenous people,” she said. “Working with indigenous patients, I think that is what I will take away from this most,” she said.

The club welcomed Tia Iaquinto, 17, a final year student at Girraween High School, who was sponsored by our club to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) in Canberra in January this year. PP Keith Henning, who had taken part in the selection process, introduced her. Tia, a school prefect, did an accelerated Chemistry course in Year 11 and did the HSC exam in that subject. She had wanted to do a Bachelor of Psychology degree but her focus had now shifted to getting degrees in Science and Engineering.

President Malcolm Brown congratulated PDG Barry Antees on registration of a RABS project, number 96- 2018-19, the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) for Nepali speaking community in NSW. Barry Antees was the project manager and PP Phil Brophy is the deputy project manager. Barry had been inspired to initiate this project when he realised that displaced Nepalis in our society were suffering badly and even in the realms of suicide.

The coronavirus epidemic was in full swing, restricting many clubs to zoom meetings and severely curtailing what people could do face-to-face. It had a dramatic effect on RAWCS operations. Volunteers were told that if they went overseas, they would not be covered by Rotary insurance.

The club having by then resumed meetings at the Novotel in Church Street, Parramatta, President Barry Antees said the club should consider the format for future meetings. He pointed out that since the lockdown, our zoom meetings had been weekly. PP Malcolm Brown said he favoured weekly meetings because, being retired, he looked forward to them. He also said that weekly meetings tended to give forward impetus to the club. If they were fortnightly and a member missed the one meeting, then it would be a month between meetings and he felt that was too long. Natalie Cowell said she was too busy to attend weekly meetings. Joy Nel said she felt the same.

Bob Aitken, formerly of Rotary Down Under, said the big news was that Nigeria, which had not had an outbreak of polio for three years, had now been proclaimed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as being polio free. The next step was to have the entire continent of Africa given the same declaration. WHO was surveying hospitals, water supplies, sewerage and anything else which might show a trace of the virus “Our friends tell us that in August this year, the entire continent of Africa will be polio-free,” he said. At the end of last week, there were 67 cases of polio in the world, of which 51 were in Pakistan and 16 in Afghanistan.

President Barry Antees said the Australia Day distribution of 21,600 lamingtons to health and emergency workers throughout Sydney and the Illawarra, involving all but two clubs, had been an outstanding success. He thanked PP Keith Henning and PE Malcolm for their assistance in getting 3,000 lamingtons in four carloads to Westmead Hospital. Barry said it was excellent PR for Rotary, and it was good to see Rotary clubs that had suffered some “angst” in their relationships had got on; and it had helped to forge new relationships between Rotary clubs and these various services.

President Barry Antees said he had been to the 100th anniversary of Rotary Club of Sydney luncheon. It had gone very well, with 260 people present, including the Governor-General, David Hurley, who had given “a very intimate speech about his connections with Rotary”. The dinner also viewed a video message from Canada by Jennifer Jones, nominated as the RI president for 2022- 23. The dinner had also raised $10,000 from the sale of a work by one of Australia’s leading artists, John Maitland.

Rotary International notified the club that the 50th anniversary of Keith Henning’s Rotary membership was coming up and he was to get a letter from the President of Rotary International, Shekhar Mehta.

Keith was a charter member of the club and his entire Rotary career had been with the club.

Rotary Club of Parramatta City