Club projects to assist our local community have included music trivia nights and a raffle to toss the coin at the Men’s Singles final of the Australian Open Tennis. Our club was also a regular contributor to the Rotary Club of Balwyn Camberwell Sunday Market and the Rotary Club of North Balwyn gardening project, where we worked with school students to improve gardens of elderly and/or incapacitated residents of Boroondara. Nationally, we have also contributed to the Aspiration Initiative, which supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students to reach their full potential.
Our international activity has included participation in a water filter project in the Philippines, donation of a greenhouse to the Tibetan Village Project, and financial contributions to Rotary projects including the Rotary Foundation and Polioplus.
Our Rotary Charter was returned on 30 June 2016. Members transferred to the Rotary Club of Canterbury, where we are able to continue to support many of our signature projects.
(Notes for speech by PP Chris Hookey at the club’s 10th anniversary changeover)
Our club was chartered on June 28th 2003 with 30 members, sponsored by the North Balwyn Rotary Club, which identified a need to expand the 30-45 year old age group in Rotary. Anne White was the 9800 DG at the time.
A series of interest meetings was held in response to advertisements seeking people to establish a new club and the club ‘style’ was established at those meetings. The club is/was a ‘New Style’ Club with a meeting time and format catering for busy professional people with young families
- Our meeting style is informal and meetings are approximately one hour’s duration
- We place less emphasis on meeting attendance and more on community service, participating in and supporting a wide range of community and Rotary project.
Six of our charter members remain in the club. Others have left for reasons that principally include change of location or pressure of work/family. We currently have 15 very active members.
Some of the highlights of each Rotary year were:-
Rotary year 2002/03 – Rotary theme: Sow the seed – President Adam Skerritt
- First major fundraiser was the Topspin Raffle to toss the coin at the Men’s Singles final of the Australian Tennis Open. The project raised over $20,000 for Kids Tennis and Rotary Projects
Rotary year 2003/04 – Rotary theme: Lend a Hand – President Drew Morrison
- Topspin Raffle again raised $20,000
- The Club commenced an association with Friends of Back Creek that continued for several years and many working bees!
- The Club established a youth program with sponsorship of participants in RYLA and RYPEN – programs that the club has supported annually ever since
- The Club was awarded a Presidential Citation for achievements in the previous 12 months
Rotary year 2004/05 – Rotary theme: A Century of Success/A Century of Service – President Cathie Macmillan
- A bench seat was installed at Back Creek to celebrate the centenary of Rotary
- The club’s inaugural Music Trivia night raised $1,800 for the Epilepsy Foundation
- 2 placegetters were sponsored in the Shell Livewire Competition
- The club participated in the Rotarians Against Malaria Adopt a Village Program
- Sponsored a student at KOTO (Know One, Teach One) restaurant for homeless children in Hanoi, a project that continued for several years, including a visit from KOTO founder Jimmy Pham and some of the students.
Rotary year 2005/06 – Rotary theme: Service Above Self – President Ian Kremmer
- Commenced a project to install water and sanitation in the hills of East Timor
Rotary year 2006/07 – Rotary theme: Lead the Way – President Pat Fouvy
- Music trivia night and other fundraising activities raised $10,000 with proceeds donated to Young Australians Fighting Freidrich’s Ataxia
- Commenced serving breakfast for Relay for Life participants, which has continued to the present
- Assisted with administration of the Camcare Legal Service
Rotary year 2007/08 – Rotary theme: Rotary Shares – President Chris Hookey
- Held a WalkandTalk4Kids to raise funds for the Resilient Kids program run by Wesley Mission
- Assisted with RC Camberwell Art Show
Rotary year 2008/09 – Rotary theme: Make Dreams Real – President Charles Berry
- Established an Interact Club with over 40 members at Camberwell Grammar School
- Commenced the club’s first international project – a bio sand water filter project in the Philippines, led by PP and International Director, Greg Vero
Rotary year 2009/10 – Rotary theme: The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands – President Chris James
- Trivia night raised $3,400
- Donated a greenhouse to the Tibetan Village Project to enable the local population to have vegetables through the winter months
Rotary year 2010/11 – Rotary theme: Building Communities, Bridging Continents – President Greg Vero
- Philippines water project completed
- Disaster Aid Australia kits sent to Pakistan for flood relief
- Joint cluster project to raise funds for the Kokoda Challenge project supporting children at risk in Boroondara
Rotary year 2011/12 – Rotary theme: Reach within to Embrace Humanity – President Rosemary Waghorne
- Music Trivia night raised ~$13,000 for Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre Creative Therapies program
- Commenced participation in RC North Balwyn Boroondara Gardens program assisting elderly and incapacitated people to maintain their gardens
We have had many regular and ongoing programs over our ten years, including:
- Fortnighly participation in RC Balwyn’s Camberwell Market, which has been a major fundraiser for the club for several years
- Cooking breakfast for the annual Cancer Council Hawthorn Relay for Life
- Helping out at the Camcare Christmas Shop
- Biennial Trivia nights
- Wine sales fundraisers, contributing to a range of causes, including Christchurch Earthquake Appeal
- We have several ‘centurians’ who contribute annually to Rotary Foundation
- Our Interact Club at Camberwell Grammar School continues to thrive under the guidance of Anne Josefsberg
- The sale of Entertainment Books in conjunction with the Rotoract Club of North Balwyn continued for several years
- For several years the club participated in the ABC Giving Tree, which collects donations to distribute to needy families and children at Christmas
- For a time we contributed regularly through Saturday working bees at Fareshare, making copious sausage rolls and chopping mountains of vegetables.
- And we have continued to donate to many Rotary projects, including RAM; Interplast; Rotary Foundation; Polio Plus; DIK; … and the list goes on.
Throughout our history we have had a broad range of speakers on a wide range of topics, from local MPs Petro Georgiou and Josh Frydenberg; to the CEO of the CFA; from historian Ross McMillan; to William Kininmonth on Climate Change; from Terry Wheeler of Lonely Planet to ‘member behind the badge’ presentations from new members.
Throughout our 10 years we have enjoyed vocational visits to a wide variety of organisations, from VicRoads Traffic Management Centre to the Koorie Heritage Centre; from Vawdrey Trailer Factory to Le Pine Funeral Home; from the Costume museum to the Kew Library
It hasn’t all been ‘serious stuff’ – we have regular ‘social’ nights at the movies or a club dinner – and progressive dinners at the homes of club members have proved popular on several occasions
All of the above is a only part of what RC Boroondara has achieved looking back over the last 10 years. We have been, and continue to be a very active club – as several people have said, ‘punching above our weight’ for our number of members. We look forward to our future in Rotary with continued enthusiasm and commitment.
