History
Proud to celebrate over 50+ years of Service
The Rotary Club of Rose Bay was chartered on 6 June 1970 and has a proud tradition of service in the local community.
The history of the formation of the Rotary Club of Rose Bay can be traced to a question asked by District Governor Ron Pate during his official visit to the Rotary Club of Bondi Junction in 1969 as to whether the foundation of a Club in the Rose Bay area would be feasible. A survey was undertaken which determined a new club was feasible. A motion was carried at the Bondi Junction Club to cede territory if the required membership could be found. District Governor Ron Pate was accordingly informed.
On 31 March 1970, the inaugural meeting of the provisional Club was held and the Rotary Club of Rose Bay was officially formed upon the motion, which Keith Clark proposed and Kurt Dodge seconded. The Club resolved its own by-laws and thus acquired provisional status. Len Duncan resigned from the Bondi Junction Club and became the Charter President of the new Club.
The first project was "Donation of Blood". According to the certificate of the Blood Bank, ninety-five donors co-operated. The first big project for the year was announced: it was to assist the Miroma, a Rudolf Steiner School for handicapped children, which operated in a church hall in Village High Road, Vaucluse.
Since that time the Club has continued its activities by assisting with financial donations and personal involvement in a number of organisations, community groups and charities, including, in the early years, the Police Citizens Boys Club at Bondi, the Lifesaving Clubs at Bondi, the RSL Youth Club at Rose Bay, forming a Rotoract Club, Careers Nights at the local high schools, youth exchange, citizenship awards with the five local high school and primary schools, supporting the Woollahra Senior Citizens Group, and hosting School debates.
One of the standout activities was the leadership role that this club took in motivating our Rotary district to assist in providing relief for the victims of the Cyclone Tracy Darwin disaster.
Here are a number of highlights of club activities and programs over the years:
- Sponsored the 3rd Probus Club in Australia and gave District support for the Probus movement;
- Gave sponsorship of over 50 young students in Pudu, Malaysia;
- Provided funds for 750 intraocular lens transplants in 3 eye camps in Nepal, as well as funding valuable training in the field
- Supplying and delivery of a mammography machine and an ultrasound machine and other valuable equipment to a cancer hospital in the Kathmandu valley;
- Supplying valuable eye equipment and generator for regional hospitals in Nepal;
- Building classrooms in Nepal in Lo Manthang
- Volunteering every year for the City2Surf & Sydney Marathon
- Organisation of the annual Rose Bay Street Fair and Art Fairs.
- We continue to provide support for:
- The Rotary Foundation
- Rotary Heath
- Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command (Community project)
- City2Surf (Community project)
- Sydney Marathon (Community project)
- Wayside Chapel (Homeless)
- Clean up Australia (Community project)
- Circus Quirkus (Community project)
“WHATEVER ROTARY MAY MEAN TO US, TO THE WORLD IT WILL BE KNOWN BY THE RESULTS IT ACHIEVES.”
—PAUL P. HARRIS
Our 1.2 million-member organisation started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organisations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.
OUR ONGOING COMMITMENT
Rotarians have not only been present for major events in history—we’ve been a part of them. From the beginning, three key traits have remained strong throughout Rotary:
We’re truly international. Only 16 years after being founded, Rotary had clubs on six continents. Today we’re working together from around the globe both digitally and in-person to solve some of our world’s most challenging problems.
We persevere in tough times. During WWII, Rotary clubs in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Japan were forced to disband. Despite the risks, many continued to meet informally and following the war’s end, Rotary members joined together to rebuild their clubs and their countries.
Our commitment to service is ongoing. We began our fight against polio in 1979 with a project to immunise 6 million children in the Philippines. By 2012, only three countries remain polio-endemic—down from 125 in 1988.
NOTABLE ROTARIANS
Rotarians are your neighbours, your community leaders and some of the world’s greatest history-makers:
- Warren G. Harding, U.S. president
- Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer
- Dr. Charles H. Mayo, co-founder of Mayo Clinic
- Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor of the wireless radio and Nobel laureate
- Thomas Mann, German novelist and Nobel laureate
- Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and Nobel laureate
- Admiral Richard E. Byrd, American explorer
- Jan Masaryk, foreign minister of Czechoslovakia
- H.E. Soleiman Frangieh, president of Lebanon
- Dianne Feinstein, U.S. senator
- Manny Pacquaio, Filipino world-champion boxer and congressman
- Richard Lugar, U.S. senator
- Frank Borman, American astronaut
- Edgar A. Guest, American poet and journalist
- Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer
- Franz Lehar, Austrian composer
- Lennart Nilsson, Swedish photographer
- James Cash Penney, founder of JC Penney Co.
- Carlos Romulo, UN General Assembly president
- Sigmund Sternberg, English businessman and philanthropist
Ready to make history with us? Get involved.
| Presidents of Rose Bay Rotary | |
| Len Duncan Charter President | 1970-1971 |
| Kurt Dodge | 1971-1972 |
| Ralph Goodwin | 1972-1973 |
| Les Hyman | 1973-1974 |
| Tom Watson | 1974-1975 |
| Ernst Kirby | 1975-1976 |
| Len Keyte | 1976-1977 |
| Mick Goran | 1977-1978 |
| John Beaumont | 1978-1979 |
| Angelo Hatsatouris | 1979-1980 |
| Maurice Zamel | 1980-1981 |
| John Boardman | 1981-1982 |
| Len Duncan Caretaker President | |
| Bill Holmes | 1982-1983 |
| Charles Phipps | 1983-1984 |
| Ian Doyle | 1984-1985 |
| Joe Nagler | 1985-1986 |
| Ivan Wilks | 1986-1987 |
| Denis O’Neill | 1987-1988 |
| Wolfgang Scholber | 1988-1989 |
| Charles Donnelley | 1989-1990 |
| John Baker | 1990-1991 |
| Charles Phipps | 1991-1992 |
| John Ryrie | 1992-1993 |
| Gary Marx | 1993-1994 |
| Victor Zappia | 1994-1995 |
| Len Duncan | 1995-1996 |
| Vince Lamaro | 1996-1997 |
| Hugh Clarke | 1997-1998 |
| Michael Brown | 1998-1999 |
| Peter Adler | 1999-2000 |
| Ole Jacobsen | 2000-2001 |
| Neil Purkis | 2001-2002 |
| Carl Segal | 2002-2003 |
| Marcus Barg | 2003-2004 |
| Lester Abrams | 2004-2005 |
| Dan Sachdev | 2005-2006 |
| Peter Zadelis | 2006-2007 |
| Doug McArthur | 2007-2008 |
| Gary Marx | 2008-2009 |
| Doug McArthur | 2009-2010 |
| Carl Segal, Hugh Clarke & Dan Sachdev | 2010-2011 |
| Brian Fine | 2011-2012 |
| Phillip Snider | 2012-2013 |
| Phillip Snider | 2013-2014 |
| Doug McArthur | 2014-2015 |
| Doug McArthur | 2015-2016 |
| Barry Blogg | 2016-2017 |
| Brian Fine | 2017-2018 |
| Lucy Robson | 2018-2020 |
| Grace Spyrou | 2020-2021 |
| Michael Fisher | 2021-2022 |
| Margaret Morosi | 2022-2023 |
| Margaret Morosi | 2023-2024 |
| Margaret Morosi | 2024-2025 |
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