Some history of The Rotary Club of Surfers Paradise
THE ROTARY CLUB OF SURFERS PARADISE was founded in 1955. It was the second club in the city of Gold Coast, which had only 30,000 inhabitants at that time.
The Rotary Club has contributed much to the city’s transformation, and the work of its members can still be seen in the mature vegetation in the streets. Greening campaigns included the planting of 1,000 palm trees in 1971/2 and 1,000 hibiscus bushes in 1978/9. Rotary Park on the Highway at Broadbeach was established in our second year.
The Club has had many distinguished members over the years including a State Premier, two City Mayors, and the CEOs of Ford and Nissan Australia.
We have a proud history of service to the community, with some outstanding programs. None gave more satisfaction than the Wounded Servicemen’s Scheme. Over a period of 8 years, for the duration of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, 1,496 wounded servicemen and their families were given a holiday in Surfers Paradise as soon as they were sufficiently recovered. The generosity of local businesses, airlines and tourist attractions was heart warming. Rotarians and their wives provided the organisation and solved all the problems, which were many as the scheme was on such a scale that it had to be planned like a military exercise.
Another long term project was the building of an 84 bed hostel for the Youth Hostels Association. The YHA were about to be evicted from their rented premises due to the march of development, and in 1979 we offered to help. It was not a good time as a massive boom had sent building prices skyrocketing. We eventually produced a design, called tenders, supervised the building works and prepared feasibility studies to show the YHA how they could afford repayments on the biggest loan they had ever contemplated. We put $ 80,000 of our hard earned funds into the project and finally saw it opened to 100 % capacity use in June 1985.
In 1988 we started another long term building project - a retirement village for needy pensioners. Stage One with 5 one bedroom villas was opened in 1991 and Stage Two with an additional 10 villas completed the project in 1995.
We are very proud of our Sister Club relationship with the Rotary Club of Takasaki in Japan. It was forged in the heat of the 1991 Gulf war and has been reinforced with regular visits in both directions. In 2004 fifteen of our members were honoured guests at their 50th anniversary, and in 2005 we hosted a large delegation to our own 50th anniversary. From the very early days the Club has strongly supported the international programs of Rotary and has carried out joint projects with our Sister Club.
For most of its life the Club has been men only but in recent years women have become an increasingly important part of our membership, and long may it be so.
The Rotary Club has contributed much to the city’s transformation, and the work of its members can still be seen in the mature vegetation in the streets. Greening campaigns included the planting of 1,000 palm trees in 1971/2 and 1,000 hibiscus bushes in 1978/9. Rotary Park on the Highway at Broadbeach was established in our second year.
The Club has had many distinguished members over the years including a State Premier, two City Mayors, and the CEOs of Ford and Nissan Australia.
We have a proud history of service to the community, with some outstanding programs. None gave more satisfaction than the Wounded Servicemen’s Scheme. Over a period of 8 years, for the duration of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, 1,496 wounded servicemen and their families were given a holiday in Surfers Paradise as soon as they were sufficiently recovered. The generosity of local businesses, airlines and tourist attractions was heart warming. Rotarians and their wives provided the organisation and solved all the problems, which were many as the scheme was on such a scale that it had to be planned like a military exercise.
Another long term project was the building of an 84 bed hostel for the Youth Hostels Association. The YHA were about to be evicted from their rented premises due to the march of development, and in 1979 we offered to help. It was not a good time as a massive boom had sent building prices skyrocketing. We eventually produced a design, called tenders, supervised the building works and prepared feasibility studies to show the YHA how they could afford repayments on the biggest loan they had ever contemplated. We put $ 80,000 of our hard earned funds into the project and finally saw it opened to 100 % capacity use in June 1985.
In 1988 we started another long term building project - a retirement village for needy pensioners. Stage One with 5 one bedroom villas was opened in 1991 and Stage Two with an additional 10 villas completed the project in 1995.
We are very proud of our Sister Club relationship with the Rotary Club of Takasaki in Japan. It was forged in the heat of the 1991 Gulf war and has been reinforced with regular visits in both directions. In 2004 fifteen of our members were honoured guests at their 50th anniversary, and in 2005 we hosted a large delegation to our own 50th anniversary. From the very early days the Club has strongly supported the international programs of Rotary and has carried out joint projects with our Sister Club.
For most of its life the Club has been men only but in recent years women have become an increasingly important part of our membership, and long may it be so.
Some activities of The Rotary Club of Surfers Paradise
A retirement village for needy pensioners
4wd donated to the Surfers Paradise Surf Lifesaving Club
Maintaining Rotary Park
Entertainment during our club's visit to sister club in Takasaki, Japan