We Helped Set Up
The Rotary Club of Auckland is one of the longest serving clubs in Australasia. It was founded on June 13, 1921, with 55 Charter members by Special Commissioner Jim Davidson, from the Club of Calgary.
The inaugural meeting was held at Priors Restaurant in the Strand Arcade. Hon George Fowlds and Charles Rhodes did most of the groundwork in bringing Rotary to New Zealand and they honoured the Auckland Rotary Club as first president and vice-president. As the first service club in Auckland, Rotary pursued a vigorous community services programme.
The first community service in the Club's first year was raising 900 pounds ($1800) for the Boy Scouts. Along the subsequent long record of contributions there was support for the Blind Institute in 1926, The YMCA Lodge Hunua in 1928 and the Plunket Society in 1930-31. The Club was also instrumental in the formation of the Crippled Childrens Society (now CCS) in 1935, and the Tuberculosis Association in 1944.
In 1945 the Club established the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Committee which led to 100,000 pounds ($200,000) being raised to endow a Professorial Chair in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland and eventually to the establishment of National Women's Hospital in Auckland. By 1945, ten members had served overseas, the Club had organised 22 new clubs, and in conjunction with some of them helped to organise another eight. The post-war period saw the club grow to 300 members and the sponsoring of the establishment of what are now some of our strongest sister clubs including Newmarket, Pukekohe, Onehunga, and Otahuhu.
To mark the 50th Anniversary of Rotary International in 1955, the District Golden Jubilee Committee developed ROTA (Rotary Overseas Travel Award), which was so successful that it was subsequently adopted by The Rotary Foundation and adapted to become the Group Study Exchange, still one Rotary's most successful international programmes.
In 1961, the Club's Youth Committee project sparked off a project that with the support of the Governor General, Viscount Cobham, and other was to become know as The Outward Bound Trust, which continues its characters-building adventure training for young people to this day.
The club also contributed to the Children's Health Research Foundation and assisted in establishing the Junior Symphony Orchestra and the Maori Youth Centre. A number of Rotary merit awards were initiated, including the Rotary Scholar Award (medical scholarship), Rotary Award of Merit for vocation service and the Trophy of Tradition for the nurse exemplifying the spirit of the nursing profession.
Among the many service projects and assistance to the community in the club’s third quarter century are the Harold Thomas Rotary Trust and the Reaching Out Trust, which grew to become The Child Development Foundation of New Zealand, a programme dedicated to helping intermediate school children grow into better citizens as they cope with the problems of peer pressure in their developmental years. The club worked with the District to help in the establishment of the Children's Health Foundation nationally. Other notable achievements include the establishment of Boystown (now Youth Town), a log cabin at Camp Adair, help with the Blood Unit at Auckland Hospital, a van for the Crippled Childrens Association, clothing for the Salvation Army and a substantial donation to a new hospital facility for the disabled at the end of the decade.
In 1994, the club looked to build an event to raise funds for charitable work on an annual basis. From this stemmed the nationally and internationally acclaimed Ellerslie Flower Show. In 2004, the Ellerslie Flower show was sold, after having distributed $645,000 in surpluses for local charities.
In 1996 the TYLA - Turn Your Life Around - programme was established with the help of the Rotary Club of Auckland. This is a year long course supported by the police that aims to make a positive difference to the lives of at-risk youths.
The Books for Babes project began in 1997 when the Rotary Club of Auckland sought to put resources into the local community for early health and wellbeing. Books purchased by the club were distributed with ideas on how to reading to very young children through the Well Child initiative. The project now extends across many parts of Auckland with support from Auckland City Libraries and of various visits and reading programmes.
As the Auckland Club heads towards its centennial in 2021, there are many challenges that it will no doubt face. The changing face of Auckland requires new approaches towards meeting the goals of the club through the various avenues of service. Throughout the years the club has continued to support the charities and organizations that it supported in its early years, like the YMCA, Plunket Society, and Salvation Army.
Rotary has remained a centre of goodwill, energy and direction for the city and continues to fulfil its role of building "bridges of friendship" in its international services. Rotary's ideals remain relevant today and will surely carry a message through the coming years. The history of the Rotary Club of Auckland is a history of its many services and charitable support. And with its dedicated members the club will continue to fulfil the Rotary objective by encouraging and fostering the ideal of service as a basis of wholesale enterprise.