History

 

 

Late 1985, the then DG Nev Easton approached PP Ron Smith of the Rotary Club of Toowoomba West to be his special representative to form a breakfast club in Toowoomba. The sponsor Club would be the Rotary Club of Toowoomba. A planning meeting was held on the 6th January 1986 at Rotary House. Those present were Rotarians; Nev Easton, Harry Driver, Bert Townsend, Ross Arnold, Alvin Huth.


At the second planning meeting, on 14 February 1986, it was suggested that a minimum of 20 people was required to charter a new Rotary Club. It was resolved that 7:00 am in the morning was the best commencement time for the new club, and on the recommendation of Chairman Ron Smith, the 21st March 1986 was set as the date for the first inaugural meeting as a provisional Club.


It was decided that once numbers reached 20, an application was to be made to Rotary International to Charter the new Club. The official name was to be The Rotary Club of Toowoomba Garden City. The Charter occasion was held at the Range Motel on the 9 August 1986. The incoming executive was: • President - Noel Stephenson • Vice President – Doug Welshe • Secretary – Mel Becker • Treasurer- Peter McInnes • Sergeant- Keith Murdoch. Twenty-six new Club members, including only remaining member Syd Owen, received their Charter Member badges, a fine enrolment indeed.

 

“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 organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, 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 immunize 6 million children in the Philippines. By 2012, only three countries remain polio-endemic—down from 125 in 1988.

NOTABLE ROTARIANS

Rotarians are your neighbors, 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.