-
1
It’s not often that father and son
are both members of a Rotary Club.
Geoff Austin, President of Casino
Rotary had the pleasure of
inducting his son Mathew Austin.
Welcome to Rotary.
fd
Please welcome four new Rotary Clubs to our District
Gold Coast Corporate Rotary Chartered 27 Oct 2020 with 27
members Sponsor District 9640 District Governor’s Representative
PDG Michael Irving - Southport
Rotary Club of The Granite Belt Chartered 1 Oct 2020 with 20
members Sponsor District 9640 District Governor’s Representative
PDG David Lee – The Granite Belt
Rotary Club of Lismore Networking Chartered 18 Dec 2020 with 20
members Sponsor District 9640 District Governor’s Representative
PDG Terry Brown – Lismore
Evans Head Rotary Chartering Jan 2021 with 20 members Sponsor
Casino Rotary District Governor’s Representative President Geoff
Austin – Casino
Charter President Don Gasker from
The Granite Belt Rotary receiving the
Rotary International Charter from
Rotary International Zone 8 Director
Elect Jessie Harman and District 9640
Governor Andy Rajapakse at a gala
dinner in Stanthorpe on 12 Dec 2020.
Welcome to the RC
of Surfers Sunrise
Natasha Price and
Adam Sheppard.
Both are champion
wheelchair athletes.
WELCOME NEW
MEMBERS TO ROTARY
Grafton Midday inducted their youngest
member 29 year old Jeremy Jablonski.
Belinda Van Weerdenburg,
Cheryl Dimmock, Jane
Bysher (President Nominee)
Patrick Morgan, Anne
Lockyer welcome to Iluka-
Woombah Rotary.
https://rotary9640.org/events/calendar
-
2
From the desk of District Governor Andy On the first day in
summer of 2020 in Australia, 1
st of
December, my District Membership Chairman Rowan Johnstone
invited me to join him at the Ray White office in the ‘50 Cavil’
building in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. He was visiting his
regular Christmas donors of the Salvation Army, the organisation
where he works. We met with Andrew Bell the owner of Australia’s
largest Ray White real estate agency. 15 minutes went by with chit
chats between Rowan & Andrew about charities, donations and how
people are giving more money to charities this year. From out of
the blue, Andrew said, “some of the biggest companies in the Gold
Coast are housed in this prestigious building who will be happy to
support charities”. I grabbed that opportunity and asked “Andrew,
how many floors are in this building?” He said, “I don’t know Andy,
I only go to the 2 floors where my offices are”. I asked him if he
knew many others working in this 21-storey building. He said hardly
anyone, other than his employees. It stunned me and I suggested,
“how about you getting to know everyone in this building, so you
can all take care of each other in these times of the
pandemic?”
He said what a smart idea and asked “how can we do this Andy?” I
said, “Andrew, let’s form a Rotary Club in this building.” His eyes
popped up and he asked me, “Andy, can you do that?” What do you
think I said? “Yes, Andrew, I can start a Rotary Club in this
building, so we invite the 35 companies to get to know each other.”
Andrew said “I am in.” I asked if he would be my community champion
to start the new club. “Yes” was the answer. I briefly mentioned
the new style monthly wine & cheese Corporate Rotary club types
and Corporate Membership models we have now. He was quick to say,
“Count Ray White Surfers Paradise as the first corporate member
Andy!” We had our 3 founder members to start a new style Rotary
Club. He promptly said, “this is a busy time of the year for real
estate agents, but Andy, your idea is too good to lose.”
He suggested to Rowan, that his company will host a wine &
cheese networking evening in mid-January to introduce Rotary to the
companies in ‘50 Cavil’ building. My friend Rowan could not believe
all this happened right in front of him and I had formed another
new style Rotary Club in 10 minutes! In January 2021, Rowan will
lead the launch of Rotary Club of Surfers Paradise Corporate as my
Governor’s Special Representative. Accor Hotels, the world’s 6
th largest hotel chain operator, Chanel 9 TV, Ray
White Surfers Paradise and Regus Office Spaces, Australia’s
largest meeting space provider with 221 meeting rooms and business
lounges across 71 Australian towns, are a few of the corporates
housed in this building.
You know I am passionate about membership because it is like the
blood in our body. If we do not have members in a Rotary club there
is no club. There will be no doing good in the world. There will be
no projects. There will be no fun Rotary experiences for you and
me. So, we must grow our membership to survive as an organisation
or we will be like ‘Kodak’, lost in history. To grow Rotary, we
must be enthusiastic and focused. It is my enthusiasm that attracts
strangers to Rotary. I love asking strangers if they would like to
start a new Rotary Club in their town. That is how I started the
new style Rotary Clubs as in Varsity Lakes Rotary in 2018, Gold
Coast Passport Rotary in 2019, Gold Coast Corporate Rotary in May
2020 and Evans Head Rotary in November 2020. If I can, you can
too.
Here is the deal. Instead of one member joining Rotary, we get
20 joining Rotary when we start a new club. You know it’s cheaper
and less stressful to build a new house than renovate an old one.
To start a new Rotary Club, we only need 20 founder members. Tell
me which town in Australia does not have 20 good people with a
purpose? Believe me there are plenty of community champions in your
neighbourhood who will be happy to help start a new Rotary Club. If
you know of one, please introduce me and I will help you start a
new Rotary Club and you can be my Governor’s Special
Representative. Likewise, there are plenty of good people waiting
to be asked to join Rotary!
Having visited all of our 55 active Rotary and Rotaract Clubs in
the district, may I thank you for your enthusiasm and friendship
extended to me. In these 6 months we attracted 184 new members to
our clubs in D9640. We are now the 9
th
largest Rotary district in Australia out of 19. During these 6
months our clubs contributed A$260,000 to The Rotary Foundation.
Today 460 of our 1294 members in D9640 are females.102 of them are
partners of Rotarians. With 36% we, in D9640, have the highest
percentage of female members across Australia and New Zealand. In
D9640 there are no district dues for partners of Rotarians. 105 of
our membership are under 39 years of age. That’s 8% and we have the
highest percentage of millennials in a Rotary district in
Australia! From 1
st January 2021 to 30 June 2022
there are no district dues for under 30’s. For them, Rotary dues
will be less than $1 a day.
So, this Christmas may I invite you to share the joy of Rotary
with your wife, husband, children, neighbour and best friend by
inviting them to join your Rotary club. Thank you for your
enthusiasm to be a Rotarian. May I wish you a joyful Christmas and
a Happy New Year!
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
Casino Mathew Austin
Beaudesert Pauline Egan
Broadwater Sthport Dianne Estreich
Grafton Midday Jeremy Jablonski
Griffith Gold Coast Samantha Evans Katie Johnston
Mt Warning AM Sarah Hendrikse
e-Club of NextGen Valerie Hoffmann
Gold Coast Alexander Lang
Hope Island Janine Mahoney
Summerland Sunrise Christopher Mortimer
Surfers Paradise Marilyn Reynolds
Tenterfield Luke Robinson
Lismore Networking Robert Argent Rita Chand Judy Darcy Jan
Dilli
Sonja Dorey Sharon Dowling David Dunlop Kim Fraser Bevan Gay
Bernard Hauville Jodie Keller Lee Mcdougall
Ellenor Mcleod Jennifer Parsons Marianne Trent Emma Wallace
Maureen Williams
Membership Champions of the Year Awards. Clubs with a net +3
growth qualifies.
President Club Mbrs + President Club Mbrs +
Dave Harmon Ballina-on-Richmond (48) 11 Candice Olivier Gold
Coast Passport (34) 4
Joe Wilkinson Hope Island (52) 10 Stephen Behn Iluka-Woombah
(18) 4
John Clark Burleigh Heads (41) 6 Nicholas Rone Varsity Lakes
(12) 4
Charles Thomasson Surfers Sunrise (36) 6 Doug Bryce Warwick
Sunrise (29) 4
Graeme Johns E-Club of NextGen (27) 5 Kristine Grayson Boonah
(38) 3
Robert Blanchard Grafton Midday (31) 5 Graham McCrae
Murwillumbah Central (22) 3
-
3
z
Australia Day Events
The National Australia Day Committee has approved $100,000 in
grants for D9640 clubs to stage Covid-safe events on Australia Day
2021. The grants recognise the contribution of Rotary in Australia
over the last 100 years so provide a wonderful opportunity for
promotion.
Here is a sample of the events being planned: Goondiwindi –
Major Community event
Jimboomba – Australia day Bike Ride
Casino – Aussie Breakfast with Community Service Awards
Ballina-on-Richmond – BBQ for volunteers in SES, Fire Brigades,
Marine Rescue
Yamba – Picnic in the Park, Food & Music Festival
Grafton & Grafton Midday – Australia Day BBQ
Byron Bay – Byron Bay Paddle
Kyogle – Community Service Awards at Australia Day Markets
Burleigh Heads – Surf Club Luncheon
Currumbin Coolangatta Tweed – Aussie Breakfast
Gold Coast – Family Fun Event & BBQ launching Botanic
Gardens Explorer App
Events will promote the Australia Day theme of ‘Reflect,
respect, celebrate – we’re all part of the story.’
www.australiaday.org.au
For more information contact District Club Development Chair
David Baguley Gold Coast [email protected]
BREAKING NEWS THE ROTARY FOUNDATION IN AUSTRALIA IS NOW A PBI On
23 November 2020, Rotary Foundation Australia (PBI) Ltd was
endorsed by the ATO as a deductible gift recipient class I, or
‘DGR1’. This followed its earlier registration with the Australian
Charities and Not-for-profits Commission as a public benevolent
institution, or ‘PBI’. Until now, The Australian Rotary Foundation
Trust (TARFT) has been the recipient of donations to The Rotary
Foundation in Australia, so that they would be tax-deductible. The
problem is that funds received by TARFT have to be used on projects
in developing countries approved by the Australian government. They
cannot be directed to projects in Australia.
However, many donors—including large Australian corporations and
wealthy individuals—wish to support projects to assist people
within Australia. The PBI now makes this possible. Of particular
interest is that, since 2002, many companies and wealthy
individuals have established their own Private Ancillary Funds, or
PAFs. These are their own charities, with ‘class 2’ tax-deductible
status. However, PAFs can only transfer their funds to charities
that have ‘class 1’ status (DGR1) and THE ROTARY FOUNDATION
AUSTRALIA now have DGR1 status for both overseas and local
projects. Rotary opens new opportunities for clubs to raise big
funds to support projects in Australia.
100 YEARS - 100 STORIES WE WANT YOUR STORY
We are still accepting stories; we have received 40 so far. This
is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of our commemorative
collectible book.
Books available 21st April 2021. Order details will be in the
January edition of the DG Newsletter.
Email your story BY 31
st January to:
PDG David Lee [email protected]
A Project of The Granite Belt Rotary Club
CENTENARY OF ROTARY IN AUSTRALIA 1921-2021 COMMEMORATIVE
BOOK
Rotary International Zone 8 History and Archives Committee has
put together a Centenary of Rotary in Australia 350 page, hard
cover book.
Each Rotary Club will receive a free copy of the book, while a
supply will be available for Libraries and a limited number will be
available for sale.
Pre-orders for the Centenary book – at $25 (plus postage) can
now be placed via email: [email protected]
PDG Harry Durey - RC of Coomera Valley RI Zone 8 History and
Archives Committee
CONGRATULATIONS Dave Harmon District Governor Nominee Designate
2023-24
The District 9640 Nominating Committee of PDG’s Harry Bolton,
Terry Brown, Wendy Scarlett, DGE Jeff Egan and Chaired by DG Andy
Rajapakse met on 19
th December
2020. After a competitive interview, the committee unanimously
nominated Rtn. Dave Harmon, President of Rotary Club of
Ballina-on-Richmond as District Governor Nominee 2023-2024. Dave
and his wife Robyn have been active Rotarians for 7 years.
http://www.australiaday.org.au/mailto:[email protected]://www.tarft.org.au/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
-
4
DISTRICT GOVERNORS’ SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVES TO FORM NEW ROTARY
& ROTARACT CLUBS IN 2021
Rotary Club of Surfers Paradise Corporate Rowan Johnstone (Gold
Coast)
Rotary Club of Currumbin Beach Qld Lori Bradley (Gold Coast)
Rotary Club of Texas Qld Lachlan Brenan (Goondiwindi)
Rotary Club of Pimpama South Qld PDG Sandra Doumany (Hope
Island)
Satellite Club of Palm Lake Ballina NSW Col Lee
(Ballina-on-Richmond)
Rotaract Club of Gold Coast Makers Qld Blake Foster (Burleigh
Rotaract)
Rotaract Club of Coomera Qld Tony Lines (Coomera Valley)
BATON RELAY ROUTE (Dates subject to change)
NSW (by area) FEBRUARY
Fri 5 Grafton Sat 6 Maclean Fri 19 Yamba Sat 20 Iluka –Woombah
Sat 27 Evans Head
MARCH Fri 5 Casino Sat 6 Kyogle Fri 19 Lismore Sat 20
Alstonville Sat 27 Ballina Sun 28 Byron Bay
APRIL Sat 17 Murwillumbah Fri 23 Mullumbimby
MAY Sat 1 Kingscliff Fri 14/15 Tweed Heads
QLD (by club)
5 – 19 FEBRUARY
Goondiwindi
Stanthorpe / Stanthorpe Flexitime
Tenterfield
The Granite Belt
26 FEB - 12 MARCH
Allora
Beaudesert
Boonah
Fassifern Valley
Jimboomba / Jimboomba Sunrise
Warwick / Warwick Sunrise
19 MARCH - 2 APRIL
Broadbeach
Broadwater Southport
Gold Coast
Mermaid Beach
Parkwood
Runaway Bay
Surfers Sunrise
9 - 23 APRIL
Coomera River, Coomera Waters Coomera Valley
Griffith Gold Coast
Hope Island
Satellite Club of Coomera River - Tamborine Mountain
Nerang
Southport
30 APRIL - 14 MAY
Ashmore
Burleigh Heads Rotary & Rotaract
e-Club of NextGen Qld.
Mudgeeraba
Robina
Surfers Paradise
Gold Coast Passport & Corporate
Varsity Lakes
Congratulations Rotarian Sanuri De Silva Past President of the
Rotary Club of Griffith Gold Coast, Sanuri De Silva, was recently
awarded with the Zonta International JMK Women in Business
Scholarship 2020. She is one of six women worldwide to be awarded
this prestigious scholarship. Sanuri is currently pursuing her
Bachelor of Commerce
(Honours) program at Griffith University. The JMK Women in
Business Scholarship helps women pursue undergraduate and
postgraduate degrees in business management and to overcome
barriers from the classroom to the boardroom. The Jane M. Klausman
Women in Business Scholarship program was established in 1998 from
a generous bequest by Jane M. Klausman, a member of the Zonta Club
of Syracuse, New York, USA, and the 1990-1995 Zonta International
Parliamentarian.
ROTARY SAYS NO TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLELBRATING 100 YEARS OF
ROTARY IN AUSTRALIA 2021
For more information contact your Assistant Governors or NSW
Clubs Dave Harmon [email protected] QLD Clubs David Baguley
[email protected] Gold Coast Clubs Candice Oliver
[email protected]
Clubs can download an order form for the shirts HERE.
Congratulations! President Melissa Neilsen - Gold Coast Rotary,
winner of the $50 Coles gift card. .
Thank you RI Director-Elect for Zone 8, Jessie Harman and
husband Rtn Andrew for spending your 33
rd wedding anniversary
with us in District 9640 attending our College of Governors
Christmas luncheon and the Rotary Club of The Granite Belt Charter
presentation dinner on Saturday 12th Dec in Stanthorpe. We enjoyed
your enthusiastic company.
DG Andy initiated a partnership with the Lismore Chamber of
Commerce and the combined Lismore area Rotary clubs of Lismore,
Lismore West, Goonellabah, Summerland Sunrise and Lismore
Networking to team up and stage a Merry Little Lismore Christmas
Festival in Lismore CBD.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://rotary9640.org/page/rotary-100-years-tee-shirtshttps://www.facebook.com/RotaryDistrict9640/https://www.instagram.com/rotary9640/https://rotary9640.org/mailto:[email protected]
