history

A concise history of Invercargills first Rotary Club
Paul harris The Rotary Club of Invercargill was founded
on 25th February 1924 under the sponsorship
of the Dunedin Rotarians who visited the city
and enrolled our initial 24 members.

We were the 6th Rotary Club formed within
New Zealandand given the founding number 1734.

 We have come a long way since then, from
 just community services we have progressed
 to the national and international arenas,
 giving our support and aid to many schemes,
 such as:
 Omaui Health Camp, Crippled Children Society
 - (actually founded by Rotary, Timaru
 Branch), YMCA, The Blind Centre, Southland
 Museum & Art Gallery, Deep Cove Hostel,
The Annual Book Sale and Wine Auction, Rotary
Youth Exchange, Rotary Foundation Scholarships,
 World Community Service, Interact / Rotoract,
Inner Wheel

 From that initial membership of 24 our club
 has expanded to approximately 100. We have
 been instrumental in forming a further six
 clubs within Southland, established fireside
 forums, introduced the three minute talk,
 produced six District Governors, been
 recipients of the Paul Harris Fellowship and
 have won both the Colty and the David Ewen
 Attendance Cups.

 We are proud of our achievements to date
 and look forward to many more years of
 dedicated service to our community and the
 continued promotion of Rotary.

 Parting Thought
 "A nation that forgets its past can expect no future"
 Winston Churchill

Above is a brief synopsis from the book
“75th Anniversary - Rotary Club of Invercargill,
New Zealand. 1924-1999” by John Hall-Jones.
Copies of the book are available from the
Club Secretary.
© Copyright 29 April 1999
The inaugural meeting was held in the Federal
Tea Rooms with Sir George Fowlds, special
commissioner for R I in New Zealand coming
down especially for the occasion. William
Macalister, the Crown Prosecutor, was our first
President and Sir Robert Anderson our
Vice-President.

In the beginning we concentrated on the
development of fellowship and studying the
history of Rotary. Two special features
introduced at this time are still in use today -
the weekly newsletter and the 'parting thought'.

Very soon we moved on to undertake
projects and donate our services to the local
community. The first project we undertook
was within the Borstal starting up a "Big
Brothers" scheme for inmates - this was
before the days of rehabilitation and
Prisoners Aid.

Rotary International
founder Paul Harris visited
our club in 1935.
Foundation Members
Left: The foundation and new members,1924
Back Row:
G P Thompson (banking),
A E Smith (dentist),
J E Bews (flourmiller),
W G Gilchrist (pharmacist),
W A Gow (hardware),
J D Gilmore (optician).

Second Row:
 A leH Hoyles (milk products),
T H Watson (flaxmiller),
S McC McDonald (bootmaker)
 J M McCrostie (grocer),
A E Featherstone (primary education),
D J Wesney (timber merchant),
A T McCaw (surgeon).

Third Row:
W H Boyes (draper),
H W Royds (wholesale dry goods),
J B Thomson (carbonated waters),
A H Mackrell (butter manufacturer),
D W McKay (auctioneer),

A W Rodger (electric power board),
T O Fox (civil engineer).

Front Row:
A G Butchers (secondary education, hon. sec.),
R B Caws (company secretary),
R J GIlmour (newspaper proprietor),
R A Anderson (freezing works, vice - president),
Wm Macalister (barrister, president),
J Gilkison (stock and station agent),
M N Hyndman (bookseller),
D Cuthbertson (public accountant, hon. treasurer).