District 9640 made a great start and then came up with great ideas

Sujoyeeta Ghosh, a Group Study Exchange Team member from District 3290 in India to District 9640, tries out a wheelchair at the Surfers Sunrise’s WheelChair Project displayed at the 2004 District Conference. Photograph: Courtesy, PDG David Lee.

District 9640 came into being on July 1, 1982, when clubs from two Districts (963 and 965) were moulded with a new identity, yet a singularity of purpose. A major factor in the success of this District in its initial year was the contribution by the inaugural District Governor, Eric Flower, and his wife Jean. District 9640 It is no easy job to create something from nothing, but with DG Eric’s wide administrative experience he formalised the District’s organisational structure. The longest-serving club in District 9640, the Rotary Club of Lismore, N.S.W., was chartered on December 31, 1931, being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Sydney, N.S.W. The first recorded major project for this club was in 1941 with the founding of the Physical Fitness Camp at Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head, N.S.W., on 400 acres of government land. Funds raised by Lismore Rotarians came from the popular weekly boxing competitions conducted in a “stadium” (a paddock with tiered seating) behind the former Commercial Hotel.

The camp over many years has had a far- reaching effect on children from many regions of the state. Lismore is well-known for enduring devastating floods. After a major flood of 1954 saw the main shopping centre inundated, the Rotary Club of Lismore in 1956 donated to the City of Lismore a flood boat named The Rotarian.

The Rotary Club of of Warwick, Qld., chartered by the Rotary Club of Toowoomba, Qld., in November, 1932, is the club with the second longest history in District 9640.

For a time during the war years club members had to make their own arrangements for food at Rotary meetings, arriving with hot pies and potato chips purchased from a nearby shop.
The Rotary Club of Boonah Qld., chartered in 1946, has been part of nine different Rotary Districts.

When this club celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1996, the then District Governor David Lee, of the Rotary Club of Stanthorpe, Qld., had the unique opportunity of re-installing charter president, Harold Palethorpe, as club president and re-presenting the original charter.

Nearly 50 per cent of the clubs in District 9640 are situated along the Gold Coast strip, and many of these often have the privilege of welcoming visiting Rotarians from many regions of Australia and overseas.

Many southern retirees are almost classed as “club members” as they spend the winter months in the warmer climate of the Gold Coast.

While the Gold Coast has a great reputation for hospitality, out of Surfers Sunrise has come a very successful international project.

The Rotary Club of Surfers Paradise, Qld., was founded in the 50th year of Rotary International.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Southport, it became the second club in the city of Gold Coast when the population was 30,000 in 1955.

Fifty years later Gold Coast has grown to a population of 500,000 people and Surfers Paradise is the centre of its main industry, tourism.

An impression is left with all visiting Rotarians to the breakfast Club of Surfers Sunrise with its bikini-clad girl featured on the bulletin cover.

Located in the heart of the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise is an ideal place for visiting Rotarians to make-up on the Gold Coast.
While the Gold Coast has a great reputation for hospitality, out of Surfers Sunrise has come a very successful international project.