Sydney Rotary Formation

The Formation of the Rotary Club of Sydney

Extract from "Achieving for Others", Brian H Fletcher. 2005. Pages 8 to 12.

Proposals aimed at extending Rotary to Sydney were made well before the club was brought into existence. The first name to appear in this connection in the club's archives was that of T.H. Scott of Glenway, Carlton Cross, Summer Hill, who wrote to Chicago on 14 January 1914 at the suggestion of a friend in England, offering to form a club in Sydney.

He was invited to send details of what he had in mind but nothing eventuated. Fifteen months later, in May 1915, it was reported that two Englishmen, Leslie Dobell and his brother, both leading members the firm of Stott and Company, had also approached Chicago after visiting the Denver Club while on a tour of th United States. Like Scott they do not appear to have put their ides into practice and over the next three years only one expression of interest came from Sydney which was scarcely surprising given that the world was at war.

These pre-war approaches were those of the indivividuaI businessman who had on occasion attended meetings of Rotary clubs while visiting the United States. Back in Australia their enthusiasm survived but not sufficient for them to give it practical expression. This was not the case with the young Melbourne architect W.H. Drummond, who visited San Francisco in 1913 and attended its local club which took great pride in being the second to be established. He went on to Chicago to observe what was going on in his profession now that the city was being beautified. This also brought him into contact with the home of Rotary and strengthened his enthusiasm for what he had already seen in San Francisco. He was entertained by Paul Harris and his Scottish wife Jean Thomson whom Paul had married in 1910, and put forward proposals for a Rotary club in Melbourne. The outbreak of war prevented Drummond returning to Melbourne and delayed his plans for Rotary, but his enthusiasm was undimmed and he later gained an honoured place in the history of the Rotary Club of Melbourne. Other Melburnians shared his enthusiasm and expressed interest in bringing it to fruition. 

Once the war was over Rotary could turn its attention to further expansion in a world that needed reconstructing if future conflicts were to be avoided. The events that had taken place between 1914 and 1918 had been traumatic and there was a widespread desire to ensure that nothing like them occurred again. Rotary could play a part in this process provided it spread itself more widely and attracted a growing membership. Between 1918 and 1920 considerable expansion occurred with the Rotary wheel moving to the Philippines, China, Panama, India, Argentina and Tokyo. In 1920 the formation of a club in Madrid marked the wheel's arrival on the continent of Europe. This was important and so too was the fact that from 1921 the movement's international conventions began to be held outside the United States.  Australia, by virtue of its geographical location in the Pacific region and proximity to Asia, could contribute greatly to the furtherance of this objective.

The various approaches that had earlier come from Sydney and elsewhere showed that interest in the Rotary movement already existed in Australia. A list sent to Percy Marchant in Kent Street Sydney in March 1919 showed that seven approaches had been made from Melbourne to Chicago, together with a similar number from Sydney and one each from Adelaide and Brisbane. Among the letters from Sydney was a recent one from Arthur Woods, who in February had expressed the desire to establish a Sydney club after visiting the United States. It was not surprising, therefore, that in May 1919 Chesley Perry, who in 1910 had been elected as the first secretary of what was then the National Association of Rotary Clubs, began seeking information about the prospects. Five months later, on 18 October 1919, he responded positively to a request from J.H.Claire, a mercantile broker in Sydney and a former member of the Chicago club, for permission to bring a club into being. Claire was currently in New York and Perry sent him the names of Sydney residents who had earlier expressed an interest in the matter and who he thought should be contacted when Claire returned to Sydney. 'If the way is entirely clear without danger of crossing any wires we may have out', observed Perry, 'you are at liberty to proceed to get together a group of substantial and representative men and constitute them the Organising Committee.' They were then to proceed along the lines laid down by the International Office for the establishment of new clubs. Perry went on to give further advice about the prospective club and urged Claire to ensure that representatives from it attended the 1920 Convention to be held in Atlanta. At the beginning of November 1919 he suggested that Claire become secretary of the organising committee, leaving the chairmanship to be filled by 'a native business man' acquainted with the objectives of Rotary and possessed of standing both in Sydney and the nation. Had all gone according to plan the Rotary Club of Sydney would have come into being well over a year before it was actually formed. Unfortunately, although Claire does appear to have returned to Sydney he took no further action and efforts by Perry to find out what was
happening came to nothing. Claire thus joined the ranks of those who were given the opportunity to found a club but failed to do so. Why he gave this chance away is unknown.

Claire's disappearance from the scene did not diminish Rotary's desire to gain a foothold in Australia. Yet it was patently clear that business interests there could not be  depended upon to take the necessary action. Chicago would have to take an initiative of its own if anything was to be accomplished. Rotary Commissioner J.W. Davidson later described how a plan of action was worked out in Chicago, 'with the idea that the Canadian Rotary Clubs should play a large part in the extension work'. The plan was submitted to the Canadian Advisory Council which promised support and agreed to nominate two commissioners. This reflected the strength and enthusiasm of the movement in Canada which. in 1910, with the formation of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, had become the first nation outside the United States to possess such a club. Since then others had come into being. Canadian Rotarians appreciated the need for worldwide expansion and looked naturally to Australia to which their country was linked through membership of the British Empire. They were anxious for Rotary to be established as soon as possible in their sister Dominions of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Two of their number volunteered their services and Canadian clubs offered to pay their expenses. Early in 1921 the secretariat of the International Association of Rotary Clubs commissioned James W. Davidson, Past President of the Calgary club and Colone J .Layton Ralston, President of the Halifax club to sail for Australia and New Zealand with a view to bring Rotary clubs into being. It has been sugested that behind the decision of Chicago to send Canadians rather than Americans, lay a concern that Australians and New Zealanders both both predominantly British in popuatlon and culture might quibble at the prospect of hosting a movment that originated and was shaped by the United States. It is, of course true that there were numerous points at which the history of Australia and the United States intersected and and it was often said that they had much in common. Even so, Australians were sceptical about some aspects of American civilisation and had no desire to be identified with them.