The first Rotary Club in Australia was formed in Melbourne on 21st of April 1921 with 37 charter members. Professor W. A. Osborne, Professor of Physiology at the University of Melbourne was elected first president. The second Rotary Club was formed in Sydney on 17th May 1921 with 35 charter members and The Hon. Sir Henry Braddon became first president.

The charter presidents of the first two clubs, Professor Osborne and Sir Henry Braddon, discharged their duties so effectively and with such enthusiasm that, in 1922, they were appointed commissioners by Rotary International (the newly-adopted name for the International Association of Rotary Clubs) to set up clubs in the major cities in all States, the former to be responsible for extension in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia and the latter in New South Wales and Queensland.

These two remarkable men, after only a year of Rotary experience, embarked on what must have been a daunting task. First, it appears, they made discreet enquiries through their business or professional colleagues in other cities. Professor Osborne would write to academics and members of the medical profession. Sir Henry would seek information from senior executives of Dalgetys in Brisbane and those with whom they did business. Then, having compiled a list of people who might be interested in Rotary, they would travel to the city of their choice (sometimes by train but more often by ship) and privately interview prospects.

In1945. Bob Morris of the Rotary Club of Hobart provided an interesting account of how the commissioners operated:
“Twenty one years ago this month, two ambassadors from the recently formed Club in Melbourne came to Hobart; Professor Osborne of the Melbourne University and Walter Drummond, the Secretary of the Rotary Club of Melbourne. They came armed with the names of twenty-five Hobart men as prospects.”

"My first experience of Rotary was when they called and asked to see me privately. I had a small office, 9ft. by 9ft. behind the shop window. This was large enough to contain two seats at an office table. The Professor took one chair and I took the other, Walter Drummond sat on the gas meter. They told me they were going to form a Rotary Club in Hobart, talked about its aims and objectives, its proposals and responsibilities. and said my name had been proposed as a Charter member. Was I prepared to accept membership?”

"I was living with my saintly mother at the time, and she had always taught me to be cautious, and to be careful of my associates, and so I asked the Professor what other men in the city were likely to join. Walter Drummond pulled out a note book and said, ‘The following gentlemen have accepted membership.' The first name he mentioned was Sir Henry Jones, and I said 'You need not read out anymore names; if it's good enough for Sir Henry it's good enough for me. I'll give it a fly'."

Having completed their interviews, the commissioners would invite the acceptors to a meeting, usually over a meal, and the Rotary club was established, constitution adopted and officers elected. The commissioner would then embark on the next steamer for the journey back to his home port.

There is a story told of an incident during one such sea voyage, whether factual or apocryphal is uncertain. It was customary for the shipping office to send the purser a list of passengers with an indication of those who might be eligible for the honour of dining at tables presided over by the various ship's officers. Stealing a glance at the purser's list, the commissioner was not surprised to see that a brewery manager and a trade union secretary were judged worthy of a place at the captain's table, but was amused at the comment beside his own name: "Rotary Commissioner. We don't know what this means but he is probably an officer of the Salvation Army on circuit. Put him at your own table."

Of the capital cities, Brisbane and Adelaide were formed in 1923, Hobart in 1924 and Perth in 1926. Meanwhile Rotary was being extended to the provincial cities and large towns: in New South Wales, Newcastle in 1923, Parramatta 1926, Wollongong and Albury 1927; in Queensland, Rockhampton 1925, Townsville and Mackay 1926; in Tasmania, Launceston 1924; and in Victoria, Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong in 1925. The first club in Canberra, the new National Capital, was formed in 1928, by which time all 17 clubs in Australia had become Rotary District 65 (or, more commonly, the 65th District) which was formed on September 15, 1927 with Fred Birks of the Rotary Club of Sydney as the first district governor.

The work of the commissioners should be remembered. They were both busy men, holding responsible positions of leadership in their vocations, who gave most generously of their time because they saw in this new movement a means through which the spirit of selfless service in men of goodwill could be given practical expression. Those of us who complain about the tedious flight from Melbourne to Perth might pause to consider the commitment to Rotary of the commissioner, who gladly undertook the six-day sea voyage to form a new club.

The new district was administered by Fred Birks for two years. He was followed by Alfred C.C.Holtz of Melbourne, 1929-30, at the end of whose term, the country was divided into two districts: 65, with Leonard Mitchell of Melbourne as governor, being defined as "that portion of Australia including South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, Northern Territory, the City of Broken Hill and that part of New South Wales south of the Murrumbidgee River". The remainder of New South Wales, Queensland and the A.C.T. were designated the 76th District with Robert Hancock of Brisbane as its first governor.

There were now 30 clubs in the country, and the expansion continued, despite the extreme difficulties experienced by many clubs during the Great Depression of 1930-37 when Rotary International lost 18 clubs in 1931 and 27 more in 1932 accounting for some 2,000 members. By the beginning of World War II in 1939 there were three districts with 76 clubs and about 3,000 members.

From 1939 to 1946, for obvious reasons, the growth was retarded; but still there were those who, in the face of great difficulties, saw it as their duty to continue the extension of Rotary to meet post-war challenges; so that when a new district was formed in 1946, there were 101 clubs as the platform from which to launch the rapid post-war expansion.

The growth continued until in 1996, on the 75th anniversary of Rotary's arrival in Australia, there were 23 districts with 1178 clubs and some 42,000 members. Rotary has now been in Australia for 83 years.

August 2004