Lilley Australia Day Awards

The Rotary Club of Nundah has been awarded a Lilley Australia Day Award for Community Service for 2004. The Ted Tremayne Memorial Award for Community Service is awarded each year on Australia Day as a special award ceremony held at Kedron Wavell Services Club and hosted by the Federal Member for Lilley Mr Wayne Swan. As well as the Community Service Award about 50 volunteers will also be recognized for their service to their local community organizations. 

The Citation for the Rotary Club of Nundah for the Lilley Australia Day Community Service Award

This year is the 50^th Anniversary of the formation of the Rotary Club of Nundah and this nomination is in recognition of the contribution the Club and its members have made to the Community on both a local and international level

 For 20 Years in the 60’s and 70’s the Club supported both Tufnell Homes operated by the Anglican Church and St Vincent’s Orphanage operated by the Catholic Church by providing transport to the the children to the Show, the seaside and entertainment. The Club provided money for playground equipment, classrooms and sporting amenities. This continued until other forms of support became available.

The Club helped establish 2 kindergartens in the area during and early 60’s and for 10 years supported the annual appeal for cerebral palsy with Door knocks, cash donations and entering a candidate in the Miss Australia Quest.

As a memorial to the founding president Cec Emanuel the Club resolved to establish a children’s playground on an unused reserve in Goss Road, Virginia which the club was already developing as a recreation area. This involved felling trees, clearing and top dressing the surface. A concrete cricket pitch was laid, goal post erected and toilet and shelter facilities were provided. A 56-ton long distance steam type C17 locomotive tender was obtained and was moved on to a prepared site and remained a popular feature of the playground for many years. Maintenance of the play equipment and it surroundings became a regular task for working parties from the Club.

During the fifties the Club provided transport to for two severely disabled children so that they received an education. This required Rotarians and their partners organizing the transport each day and quite an expenditure of club funds to support the project.

In the 60’s Rotary Club of Nundah sponsored a British family to Australia. This required finding the family accommodation and employment and counseling services for the family.

In 1959 the Centenary year of Queensland, the Rotary Club took the imitative and organized a street procession and carnival. The club also under took preparing of a float depicting some of its community work and organized for a party of aboriginal people to take part in the procession.

 Another significant celebration was the 1988 Bicentenary Year, during that year the rotary club provided $10.000 worth of playground equipment for the Cec Emanuel Memorial Playground and took part in the extension of the Municipal Library to provide an archives and resource centre for research and study. This included supervision of the project and landscaping around the completed building.

 By 1970 the need for was a centre where older men and women come meet for fellowship and recreation. With the support of many local organizations including Lions, Apex, Quota and Rotaract a committee was form and in 1976 the Golden Years Centre for Seniors was opened. Nundah Rotary still supports the Golden Years Seniors' Centre with regular financial support and several of the Club members are members of the Management Board

Rotary was represented on the committee that was formed to set up a Meals on Wheels Service in the Nundah area many Rotary partners and retired Rotarians became delivers and drivers for the infant service and this is another project that is still supported by Nundah Rotary.

 When the Zion Home was built rotary made a financial contribution to the building project and later supplied equipment as required. Many members continued to support the home by improving the amenities.

 The Endeavour Centre at Northgate also received support from Rotary. They cleared and developed the area to provide shelter space and recreational facilities. This was a big project and the Club was involved for a period of 3 years.

Other projects include the “Fun and Fitness “ Trail in Kalinga Park. Several tree planting projects including Shaw Park, Men of the Trees, and Greening Australia. The Club has also helped with BCC tree planting projects along Kedron Brook, at Bald Hills, and in the Banyo area.

 Each year the club provides drivers to help deliver the parcels for the Smith Family and also members participate each year in the Red Shield Appeal and Clean Up Australia Campaign.

 On an international /local level the Club either sends or hosts an exchange student each year. The Club also puts together literacy kits for children in the Solomon Island and PNG. These kits are made up of paper, writing materials and similar items for general use in the classroom. Members regularly help out at the Donations In Kind Project which sends a container each week of disused hospital beds, wheel chairs, school desks, linen and books etc to PNG and Solomon Island.

 Nundah Rotary has developed a programme called Computers for Kids and through this programme members recondition then deliver computers to disadvantaged families.

The Nundah Club has been involved with the Noonga Reconciliation Group in many ways. Providing funds to send indigenous children on a Bush Camp, helping at the Bush Tucker Garden at Taigum and even managing to locate and donate some army tents that could be used at the Bush Camp site.

 The Pride of Workmanship awards are held each year these awards encourage employers to recognize the little extras that people do in the work place and it is a way for the ‘boss’ to say thank you.

Over the past 20 years the Rotary Club of Nundah has made a large financial contribution to the eradication of Polio programme that Rotary International has been running in conjunction with the World Health Organization. Rotary’s worldwide contribution will mean that Polio will, by 2005, no longer a threat in the world.

The motto of Rotary is ‘Service above Self’ and this is very noticeable in the work that the Rotary Club of Nundah has done over the past 50 years.