Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to acknowledge a significant milestone for one of the most active service clubs in my electorate, the Rotary Club of Cronulla. In February 1950, some 60 years ago this week, the Rotary organisation came to the Sutherland Shire with the creation of its first club, the Rotary Club of Cronulla. I have a personal friendship with many of the members, am an honorary member of the club and have a strong appreciation for the hard work they do in our community. I also know they are very active fundraisers and I would like to pay tribute to the club’s members who do so much for local charities.

Originally to be called the Rotary Club of Sutherland, the newly-formed club became the Rotary Club of Cronulla because a suitable meeting place could not be found in Sutherland. There were 25 charter members at the time of the club’s formation, and the charter president was Mr Angus Gunn. He filled the position at the last moment due to the sudden transfer of Mario Perryman, a noted local identity who was employed as a bank manager. The charter night was held at the Cecil Ballroom, Cronulla, with 400 Rotarians and guests including the District Governor, Ollie Oberg, who later became a first Vice President of Rotary International.

The first members of the Rotary Club of Cronulla helped to build much of the shire’s community infrastructure. The shire was still very much a development area in the 1950s, and large areas were being opened up for new housing. The members of Cronulla Rotary erected a stone hut for a boy scout camp on the shore of the Woronora River. Blocks of stone were cut from a nearby location and floated across the river on a timber raft made in a member’s workshop. If attempted today, the project would probably be a public liability insurer’s minefield.

Over many years the club has embarked on countless other projects including playgrounds, building work, transportation and other assistance for the disabled, erection of a chapel at Sutherland Hospital and landscaping works at our nation’s birthplace at Kurnell. The club has made a contribution towards the fostering of international relations by hosting visitors from many overseas countries, including tour groups from Austria, Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa. Members of the club have joined volunteer delegations overseas, including one group that went to PNG to build a school and another that went to Nepal to work on a hospital project. Current efforts of club members include support for orphans from the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. A recent fundraising appeal collected $450 for the victims of this year’s earthquake in Haiti. Rotary members think nothing of giving up their personal time throughout the year at their many barbecues, particularly the large one on Australia Day at Cronulla beach.

It would take me far too long to list the many organisations that have benefited from Cronulla Rotary, but on behalf of those many local organisations I thank the Rotary Club of Cronulla for their service. In 2010 the Rotary club organisation will mark its 105th anniversary at an international level and 88 years at a national level. I join with the members of Cronulla Rotary to celebrate their 60th anniversary and acknowledge in this place the great contribution they have made to the lives of many residents of my local community and those less well-off than they are. I would particularly like to acknowledge the hard work of their current president, Mr Stuart Payne, and the current members of his board, including my good friend, Kevin Schreiber.

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