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Club History |
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Chartered 12
October 1954 The RC of Nambour
sponsored RC of Caloundra in 1954 with 21 charter members. Our charter
president was Ben Bennett (see below for more information on Ben Bennett). Early
projects included: Scholarship bursary Surf safety beach notices Renovations to Lady Wilson Park Large draughts
board at Tree planting in CBD Town swimming pool Caloundra cricket team sponsorship Piano for Girl Guides in 1959 Maleny Rotary park University QLD inter-house support National fitness club QATB stretcher trolleys Keep Caloundra Clean Aust Paraplegic Games Lighthouse Reserve park Community youth support scheme CADET Skillshare Steam railway
engine restoration at North
Caloundra ( Meals on
Wheels Active supporters of Donations in Kind Established Probus Club of Pelican Waters ~ Mar
2008 Picnic shelter
and commemorative sign at Ben Bennett park to celebrate club’s 50th
anniversary ~ Oct 2004. This was to
honour our charter president after whom the park was named. See below for
further information. Annual
literacy lunch in honour of past member Dick Kelly: 2008 Francis Whiting,
2009 Nick Earles, 2010 Marco Gliori. PRESIDENTS HONOUR ROLL
Club
Objectives & Activities: Early objectives of the club was to obtain new Members
and retain existing Members through the promotion of Rotary awareness. Whilst
recognising that funds were necessary for service projects, emphasis was also
given to fellowship. During the early years, “hands-on” projects were
preferred eg the Club would paint a building rather
than give funds for a tradesman. “Rotaryanns” was
very much encouraged for member’s partners. Fund raising was achieved by street stalls (eg cakes, plants, jams, etc), cook book publication & sale, dances, waste paper collection, junk sales which developed into a white elephant auction at Easter, progressive dinners, chook raffles, lucky envelopes, social outings, fashion evenings, film premieres, basket lunches, businessmen’s lunches. The Club was
involved with visits of Papuan school children, Western QLD children visits
to the coast, Caloundra High year 8 students attending a club meetings,
sponsored career nights in both Caloundra and On the social
side, the Club held or attended dances all over the coast, had fireside
meetings and social bus trips to Bt the 1990's, the Club was having a difficult time. In
particular membership had dropped to as low as 12 by 1998. In that year
D.G. Henry Bodman urged strong action and the Club
responded magnificently. The Club made a number of important
decisions. Firstly in June 1999 it decided after 44 years to
convert from a Dinner Club to a Breakfast Club. Secondly the Club
transferred to its new meeting place at the Caloundra Golf Club.
Thirdly the Club opened its doors to women members and finally a membership
drive resulted in the Club winning the District's Membership Award by
boosting numbers to 38 men and women. Three years later, Lyn Gahan, the
Deputy Principal of In recent years the Club has had many successful projects
and a very important one has been our Annual Charity Golf Day that
has raised over $50,000 in recent years. Now a vibrant Club once again, we greatly look forward to the next 50 years of serving the Caloundra Community. Sponsored
Clubs: Rotary Club of
Maleny in May 1959. A joint changeover with Maleny occurred in 1962/63. Rotary Club of
Caloundra Pacific in November 1977. Our Club has formed
three Probus Clubs, the first at Caloundra, then Currimundi, and Pelican Waters in Mar
2008. Our club also
surveyed the Beerwah/Glasshouse area in 1986 to set-up a new Club. However
there was insufficient interest at the time. On 12th October 2004 our
club celebrated our 50th anniversary. A special dinner was held during which we
paid a tribute to our charter president, Ben Bennett. This included a moving
speech by Ben’s son, Ian Bennett IPP Rotary Club of Woombye. As part of our 50th
anniversary celebrations and in conjunction with the Rotary
International centennial in 2004/05, we have completed a project at Ben
Bennett botanical park in Caloundra. Our project has provided
a BBQ shelter, “rotary pavers” and a sign which pays tribute to Ben
Bennett at the entrance to Ben Bennett Park at We were keen to have a project where we could have lasting
Rotary recognition, and a park project lends itself with appropriate signage.
Also, in researching our history, one of our first projects included
renovations to Lady Wilson Park at >
Large draughts board at >
Maleny Rotary park >
>
Lighthouse Reserve park >
>
Steam railway engine restoration at >
Duck Hole creek park Over the years many of these parks have been redeveloped
with no visible Rotary signage. However there was a most over-whelming support to honour
Ben Bennett, and where better than at the park named after him. Ben had a
strong interest in flora & fauna and lobbied hard for the establishment
of Ben Bennett Park. On Tuesday 9th
November 2004 we moved our breakfast meeting to Ben Bennett Park to
conduct the official opening and the unveiling of the sign. We provided a bbq
breakfast to members and guests. Deputy Mayor, Don Smith PHF gave the
official address on behalf of the Mayor. Special t’shirts were printed for
the occasion with the words “Rotary Caloundra - celebrating 50 years of
community service”. Our special guests
included Rotary International past president Clem Renouf
who continues to be a member of the RC of Nambour, who sponsored
our club back in 1954 and was a close friend of Ben Bennett. Other
special guests were Rod Robinson, honorary member of RC of Caloundra and our
longest serving member and friend of Ben Bennett. To complete the Rotary
family tree, we also had special guests from our daughter clubs; Mike Gregory
DGN from Rotary Club of Maleny (chartered 1959) and Win Fowles PAG from
Rotary Club of Caloundra Pacific (chartered 1977). A tree planting ceremony
was also conducted with each special guest planting a tree as a tribute to
our Rotary family. About Ben Bennett (1912 - 1987) His Family Life
Ben Bennett was born in Nambour in 1912. His
father worked for the ESA bank (Now ANZ). The family moved to after his parents purchased the Hotel Francis in
Caloundra. Ben remained in moved to Landsborough (1933) and then to Maleny (1934). It was here
that he met his wife Millie, the daughter of a Maleny dairy farmer. The
couple would eventually have three children Ian, Janet and Peter. At the beginning of WWII, the couple purchased
the Strand Theatre in Caloundra. Soon after, Ben signed up as a reinforcement for the Second Tenth Artillery and was
posted to Cape York to man antiaircraft artillery after the fall of Ben continued to work in the community until
his death in 1987, aged 75 years. His Public LifeBen became actively involved in the Caloundra
Community on his return from service in WWII. His major contributions were as
follows: >
He was
charter president for the Rotary Club of Caloundra when it was formed in
1954. >
He
served two terms as President, 1954/55 and 1962/63. >
He
served two terms as and District Governor, 1974/75 and 1979/80 during his
service with Rotary Club of Caloundra. >
He was
paid a tribute on the Club’s 25th anniversary for his unending
service having served in every club position and still being an active member >
Organised
the only Rotary District 9600 conference to be held outside >
In 1986,
he was honoured for his 32 years of service to the
Rotary Foundation with a 'Citation for Meritorious Service'. >
He was
Chairman of the Caloundra Ambulance Committee for over 30 years and was Zonal
Representative on the State Council of the QATB for 13 years. >
He
served as a Landsborough Shire Councillor
from 1964 - 1970, during which time he actively promoted native tree planting
and recommended the preservation of present day >
After
his time in Council he became the Chairman of Caloundra's
first tourist committee. >
He was
made Chairman of the Gardens in the Sun Committee and continued to promote
native plants on the >
He was a
life member of Metropolitan Caloundra Surf Club. This park was named in honour of Ben Bennett,
the person primarily responsible for its preservation, and it is a testament
to the many valuable contributions that he made to the Caloundra community. Rotary has a proud history of improving the
facilities of public parks in Caloundra. In recognition of the Clubs 50th
anniversary a picnic shelter has been sponsored in honour of Ben Bennett. We
received the following congratulatory comments from Mike Gregory DGN: To move your meeting to celebrate the official opening was a master stroke and I was most impressed by the program and the way everything ran like clockwork. I was most honoured to be able to plant a tree on behalf of Maleny Club - I reported fully to my Club on Wednesday evening but most of them had already seen it on TV - so this was another big plus for Rotary PR, getting our deeds publicised so that the community can see what we do. Our walk around the park and coffee afterwards was the icing on the cake - a memorable day for me - thankyou. |
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______________________ updated Feb 2010_______________________ |