IN the ANTIPODES Rotary in Australia and New Zealand 1921
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“SERVICE ABOVE SELF” IN THE ANTIPODES Rotary in Australia and New Zealand 1921-2014 by H Paul Henningham Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Honours) November, 2016 Charles Sturt University i Table of Contents Certificate of Authorship ............................................................................. iii Acknowledgments....................................................................................... viii Abstract ........................................................................................................ iv Methodology ................................................................................................ vi Publications .................................................................................................. ix The Oceania region ....................................................................................... x Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One – In the Beginning ........................................................... 5 Chapter Two – An Association of Clubs ............................................. 18 Chapter Three – Serious about Service .................................................. 33 Chapter Four – Projects and Programs for Youth ............................... 41 Chapter Five – Projects and Programs for the Aged ........................ 65 Chapter Six – Community Service .................................................... 74 Chapter Seven – International Understanding…………………………. 94 Chapter Eight – World Community Service ………………………… 109 Chapter Nine – Vocational Service………………….………….. 125 Chapter Ten – Meetings ................................................................. 131 Chapter Eleven – Communications ....................................................... 140 Chapter Twelve – Rotarians ................................................................... 145 Chapter Thirteen – Influences .................................................................. 164 Chapter Fourteen – Rotary in Context: Past, Present and Future ............. 173 Chapter Fifteen – Conclusions ............................................................... 188 Notes .......................................................................................................... 191 Bibliography ............................................................................................. 204 Appendix A ................................................................................................ 213 Appendix B ................................................................................................ 214 Appendix C ................................................................................................ 215 ii Certificate of Authorship I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of Charles Sturt University or of any other accredited educational institution, except where due acknowledgment is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by colleagues with whom I have worked at Charles Sturt University or elsewhere during my candidature is fully acknowledged. I agree that this thesis be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Executive Director, Library Services or nominee, for the care, loan and reproduction of theses. …………………………………… Herbert Paul Henningham iii Acknowledgements First and foremost of those to whom I am indebted for assistance, patience, guidance, encouragement, tact and the courage to accept the challenging task of supervising a nonagenarian student, is Dr Therese Taylor, who has been not only a most helpful mentor but also a true friend. For smoothing the path to my admission as a student under unusual circumstances and persuading me to persevere when I was about to withdraw, I am also grateful to Professor Margaret Woodward. I sincerely thank Rotary International former presidents Sir Clem Renouf, Glen Kinross and William Boyd, the former R.I. directors and district governors who responded to my appeals and answered my difficult questions, Rotary Down Under former editors Bob Aitken and Mark Wallace and the board of Rotary Down Under Inc., Australian Rotary Health CEO Joy Gillett and her staff and board members, the Australian and New Zealand Rotary Institutes, members of the Rotary Institute History and Archives Committee, the archivists of the four pioneer Rotary Clubs – Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington, the staff of the Rotary International Secretariat – and the many hundreds of anonymous Rotarians who have recorded their experiences, completed questionnaires and provided information; and the many more who have contributed articles and reports to Rotary publications and shared their reminiscences with me over so many years. I acknowledge, also, the ready co-operation of the current leadership of other associations of service clubs mentioned in this work – Apex, Inner Wheel, Kiwanis, Legacy, Lions, Quota, Round Table and Zonta. I appreciate the generous support and encouragement of my five sons – John, who actually read and commented on the thesis and especially Stephen whose many suggestions and whose specialized knowledge of the South Pacific were invaluable; and of course I have most valued the patience and practical help of my long-suffering wife, Margaret – still the most competent, conscientious and critical copy-editor this side of the rabbit-proof fence. iv Abstract This thesis is a study of the Rotary movement in Australia and New Zealand and is based upon research into primary sources by a “participant observer” who has been personally involved for more than 60 years. The thesis provides a brief background to the development of Rotary from 1905 and traces the history of the movement in the Oceania Region from its beginnings in 1921 to the present, with emphasis on developments since the Second World War. It also examines the major achievements of Rotary and some of its significant projects and programs and their contribution to human welfare at local, national, regional and international levels. The thesis considers the structure of the organisation as an association of autonomous clubs with a common purpose – to serve society locally, regionally and internationally. It examines the major changes that have occurred to meet changing circumstances and the influence of Rotary on the development of the service club movement at large. “Service clubs” are defined in the thesis as groups that have service to the community as the leading ostensible objective. A working assumption of the thesis is that the activities of these clubs – and notably Rotary – are significant and worthy of further research. Rotary has been embraced with more enthusiasm, attracting more members relative to population, in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands than in any other region. The thesis explores this relative popularity and the distinctive aspects of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand in terms of (1) relatively egalitarian societies facilitating the recruitment of members over a wider spectrum of the community; (2) the well- established practice of mutual aid developed in Australasia by a comparatively recent colonial frontier experience; (3) a ready acceptance of and a talent for the development of bureaucratic organisation inherited from a colonial past and (4) the abdication (in part) by the diminishing congregations of the established churches of what were previously seen as their social welfare responsibilities, leaving a missionary vacuum to be filled by secular associations. This study provides some provisional answers to questions about the contribution of Rotary to human welfare, but it also raises further questions about the methods Rotary has adopted to identify needs and the effectiveness of some Rotary programs. The thesis has been written against the backdrop of the history of institutions and of voluntary societies. Scholars writing accounts of trade unions, lodges, fraternities, friendly v societies and comparable social groups have noted how much work remains to be done on these significant social organisations. This thesis is offered as a modest contribution to that developing body of research. vi Methodology In this thesis the methodology employed is that of social history; described by famous historian G. M. Trevelyan, in his Introduction to English Social History, 1944, as “…a history of a people with the politics left out”. A popular definition is “history that concentrates on social, economic and cultural institutions of a people”. As such it is concerned with the study of organisations and popular movements that are not necessarily linked directly to the major structures of the state, such as parliament, the civil service and the military; or to recognised and dominant belief systems – those of religions and ideologies. Social history gives equal importance to all levels of society and recognises that the activities of “great” men and women and powerful institutions – which dominate published sources of all types – make up only a small segment of human experience. It is now widely believed that, until the mid-twentieth century, established histories gave “too