THIS year’s presentation of the Casterton Rotary Club’s annual report and Changeover Dinner celebrates 75 years of service to the local community and internationally.
More than 250 dedicated Rotarians have implemented projects that have directly impacted Casterton during these years and the club is still getting on with its work, post-pandemic.
For its anniversary, Rotary is also reflecting on its proud history.
Formed in July 1947, the club began with 18 professionals and businessmen whose purpose was to use their vocations for “doing good in the world” as part of Rotary International.
Initially, emphasis was on developing the club and records indicate that projects such as providing transport and outings for the elderly and assisting the various local facilities, organisations and activities was the initial focus.
The 1950s were a busy decade in the community and included the first major fundraiser – a 1954 car raffle assisting development of an ‘Old Folks Home’ (now Edgarley) – and the construction of a swimming pool near Ess Lagoon.
In 1956, Rotary undertook a major logistical event, commissioning a train from Casterton Railway Station to transport 454 local students and 107 adults to the Olympic Games in Melbourne.
The project cost £1700 ($3400) and was a great effort for a small club, remembered by many local residents today.
The first distribution of treats to children on Christmas Eve took place in 1958, becoming an annual event still appreciated today.
In 1959 the Youth Club hall on the corner of Murray and McPherson Streets burned down and Rotary assisted with the rebuild in Jackson Street.
The 1960s saw the raffle of a caravan to raise funds for the hospital, fencing for a new swimming pool at Island Park and lining for a new wing of the Scout Hall.
It was also the decade when Rotary Youth Exchange was introduced to Casterton, with Eril Reid travelling to the Philippines in 1965 and Rita Miller welcomed from the US in 1967.
In total, 17 outbound and 16 inbound students have been part of this amazing program.
The club was instrumental in the charter of other service clubs in our town, including Apex and Rotaract, which may no longer be active but served the community well.
Not least among their achievements was Apex’s introduction of the Working Dog Auction which, of course, has become the famous Kelpie Muster.
Probus Clubs were formed in both Coleraine and Casterton, providing an avenue of friendship, fellowship and fun for retired persons in both communities.
The 1970s saw Rotary facilitate a successful Meals on Wheels service, which is still provided by the Casterton Memorial Hospital more than 50 years on.
Rotary also supported more new initiatives including senior citizens rooms, electric lighting of the scout emblem and playground equipment for the kindergarten, among many others.
In 1979, Rotarian Adrian Bunnik travelled to New Guinea under the Rotary Australia World Community Service program to assist in the building of a hospital.
The early 1980s had Rotary and the whole community working on disaster aid in response to serious drought and the Ash Wednesday fires.
In the mid-1980s, a major trade fair was organized as well as a two-day hobby, art and craft fair, while Rotarian Robbie Greene became chairman of the shire’s 150th celebrations.
By the 1990s, development of a walking track from Rotary Rest Point was on the agenda, trees were provided to schools under the Preserve Planet Earth project and clean-ups at the cemetery and the river front continued.
The new century saw construction of a shelter at the museum, a train carriage purchased for the Railway Precinct and the co-creation of the now biannual M.A.G.I.C. (Music Art Gardens In Casterton) event.
Recent activities include installation of seats at the Casterton Cenotaph, support for fire and flood devastation throughout Australia, installation of a Peace Pole at Rotary Rest Point
There still new projects for the community to keep an eye out for, including a combined Casterton Primary School project at the Community Garden and a revamped interpretive information kiosk at Casterton’s western end.
This is but a ‘potted’ version of the many undertakings of Rotarians through the last 75 years.
A comprehensive history of the Rotary Club of Casterton has been updated and a selection of photographs and memorabilia is now on display at 86 Henty Street.
