RCoB Celebrates 95th Anniversary in Queen Street Mall

The Rotary Club of Brisbane was chartered on the 29^th of May, 1923, becoming the third club in Australia after Melbourne and Sydney. We celebrated our 95^th anniversary one day early in the Queen St. Mall on 28^th May. Since it was not a major anniversary, the celebrations were low-key, but nevertheless it was an important event for the club both in terms of the visitors who came to celebrate with us and the culmination of a significant service project.

 

There was plenty on display with an impaired driving simulation demonstrator provided by the QUT Centre for Accident Research and Safety (CARRS-Q) and a mobile emergency kitchen provided by the Salvation Army. The Rotary Club of Brisbane is working together with CARRS-Q to bring research and development results to the general public with benefits to road safety in Queensland. The mobile emergency kitchen trailer is a gift from the Rotary Club of Brisbane financed by $30,000 of funds raised. The Salvation Army has a number of emergency trailers that can be deployed within hours to nearly any part of Queensland in the event of natural disaster or other emergency.

 

RCoB turned out in force for the event, but we were pleased and honoured to have Rotarians from other cluster clubs who came to celebrate with us. Guests also came from farther afield, with District 9600 District Governor John Lane delivering a personal message of congratulation from Rotary International President Ian Riseley, Helene Bo Morse who was there to try out the simulator and accept a donation from the RCoB to a charity project she is supporting called The Purple House and District Governor Elect Wendy Protheroe among others. It was particularly pleasing to be able to celebrate with Masaki Sawada, representing our sister club in Japan, the Rotary Club of Kobe East.

 

After the formalities were over, the Salvation Army cooked up a storm in the emergency trailer for members and guests from the public. Special thanks to event wranglers Jaqui De Lacy, Jacqui Page, Keith Watts, Phil Gresham and Chris Muir who did a great job with the logistics and many others from the club who contributed to the success of the event.