The Rotary Club of Invercargill was founded on

25th February 1924 under the sponsorship of
the Dunedin Rotarians who visited the city and

enrolled our initial 24 members. We were the 6th

Rotary Club formed within New Zealand and

given the founding number 1734.

In the beginning we concentrated on the development

of fellowship and studying the History.

Two special features introduced at this time are

still in use today - the weekly newsletter and the

'parting thought'.

Very soon we moved on to undertake projects and

donate our services to the local community.

The first project we undertook was within the Borstal

starting up a "Big Brothers" scheme for inmates -

this was before the days of rehabilitation and

Prisoners Aid. We have come a long way since then,

from just community services we have progressed

to the national and international arenas, giving our

support and aid to many schemes, such as: Omaui

Health Camp, Crippled Children Society - (actually

founded by Rotary, Timaru Branch), YMCA,

The Blind Centre, Southland Museum & Art Gallery,

Deep Cove Hostel, The Annual Book Sale,

Rotary Youth Exchange, Rotary Foundation

Scholarships, World Community Service, Interact /

Rotaract, Inner Wheel

From that initial membership of 24 our club has

expanded to approximately 100. We have been

instrumental in forming a further six clubs within

Southland, established fireside forums, introduced

the three minute talk, produced six District

Governors, been recipients of the Paul Harris

Fellowship and have won both the Colty and the

David Ewen Attendance Cups.

We are proud of our achievements to date and look

forward to many more years of dedicated service

to our community and the continued promotion of

Rotary.