Rotary Club of Albury Foundation

 In the late 1970s the Rotary Club of Albury had a lease from the Albury City Council at the Hume Weir Recreation area. The Club developed a 21roomed accommodation unit for use as a youth Chalet for young people coming to the area for a holiday. With the redevelopment of the site by the Albury City Council, they reclaimed the site and building, and paid the Rotary Club a compensatory figure of $60,000 for the loss of the facility and suggested that the Club may be interested in developing another area as a youth hostel. The Club placed the funds in a term deposit at the Hume Building Society and the State Bank of NSW. The Club always had a Youth Chalet Committee when the Chalet was in existence and each year that Committee continued with the proposed location of another site and rebuilding a youth accommodation area for holiday and recreational purposes. As time progressed during the 1980s various areas were considered including a discussion with the Hume Shire Council with the suggestion that a facility could be established at Bowna Waters Reserve, which met some obstacles. Plans were developed and costing of the construction was investigated with great diligence. It was also suggested that the Club establish an accommodation in conjunction with the developing Charles Sturt University. The money was placed in Term Deposits with interest rates in the region of 15% to up to 18%. By 1985 the Term deposit value had increased with all the interest earned and being reinvested the principal grew to $85,000. The original idea for the establishment of a Foundation occurred to John Coughlan, as a result of him reading in Rotary Down Under, details of the J R Mackenzie Trusts, which have been operating successfully in New Zealand. John raised the matter with the board of the Club. The objective was to establish a Fund under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Albury, so that monies could be made available to help persons and groups in needy circumstances, the donation to the Fund would be tax deductible for donors.

The incorporation of the Club and the preparation of the trust deed to comply with the requirements of the Income Tax Act and the New South Wales Charitable Collections Act entailed an enormous amount of work for the members of the Club John Coughlan an accountant with Coopers & Lybrand, Phil Williams a solicitor in his own practice, Noel Stephens a solicitor with Bellbridge Hague and David Shultz, loans manager with the Hume Building Society.

A senior member of the club Bill Gardener indicated his desire to be the ‘Settlor’ (founder) of the trust deed appointing the Rotary Club of Albury Inc. as Trustee on the 15^th of January 1990 and made an official donated $10 to open the bank account

Bill Gardener later donated a further $1,000 and the club transferred the funds held in the term deposits of $199,000, held under the auspices of the Youth Chalet committee, and the Income account surplus of $5,460 to make a total of $206,247 as total foundation funds.

Settled Funds: Bill Gardiner              $10.00

Donations: Bill Gardiner              $1,000.00

Rotary Club of Albury             $199,777.00

Income Account surplus                          $5,460.00

Total Foundation Funds                       $206,247.00

The Foundation was launched at a Public Function on the 29^th of November 1990 with local dignitaries and a wide invited guest list.

Sir Roderick Carnegie, Chief Executive Officer of Con Zinc Rio Tinto, and at that time, No 1 business man in Australia was invited to be Patron of the Foundation, accepting, attending and launching the Foundation at the Public function chaired by the President of the Club Phil Williams

The board of the Club appointed the first management team of Brian Esler, Proprietor of Esler and Associates, as Chairman, John Coughlan as Secretary, Phil Williams, Don King, manager of the National Australia Bank, David Schultz and Ken Curnow, immediate Past President of the club.

 

 

In 2008/09, after a generous bequest from past member Graham Turner, the Rotary Club of Albury established the Graham Turner Bursary. This bursary is given each year to encourage students studying at the University of New South Wales Rural Clinical Medical School in Albury. The amount of $7,000.00 is shared between years 5 & 6 students and hopefully an incentive for them to return to this area after graduation. The money they each receive assists them in their electives. The Rotary Club of Albury Foundation is committed to encouraging students in various sciences, particularly in the field of environment. This presentation is during August each year.