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Peter Gleeson awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jul 06, 2025

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy awarded long-standing volunteer, Peter Gleeson, with a Paul Harris Fellowship at the Club's 2025 Changeover Dinner.

The awarding of a Paul Harris Fellowship to Peter in recognition of his long-standing service to the Club over many years.

Road Safety for Senior drivers

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on May 22, 2025

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy hosted a very informative session on "Road Safety for Seniors" at its meeting held on 19th May, 2025 at the Stump Hotel in Port Fairy.

The guest speaker was Gerard Ryan who is the Executive Officer for RoadSafe Central Highlands, which is a community road safety council.

When presenting outside the Central Highlands region, which he does on occasions, Gerard effectively consults for the Community Road Safety programs within the Department of Transport and Planning.

Rotary Club supports budding Science students

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Oct 08, 2024

As part of its program to support community programs, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy (RCPF) has teamed with other Warrnambool-based Rotary clubs to sponsor students' attendance at the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) to be held in January 2025. This will be the second time the club has joined this collaborative program.

Local "hero" receives special Rotary recognition award

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Sep 03, 2024

Jill Gleeson, a longstanding member of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy, was recently awarded a "District Governor's Outstanding Service Recognition award".

Vale Gordon Harman

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Aug 01, 2024

It is with a degree of sadness that the Rotary Club of Port Fairy acknowledges the passing of former Club President, Gordon Harman.

Gordon joined the Rotary Club in 2000 and served until June 2012. He took over the role of President in 2004 at a very challenging time when the Club membership was at an all-time low of some 9 members. He passed on the role in 2004/5 to Alan Rasmussen and between them they gradually restored the membership back towards the long term average membership of around 20.

Rotary Club supports Community projects

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jul 23, 2024

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy recently distributed $13,336 back into community projects from monies it accrued from its 23/24 fundraising efforts.

Rotary clubs are obliged to distribute all fundraising monies raised back into community projects and the $13,336 was covered by the $15,302 raised from fundraising in 23/24.

The remaining balance of $1,996, at 30th June 2024, will be carried over into the next Rotary year to support secondary students attending the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) to be held in Canberra in January 2025.

Special Rotary award for Rotarian Bill Moore

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jul 16, 2024

At its meeting held at the Star of the West Hotel last night, members of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy were delighted when President, Andrew Long, awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship to Bill Moore in recognition of his services to the Club and community.

Rotary Club Changover Dinner 2024

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jul 04, 2024

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy held its annual Changeover Dinner for 2024 where, traditionally, the Club Presidency changes hands. However, moving into Rotary year 2024-25, the club will be led by the same joint-presidents that were elected for 23-24.

In this regard, apart for a few minor changes to other Board members, joint Presidents - Jed Macartney and Andrew Long remain at the helm - meaning there was little change going into the new Rotary year. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity for Club members to gather in what was a fairly low key event.

Rotary Club's Winter Trivia Quiz - a great success!

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jun 09, 2024

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy held its annual Winter Trivia Quiz as part of the 2024 Port Fairy Winter Weekends Festival on Saturday 8th June 2024.

The event was held at the Port Fairy Senior Citizen's Rooms. Fifty competitors, making up eight teams, enjoyed a fun few hours testing their mettle over 6 rounds of 10 questions that were set by Rotary's "Quiz Master", Michael Crowe.

A ninth team, comprising the fantastic people working in the kitchen preparing the scrumptious afternoon tea, which was served at the mid-way point, formed an add-on 9th team. The winning team could only be separated by a "quick-fire" tie-breaker round of 5 questions.

Report on Rotary Club Fashion Parade

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Apr 30, 2024

The Rotary Club Fashion Parade 2024 was held on 19th April the Port Fairy Presbyterian Church hall.

The event was a good fundraiser for the Club with approx $1000 raised towards Rotary's community projects.

Many thanks to Decked Out on Bank for their involvement and sponsorship of this event, and to the public that attended the Fashion Parade and the Rotarians and others that doubled as models on the day!

Rotary Club's latest environmental project gets underway!

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy's project to enhance the walkway to the Moyne River walking bridge - between Gipps Street and the bridge - came to fruition last Tuesday, 23rd April when a small gang of willing volunteers completed Stage 1 of the project. This involved laying down mulch and planting over 300 small shrubs in the garden beds each side of the walkway.

Inspirational speaker - Tommy Quick - presents his story to Rotary Club

At its meeting on 8th April 2024 the Rotary Club of Port Fairy hosted guest speaker, Tommy Quick, who told us of his life's challenges since suffering a stroke at age 12.

Tommy's talk highlighted his inspirational journey's to raise monies for the Australian Stroke Foundation and his 4-points challenge - a 9000 Km ride to visit all four of the extreme points of Australia.

Prize winners drawn for Wilma Preston painting raffle.

Posted on Jan 27, 2024

Rotary Annual Painting Raffle - winner announced.

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy finalised its annual Wilma Preston Painting Raffle on Saturday 27th January 2024 with the drawing of prize winners taking place at the Community market in Port Fairy.

The winner of the 1st Prize (Wilma Preston painting) was Liz Kenna of Port Fairy.

Rotary gets an update on the Bandari project

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Nov 28, 2023

At its meeting on 27th November 2023, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy welcomed guests - Seif Sakata and Martin Dunstan from the Bandari project.

In introducing Martin, Seif recognised the long-standing relationship between Bandari and the Rotary club as it was Rotary that first helped Seif get started on providing support to the children in his home town of Mto Wambu in Tanzania.

In those early days, the Club helped send the first batch of support equipment to Tanzania and also had some of our Club's members pioneer visits to MtoWambu to start the first building project.

Open Gardens Expo 2023 - the best ever!

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Nov 14, 2023

Rotary Club of Port Fairy Open Gardens Expo - a great success!

On Sunday 12th November 2023, the Rotary Club held its annual Open Gardens Expo and 2023 was rated as the "best ever".

Around 325 paying guests enjoyed four magnificent gardens located in Port Fairy, Rosebrook and Illowa - all uniquely different but a credit to their owners.

The Club is grateful for the generosity of all of the garden owners who willingly opened up their properties on the day and particularly to Rosebrook Manor which also doubled as the place where refreshments were served.

RC of Port Fairy welcomes District Governor, Ian McKay

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Nov 14, 2023

At its dinner meeting on 13th November, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy hosted Ian McKay, District Governor for Rotary District 9780.

Ian now lives in Mount Gambier but was formerly a Principal at Kings College in Warrnambool.

The meeting was essentially a social event with a chance for Ian to meet members and also deliver a short speech covering his goals and vision for Rotary year 2023/24. He was accompanied by Assistant Governor, Janey Preston, from the Rotary Club of Warrnambool Daybreak.

Rotary Club supports Youth programs

Rotary Club of Port Fairy supports the Great South Coast Science & Engineering Challenge 2023.

The Port Fairy Rotary Club, along with other volunteers from other Rotary clubs in Warrnambool, assisted at the Great South Coast Science & Engineering Challenge 2023, which was held at Deakin University in August.

The Challenge is organised annually by the University of Newcastle. South West coordinator, Brooke Jensen, from the Rotary Club of Warrnambool, organised the Great South Coast region's event this year. The Challenge involved students from years 9 and 10 representing six local secondary schools.

On Challenge day, the students from Kings College, Warrnambool, were the eventual winners. Their winning score was also the highest score recorded from all the other regions in Victoria in 2023 and this earned them the right to represent their state at the national titles to be held in Sydney in October.

Vocational award for postie Stephen Dwyer

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jul 18, 2023

Local postie - Stephen Dwyer - was awarded a "Pride of Workmanship" award by the Rotary Club of Port Fairy at its meeting on 17th July 2023.

The award recognises Stephen's exceptional vocational service in delivering mail in Port Fairy and surrounds for many years.

Pride of Workmanship awards have occasionally been bestowed on local identities by the Rotary Club but only around five have been awarded in the past twenty five years.

Rotary Club of Port Fairy Changeover Dinner 2023

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy held its 2023 Changeover Dinner on Monday 26th June at The Sentinel Restaurant in Port Fairy.

Rotarians, partners and special guests made up the 48 people attending the dinner which honoured the out-going President, Graeme Cox, who passes on the reins to the new - and joint Presidents - Jed Macartney and Andrew Long.

Rotary wants you! Student Exchange programme

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Mar 30, 2023

Rotary Wants You! The Rotary Club of Port Fairy is seeking interested students from Years 9, 10 and 11.

The Rotary Youth Exchange Programme seeks students who are interested in paricipating in a live and study abroad opportunity.

As part of this programme, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy has, in recent years, sponsored two students on an out-bound Youth Exchange programme and is now looking for potential, new particpants in Rotary year 23/24.

RYLA 2023

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Dec 14, 2022

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy is seeking to sponsor young people in the age bracket 18 to 25 years for RYLA. The next RYLA seminar is scheduled for 16th-21st April 2023 (see details below).

Guest speaker Joan Hose updates Rotary on Meals on Wheels

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Mar 21, 2023

The Rotary Club's Guest Speaker at its meeting on 20th March was Joan Hose from Moyne Health Services (MHS).

Joan recently took over the administration of the Meals on Wheels (MOWs) program and gave an insight into the program and the valuable work that all volunteers undertake for MHS.

Rotarian are regularly rostered onto the MOWs calendar taking a week-ling booking every second month.

Tony Murray - a new addition to the Rotary Club

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Mar 08, 2023

At its meeting on 6th March 2023 the Rotary Club of Port Fairy was excited to induct two new members - greatly enhancing the ranks of the Club.

Apart from the induction of Ashley King as a Corporate Member (see separate story) it was a pleasure to formally induct Tony Murray who has transferred from the Rotary Club of Doncaster to our club when he retired to Port Fairy in 2022.

Tony is an experienced Rotarian and has already proven to be a great benefit to our club by engaging with numerous volunteering activities in cluding our summer raffle at the market,selling Car Raffle tickets in Sackville Street, manning gates at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, catering at the Port Fairy Marathon and registering to be a regular volunteer for Meals on Wheels.

Rotary Club inducts its first Corporate member

Posted on Mar 08, 2023

The Rotary Club meeting held on 6th March 2023 was a milestone event in the life of the Club when it inducted its first ever Corporate Member.

Recognising the growing importance that Australian businesses place on corporate social responsibility, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy has created a Corporate Membership option, to provide businesses with the opportunity to participate in Rotary's established community service projects. Employees of local businesses that partner with Rotary in Corporate Membership are invited to participate in all Rotary activities without committing personally to the obligations expected of regular individual members. Additionally, participation in Rotary provides employees with personal development opportunities potentially through project leadership and public speaking.

After creating the Corporate Membership class, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy then engaged with the Community Bank of Port Fairy & District to take up the corporate membership option.

Ashley King, as the Bank's Company Secretary, was chosen to represent the Bank and be inducted as a Corporate member into the Rotary Club with a short ceremony conducted by Club President, Graeme Cox.

Rotarians cook up a "marathon" breakfast

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Feb 21, 2023

Around a dozen Rotarians held a "marathon" cooking event when they catered for spectators at the 2023 Port Fairy Marathon on 19th February.

The setup crew worked in the early morning dark -starting around 6:15am - to setup the gazebo and BBQ before cooking got underway around 7am.

All up, over 120 egg and bacon rolls were cooked and sold out by 11am.

It was a great community event, the second time the Marathon has been run in Port Fairy, with over 1300 entrants running over various distances from the full 42km marathon race to shorter distances for school children and supporting parents.

Vale Rotarian Geoff Coxall

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Feb 09, 2023

It is with a sad note that we report the passing of Rotarian Geoff Coxall. Geoff was a long-standing member of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy.

In recent years Geoff has fought bravely to recover firstly from a stroke and then a debillitating illness to which he finally succumbed.

His presence at Rotary has been greatly missing of late and it is sad news that he lost his fight for life this week. He will be fondly remembered within the Club.

Rotarians celebrate Christmas

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Dec 20, 2022

Port Fairy Rotary Club Xmas Dinner 2022

Port Fairy Rotarians lend a hand!

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Dec 08, 2022

Members of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy spent an hour or so helping fellow Rotarian, Barb Eldridge and her husband, Ken, by cleaning up and weeding their garden in Campbell Street, Port Fairy today.

Business Break-through

Posted by Michael Crowe on Nov 12, 2022

Local business development has received a boost with the establishment of Commerce Moyne. Speaking at a recent Port Fairy Rotary meeting, Ashley King outlined progress on the establishment of the organisation which has been kicked off by the Community Bank and the Moyne Shire.

Commerce Moyne will be a co-ordinating point for local businesses and an advocate for grants and projects.

The first initiative has been to create a paid Program Director for the Moyneyana Festival which should ensure a bigger and better event over the up-coming holiday season.

Great Garden Gallop

Posted by Michael Crowe and Mllee Cox on Nov 14, 2022

The rain held off and Port Fairy Rotary's annual Open Gardens day took place on Sunday 30 October with five great gardens on display. The event was a fundraiser for Australians 4 Women's Health, this being President Graeme Cox's major charity for 2022/23. Nearly six thousand dollars was raised for this cause by ticket sales on the day and by the associated raffle. The Club would like to thank the owners who made their gardens available and put in the work to have them in tip-top condition for the day.

Special thanks also go to main organiser Jill Gleeson and her assistants, including the Friends of Rotary. Thanks also to Maureen Beatty and her helpers who organised the morning and afternoon teas and served them on the day.

Volunteering Venture

Posted by Michael Crowe on Nov 12, 2022

Local identity Nicole Dwyer was the guest speaker at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy. Nicole has established Belfast Volunteering, a new not-for-profit group aimed at connecting volunteers with groups and clubs in Port Fairy and the surrounding district. This is a most welcomed initiative given the difficulty faced by all groups in recruiting volunteers and the importance of voluntary work in our community.

If you are an individual looking for volunteering opportunities or a group looking for volunteers, you can register with Belfast Volunteering by emailing info@belfastvolunteering.com

Recycling Guide Goes Live

Posted by Michael Crowe on Nov 01, 2022

Port Fairy Rotary has released a guide to all things recycling, re-homing and re-using for Port Fairy and district. The Guide was put together by local resident Fiona Phillips and covers 39 categories of household goods with everything from bicycles to garden tools to video games. The Guide also provides detailed information on what you can put into the familiar yellow, purple, green and red bins collected by Moyne Shire each week.

You can download a copy of the Guide from the Home Page.

Centenary Salute

Posted by Michael Crowe on Oct 17, 2022

Port Fairy Rotary's tribute to the Centenary of the operation of Rotary in Australia has been unveiled. On a recent sunny morning District Governor Kathy Rivett cut the ribbon on our Centenary project, a 300 tree plantation on the Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail. DG Kathy cut the ribbon on a sign and a seat that mark the location and significance of the project.

The trees for the project were purchased with the aid of a grant from the Moyne Shire Community Carbon Offset Program. Port Fairy Rotary is grateful to the Rail Trail Committee on Management for providing access to the site and to the Rail Trail volunteers who assisted with site preparation and the tree planting. Rotarian Tony Bawden was the driving force behind behind the project, showing great persistence through the tribulations of COVID. Thanks to all.

Salvos Support

Posted by Mllee Cox and Michael Crowe on Sep 08, 2022

Salvation Army member Barry Clarke was a recent guest speaker at the Port Fairy Rotary. Barry is the Southwest Team Leader, Homelessness and heads up a team who deliver the Homelessness Program. The program assists an average of 45 people per month and over past 12 months there have been 518 households present for assistance.

Barry Clarke with President Graeme Cox

Rotarians Dig In!

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Aug 30, 2022

A small, but intrepid group of Rotarians spent an hour or so this morning on the Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail Bicycle path.

This was to help the Rail Trail committee volunteers plant over 200 trees along the stretch of the trail near Sun Pharma on the Princes Highway.

Bloomin' Good! Rotary Open Gardens returns in 2022

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Aug 15, 2022

After an enforced "layoff" due to Covid restrictions, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy is pleased to announce the return of its popular "Open Gardens" event to be held on Sunday, 30th October 2022 between 10am and 4pm.

Jed Macartney joins our Club

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Aug 02, 2022

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy was pleased to induct its newest member, Jed Macartney, to the Club at its members meeting on 1st August 2022.

Tandem Team Tumble Weeds

Posted by Michael Crowe on Jul 21, 2022

In trying conditions the weed team, Port Fairy Rotarians Bill Moore and Michael Crowe, set to work weeding the Barclay Street garden beds. Two big bags of weeds later the job was done.

With the blessing of the Moyne Shire Port Fairy Rotary has volunteered to keep the weeds at bay at this prominent site. These garden beds were established by the Shire as part of the recent upgrade of the church end of Barclay Street.

New battery recycling facility launched in Port Fairy

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jul 14, 2022

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy was keen to promote a battery disposal facility in Port Fairy and, as part of its research, we discovered that a company called EcoBatt, were already in the process of installing disposal centres in various IGAs and Home Hardware shops in south west Victoria.

The Rotary Club is therefore pleased that our town's first recycling box has now been installed in Brookes Hardware store in Sackville Street.

Rotary Changeover dinner for 2022 - a great success!

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle on Jul 03, 2022

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy held its annual Changeover Dinner on Monday 20th June 2022 at the Star of the West Hotel.

This was a very successful and enjoyable night culminating in the induction of new President, Graeme Cox for Rotary year 2022-23.

Drinking Fountain Feature

Posted by Michael Crowe on Mar 22, 2022

In recognition of the Centenary of Rotary in Australia and the Port Fairy Rotary Club's 60th anniversary, a new drinking fountain has been installed in Rotary Park (Charles Mills Reserve) on the eastern bank of the Moyne River. The Club appreciates Moyne Shire Council's support on this project. Later this year the Council will construct a new path along the river bank, adjacent to the fountain.

Rotarian Tony Bawden was the driving force behind the drinking fountain project, with Milee Cox contributing the artwork for the fountain signage.

Sea Scouts Cleanup

Posted by Michael Crowe on Dec 13, 2021

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy recently undertook a cleanup of the back yard of the Port Fairy Sea Scout's hall in Bank Street. The first job was to remove the old ute that has been parked in the yard for a number of years. On 5 December the team of Adrian, Graeme, Milee, Jill, Peter, Bill, Reg and Michael moved in with brush cutters to tackle the long grass and remove some large items of rubbish. The job was finished off the following week with the removal of some rocks and other small items so that the grass can be safely mowed in future.

We meet In Person

Mondays at 6:30 p.m.

The Stump Hotel

41Bank Street
Port Fairy, VIC 3284
Australia

First and Third Monday of the month

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Port Fairy is a historic, intimate harbour village in the south west region of Victoria in Australia. The town is famous for its annual Folk Music Festival, held in March each year, which has been running for over 40 years and has expanded to include not just folk music but blues and roots music to suit all ages. It also has a Winter Weekends Festival running on specific weekends from June to July.

Port Fairy is a friendly town that relies greatly on tourism and therefore welcomes visitors from all parts of the globe.

Therefore, if you are visiting Port Fairy, then we invite you to join us at our Rotary Club Dinner meeting held on the first and third Mondays of the month (6:00pm for 6:300pm start). Details on meeting times and venue are on the Home page

About our Club.

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