HOW THE LIONS CLUB OF MOUNT GAMBIER BEGAN

The formation of the Lions Club of Mount Gambier did not follow the usual pattern where an established Lions Club seeks permission to investigate an area with a view to form a new club.

In the case of the Lions Club of Mount Gambier the initial move came from local citizens.

Enthusiasm to start a club was boosted following a visit to the city by PDG Bill Tresize MBE, the Founder of Lions in Australia.

Following approaches made through the late Stan Elliott OBE, a former Mayor of Mount Gambier, it was ascertained that several community-minded citizens were interested.

A meeting was then held at the Rose Marie Restaurant on February 12, 1963 where 26 locals met with representatives of the Lions Club of Adelaide City - President Bevan Rutt and Lion Ron Hone.

It was agreed to form a local club, and Mount Gambier City Council Town Clerk, Doug Roeger MBE was elected as Interim President.

Preparations were then made to hold the Charter Dinner on March 23, 1963.

About 150 people attended the dinner at Jens Hotel where the Charter was presented by Bill Tresize.

The 28 Charter Members included Doug Roeger as President and Col Smith as Secretary.

Past District Governor Eric Roughana AM is the sole remaining member of this group.

The club was the sixth to be formed in South Australia and the first outside the metropolitan area.

ESTABLISHING THE CLUB

Because Mount Gambier’s sponsoring club was more than 400km away and still in its infancy, the Lions Club of Mount Gambier was very much on its own and relied heavily on telephone calls or correspondence to formulate procedures.

It was decided to meet for dinner meetings twice a month at 6.15pm with the aim of a 7.45pm finish.

This arrangement worked well and allowed members to attend other commitments.

It is interesting to note that currently it seems impossible to complete meetings by 7.45pm.

The club commenced with a policy of no alcohol at meetings, but over a period of time this decision was debated and in due course it was agreed to permit one drink to be taken into the meeting – a procedure that has operated successfully to the present day.

During the first year the club lost a few of its chartered members but this was offset by the induction of new members.

One early decision to limit membership to 40 seemed to be the right decision at the time but it later proved to be incorrect as it was thought to be unfair to refuse membership to people who were keen to commit to do service work for the community.

Change of venue

Meetings were originally held in the Green Room at Jens Hotel but as the club grew meetings were transferred to the main dining room.

Dinner fees at that time were 10 shillings ($1) and it was reported that ‘a tragedy’ occurred in 1974 when these fees had risen to $2.50!! Of coursed as the years went by dinner fees rose steadily until 1987 when Jens announced an increase to $8.50, resulting in a transfer to the Federal Hotel at $7 a meal. Other venues to host cub meetings have been the Park Hotel and the RSL – the club’s present home, where the dinner fee is now $25.00.

Pioneer Park

Early on, the club was advised to be very cautious in regard to tackling large projects but in their initial enthusiasm the members adopted a resolution to restore Pioneer Park, one of the city’s early cemeteries which had fallen into disrepair. It was a massive undertaking, but the club completed the primary upgrade in good time, and then over the years did further improvements.

The Club held a public appeal to fund the project and the donations exceeded the nominal target. It is the only public appeal held by the Club.

The park was handed back to the City Council in the fifth year of the club’s operation.

By contrast, several years later a stone and concrete lookout, overlooking the Valley Lake was completed in just over a week in what was a remarkable effort – some of the long-serving members may still remember the 6am starts to pour concrete.