About Sir John

Sir John Reid was inducted into Rotary Club of Melbourne in 1939 and remained a Rotarian until his death at age 81 in 1984.  He was President of the Club in 1953-54, awarded the Vocational Service Award in 1978, and made a Paul Harris Fellow in 1984.  Among his many Rotary activities he also played a role in re-establishing Rotary in post war Japan.

Sir John was also involved with the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Baker Institute. He supported or served on a variety of Boards including the ABC, Melbourne YMCA, Old Colonists Association of Victoria, the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, the Walter and Eliza Hall Medical Research Institute, the Victorian College of the Arts, and the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, to name a few.

The legacy

In 1987, Rotary Melbourne introduced the Sir John Reid Community Service Award as a permanent memorial in recognition of Sir John’s commitment to the community.  The Award is made in recognition of an individual judged to have been devoted to community welfare for a lengthy period without remuneration. The recipient is presented with a citation and plaque commissioned by the Club and produced by sculptor Michael Meszaros.

In 2017, the John T Reid Charitable Trust, as a memorial to Sir John and Lady Reid’s legacy in service and philanthropic endeavours, awarded a $300,000 grant to Rotary Melbourne for the purpose of providing a financial gift of up to $10,000 to the not-for-profit organisation associated with the Award recipient.

The plaque

Award sculptor, Michael Meszaros, believes community service is largely concerned with helping the old, the young, the sick and the unemployed. People in these four categories are constrained and limited by their circumstances. The plaque design shows these four areas enclosed by a wall, but with an open door with perspective lines running out through it to a rising sun. The door has been opened by a hand which belongs to the recipient of the award.  The wall is the limitations, the door is the release from those limitations and the lines leading to the sun are the new opportunities. The hand makes it all happen.