My Rotary Experience by Bruce Davidson
I don’t often get the podium and when I do it’s usually to encourage you to join the footy tipping. So I am going to take this opportunity to tell you briefly of my Rotary Melbourne experience. I’ve been given five minutes to talk about anything I like, so please bear with me.
This comes about because we have a change of format. I’m relieved that you will not have to sit through my citation, although it is probably brief.
As the Archivist, I’ve written a great deal of material for the club including about 20 PHF citations, so I know better than anyone about what sort of effort, commitment and plain hard work results in a PHF. I don’t think I measure up.
I joined the club 20 years ago and I was close to becoming a drop out. At the first few meetings I remember saying to myself, what am I doing here? We met at the Windsor and there was a sea of grey hair on top of another sea of grey suits. Not my scene!
A few weeks into my membership I was invited to the Balwyn group monthly meeting at Ross Scholes Robertson’s home in Croydon. I met a great bunch of blokes who made me feel very welcome. At subsequent weekly meetings there was always a smiling face to greet me. I soon found myself on committees, one of which was the Information Committee.
The first project was a funny one. I typed up details of our meeting venue, time, contacts, etc., and laminated the pages and delivered them personally to all the hotels in Melbourne. This was to assist the concierge if he was asked about details of the club. It was a futile effort and I was saved by the Internet.
I also had to rustle up a speaker each fortnight to report on the work of a committee or project, or a fundraiser, to the meeting. Something we should probably still be doing. As I got involved with other things my commitment grew. I became a proud member of the club. I was, and I still am sometimes asked in sneering tone, what does Rotary Melbourne do?
I usually list some projects like Donydji, East Timor Roofing, End Trachoma, Homeground, SecondBite and later I would give them a copy of the strategic plan to show the full extent of our projects. I’d tell them this is an organisation with a vision, a plan, goals, accountability, an organisation that reports progress, that achieves goals, an ethical and respectful organisation that makes a difference. It’s the sort of club I want to belong to.
Back to the Balwyn group. A couple of weeks ago we met at the home of Barbara and George Yerondais for the annual January BBQ/garden party. It was a magic day with Greek style lamb, haloumi, dips, salads, desert and even an exhibition of Greek dancing! You wouldn’t miss it. Introduced about 15 years ago, the January meeting means that the group meets 12 times a year. In the three years I was Group Captain, Balwyn group met 36 times and that’s how it continued until COVID.
The group was incredibly supportive of me when my wife Pam was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. I was truly well supported. A special outing to a local restaurant was organised so Pam could attend. This was in addition to our monthly meetings.
When Pam passed away I suffered grief, but more so extreme loneliness. Balwyn group member Robin Reid invited me to help pick up his four-wheel drive from Karratha. We had a fantastic road trip through the Pilbarra and outback WA, including the best part of a week working on a million acre sheep station. It was the circuit breaker I needed.
So I can’t invite you all to join the Balwyn group, but if your group does not meet monthly, do something about it! Organise a function, set up a task force, invite the group home, do something! Groups are the glue of the club and are vitally important to our success.
That’s a brief personal perspective on some aspects of the club and my experience. Thank you for the recognition and the opportunity to speak. I appreciate your indulgence.
Now to the footy tipping!
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Paul Harris Fellow 3 Sapphire
Citation - Bruce James Davidson
Presented: 16 February 2022
Bruce was born and educated in Blackburn and commenced his working life as a Junior Librarian at Monash University Library while studying Librarianship at RMIT as a part-time student. After completing a Bachelor of Economics at Monash he commenced work at the life sciences library at Monash, eventually being appointed Deputy Hargrave Librarian (engineering and physical sciences). Bruce enrolled and subsequently completed a Master of Administration in 1982. The following year he was appointed Deputy Parliamentary Librarian at the Parliament of Victoria and in 1986 he was appointed Parliamentary Librarian.
Bruce has taken an active role in the Library and Information Association of Victoria holding numerous state level offices including Victorian State President and, at the national level, General Councillor and National Treasurer. He has also been President of the Association of Parliamentary Libraries of Australasia.
Bruce is the happy father of two adult sons. Bruce has been involved with a Doncaster special development school for more than thirty years serving on the Committee of Management, fund raising committee and as a volunteer.
It was his community spirit and ability to give of time and energy that attracted Bruce to membership of Rotary and when approached he quickly agreed to become involved. Bruce was inducted on the 24th October 2001 and immediately joined the New Members Committee and accepted the role of Chairman of the Information Committee. Membership of Public Relations followed and two years later Bruce became Fellowship Director, a member of the Board of Directors, Deputy Group Captain of Balwyn Group, then Group Captain, and more through to 2009. Bruce is now the Club Archivist playing a most important role in research, writing, scripting personal member records, and storing important Club documents and files.
Every so often Bruce can also be seen with camera in hand taking photographs of our in-person meetings as a member of the Photography Special Interest Group. He is a member of the Health and Ageing Committee where he is the organiser of our footy tipping competition that funds our Seniors Lunch project. Bruce is an enthusiastic worker on the wine team, is a supporter of our trachoma projects, and enjoys his time with Second Bite giving as much fellowship to his colleagues as he receives in return. He has been, and still is, involved with many committees in the club
Bruce Davidson is the epitome of the Rotary family, helping those less fortunate than himself, supporting his local and broader communities, an enthusiastic but humble participant in club activities and always exhibits a welcome demeanour, a firm hand and willingness to get involved.
Bruce is a man who follows the Four-Way Test with consummate ease. His moral compass accommodates Truth, Fairness to all, building Goodwill and Better Friendships for the Benefit of all concerned. We recognise and congratulate Bruce.
