Lions in Australia

Lions Clubs in Australia has a proud history of many years community service. Starting with one Lions Club in Lismore NSW in 1947, it has now grown to almost 1400 Clubs covering every state and territory in Australia.

Each Lions Club is responsible for it's own affairs and the projects it participates in, decided upon by the members know as Lions eg, Lion Bill.

It may be of interest to you and many current Lions, to review the formative years of the Lions in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

As the second world war was drawing to a close, a young man was elected to the national presidency of Apex, and that organisation's records show that he was given a two year term to re-establish the association. Because of his advanced years, he was due to retire, and had therefore a particular interest in changing the rules that required members of Apex to retire at forty years. The National Convention of Apex in Launceston in 1946 refused him permission to launch a senior Apex movement.

This Apexian was our Australian founder - Bill Tresise from Lismore. To say that Bill was frustrated over Apex's refusal to alter its age limits would be an understatement. Bill had enjoyed the service club work of Apex, and particularly enjoyed the fellowship that knew no boundaries. He could see no reason why service club work had to stop at age forty.

While representing the Apex Association at the World Council of Young Men's Service Clubs in the United States (a loose affiliation of clubs with similar age limitations and goals to Apex) from many nations of the world, he noticed that other senior organisations were already functioning that were not represented in Australia. He had a chance meeting with one of the Past International Presidents of Lions - Fred Smith from California - and from there interviews were quickly effected with another Past President - Ed Barry from Arkansas, then with the Secretary-General and founder of the Lions Clubs International Association - Melvin Jones.

After learning about the Lions Association and its goals, Bill Tresise was appointed a provisional District Governor, with powers to return to Australia and establish the first Lions Club on the continent. He later accepted a repeat when he was elected a full District Governor for the year 1962-63. In a report of his early years with Australian Lions, Bill recorded that he tapered off his duties with Apex, and called together a meeting of the business and professional men in his hometown of Lismore to hear the story of Lions.

So the first club in Australia was formed in Lismore on July 1st 1947, and the charter was presented to the first president - Jim Brown - in September of the same year.

In the first five years only three clubs were formed, but during the next twenty years or so, an extension explosion occurred. By 1976 there were 1,000 Lions Clubs, and in 1984 there were 1400 clubs throughout Australia and Papua New Guinea - a remarkable growth.

In June 1952, the first club in any Australian capital city was formed by Bill Tresise in Melbourne. The same year saw the formation of the Sydney Host Club and the City of Brisbane Club, which was the second in Queensland - the first being the Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Lions Club.

The first club in Tasmania was formed at Launceston in 1957, and the City of Adelaide and the City of Perth clubs were formed in 1961 and 1962 respectively. In 1964 the Alice Springs club was established.

Lionism extended internationally from Australia to our near neighbours, where Lions Clubs were established in Auckland New Zealand in 1955, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea in 1962, Jakarta Indonesia in 1969 and Honiara Solomon Islands in 1975.

Due to the amazing development of Lions Clubs in Australia, there has been a corresponding increase in the number and boundaries of the Districts. During the period 1947-57 the original District 201 remained unchanged, the first change occurred in 1957-58 when there were two Districts 201A and 201B.

By 1967-68, there were Districts 201A to L, increasing until 1977 when the State numbering system was adopted.

In 2001 the "S" districts (201S1, S2 and S3) were redistricted to for the current two "C" districts (201C1 and 201C2).

There are now twenty Districts in Australia and Papua New Guinea representing around 1350 Lions Clubs, 116 Lioness Clubs and 60 Leo clubs. These figures from the 2002-2003 Multiple District 201 Directory.

The early establishment and the genesis of the Lions Club within Australia came through the drive and initiative of one man - William R. Tresise.

His efforts were recognised in his latter years by the Queen, when she presented him with an M.B.E.

The Bill Tresise Memorial Centre at the Guide Dog Association's Centre in Kew Melbourne, is a fitting memorial to a great Lion.

Bill's final message to Lions was: "People say to me, you must feel proud -
I have no room for pride,
but I do have a very warm feeling in my heart."

"Friendship is the most wonderful experience.
Nothing is more valuable to you,
than giving yourself to serve somebody.
And the more you give, the more you get back."