Welcome and Happy Festive Season from IH! It's hard to believe that Christmas is fast approaching once again. All of us at International House (IH) wish you a wonderful holiday season. We extend a warm welcome to the new Rotary Club executive and thank all Rotarians who visited IH in 2019. Planning commenced on IH in 1955 through the Rotary Club of Brisbane, as part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Rotary International. Brief History of IH On 15 June 1963, the Administrator of Queensland, Sir Alan Mansfield, unveiled the foundation stone for the
residential college. According to institutional biographer Basil Shaw's authoritative account, “Eight years of erratic progress were over. They were years marked by expressions of racism and opposition in some quarters at the university; by bureaucratic red tape; by poor public recognition; and, despite the dedication of the fundraisers, by desultory financial responses and poor returns. (Yet it was)… determined that International House would open by March 1965. A lot had to be achieved in a short time."
Bert Martin saw the project thorough to completion. As district governor of Rotary International District 35, he was president of the Council of International House for the period 1955 to 1962, and retained that position until the committee was replaced by the Board of Governors as the executive body of the council in June 1962. He became president of the Board of Governors in 1963, holding this office until 1986, thus completing thirty years of service to International House. When International House opened in 1965, Dr Ivor Cribb was appointed its first warden.
John and Mary-Rose Boyd with IH Director Dr Carla Tromans
eNewsletter October 2019
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE
Bert Martin