Rotary Club of Maroubra dinner & tour of clubrooms & viewing of artifacts in the Royal Automobile Club of Australia
On April7, 2025 the Rotary Club of Maroubra visited the Royal Automobile Club at Circular Quay for a history tour and dinner. The 90-minute tour commenced on a perfect cloudless night with a visit to the rooftop entertainment area.
On April7, 2025 the Rotary Club of Maroubra visited the Royal Automobile Club at Circular Quay for a history tour and dinner. The 90-minute tour commenced on a perfect cloudless night with a visit to the rooftop entertainment area.
We then ventured into the Level 5 corridor of artworks and artifacts of Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA) history. At one end, you enter with a viewing of motoring history captured in glass plate photo prints, followed by similar plate prints of early 1900 Australasian Pioneers Club (APC) meetings taken with the then modern aid of magnesium flash powder. More recent RACA framed photos show an amphibious car crossing Sydney Harbour, Redex trial mayhem, and other memorable motoring moments.
On Level 5 and in other areas of the building, there are framed historical scenes and other subjects commissioned or acquired by the APC, including the artworks of John Allcot, Herbert Beecroft, Alfred Coffey, Lionel Linsay, Charles Bryant, Sir John Longstaff, Edward Duncan, Norman Carter, Captain Robert Marsh Westmacott, and many others.
Also framed and mounted on level 5 are original historical letters, artifacts, and a set of 1938 stamps issued to commemorating the 200th anniversary of the flag raising in Sydney Cove, the stamps artwork is an exact copy of the John Allcot painting hanging in the Pioneers’ level 3 clubroom, and a copy of the Allcot original is mounted in the State Theatre Pioneers’ room.
The next location visited was the level 4 Imperial Services Clubroom (ISC), which houses Australia's largest private collection of Commonwealth World War 1 & 2 medals. One wall is lined with ornate timber battalion shields that extend above the bar. The walls are also adorned with artworks depicting field marshals, other ranks, and war art.
Pride of place in the ISC room is occupied by a mounted copy of the “Japanese Surrender Document” signed aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Glory on September 6, 1945, off the coast of Rabaul, New Britain. This document formalized the surrender of Japanese forces in New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, and adjacent islands.
The surrender document was signed by Lieutenant General Vernon Sturdee (1890-1966), General Officer Commanding First Australian Army, and General Hitoshi Imamura (1886-1968), Commander in Chief of the Japanese Southeastern Imperial Army.
The Rotary Club enjoyed a fabulous dinner, and the tour provided a delightful experience for the attending Rotarians.