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Jeff's Australian Rotary Health role
 
Photo by Australian Rotary Health

Who is District 9560 Governance Chair 2021-22, PDG Jeff Crofts from Cairns

PDG Jeff Crofts —

The District Governance Team supports you and your club in everything involved in Rotary.


History:

I was born towards the end of the war and raised in the suburb of Bexley North, on the East Hills line in the St George District of Sydney. My father started as a carpenter with the railways (subsequently built own home in Bexley North before the war) before becoming a draftsman with the PMG, although he was seconded to work on aircraft design with De Haviland during the war. Mother was a secretary for a British motor car firm. Middle of 3 kids, older brother, younger sister, surprisingly all got on well (and still do!) Attended early primary school at Bexley North, then sent off by train each day to Erskineville Opportunity School for final primary years, before being awarded a scholarship to Sydney Grammar School, in the inner city. This proved to be an exceptional opportunity, leading to a cadetship with Sydney Water to undertake a B.E.(Civil) at Sydney University full time, before working after graduation with Sydney Water for the last half of the 1960’s on design of the Warragamba Water Pipeline and on construction of sewerage tunnels and other projects across southern Sydney. Also undertook a part-time course at UNSW, graduating as M.Eng.Sc. (Eng. Const.) in 1970. Most importantly, during this period met Gloria and married in late 1969, the start of a wonderful 43 years together. Then in 1970 at the end of Sydney Water cadetship bond, joined many other young Australians and headed overseas for what was to be a 2-year working holiday around the world, first stop Canada. Landing in Vancouver, eventually found work in Calgary, Alberta, with consulting firm UMA, where Sydney Water experience with large pipelines came in useful on design of several large water pipelines for the province. In 1972, transferred to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with UMA to work on design of a major water supply pipeline for the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as part of a Canadian-aid project. Then in late 1973, transferred to Dar es Salaam for 4½ years as part of the project management team for the Dar es Salaam water supply scheme. 1978, back to Canada on completion of the project to Edmonton, Alberta, working on miscellaneous water and sewerage projects, before being appointed Project Manager of another Canadian Aid project, involving construction of Fisheries Development Roads in a remote area of north-eastern Zambia, adjacent to the lower end of Lake Tanganyika. Spent several months commuting from Edmonton to Ottawa and Brockville, Ontario, managing equipment purchasing contracts, before moving to Zambia at the start of 1980, just a few months after the arrival of daughter Lesley. She and Gloria then shuffled around Africa between Lusaka, Dar es Salaam and Kasama (NE Zambia) for several months, while goods were convoyed across Africa and a campsite was established on a small lake near Bulaya, 1400 kms north-east of Lusaka. Home for the rest of 1980 was a 60-foot mobile home in a remote bush work camp, until political issues brought a premature end to the project. After nearly 11 years overseas working with UMA, returned home to Sydney to spend much of 1981 touring Australia by campervan. Late 1981, accepted a job in Cairns with GHD as Principal Water and Sewerage Engineer for North Queensland. 

 Retired in 2009 after a most rewarding career involving a multitude of projects, from water supplies for the 15 Torres Strait communities; sewering the Northern Beaches, Edmonton and remaining unsewered suburbs of Cairns; water and sewerage projects throughout North and Central Queensland; as well as national and international projects. Honoured to have been named as the inaugural Cairns Professional Engineer of the Year in 2007 by Engineers Australia for significant contribution to engineering in North Queensland.

Family:

Gloria and Jeff shared an extraordinary life together before she sadly passed away in late 2011, after several years coping with an incurable lung disease and subsequently Alzheimer’s. My daughter Lesley (Lee) surprised everyone by becoming a Rotary Youth Exchange student to France in 1997. She is happily married to Ben Lewis and they have a son, Flynn, now 9. They are in process of moving to Geelong at the end of the year from Queanbeyan, where they have lived for several years since returning from an 8-year stint in Calgary, Canada. Jeff is fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel extensively together with the family in Europe and North America since Gloria’s passing, and to have managed Christmas together, somewhere, despite COVID.

Interests:

Played rugby and cricket (badly) at school. I got really hooked on sailing once landed in Africa. Commenced sailing in small dinghies and raced regularly in small yachts for over 25 years. Once in Cairns served on the Cairns Yacht Club and Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron committees for around 11 years in the 1980’s and early 90’s, until pressure of work, family, Rotary, etc., interfered. Jeff and Gloria continued camping in Australia, and progressed from a small off-road “bed-on-wheels” to a “proper” caravan with mod-cons in mid-2011, to make things easier for her. Jeff is still a keen caravanner, noting that there is twice as much room in a caravan for one! He has also resumed his sailing, and is currently President of Sailability Cairns, which he joined in 2018. This involves not only regularly sailing again, but a regular reward from the smiles of those with disability taken sailing. He is also a member of Sailability Queensland committee.

Rotary:

Invited to join Rotary in 1988 once family established in Cairns, becoming a member of the Rotary Club of Cairns Mulgrave, a Friday lunchtime club. Appointed Club International Director in 1990, only to be told that the club had an incoming exchange student arriving in 2 weeks – the start of a long and rewarding period of student hosting! This led to becoming Club President 1992-93 (and again in 2016-17); District 9550 YEP Chair 1997-2001; Rotary Youth Exchange Australia (RYEA) Secretary 1999-2002; District 9550 DG 2002-03 (Luv Guv!); Australian Rotarians Corporate Alliance Program (ARCAP) Director 2002-04; ARCAP Chair 2004-07; District 9550 Foundation Chair 2004-07; District 9550 Trainer 2007-11, District 9550 Vision Facilitation Chair 2010-21; District 9550 Public Relations Chair 2011-13; Australian Rotary Health Director 2012-14; Australian Rotary Health Chair 2014-17; District 9550 Governance Officer 2018-21 & District 9560 Governance Officer 2021-22! Has also served (and continues to serve) as a District PRLS Facilitator, RLI Facilitator and Club Vision Facilitator. In 2017, Cairns Mulgrave merged with two other clubs to become Rotary Club of Cairns Trinity. One of Jeff’s proudest Rotary moments was the chartering of the Rotary Club of Dili Timor-Lorosae in 2002, thus introducing Rotary to Timor-Leste. Jeff is a Rotary Foundation Major Donor, Benefactor and Paul Harris Society member, and an Australian Rotary Health Ruby Companion. He was the recipient of a Service Above Self Award in 2015. For the majority of Jeff’s Rotary career, he was actively supported and assisted by Gloria, without whom it would never have been possible. Jeff is a great supporter of our Rotary Foundation, and is passionate about Australian Rotary Health and the significant inroads it has made and is continuing to make within Australia (and internationally) in the fields of Mental Health, so important to the future of young Australians. Rotary has proven to be a major influence on the life of Jeff and his family, never more so than after the loss of Gloria - never underestimate the power of the family of Rotary!

Governance Team:

Your Governance Team is as follows: Governance Chair Jeff Crofts
Insurance Neil Wallace
Youth Protection Kevin Strike
Property Officer Trevor Hyatt
Mediation Bernadette Le Grand
Legal Officer Christopher Parker
Disaster Response Alan Titman
Finance & Audit Greg Marlow
Welfare Allan Church
Council on Legislation Greg Marlow

These roles are there to support you and your club in everything involved in Rotary, please make use of the team’s services. It is said that experience comes from learning from mistakes – this is a very experienced team! However, even a lifetime of experience is of no benefit unless it is shared.