We continue our stories for new members about some of the “older” members, two former members who had a great influence on the club: Ian Warren and the late Charles Morrison. 

But this week we tell you about a major project they developed: The Fritsch Holzer Park Project.

 

The Fritsch Holzer Park Project was a joint venture project based on the Commonwealth Government New Work Opportunities program, between Rotary Hawthorn, DEET (Federal Government Department of Education, Employment & Training) and the new City of Boroondara that had just been created by the amalgamation of Hawthorn, Kew and Camberwell. 

The park was named after Augustus Fritsch and the Holzer brothers who formed the Upper Hawthorn Brick Company in 1883. The factory employed around 50 people and produced 250,000 bricks a week, which were used throughout Victoria.

Council bought the area in 1972 and used it as a landfill site until 1986, then as a temporary waste transfer station until 1989. In the years that followed the site was left empty to allow the landfill to stabilise.

 

The Rotary Club of Hawthorn together with the Victorian Government, ten selected long term unemployed workmen and Council, reconstructed the area into a park in 1995.

Charles Morrison (right) first identified the community value of this project and had committed $45,000 towards the pathways (fun and fitness tracks) when he was club President. 

 

Project management as "services in kind" was provided by Ian Warren (left) and recognised as an added contribution attracting subsidy by DEET and added to the Rotary Club of Hawthorn contribution. 

The success of this project was not only measured by the completion of new urban infrastructure. More importantly, it was measured in the context of 10 people who had a new purpose in life, a reason to get out of bed in the morning, a rekindling of their dignity and self-esteem, and a new sense of financial self-sufficiency and independence.

 

Ian Warren’s description of the Fritsch Holger Park Project is available at

https://www.hawthornrotary.org.au/stories/fritsch-holzer-park-project