REFUND OF MEMBERS' LOAN FUNDS

This item has copies of letters sent to members in 2004 detailing the refund of advance subscriptions that were paid by new members who joined the club during the period from its foundation in 1967 into the 1970s.

In order to establish the golf club, the management committee determined that it was necessary to raise sufficient capital. This was achieved by new members paying a nomination fee and two annual subscriptions (Personal communication with Max Hannah, who joined the club in 1973). Foundation members who joined in the period 1967-1969 paid just one set of fees as the playing of golf and clubhouse opening did not occur until 1969. These payments are also referenced in the Golden Anniversary Publication 1967 - 2017 (Item 2020.64.1) (page 37) in the interview with founding member Tony Kelly who describes how foundation members paid three amounts of $80; “a joining fee, an annual subscription, and an interest free loan to fund the club's creation … This is how the club financed its formation and the construction of the course and the clubhouse”.

The amounts paid by new members after 1969 would have depended on the annual subscription rate at the time of joining and their membership category, men (Members), Women (associates), etc. This likely explains why the letters in the attachment show differing refund amounts.

The attachment contains individual, single page letters sent to Rosa and Laurie Palmer dated 19 February 2004 whose membership was accepted by the club on the 1st of December 1978, over 25 years earlier. Foundation members who joined in the period 1967 to 1969 would have endured a period of more than 35 years before their money was repaid. The club would have obviously had to maintain very good records of this information to enable these repayments. It is presumed that members who resigned in the intervening period would have been provided with a refund at that time.

No research has been conducted to date to determine when the practice of charging an addition annual subscription was removed.

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