Outstanding Rotarian awarded Queen’s Birthday honour

Alan Seale, a community stalwart and dedicated Rotarian, has been awarded a Queen’s Birthday honour.

A member of the Rotary Club of Central Melbourne for more than 30 years, Mr Seale’s contribution to the organisation is hard to quantify.

For his services to the community through a range of roles, Mr Seale has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

He said he was incredibly honoured and humbled to receive the honour but maintained he did not work for accolades.

“There are many, many people that have done the sort of stuff that I do, but don’t necessarily get recognised,” he said.

“Somebody went to a lot of trouble to put in an application and for that I’m very grateful.”

Mr Seale said being a Rotarian – which extends to his time at the Rotary Club of Altona City where he joined in 1985 – was an opportunity to share the same values with other like-minded people.

His record of strong leadership and commitment to serving the community is impressive and has seen him earn several awards and recognitions including the coveted Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow award in 2002.

His contributions include serving as president of the Rotary Club of Central Melbourne and being a past member of the Community Kitchen Herb Garden at the East Melbourne Library.

Mr Seale was also the driving force behind the opening of the Melbourne’s Men’s Shed at Federation Square in 2015 of which he served as chair for two years.

Another achievement has been serving as the inaugural chair of the Rotary District 9800’s New Generations Service Exchange Committee with Rotary District 9800.

The exchange program, which is part of Rotary International, is focused on voluntary service opportunities for young adults before or during their studies.

Other rewarding experiences for Mr Seale include participating in a program called “Community Village”, which was about providing light refreshments late at night on weekends across the CBD to address anti-social behaviour.

The program ran for about seven years and helped provide a calming influence in known trouble spots with young people being able to take a break and have a cuppa while waiting for public transport.  

“You get opportunities through Rotary that you wouldn’t easily find elsewhere,” Mr Seale said.

“An example is a program I’ve been running which involves exchanges with music students between ourselves and Bavaria in Germany.”

Mr Seale, who by day is a self-employed consultant, said he was also privileged to be involved in Rotary clubs abroad with a highlight including hosting an art show with a local artist in Istanbul, Turkey.

“I’ve made some pretty good friends out of Rotary. It has been a great opportunity to get involved in community service work and use some skills for the benefit of other people.” •

Caption: Alan Seale has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).