In accepting the chains of office from outgoing district governor Greg Moran, Maurie said that it was a great honour to be taking over the leadership of such a large district, extending west as far as Coonamble and up to Lightning Ridge in the west and north to Sawtell on the coast.

"You can't in the course of 12 months hope to dramatically change such a large organisation or the habits of 1600 Rotarians," said Maurie.

"By myself I can do little, but with the help of our board, our nine assistant governors and our 56 club presidents, I hope that we can leave the district a little better than we found it.

"International president Ravi Ravindran has challenged Rotarians to be a gift to the world. He is asking us to continue to serve our local communities but to also assist Rotary clubs in third world countries to serve their communities.

"To be a gift means a greater commitment than simply making a gift in much the same way as the commitment of the pig is greater than that of the hen to a dish of bacon and eggs.

"The real value of Rotary is that it enables community leaders to exchange ideas and to take action in the service of our communities. And in the process we have a lot of fun. There is an old saying 'I joined Rotary to change lives but the life it changed was my own'."

Maurie urged Rotarians in the coming year to offer the gift of joining Rotary to community leaders throughout our district, focusing not only on younger members of the community but also the 1.4 million baby boomer business owners who are retiring over the present decade.

Alan Tickle, Mary Ann Nowland, Paul and Elizabeth Tollis, Dusty Walkom and assistant governor Bruce Moy from Taree travelled to Inverell to join Maurie and De Stack at the ceremony.

"We are very proud that Maurie is the first person from our club to become District Governor," said Alan Tickle from the Rotary Club of Taree on Manning.

"And only the fifth from Taree since 1949," added club president Paul Tollis.