Recently appointed Rotary Club of Caroline Springs president and Taylors Hill resident Martin Farrugia has a long connection to the Melton region. Oscar Parry spoke with Martin about this connection and what he has enjoyed most about his role as club president.
What is your connection to Taylors Hill?
[I have] been living in the area … between Sydenham, Taylors Hill and Hillside … in that corridor for probably more than 20 years – relocated from the Gold Coast after living there with my wife and young son – who’s now older with his own family who lives in Hillside – and he’s involved in the CFA. We’ve always been a community-minded family
What do you like about where you live?
It’s pretty well got everything that you need, and it’s continually growing and local council continually improving things like the local parks, making it more family friendly … there’s a lot of money being spent on infrastructure, but like everything, everything takes time.
What, if anything, would you change about where you live?
Probably, there’s definitely more of a need for community support services. As an example, there’s no easily accessible food pantry for the vulnerable in our community … as part of [Rotary Club of Caroline Springs], we’re endeavouring to hopefully get something set up in collaboration with one or two of the other community groups, and to be fair, even councillors and local MPs are aware of the situation as well.
What have you enjoyed most about being the president of the Caroline Springs Rotary so far?
Firstly, enjoying obviously seeing how the club continues to grow. Our club enjoys a very diverse multicultural membership, which is clearly evident as part of the ‘peace pole’ project that has been ongoing – that was started by our former president [Ronald Moss] – to where on Sunday, [September 21], Woodlea Park Aintree will be unveiling two peace poles. Peace poles already exist out the front of the Caroline Springs Library, which was basically a collaboration and endorsement by Melton council, who … were instrumental in where to place the peace poles and were extremely supportive of this as an ongoing project.
Are there any key objectives you hope to achieve as president?
Key objectives would be to establish a local food pantry, to service those within the immediate area of Caroline Springs, Hillside, and Taylors Hill, to grow and foster further alliances with community groups, such as Nile Warriors basketball [and ASPYA], and an exciting project for our club will be our inaugural golf charity day at Melton Valley Golf Club which will be held on Friday, [March 20 in] 2026, [with] sponsorship packages now available. As the new president, I’m very excited that the club has now launched what is known as ‘Interact’ with Lakeview Senior College. Interact is part of Rotary that allows our young future leaders an opportunity to be involved in the community, whereby they have their own committee to run their own community projects in the knowledge that the Rotary Club of Caroline Springs offers guidance and mentorship to foster leadership, community spirit, and showcasing how vital it is for our young people and youth to be given the opportunity to grow and lead.
