Rotarian Rod Pether began one of the most important train of events in our club history by confronting our members with a question about our apparent lack of effort to address disadvantage in Aboriginal communities in Australia. Encouraged by the response of the Club to his challenge, Rod found a candidate community in Punmu in the East Pilbara region. Remote and acutely disadvantaged, the community were keen to seek assistance to bring a dream to reality in the cause of better school attendance, healthy lifestyles and community engagement. Their chosen 'vehicle' was a covered multi-purpose sports court.
 
The most useful Rotary projects engage the members, are carefully evaluated, planned, implemented and assessed and of course most importantly, they contribute to the life of the recipient community.

Punmu in the remote East Pilbara region is home to a small Aboriginal community. School attendance was problematic. Key was a basketball 'court' that was little more than a degraded, worn, crumbling concrete slab set in the red dirt. A skills session and a short game in the early morning cool was led by school staff and was followed by a free breakfast at school. And classes followed. Clearly the 'court' was key.

Over the next three years the Rotary Club of Margaret River, led by Rotarian Rod Pether, developed a plan and sought funding to make the grand dream of the Punmu community a reality. The project was to build a new covered multi-purpose sports court facility that would promote school attendance, promote healthy lifestyle choices in the broader community and serve as a means of community engagement.

The project was an outstanding success. The power of the Rotary brand was invaluable. The Punmu community rallied together to assist wherever possible, and assistance in cash, material or kind came from many quarters including State Government (major funding), Newcrest Mining (key supporter), East Pilbara Shire and numerous others. The community made significant direct contribution to the project.

In the end, the dream has become a reality for the people of Punmu. The entire community life centres around the new facility. The project has become symbolic of what is possible.