Goroke Apex Club ‘bucking trends’

As community organisations across the region battle falling volunteer numbers, Goroke Apex Club leaders have continued to buck the trend.

The architects of one of Australia’s most successful Apex clubs have noted their organisation’s capacity for community change started with their captivation of young, regional men’s desire for social connection.

When the Goroke club’s membership fell to five men in the early 2000s, its stalwarts and now Apex-retired volunteers, realised the club needed to deviate from formal Apex traditions to emphasise their organisation’s propensity to bring regional men together.

Apex clubs across Australia have provided a vehicle for volunteer community service for men between the age of 18 and 45, since 1931.

However, during the previous decade, Apex clubs across western Victoria and the Wimmera have folded – including large chapters in Warrnambool and Hamilton.

Now the largest Apex club in Australia, Goroke Apex Club has 35 active members who organise large-scale community events and fundraisers across the western Wimmera.

Former Goroke Apex Club president Nick Gabbe said while the club remained an instrument for community change and personal development, a pivot to emphasise the club’s social potential was what opened the door for increased membership.

“If you have a good social club, and you can have fun, that’s the best way to have motivated people generating income for community organisations,” he said.

Mr Gabbe said the club had reached a ‘crossroad’ a generation ago, and a simple idea to host an open-invite four-wheel drive overnight trip was what triggered the club’s reinvention.

“We considered shutting the club down, but we enjoyed being together and we wanted to get the club back to what it could be,” he said.

“We threw about the idea of just getting some young guys together on a camping trip, and nearly 20 blokes came along from across the district.

“We started to place more of an emphasis on having fun rather than the serious side of Apex – we dropped the formalities a bit. A great team was gathering most weeks and we kept up with our working bees and our scrap-metal collection – as well as the Goroke Rodeo, which is a great money spinner for the community.

“The club turned it around with a good weekend and things snowballed.

“Perhaps if we had stayed tied to Apex fundamentals, I think we could have folded like a lot of clubs have.”

Mr Gabbe said because 90 percent of the club’s members were farmers from across the western Wimmera district, it was important to maintain a social and mental outlet for, at times, isolated men who were keen to service the community.

“It is about generating money for the community, but also about giving these guys a chance to have a talk, have a beer together and perhaps get some things off their chest,” he said.

“There used to be lots of Apex conventions and youth-debating events, for example, but that kind of thing can be intimidating for a lot of men.”

Mr Gabbe said despite the social nature of the club he had noticed men from several generations across the district still owed their public speaking and organisational management skills to their earlier work at Goroke Apex Club.

“Most people across the district here are ex-apex, and they use skills they learned at the club every day,” he said.

Mr Gabbe’s son, Oliver, is Goroke Apex Club’s active president.

Oliver Gabbe said the club continued to recruit members through ‘word of mouth’.

“Most people we know around the district are in Apex – that’s just what men do around here. It is all about getting young men together, socialising, and turning something positive for the community,” he said.

“Whether it is small community events, the Goroke Show, Christmas party barbecues, working bees, fencing and property clearing – we get together and make it happen.”

• Goroke Rodeo, page 18.