WHEN the Scarborough Rotary Club asked the community how they wanted to commemorate WA’s 150th anniversary of European settlement, a clock tower was the most popular choice.
The Scarborough clock tower that was unveiled in 1979 commemorates Rotary International’s 75th anniversary and is on the WA Register of Historical Places.
The tower will remain a local landmark in the $75 million foreshore redevelopment and was recently moved 6m west to improve traffic circulation and facilitate creation of the new Transit Hub.
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Rotarian David Taggart, who owned Scarborough Pharmacy for 50 years, said Scarborough parents wanted a clock so their children would never have an excuse to be late home from a day at the beach.
“Most days kids would be down the beach and they’d stay from dawn till dusk,” he said. “They had an excuse because they didn’t know the time.
“When Rotary proposed some ideas, the mums and dads thought a clock would be great so it was a community decision.”
Original Scarborough Rotarian and Scarborough Surf Life Saving Club life member Bob Phelps said the clock was designed to be seen from all angles of the foreshore.
“Rotary also organised an Australia Day citizenship ceremony at the tower and a fun-run for many years,” he said.
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