Friendship of strangers — unique mission of Orange Ionian Club

Ultimately, we are all pilgrims in life — though a uniquely Australian club at Orange has as its aim the welcoming of newcomers to the Colour City.

Orange Ionian Club — named after the first Hellenic settlers of Ancient Greece — are celebrating their 48th Birthday with a special lunch and fashion parade at Duntryleague Golf Club.

The local club was formed when the creator of Ionian Clubs Australia-wide came to Orange in the early 1970s.

“The first club was formed 75 years ago in Launceston, Tasmania by Mrs Phyllis McDonald, after she had to move there and wanted to make new friends,” local Club President, Helen Karrasch explained.

“She then moved to Orange in 1974 and formed the Orange club; she was a very sociable lady,” Helen added.

Since then, the club has been a welcoming face to women newcomers — many of whom were dutifully following their husband’s career moves or making tree-change lifestyle choices — that have brought them to our fair city. 

“We moved to Orange in 2012 from Brisbane, and I joined Ionians in 2013; being a new resident in town, it was good to find something in town I could join right away,” Helen said.

“It’s very hard coming to a new town and not knowing anyone… they used to say, you had to be here 35 years to be considered a local, so it’s a great group for people who want to get involved in the community from the start.”

In recent times though, the club has increased its appeal with women looking to keep socially active in their later years, Helen explained.

“The Club have broadened their membership; we used to be only for new people, but now we have people who live in the town and have retired, it’s a friendship club, basically.

“We go on excursions, we’re going to an outing to Cowra to see the Archibald Show at the Gallery… we also have a bookshop and a Solo Club… we have nearly 70 members,” she added.

The Club also has one charity day in October each year where members run various produce, embroidery, plants, and preservative stalls, with funds going to charities like FoodCare and Riding for the Disabled.

The club’s ethos of friendship also proved crucial for members during the lockdowns of the past two years with an initiative to ensure that home-bound members were not left socially isolated.

“We had a ‘phone-tree’ established to call members to keep in touch during COVID — just to make sure that, when you’re in lockdown at home, that you were okay,” Helen explained.

The two-year pandemic however has seen a rush of new members as many retirees have fled the restrictions imposed in our larger cities for the friendlier faces of our country towns and provincial cities.

“We are actually expanding, we’ve had quite a few new members,” Helen concluded.

The Orange Ionian Club meets at Duntryleague Golf Club at 11am on the second Thursday of the month. For more information, email: orange@ionians.net