Formed during World War II, the club participated in sending food parcels to Britain, in flax gathering; salvage operations and also in plane spotting.

Another obligation saw club members welcoming arrivals on the twice-weekly Bass Strait passenger ferry when it berthed at Burnie at 6 a.m.
Two Rotarians would greet passengers and hand out gifts and other items.

One ramification of Australia being at war was that food rationing forced the club to be restricted to a maximum of twenty-five members.

In December 1942, club member T. M. Crisp accepted the position of Secretary of the club temporarily, as he said: “to enable us to find a successor.” In 1951, he was still in the job and he continued to ask that the temporary nature of his appointment be recognised!

Over the years, the Rotary Club of Burnie was also active in establishing the Inner Wheel Club of Burnie (1981) – several members of which have played influential roles in the Inner Wheel organisation in Australia – the Probus Club of Burnie (1983) and the Ladies Probus Club of Burnie (1991).

In 2020, a new club was formed in Burnie; Burnie West Rotary Club.

Three members of the Rotary Club of Burnie have been District Governors:

Jim Loughran [classification – Electrical Contracting] joined Burnie Rotary Club in 1959, was Club President in 1970/71 and District Governor in 1979/80.

Harold Ogilvie [classification – Agencies: Stock and Station] joined Burnie Rotary Club in 1976, was Club President in 1982/83 and District Governor in 1988/89.

Ken Moore [classification – Engineer Consulting] joined Burnie Rotary Club in 1987/88, was Club President in 2000/01 and District Governor in 2014/15.

The District Conference has been hosted four times by the Rotary Club of Burnie; in 1965 (Club President Alan Gray); in 1978 (Club President Paul Rollins); in 1986 (Club President Bruce Clark) and in 2015 (Club President Jim Forsyth).