Identifiernot specifiedDate1914Photographernot specifiedDescriptionPhotograph shows original club house in 1914.
Credit for founding the Beecroft Bowling Club is usually given to 'that grand old man and great bowler, John Wallace', a member of the Randwick club and Treasurer of the New South Wales Bowling Association, who had moved to Beecroft in 1908. In discussion with his friends he urged the formation of a club in Beecroft, and eventually Melbourne Green undertook the responsibility of calling a public meeting in the School of Arts on March 10, 1913 to discuss the matter. The meeting considered three questions: the sites available, finances, and combining a crochet lawn with a bowling green.
Such was the enthusiasm of the would-be bowlers, that in three months these questions had been satisfactorily dealt with and the club was ready to proceed with laying the green and a croquet lawn. Several sites had been considered however, Harry Holcombe's land in Copeland Street, although it was steep and small it was handy to the station, quiet and in 'surroundings of a particular pleasing nature'.
On May 28, 1913 a Croquet Club was formed. Work on the formation of the bowling green began on August 18, 1913. By April 1914 it was completed, including a 'modest pavilion with a 10 foot verandah, servery, lockers and various conveniences'. Arrangements were made for a New South Wales Bowling Association team to be present at the official opening on June 29, 1914, at which members of the Croquet Club 'claimed the privilege of providing an afternoon tea worthy of the occasion'.
'Beecroft and Cheltenham: The shaping of a Sydney Community to 1914'/BCHG (1995) p 248.Physical FormatBeecroft