Canberra Croquet Club
History
The Official Opening of the Croquet Club 14 October 1930 – Photographer Alec Collingridge CCC
Establishment of the Canberra Croquet Club
In 1925 Hostel No. 1 (later the Hotel Canberra, and still later the Hyatt) opened with a bowling green and a croquet lawn as amenities for its guests. The Canberra Croquet Club, established at a meeting held on 8 March 1928, was allowed to play on the lawn at the Hotel.
An early decision of the new club was to ask the Federal Capital Commission to make Wednesdays and Saturdays exclusive days for the club to use the lawns. There was no clubhouse: a room at the Hotel was converted for use as a locker room. There were 41 foundation members. People who belonged to other croquet clubs coached the new members. In November 1928 a member offered a trophy of one guinea for the winner of a tournament in which only those who learned to play on the lawn at the Hotel Canberra could compete.
The clubhouse was opened in 1933. The clubhouse and grounds were listed on the Heritage Places Register in December, 1994.
Expanding the Club
The history of the club reflects the effects of the social changes encompassing the economic depression, World War II and the gradual growth of Canberra from the bush capital to a city of more than 400,000 people.
Men were admitted to membership of the club after the AGM in 1976, and in that year four men joined the club.
As part of its 50th birthday celebrations in 1978 the club held its first carnival - the Easter Carnival. Nine years later the first Australia Day Carnival was held. Designed as an elite event with players invited from each of the Australian states, this evolved into the Canberra Open, and was used as a ranking event for Australian selection. Over the years, several changes were made to the timing of both events, but both were discontinued by 2016 due to dwindling numbers.
Until the 1990s, Association Croquet was the only mallet sport formally played at the Club, although a form of Golf Croquet (GC) was occasionally played socially. Following the development of the new GC rules – contributed to by CCC Life Member Tony Hall – and the first GC World Championships in 1996, GC was included as part of the Club’s regular activities. In the summer of 2002-03 a regular Wednesday twilight session was introduced, which was open to the public in order to attract new members. The first Handicap Championship was held in 2005-06, and the first Open Championship in 2009-10.
World Gateball is centred in Japan, and during the 1990s, some players from Canberra would travel to Sydney to play against visiting teams from Japan. The Club’s first Gateballer, Peter Tavender, competed in the World Gateball Championships in Hawaii in 1998. Gateball has been played regularly at the Club since 2005 when weekly draws commenced and Canberra teams started competing in domestic and international events. The Tavender Trophy was first held in 2006-07.
The Club today
The Club currently has around 140 members, with all three codes played regularly throughout the week (see Playing Times for details). Club championships are also held throughout the year.
Club members range in age from primary school to those in their 80s and include Australian and State representatives across all three codes, as well as social players.
The Club also contributes to the wider croquet community. Club member Kate McLoughlin is the immediate past President of Croquet NSW, while Canberra is a designated ‘Hub’ for the development of croquet in Southern NSW. Former member Tony Hall was previously the President of the World Croquet Federation, while Peter Tavender is a former President of Croquet Australia.
Tim Murphy, one of our former members, developed the Croquet Scores website, which is now used worldwide. It enables tournament managers to enter results as they occur – and those following events to keep up with the latest developments. This information is also used for the world rankings.
A significant upgrade to the Clubhouse was completed in 2022, to remove asbestos, provide additional storage and enable disabled access.
Presidents and Life Members
A History of The Canberra Croquet Club 1928-98 was published in 2000. Copies are available for purchase from the Club. Contact the Secretary at Secretary.canberracroquet@gmail.com.
Acknowledgements
This article has been contributed to by:
· Heather Clark (2001)
· Stephen Meatheringham (2008)
· Peter Freer (2025)
· Stephen Richards (2025)
· Glen Whitehead (2025)
· Peter Wood (2025)
Updated September 2025
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