Addresses

At 60 Oxlade Drive, New farm, Queensland 4005

Type of place

Sportsground

Period

Postwar 1945-1960

Style

Bungalow

Limbless Soldiers' Bowling Club (former)

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This is an image of the local heritage place known as Merthyr Bowls Club

Limbless Soldiers' Bowling Club (former)

Limbless Soldiers' Bowling Club (former) Download Citation (pdf, 62.56 KB)

Addresses

At 60 Oxlade Drive, New farm, Queensland 4005

Type of place

Sportsground

Period

Postwar 1945-1960

Style

Bungalow

The Limbless Soldiers Bowling Club was officially opened in 1949 by the Queensland branch of the Returned Limbless Sailors and Soldiers Association (RLSSA) to provide recreational facilities for returned disabled servicemen, though the first day of play was in December 1948.In 1946 Brisbane City Council granted a 30-year lease to the RLSSA of the former United States Navy site. In 1948 the RLSSA opened a bowling green and green-keeper’s shed adjacent to the former US Navy Officers’ Club/Mess, now Riverside Ballroom. Peter Drummond became the founding president. In the early 1950s the clubhouse building, comprising two ex-army huts, was relocated from Camp Columbia, the United States 6th Army headquarters at Wacol during the Second World War. The Limbless Soldiers Bowling Club was later renamed the Merthyr Bowls Club. In 1978 the lease was transferred from the RLSSA to the RSL. The RSL, which continues to lease the land from Council, subleases the facilities to the Merthyr Bowls Club.

Also known as

Merthyr Bowls Club

Lot plan

  • L8_RP42953;
  • L207_RP42953;
  • L9_RP42953;
  • L12_RP42953;
  • L208_RP42953;
  • L3_RP42953;
  • L209_RP42953;
  • L16_RP42953;
  • L15_RP42953;
  • L14_RP42953;
  • L13_RP42953

Key dates

Local Heritage Place Since —

Date of Citation —

Construction

Roof: Corrugated iron;
 Walls: Timber

People/associations

Queensland branch of the Returned Limbless Sailors and Soldiers Association  (Association)

Criterion for listing

(A) Historical; (C) Scientific; (G) Social

Interactive mapping

City Plan Interactive Mapping

Also known as

Merthyr Bowls Club

Lot plan

  • L8_RP42953;
  • L207_RP42953;
  • L9_RP42953;
  • L12_RP42953;
  • L208_RP42953;
  • L3_RP42953;
  • L209_RP42953;
  • L16_RP42953;
  • L15_RP42953;
  • L14_RP42953;
  • L13_RP42953

Key dates

Local Heritage Place Since —

Date of Citation —

Construction

Roof: Corrugated iron;
 Walls: Timber

People/associations

Queensland branch of the Returned Limbless Sailors and Soldiers Association  (Association)

Criterion for listing

(A) Historical; (C) Scientific; (G) Social

Interactive mapping

City Plan Interactive Mapping

Statement of significance

Relevant assessment criteria

This is a place of local heritage significance and meets one or more of the local heritage criteria under the Heritage planning scheme policy of the Brisbane City Plan 2014. It is significant because:

Historical

Criterion A

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of the city's or local area’s history

as a bowls club that was established exclusively for disabled returned servicemen to one that evolved to embrace the social and sporting needs of the local community.

Scientific

Criterion C

The place has the potential to yield information that will contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the city’s or local area’s history

as an example of a sporting and social facility that has operated in New Farm from the late 1940s to the present day.

Social

Criterion G

The place has a strong or special association with the life or work of a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons

as a bowls club that was originally formed and operated by the Queensland branch of the Returned Limbless Sailors and Soldiers Association for returned servicemen until the lease was transferred to the RSL in 1978.

References

  1. Brisbane City Council Properties on the Web

  2. Brisbane City Council aerial photos, 1946 [vacant land]; 1951 [shows greenkeeper’s shed]; 1960 [shows greenkeeper’s shed and clubhouse]

  3. Heritage Unit file note, Laurie Jones, Heritage Unit, 1 March 2002

  4. Brisbane City Council Heritage Citation, ‘Returned Limbless Sailors and Soldiers Club (former)’, August 2010

  5. Brisbane City Council, New Farm and Teneriffe Hill Heritage and Character Study, Oct 1995, pg 46

  6. Brown, W., A Man of Achievement: Sir Manual Hornibrook, P.E.P. Enterprises, Brisbane, 1974, pg 44-45

  7. Merthyr Bowls Club, website history, www.merthyrbowlsclub.com.au

  8. Department of Environment and Resource Management, Queensland Certificates of Title.

  9. Benjamin, G. & Grant, G. Reflections on New Farm, New Farm & Districts Historical Society Inc, New Farm, 2008, pg 4, 125

  10. Latitude 27-Longitude 153 Brisbane River: From Moggill to Moreton Bay 1770-2004, History & Heritage Collection, Bookmen Publishers & Erinport Pty Ltd, 2004, pg 103

  11. South Eastern District Branch of the RSL, personal communication, 28 March 2011

  12. Courier-Mail, 6 Oct 1949, pg 8

  13. Courier-Mail, 17 Sept 1946, pg 5

  14. Courier-Mail, 26 Sept 1949, pg 1

  15. Courier-Mail, 17 June 1950, pg 7

  16. Courier-Mail, 9 Oct 1950, pg 8

  17. Courier-Mail, 22 Nov 1950, pg 10

  18. Courier-Mail, 27 Nov 1951, pg 

Citation prepared by — Brisbane City Council (page revised June 2022)

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Postwar 1945-1960
Bungalow
Sportsground
At 60 Oxlade Drive, New farm, Queensland 4005
At 60 Oxlade Drive, New farm, Queensland 4005
  • L8_RP42953;
  • L207_RP42953;
  • L9_RP42953;
  • L12_RP42953;
  • L208_RP42953;
  • L3_RP42953;
  • L209_RP42953;
  • L16_RP42953;
  • L15_RP42953;
  • L14_RP42953;
  • L13_RP42953
Historical, Scientific, Social