Booroodabin Bowls Club

The Breakfast Creek Bowling Club was formed in 1888 and is claimed to be the oldest bowls club in existence in Brisbane. Lawn bowls had originally come to Queensland when a club was formed in Maryborough during the 1870s. 

A grant of reserve land, originally given to the Booroodabin Divisional Board in 1887 by the state government, together with £50, was given to the newly formed Booroodabin Bowling Club by the Divisional Board. The Divisional Board had planned to obtain further land reserves to establish other supporting venues such as tennis was close to this site. The new green was established at a cost of approximately £310. Turf for the green had been obtained locally, being taken “from the river bank at Newstead”.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Mayor (Alderman W.M.Galloway) and other local prominent citizens. The club was associated with a number of important people of the day. These include the Premier, Sir Thomas MacIIwraith and Lord Lamington, who was patron of the club.

At the opening ceremony it was stated that it was expected that membership would increase now that the club had a permanent home. Photographs dated circa 1900 and circa 1907 clearly show that a new pavilion had been erected during this period.

By 1915 the club had grown and the decision was taken to extend and improve the pavilion. Richard Gailey had been employed by the club to erect a wood and iron clubhouse. The contractor was listed as H. Hill, of Bell St, Hendra. The 1915 annual report mentioned that the “club pavilion and fixtures had been valued as at 30 June 1915 at £600”. 

This work, which was undertaken by Gailey, must be viewed as work completed on a structure that had evolved over a period of time as the bowls club obtained the necessary funds. Gailey was renowned as an important and influential architect in Brisbane, being responsible for such buildings as the Regatta Hotel and Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School.

The next extension was completed during 1922. The architect at this time is given as B.C.M. Wrightman1 and the contractor was N. Arthur & C Walker of Annerley St, Toowong. Although ditto marks appear in the entry in the Building Registers under an earlier entry of “Nature of Notice...New Building” it is highly unlikely that in just under seven years after the extensions were done, that a new pavilion had been constructed. Evidence indicates that this work was again an extension and improvement to the pavilion.

There appears to have been little attention to the structure of this building between the 1920s and the early 1950s. A 1929 report in the Brisbane Courier described the Booroodabin Bowling “At Home”; 

Asparagus plumosus festooned the lights, and fell in long trails from them, and the front of the club house was banked with palm fronds. The supporting posts and veranda rails were entirely covered with red tinsel paper entwinnings of Asparagus plumosus.

This entry in the regular feature “In the Social Sphere” suggests that the activities of members of the club were seen to be of significance in Brisbane’s social milieu.

A 1928 Detail Plan shows an outline of the pavilion similar to the building’s outline in 1998. Photographs taken in early 1950 reveal that the verandahs existed at that time. The Booroodabin Bowls club submitted two applications for extensions to the pavilion in 1956 and 1957. These extensions coincided with the formation of the ladies bowls club. It is most likely that the present facade was built at this time. A further application was submitted in 1971 to remodel the bar and toilets at a cost of $6000.00

In 1988 the Booroodabin Bowls Club celebrated its centenary. Such is the prominence of this club that the centenary was attended by the then Governor of Queensland, Sir James Ramsey. As with many sporting clubs, poker machines were installed to obtain revenue when they were eventually permitted by the state government. The club and its members have played an important role in the social, leisure and sporting activities, of not only the Booroodabin area when it existed, but also that of Brisbane City.

1. Please note that the name is hand written in the Building Register and is barely legible

2. Brisbane City Council Properties on the Web

3. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

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

5. Brisbane City Council Building Cards

6. Brisbane City Council Surveyor’s Notebook, 24 May 1913; updated 14 Oct 1926

7. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plan No 233, 20 June 1928

8. Brisbane City Council Building Registers, 1915, 1922.

9. Queensland Post Office Directories

10. Booroodabin Bowls Club photos and records, courtesy Mrs Trail

11. Queensland Women’s Historical Association, Booroodabin: A sesquicentenary history of Breakfast Creek, Bowen Hills, Newstead and Teneriffe 1823-2009, QWHA, 2nd and revised ed, 2009, pg 64

12. Queensland Women’s Historical Association. A Look Back in Time: A History of Bowen Hills - Newstead and ‘The Creek’. Breakfast Creek: QWHA, 1996

13. Watson, Donald and Judith McKay. A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940, University of Queensland Library, St Lucia, 1984, pg 89

14. Watson, Donald and Judith McKay. Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994

15. Brisbane Courier, 1893

16. Brisbane Courier. 8 July 1929, p.18