McIlwraith Croquet Club

The McIlwraith Croquet Club was founded in 1923, on more than an acre of land donated to the old Toowong Town Council in October 1911 by Lady Harriette McIlwraith, second wife and widow of three times Queensland Premier Sir Thomas McIlwraith. There is some evidence to suggest that Lady McIlwraith intended that the land be put to public use and it now contains McIlwraith Park, part of which has been leased at low cost to the Croquet Club since the early 1920s. The establishment of such leases for community and recreational purposes was not uncommon in Brisbane in the early part of the twentieth century.

The land that Lady McIlwraith donated was originally part of the holding surrounding “Auchenflower House”, which had been family home of Sir Thomas. The land was subdivided for residential development from around 1908. The estate was named ‘Auchenflower Estate’ and was noted for a large ornamental pond that contained a small island. This was eventually filled and the Croquet club is located directly over the old pond site. The naming of McIlwraith Street and Harriett Street (with changed spelling), both in the immediate vicinity, commemorates the association between the McIlwraiths and the district.

Auchenflower historian, John Pearn, states that the clubhouse has stood on the site since the Club’s inception. Volunteer labour has played an important part in the continuation of the Club, the members themselves maintaining the grounds and structures, including the clubhouse and sun shelters, and caring for the three playing surfaces that the Club uses.

Croquet had been played in Brisbane since the late nineteenth century but, like so many recreational pursuits, remained an upper-class game conducted at the homes of the wealthy. It was not until the first croquet lawn and club was established at the Eagle Farm racecourse in 1900 that the game started to become more accessible to the general public. Though the Club at McIlwraith Park was established a little more than 20 years after this, it was nonetheless at the forefront of the democratisation of the game in Brisbane. Other surviving early croquet clubhouses from this period include the Windsor Croquet Club at Blackmore Street (1911), and the East Brisbane Croquet Club at Mowbray Park, East Brisbane (1920).

The McIlwraith Croquet Club and clubhouse is still in operation, having provided a social and recreational facility to the local community for 78 years.

The clubhouse is a timber structure clad with timber boards and raised on stumps.

The main gable and two gabled extensions on either side are sheeted with corrugated iron. These extend beyond the external walls to provide eaves overhangs above the timber sash windows. The gable ends are decorated with timber battening.

Tin sunhoods with timber bracing provide protection to the windows at the gable ends.

A pediment highlights the entry to the building. Symmetrical steps parallel to building lead from either side of the clubhouse to the entrance porch.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

2. Department of Natural Resources. Queensland Certificates of Title

3. Lawson, Ronald. Brisbane in the 1890s: a study of an Australian urban society ( St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1973)

4. Pearn, John. Auchenflower, the Suburb and the Name (Brisbane: Department of Child Health Publishing Unit , 1997)

5. Queensland Post Office Directories