BLACKTOWN CITY HISTORY The Blacktown Bowling Club
by John Horne
Once , every country town and suburb in Australia had its own bowling club but not anymore . In the past 40 years greater Sydney has lost half of its “ bowlos ” and now after more than seventy years Blacktown has lost its bowling club too .
The Blacktown Bowling Club closed its doors on Saturday 29 June 2024 . Its club flag is never going to be raised again while the site lies empty awaiting development . A takeover and merger with the Seven Hills RSL in 2017 and a $ 1.6 million renovation to convert the club into a more family-friendly venue with a children ’ s playground , was not enough to save it . Like many other bowling clubs Blacktown has been in decline for years with falling memberships . The wider community has lost interest in lawn bowls .
Someone once said that the bowling club in Lismore Street was one of Blacktown ’ s best kept secrets . However , despite special family functions , barefoot bowling and a great restaurant it was too close to other larger clubs . Club Blacktown and the Blacktown Workers Club with its two local venues both offered lawn bowls
The club in 1956 .
The club as it is today .
facilities and how many bowling clubs can a single locality maintain ?
The crux of the matter was that the Blacktown Bowling Club could not compete with other local clubs , pubs and taverns that also offered facilities for special functions and meals with a night out .
Similar declines and changes in society over the years , have seen the disappearance of other types of recreational venues like drive-in theatres , pony clubs , squash courts , tennis courts and ice-skating rinks - not just bowling clubs .
Originally , a group of local businessmen and other citizens formed the Blacktown Bowling and Recreation Club on 24 April 1951 . At a public meeting in the Blacktown School of Arts nineteen interested local citizens resolved to form the club . A provisional committee of seven organised the club ’ s beginnings .
Jim Lyneham , a local barbershop owner who was on the committee offered his premises as a temporary venue for their first meetings . His barbershop used to stand on Main Street opposite the corner where Flushcombe Road joins it . Three sites were chosen as potential places for the bowling club , land where K-Mart now stands , land on Kildare Road that is now occupied by the Blacktown Tavern and in Lismore Street where the club has its site .
The club purchased five blocks of land using money from the estate of the late Mrs Jim Simpson for £ 350 and then another three blocks for £ 200 each . The total area of land the club bought was about 2.5 hectares and finance for the purchases was raised by the issue of
£ 900 worth of debentures to members .
Volunteer members worked together to conduct the developments needed for the club while Blacktown Shire Council graders levelled the site . Fencing materials were donated by the Watts Family of Rooty Hill . Jack and Joe Bromfield laid the first green with couch turf that was donated by George Devlin from Agnes Banks . By March 1953 locals were playing lawn bowls on their newly constructed single green and by 1956 a permanent members ’ clubhouse had been erected .
In the 2000s the Blacktown Bowling Club was not the only local club that provided bowling greens and over time the competing clubs with a broader appeal and more facilities to offer their members have won out in the end with the Blacktown Bowling Club having to permanently close its doors .
The oldest and first bowling green in Blacktown was at the St Andrews Golf Club – later called Ashlar Golf Club and now Stonecutters Ridge Golf Club . It opened in 1928 on Richmond Road where the Fairwater Estate stands today . In 1945 as well as an 18-hole golf course Ashlar had two tennis courts and a bowling green but the green was removed many years ago . The clubhouse ’ s destruction by fire in 2009 led to Ashlar ’ s closing in August 2012 and its relocation to Stonecutters Ridge .
The second oldest bowling club in Blacktown was the Blacktown Bowling and Recreation Club . Formed in April 1951 in Lismore Street Blacktown it closed in June 2024 after 70 years and after many renovations , additions and changes .
The next oldest was the Riverstone Bowling Club formed in 1952 . Using the old Windsor Bowling Club ’ s clubhouse it was located on the corner of Riverstone Parade and Mill Street . When it was proved to be no longer financially viable the Riverstone-Schofields Memorial Club closed it in 2013 .
Toongabbie Sports and Bowling Club was founded in 1958 at 1 Station Street Toongabbie , and was the next oldest bowling club . The idea of a Toongabbie Bowling Club was born at a meeting of a Prawn Club at the Toongabbie Hotel in 1958 . Renovated and extended many
Back in the 70s .
times since 1958 , the club underwent further extensive renovations in 2013 that sees it still operating today with two greens .
Club Blacktown ( Blacktown RSL ) that was started in December 1954 using the RSL Sub-Branch Hall that was on the corner of George and Prince Streets Blacktown , provided bowling greens for its membership after 1968 . In 1968 a new building and other facilities were opened on the Club ’ s present site on Second Avenue . These included indoor carpet bowls , billiards and snooker , outdoor bowling , shooter club , fishing club , cricket , tennis , darts and golf clubs . Outside it had two bowling greens and a sports field , all of which have now been replaced by buildings and car parking spaces .
The Blacktown Workers Club that began in January 1955 , with a bank balance of one shilling and seven pence , eventually provided its membership with bowling greens . The Club used an old Navy hut from Schofields bought at auction that was relocated to leased land on Kildare Road for its first facilities . In 1960 the Club opened its new premises on its site at Flushcombe Road / Campbell Street . Today the Club boasts three sites , Workers Blacktown , Workers Sports and Workers Hubertus at Luddenham . The Blacktown Workers Bowling Club still functions today with three bowling greens .
The only bowling green in Blacktown that is still operating is at the Workers Sports Club on Reservoir Road and in the nearby suburb of Toongabbie , its bowling club still operates after sixty-six years . All the others have long gone .
Blacktown
and District Historical Society Incorporated
EMERTON VILLAGE
02 8632 3408
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Founded in 1976 to ensure that the history of the Blacktown area would be collected and conserved for all time by tapping into documents and people ’ s memories .
You are welcome to visit our Research Centre , open Tuesdays 10.00 am to 2.00pm , or by appointment .
Grantham Heritage Park BDHS Research Centre 71 Seven Hills Road South , Seven Hills NSW 2147 PO Box 500 Blacktown NSW 2148 Phone 02 9676 1198 www . blacktownhistory . org . au
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10 ISSUE 46 // JANUARY 2025 HAPPY NEW YEAR ! theindependentmagazine . com . au BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT