City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2As suburban development came to Darebin many more cricket clubs were established, some ofthem representing local industries. In 1922 the Jika Cricket Association, was formed with fivelocal clubs, but increased to fourteen two years later. Since its formation over 250 clubs haveplayed in the Association. The Jika Cricket Association is now one of the Victoria’s largest,with more than 2000 players in competitions for all ages ranging from Under 13s to Veterans.The premiership winning clubs serve as a demonstration of Melbourne’s sprawl. In the first 44years of the Association, only two clubs based north of Murray Rd won A Grade Premierships.However since that time, only one club based south of Murray Rd has claimed a Premiership.Keon Park, Thomastown and Lalor are some of the newer suburbs to have successful clubs inthe Jika Association (dhe.darebin-libraries.vic.gov.au/encyclopedia).Football (Australian Rules)Like cricket, football was popular in Darebin as early as the 1860s. A Northcote Football Clubplayed against North Melbourne and Brunswick in 1869 and in the 1870s football was beingplayed on the Croxton Park sports ground. By the 1880s Northcote had a regular club,although it struggled to remain viable during the 1890s. Croxton Park was run by the ownersof the associated hotel, and problems with alcohol-induced disorderly behaviour by players andsupporters led to the move to the Northcote Park. From 1915 Northcote Park was the Club’spermanent home.By this time Northcote had joined the Victorian Football Association. Their heyday wasbetween 1929 and 1936, when the ‘Brickfielders’ played in seven grand finals, winning fivePremierships. Amongst their great players was Frank Seymour, and Doug Nicholls, who joinedthe club in 1927 after being rejected by Carlton. After five years Nicholls was recruited byFitzroy, but he returned to Northcote as coach in 1947, but with little success for the team’spremiership aspirations. In 1944 Nicholls organised an exhibition match between a team ofAboriginal players from New South Wales and Northcote. The match attracted thousands ofspectators in attendance, and the proceeds were donated to Aboriginal welfare funds.For the next 40 years Northcote struggled, moving into the second division in 1964, andfinally ceased in 1987.It is believed that Preston Football Club commenced in 1882 as Gowerville. Preston FootballClub joined the VFA in 1903, but due to lack of success on the ground was relegated to theVictorian Junior Football Association until 1926. Preston was nicknamed the ‘Bullants’ in the1930s. It has always played on the Preston Oval. The club won a final in 1931 with RoyCazaly’s as captain-coach, but the Premiership was elusive until 1963 when Preston won thesecond division grand final, winning premierships in first division in the 1960s and 1980s.Preston has struggled to survive, but strong local support has kept it going, through anamalgamation with the Northern Knights in the 1990s, and separation in 2000 to become theNorthern Bullants. The club is now affiliated with Carlton Football Club (Carroll 1985: 190-91; dhe.darebin-libraries.vic.gov.au/encyclopedia).Reservoir Football Club first participated in local Melbourne football in 1923, but from 1946the club played in the Diamond Valley Football League, winning Premierships in 1946 and’47. In 1949 they moved to the Metropolitan Football League, where they became a feederclub for Preston. Until 1952 Reservoir’s home ground was J.E. Moore Park near EdwardesLake Park. When Preston Council resolved to remove football and cricket from that park theClub moved to Crispe Park. In the 1950s Reservoir had a close association with the Chandlerfamily, several of whom played and served as committee office holders. In 1971 Reservoirswitched to the Panton Hill Football League, then in 1981 returned to the Diamond ValleyFootball League. A year later the Club amalgamated with the Reservoir Y.C.W. Football Club.Reservoir won the Division 2 premiership1984 (dhe.darebin-libraries.vic.gov.au/encyclopedia).122
VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYFigure 85 Northcote football club, 1929[DHE, Id 754]]HorseracingAs noted in Chapter 4, a race track was run in conjunction with the Croxton Park Hotel. In1891 another private racecourse was established in the district by W. Byrne and P. Callaghanto the west of St George's Road. Croxton Racecourse was successful amongst working peopleduring the 1890s depression (Lemon, p 129). By 1914 Croxton Park was known as theFitzroy Racecourse, and was owned by notorious Collingwood gambling entrepreneur JohnWren, who held sixteen race meetings a year there. Regular meetings attracting thousands ofpeople into the 1920s, when the Racecourse was owned by the Victorian Trotting and RacingAssociation:In those days they used to race ponies the ponies under 14½ hands high. Once you raced atFitzroy you couldn’t race the courses in Melbourne, you were barred from going to the registeredraces.When a horse couldn’t win in Melbourne they’d say, ‘Take it to the ponies’. Every Tom, Dickand Harry went tot he races at Fitzroy trying to boost their incomes. (Fred Moran in “Glimpsesof our Past”: 39)The races ceased in 1931 and after lying idle until after the Second World War the propertywas eventually redeveloped for housing as Bird and Bradley Avenues. Another privateracetrack and sportsground was Plant’s Paddock, which became the Railway Estate in 1903.Lawn BowlsDarebin’s first bowling club was initiated by a meeting of Northcote businessmen and citizensin 1903, but it took a few years to secure the Pearl Street site, which was sold to the Club bythe Railways Department. The Northcote Club’s green was laid down and officially opened in1906. The Club boasted several champion players, including 1924 Victorian Champion ofChampions, Dr Catarinch. It remained an all-male club until 1982, when it accepted womenas associate members. A decline in popularity of the sport and an ageing membership led atake-over by Collingwood Football Club in 1993, and the installation of poker machines. Thepartnership was not a success and the venture was abandoned with the loss of one of the Club’stwo bowling greens. In 1999 Northcote merged with Faircote Bowling Club to form theDarebin City Bowling Club (Darebin Historical Encyclopedia).Faircote Club had formed 1966, with both male and female members, and established greensand a clubhouse in Darebin Road at the John Cain Memorial Park. Northcote Club sold itsPearl Street property and invested the proceeds in a new facility on the Faircote’s site. State andlocal governments contributed substantial amounts to create the new State Bowling Centre atthe Darebin International Sports Centre. This was the venue for the Lawn Bowls events at the2006 Commonwealth Games (Darebin Historical Encyclopedia).Other bowling clubs were formed in Preston and Thornbury in the early twentieth century andat Edwarde’s Lake Park in 1960. Of particular interest is the Thornbury Club, whichoriginated in 1909 as the private green belonging to retailer Oliver Gilpin next to his house123
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