City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYFigure 87Boating on EdwardesPark Lake, 1980s[DHE, ID 719]BathsIn 1923, Northcote Baths was opened for business in Frederick Street. Joe Fogg at the pool wasactively involved with the ‘Learn to Swim Campaign’, later known as the ‘Herald Learn toSwim Campaign’, though which many school children learned to swim (information suppliedby Paul Michell, Darebin Libraries). It is now part of the Northcote Aquatic and RecreationalCentre at 180 Victoria Road Northcote.Football (Soccer)Soccer was first played in Preston in 1912, with a match against St Kilda at Bell Street.However soccer only took off in Darebin in the second half of the twentieth century with thewave of post-war immigration. Darebin’s most famous team, perhaps of all sports, is thePreston Lions Football Club, founded in 1947 as Makedonia Soccer Club as a focal point forthe Macedonian community. Their first home ground was the T.A. Cochrane Reserve inPreston. In 1959 the name was changed to Preston Makedonia. The Club came top of theVictorian Metropolitan League in 1966 and 1981, and was promoted to the National SoccerLeague. They moved to a larger ground at B.T. Connor Reserve and around the same time theMakedonia Social Club was established opposite.In 1992 the Club won the Docherty Cup, but subsequent poor performance saw the Clubmoved back to the Victorian Premier League in 1993. Since then the name has been changedin accord with League policy to abolish ethnic titles and to use the word ‘football’ instead of‘soccer’. Preston Lions has won a number of premierships and claims the largest following inthe League. Its matches often attract a crowd of 10,000 (www.prestonlions.com).Women’s sportsThe Preston Ladies Cricket Club, founded in 1922, originated in a women’s team formed atAll Saint’s Church Preston in 1907. Women’s cricket faced considerable prejudice at the time,but it was more accepted in Victoria than in other states, and Victoria was the first state toform its own women’s cricket association. Preston was one of the four foundation clubs in theVictorian Womens’ Cricket Association, formed in 1923. The Preston team produced anumber of successful women cricketers (Darebin Historical Encyclopedia).More recently Darebin’s women have formed the Darebin Women’s Sports Club, whichoriginated as a women’s football club in Fairfield, known as the Fairfield Falcons. In 1991Northcote Council provided McDonell Park as a women’s sporting ground. The Club won thePremiership of the Victorian Women’s Football League in 1996. Since then the Club hasadded a soccer team, becoming the first women’s sports club in Australia to field bothAustralian Rules and soccer teams. In its first year the team won a shield final in the second125