ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collections

HMSS 0371 Canberra South Bowling Club Records

Scope and Content Notes

Call Number	HMSS 0371
Collection	Canberra South Bowling Club Records
Date Range	1948-2006
Quantity	2.6 m (14 manuscript boxes and 4 binders)
Access Conditions	open
Copying Conditions	with attribution
Related Collections	HMSS 0001 Canberra Womens Bowling Club; HMSS 0206 North Canberra Bowling Club

The inaugural meeting to form a third bowling club in Canberra was held at the Hockey Pavilion, Manuka on 20 July 1948, followed on 18 October by the first General Meeting of the Canberra South Bowling Club. At this meeting it was announced that a site had been approved near the intersection of Flinders Way and La Perouse Street, Forrest for three greens and a clubhouse, which the Club occupied in 1951. A permanent clubhouse was designed by Harry Seidler and opened in May 1959. Meanwhile, the first Club match was held on 6 March 1949 on the green at Parliament House.

There have been several changes to the Club’s structure. The Club was incorporated in 1955. Membership was exclusively male until the establishment of the Canberra South Women’s Bowling Club in 1981. In 1997 the Canberra South Bowling Club ceased to exist when members approved new constitutions for Canberra South Bowling & Recreation Club and its constituent men’s and women’s clubs. In August 2004 the existing constitution of the Canberra South Men’s Bowling Club Inc was replaced with a new constitution in the name of Canberra South Bowling Club, which amalgamated the men’s and women’s clubs with equal rights for all members.

Early in 1998 ACT Rugby Union Ltd proposed a joint agreement that would enable it to build its headquarters and a gymnasium for its Super 12 players on the Bowling Club’s site and to become a partner in the operation of the clubhouse. This agreement allowed Canberra Royals Rugby Union Club, trading as Brumbies Sports and Social Club, to lease the Bowling Club premises. Royals went into administration in December 2003 and the lease and management of the Bowling Club premises was subsequently reassigned to Eastern Suburbs Rugby and Amateur Sports Club Inc (Easts).

In 2008 Canberra South transferred the lease on its premises in Griffith to ACT Brumbies Rugby Union and began using West Deakin Hellenic Bowling Club as its base of operations, pending amalgamation with West Deakin Hellenic.

The increased activity in the years 1996-1998 is reflected in the arrangement of parts of the collection. The minutes of the general meetings during this time are not only within the general run of minutes in boxes 10 and 11 but also in three separate folders with related papers at the end of the sequence. In addition, a separate collection of papers and supporting documents is collated under the heading Restructuring. This has created some unavoidable duplication.

There have been several Club newsletters, beginning in 1952 with In the South. From 1958 into the early 1960s it was Canberra South Chatter, revived in March 1965 as Chatter in the South. The early newsletters were irregular, but from November 1991 to about April 1999 The Canberra South was published monthly. In 2000 the title was South’s Bowlers Newsletter.

The Club’s history, Fifty Years at Souths, was launched in January 1999. [ACT Heritage Library H 794.315099471 FIFT]

Box List

BOX NO.	DESCRIPTION	QUANTITY	DATE RANGE
1	CONSTITUTION AND RULES Includes constitutions and amendments, some extracts from the minutes that explain the background to the later changes, and legal opinion.		1987 – 1998
1	- Canberra South Bowling Club constitutions 26 June 1997 – 19 July 1998 - Canberra South Bowling and Recreation Club constitutions 19 July 1998	1 folder	26 June 1997 – 19 July 1998
1	Canberra South Women’s Bowling Club constitutions	1 folder	1987 – 1997
1	Canberra South Bowling Club rules, including proposed changes to the By-laws 13 May 1991	2 folders	1982 – 14 August 1995

1-11	MINUTES		1948 – 2001
1	Canberra South Bowling Club inaugural, general, annual general, and committee meetings, and the first annual report 20 September 1949	1 folder	20 July 1948 – 3 December 1952
1	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings; includes some loose pages, a photograph of club members 6 March 1949 pasted inside the front cover, and an invitation to President’s Day 19 January 1964 loose in the back	1 minute book	26 May 1952 – 14 October 1958
2	Canberra South Bowling Club committee and monthly meetings	1 minute book	10 May 1957 – 3 July 1962
2	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings; from 1960-1961 to 1982/1983 published annual general meeting agendas and reports are included	2 minute books	11 November 1958 – 13 December 1967
3	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	4 minute books	1967/1968 – 1970/1971
4	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	4 minute books	1971/1972 – 1974/1975
5	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	4 minute books	1975/1976 – 1978/1979
6	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	4 minute books	1979/1980 – 1982/1983
7	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings - 25 June 1976 – 20 May 1979 - 1983/1984 – 1984/1985	3 minute books	1976 – 1984/1985
8	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	3 minute books	1985/1987 – 1988/1989
9	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	5 minute books	1989/1990 – 1993/1994
10	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	3 minute books, 2 exercise books	1994/1995 – 1995/1996
11	Canberra South Bowling Club general, annual general, and committee meetings	1 minute book	1996/1997
11	Canberra South Bowling Club annual general meeting	1 folder	1996
11	Canberra South Bowling Club special general meeting	1 folder	1997
11	Canberra South Men’s Bowling Club special and annual general meetings	1 folder	1998
11	Canberra South Bowling and Recreation Club annual general meeting	1 sleeve	2000/2001

11-15	MEMBERSHIP A list of foundation members of Canberra South Bowling Club is in the front of the blue covered register		1959 – 2001
11	Canberra South Women’s Bowling Club membership register	1 binder	1981 – 1997
11	Membership variations	1 file	2000 – 2001
12-15	Membership registers – 3 volumes A – Z, 1 volume A – K (teal cover)	4 binders	1959 – 1990s

16	ANNUAL REPORTS Earlier reports include lists of financial members. Most reports include obituaries, i.e. lists of deaths, as well as extensive player statistics		1949 – 2006
16	Canberra South Bowling Club reports 1-49		September 1949 – May 1997
16	Canberra South Bowling and Recreation Club annual report and financial statements, and Canberra South Men’s Bowling Club annual reports, numbers 1-6		May 1998 – May 2003
16	Canberra South Bowling and Recreation Club annual report and financial statements		May 2004 – May 2006
16	Canberra South Bowling Club - inaugural annual general meeting 26 September 2004, with supporting documents - annual reports 2005-2006		September 2004 – August 2006
16	Report by ad-hoc committee on club activities	1 sleeve	1981

16	NEWSLETTERS		1965 – 2000
	Chatter in the South, 3 issues		1965 – 1966
	The Canberra South, incomplete		November 1991 – April 1999
	South’s Bowlers Newsletter, 2 issues		2000

17	RESTRUCTURING Includes proposed amendments to constitutions, other legal and financial documents, correspondence, reports and minutes relating to the amalgamation of the Men’s and Women’s Bowling Clubs, the joint venture with ACT Rugby Union and the negotiations relating to the transfer of the lease arrangements from Royals to Easts	4 folders	1997 – 2004

17	CORRESPONDENCE		1982 – 2002
	Visits to and from other clubs	1 folder	1992 – 2002
	Thank you letters	1 folder	1987 – 2000

17	SECRETARY’S FILE Includes duties of the Secretary, copies of 1983 minutes, notes	1 folder	1982 – 1985

17	NEWSCUTTINGS Canberra Times publicity information and newsclippings. Includes photograph of Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, Member for Canberra Jim Fraser and Club President Mr J B White, 1963	2 folders	1962 – 1965; 1993 – 1994

17	REMINISCENCES These memories were contributed by Sid Brimble but were not included in the Club’s history Fifty Years at Souths	1 folder	Ca 1998