ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collections

HMSS 0557 Yarralumla Tennis Club Records

The Yarralumla Tennis Club (formerly Westridge Tennis Club) was established in 1930. Despite the suburb formally being gazetted in September 1928 as Yarralumla, many locals continued to call it Westridge for many years afterwards. The suburbs’ first two community tennis courts were constructed at Hill Corner in 1924, where Westridge Tennis Club members used a slab hut for a club house. It wasn’t until about 1930 that the Club moved its premises to two new courts at the Mueller Street site where they remain today.

During its early years, Yarralumla Tennis Club filled a gap in the community, both socially as well as sporting, for example fund-raising dances were often held in Westridge Hall. Tournaments were regularly held with Ainslie and Griffith Tennis Clubs. Membership of the club peaked in the decade between 1975 and 1985. At that time one of Australia’s best known tennis players, Wally Masur, who in 1993 reached a world ranking of 15, was a junior at the club. In 2019, the club has 4 tennis courts and membership is strong.

A History of the Yarralumla Tennis Club was compiled by former President Maurice Hermann and published in January 2016. A copy is available at the ACT Heritage Library

The collection includes Annual General Meeting Minutes from 1936 to 2018. Minutes prior to 1992 are largely photocopies of the original records, which were lost during a club house refurbishment in 1992. The minutes were donated to the ACT Heritage Library by former President Maurice Hermann with the permission of the Yarralumla Tennis Club Committee and the current President.