Our History

On Friday 4th of July 1913, the Mildura Bowls Club was conceived when a group of 20 men met at Risbey’s Chambers in Deakin Avenue and decided it was time to consider ways and means of setting up a bowling club in Mildura. A committee of six were elected at the meeting and were charged with seeing how this could be done and report back to a general meeting.

The next recorded action was a meeting held on 6 March 1914 when the purchases of land in Lemon Avenue adjacent to Eighth Street were confirmed. The purchase price was £100. Messrs Risbey and Corbould were elected as trustees. Finance was raised by the debenture and guarantees were signed by three people to secure a bank overdraft. An experienced greenkeeper was appointed.

On 21 October 1915, a general meeting of members and intending members fixed the opening day for 21 November 1915. Office bearers were elected for that season with Mr WB Chaffey as President – a position he held for 10 years.
Electric lights were installed in 1916. Night play was commenced on 20 December. Green fees set at sixpence. Lady members were admitted to the club and given the use of two rinks on which to play croquet.
The club buildings began with the erection of the first pavilion in 1922. A locker room was later added. In 1923 WB Chaffey retired from the position of President and was elected the club’s first Life Member.

The next event of importance was the establishment of the Mildura winter bowling carnival in 1932. Mr W. Royle of Mooney Ponds BC, a constant visitor to Mildura and a keen bowler, persuaded the committee to organise the carnival and invite bowlers from Metropolitan and southern clubs to come to Mildura. He donated a cup and trophy for the singles. The first carnival attracted 152 bowlers and firmly established the event in the Bowls calendar of Victoria. By 1956 the carnival attracted over 700 entries and was the largest bowls carnival in Australia and thought to be the largest in the world of lawn bowls. Special trains were run from Melbourne to Mildura to coincide with the bowling carnival.

In 1941 the Mildura Bowls club relocated to Cureton Avenue. Following a Grant of £750 work commenced in February and the Greens were sown by April. A further Grant of £500 allowed the construction of fencing, the planting of hedges and gardens. The Greens were handed over to the club in May 1942 and were opened in 1943 when the first May carnival was held on the present site.
In 1954 it was decided to build a new clubhouse to replace the temporary buildings then on site. A foundation stone was laid in 1954 by J A Terdich – past president R.V.B.A. The building was opened on 16 April 1955. The cost of the building was £1000. The Mildura City Council again assisted the club by making a loan.
In 1967 the Carbis room was added. An application was made to the Liquor Control Commission to become a licensed club in 1968. This was granted 12 months later.
1970 saw the introduction of the Mildura Masters Singles. This event was played through until 1998, after that it was discontinued.

In 2005 Mildura Bowls Club met with the Mildura Workers Bowls Club who had been served with notice to vacate their Deakin Avenue greens by the developer John Kelly who had bought the freehold title to the main workers club. For the last 17 years the two clubs have worked together and shared the Cureton Avenue complex. In 2018 the two clubs signed off on a new Memorandum of Understanding. The new Board of Management have worked in partnership over the past 4 years developing the current plans to upgrade the shared facilities between the two clubs. Grants were obtained in June 2022 to refurbish the building, works began in August 2023.