Club History
Establishment of the Mallala Bowling Club
On Friday 24 September 1943 a public meeting was held in the Mallala Institute by those persons interested in forming a lawn bowls club and 11 gentlemen were present. A decision was made at that meeting to proceed and form the Mallala Bowling Club.
An offer of two 1/4 acre blocks of land from a Miss Marshman was accepted at a cost of £40. A deposit was paid and a motion moved by A. Coleman & 2nd by W. Thompson that the club be financed by the issue of 100 shares @ a cost of £1 per share.
The initial committee meeting was held at the Commercial Bank on 6th October 1943, the membership for the first year,1943, was 33. at the AGM in 1944 subscriptions were set at two guineas. The minimum age for membership was 25 years except service personnel, who were eligible at any age.
The green was established using runners purchased from East Bros at a cost of £15 and the loam for top dressing came from Rivetts. Two 1/4 acre blocks adjoining the original green were purchased, the last in 1958, thus the club was able to have two greens each of seven rinks.
The drought in 1944 caused the South Australian Government to stop the use of water by sporting clubs. This caused the members much concern regarding the establishment of the new green but by gifts of water from local residents and a supply from the RAAF station, the green was kept alive and grew sufficiently to enable play on Saturday afternoons. The overhead lighting of the green in 1946 enabled playing of night bowls.
It was not until 1947 that teams from Mallala were admitted to the Wooroora Bowling Association and the club house was opened on 10 October 1950.
1952 saw the club rooms used as a temporary classroom by the education department from 1st April to 30th September. Extensions were made to the club house in 1965. New additions were made in 1970 including extensions to the kitchen and bar facilities were added. The club house was further enlarged and improved in 1980.
Ladies were given permission to use the greens for bowls during the 1951-52 season and later formed the Mallala Women’s Bowling Club in 1955. The ladies division of the Mallala Bowling club amalgamated with the men’s division on 9th July 2006 and continue to be a strong and competitive club.
The Greens have now been converted to synthetic in 2005 and the B green was replaced in 2020 and the A green is planned to be replaced end of 2020.
Synthetic green allow the bowling club to operate 12 months of the year.
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Information collected from https://www.mallala.nowandthen.net.au/
Book called “Life Around the Light” & Book compiled by members of the Mallala Bowling Club for it’s Golden Jubilee