Enoggera Historical Society

Enoggera & Districts Historical Society Inc.

Helping the Local Community Discover its History! When tennis courts dotted local suburbs

Ash Barty’s fabulous Wimbledon win recently gave a sense of pride in us all. And to many long-time westside locals, it also meant memories of days gone by when tennis courts dominated Brisbane suburbs.

Does anyone out there remember the wonderful tennis courts at Fulcher Road, Red Hill? Around the corner from where Rod Laver lived when he first moved to Brisbane from Rockhampton as a teenager in the 1950s. What about the Moonah Park Tennis Centre at Mitchelton? Geoff Olsson’s at Everton Park? Or Mal Anderson’s at Grange? Not to mention the several backyard tennis courts that were frequently established at individual households.

The post war years were a golden age in local tennis, with junior coaching classes, weekly social groups or more competitive forums like the Men’s Metropolitan fixtures of a Saturday afternoon.

At some point during the 1990s, though, tennis courts and centres seemed to start disappearing from our community.

Nowadays we still have the wonderful Gap Health and Racquet Club and the Roy Emerson Tennis Centre at Frew Park, Milton – the latter being the successor to the famous Milton Tennis Centre. This venue was host for decades to Davis Cup clashes, professional tournaments (like the South Pacific Classic) and epic encounters involving the likes of Ken Rosewall, Wendy Turnbull, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, John Newcombe and John McEnroe.

Does anyone out there have photos of Brisbane tennis centres or home courts that are no longer with us? We’d love to here from you. The Society is keen to build up our very limited stock in this area! You can send digital copies to enoggerahistory@ gmail.com

And please continue to feel free to drop in to our premises at the Enoggera Memorial Hall (36 Trundle Street) any Thursday morning from 9.30am to 1pm to view our local history display.

Take care, everyone.

Andrew McMicking - President

Ash Barty wins Wimbledon

Frew Park Milton

Roy Emerson Tennis Centre