Kiama Bowling Club

In March 1919, over 30 Kiama residents held a public meeting to show their interest in the formation of the Kiama Bowling and Recreation Club.

Captain Ernest Alfred Blow was the first Chairman and then President of the club. Vice President Bill Boles took over the position as President in 1920 and served for the next two years.

Land was purchased on Shoalhaven Street, Kiama, for the new bowling club, and Bill, a local farmer, led the work with a team of volunteer labourers to create the first greens. The total cost of producing the greens and constructing the fencing was £300. By 1921, a clubhouse was established, and a bowling green and croquet lawn were both ready to play. The first green had taken almost a year to complete and it was created and cared for by volunteers.

The first clubhouse was a small shed that was donated by the Kiama Golf Club along with some other maintenance equipment. The shed was positioned on the northeastern side of the green initially, but due to the morning shadow it was carried across the green by a group of members to the southwestern side. A verandah and kitchen were added to the shed in the following years.

The Kiama Croquet Club was formed in 1921 and its green was located on the railway side of the bowling green.

Membership of the bowling club remained constant during the early years, until after WWII, when bowling becoming a major state sport and membership surged.

Harold Tuohy was the longest serving member of the club. He joined the club and started playing bowls in 1943 at the age of 25. He was a surf lifesaver on a Sunday morning, then he would walk across to play bowls afterwards. This also inspired a few other surf lifesavers to take up the game.

Some of the stories that have arisen from the club's history include the occasional 'escapee' sheep from the railway holding yards that would run across the greens. There was also the issue of tar and mud from the gasworks across the road being washed onto the greens after heavy rain. This could halt play for many weeks while the greens were repaired. Harold and his wife Molly would sometimes sneak onto the croquet green at night to play tennis.

In 1952, land was re-purchased for a second green to be created (the green now on the corner of Shoalhaven and Noorinan streets). The new, much larger clubhouse was built and opened in 1958. Extensions were made to the clubhouse in 1966 and again in 1996. In 1962, the drainage problem on the original green was solved by moving it another 20 feet further east onto part of the old croquet lawn and raising it 2 feet. The third green was completed in 1981.

Members of the Kiama Bowling Club, c. 1920s?

The site on Shoalhaven Street, Kiama, where the Bowling Club was later built

The original clubhouse, late 1940s/early 1950s?

The old extended clubhouse (the shed) and the original green, c.1950

The new clubhouse, c.1956

The original green being refurbished to solve the flooding issue & the new clubhouse before its first extension c.1960s