The Early Days of Chatswood Oval and the Gordon DCC
Gordon District Cricket Club | March 17, 2025
Blog Image: Chatswood Park in 1907, looking south from Chatswood Station © Willoughby Historical Society
Back in the late 1890s Chatswood Oval was a Chinese market garden with a well in the centre of the ground. Footballers who have played on the ground in the winter and cricketers in the summer would argue that the ‘well’ is still there below the surface of the grass on the oval. In mid-1898 the New South Wales Government gave ministerial approval to the Municipality of Willoughby for the acquisition of five acres of land adjoining the Chatswood Railway Station. The area was to become Chatswood Park, was proclaimed as a public reserve on 7 June 1899 and opened to the public on Arbor Day, 4 August 1900, however the official opening was in fact delayed until mid-September 1900. In June 1899, the Municipality of Willoughby granted to a local group of bowlers “a small area of land that was to be set apart for the use of bowlers in the new Chatswood Park”.1 Four rinks were constructed, adjacent to the railway platform, from which there was an entrance to the park. Seeking to keep the development and improvements in the minds of the local community, various fundraising activities were organised. A “vocal and instrumental concert in aid of the Chatswood Park improvement fund and under the auspices of the Willoughby Council and the Chatswood Literary and Musical Society”2 was held on 19 July 1899. The park, having been a market garden, needed a significant amount of work to drain the area and level the surface. The work was completed under the guidance of Willoughby Alderman Norman Giblin and a team of volunteers. During the time the works were carried out, Giblin personally raised funds and oversaw the grants sought and obtained from the New South Wales Government and Willoughby Municipal Council. The local community was also involved when residents who felt community inclined were able to pay 10/- for the “privilege of planting a tree”, with their name detailed on an inscribed tablet. In February 1901 it was reported that
Chatswood Park is still showing great signs of the council’s care and attention. At the present time the cricket oval recently formed is the centre of recreation and amusement and the Willoughby District Cricket Club inaugurated during the present season has been playing on it for some time … Several hundred young trees have been planted and the park will very soon begin to have a more attractive appearance.3
The area of Chatswood Park was extended in 1909 when the Municipality of Willoughby compulsory acquired properties at the eastern end of Ellis Street. Subsequently houses were also acquired in Albert Avenue. Over time the area became six and a quarter acres. In recognition of those from the local community who served in the Boer War of 1899-1901 a water fountain, funded by public subscription, was erected, and opened at a large gathering on Sunday 10 March 1901.
In mid-1900 a number of local cricket clubs4 in the borough of Willoughby decided to amalgamate as the Willoughby District Cricket Club and approach the Municipality of Willoughby council for the use of Chatswood Park. In August 1901, the use of the oval was granted to the Willoughby District Cricket Club. The area had been top-dressed, and a load of Bulli soil distributed over the centre wickets.5 With team sports becoming an important part of Chatswood Park a pavilion6 was erected in 1903 in the south-western corner of the park at a cost of £150.7 The cost of building works was shared by the Willoughby District Cricket Club and the Municipality of Willoughby. Following the opening of the pavilion there was
a cricket match of a free and easy character between the aldermen and ex-aldermen of Willoughby and a team from Willoughby District Club.8
In March 1905, the Council
decided to lease the Oval in Chatswood Park for seven years, so that the public may be enabled to pay for admission to their own property when cricket or football is being played on it.9
Following a meeting in Willoughby Town Hall on 12 January 1905 it was reported in The Evening News that
[a] proposal has been made to form an electorate cricket club to play first grade cricket at Chatswood Park. The establishment of first grade cricket (says the Mayor of Willoughby) is likely to bring a certain amount of financial support from the Cricket Association, thus relieving the funds of the council for the maintenance of the wicket and ground.10
At the meeting the mayor said that
he did not anticipate any difficulty between the council and the club regarding the securing of the ground upon reasonable terms. The council had power to make a lease with the consent of the Minister for Lands.11
In August 1905, a three-year lease was negotiated by the so-called Gordon Electorate Cricket Club with a paling fence to be erected by the club around the park. When the Gordon Electorate Cricket Club First Grade team walked out onto Chatswood Oval for day one of their fixture against the Waverley DCC, they became the 20th club to play in the Sydney Grade competition. It was not a good opening for the club, losing to Waverley. Players of note who played for the home team were Robert Hickson, Charlie Macartney and Gother Clarke. The club was well organised in those early days with a caretaker, who also prepared the wickets, being appointed and paid £2/2/00 per week. Seeking to generate income, Chatwood Oval was hired out to schools, and cricket and football teams. Those wishing to view the cricket from the pavilion paid 6d for men and 3d for women. The first Annual Report of the club,12 whilst only four pages, makes interesting reading so far as Chatswood Oval is concerned.
Though not by any means in first-class condition, the playing area and wickets have made great improvement, and though hampered through the want of proper material and the dryness of the weather, the caretaker has earned the confidence of your committee by the painstaking manner in which he has carried out his duties.
With the relationship growing between the council and the cricket club, £40 was allocated by the council in 1908 towards the upkeep of the ground. The club was also struggling with the ground at Chatswood Oval with
the wickets and playing area not quite in as good a condition as they might have been, but it is hoped the defects will be remedied in the coming year.
In the early lease period of the club’s tenure at Chatswood Oval many groups hired the oval. This continued over the years. Local schools, church groups, army groups and sporting teams were often seen at the oval. Barker College regularly held school athletic carnivals at the oval, the Chatswood Baseball Club played in the Sydney baseball competition, the Chatswood Hockey club had the oval as its home ground and the football codes, rugby league and rugby union, regularly used the oval.
Money was always a problem for the fledgling club as the oval hire fell away at different times and for a period the caretaker was relieved of his duties. The situation to some extent changed with the arrival of Victor Trumper for the 1909- 10 season. He lived a short distance from Chatswood Oval and was regarded as one of the greats of the game. He was a member of the Gordon DCC for six seasons, scoring 2370 runs at 51.52 until his passing on 28 June 1915. His death during the second year of the Great War of 1914-1918 certainly had an effect on the club. When the Gordon DCC took out the Sydney First Grade premiership in the 1910-11 season it was hoped that the club would grow, and cricket would be an important part of the community in the summer months. With quality players such as Victor Trumper, Charlie Macartney and ageing Frank Iredale playing for the club, enthusiasm was strong and expectations high. The oval was still an issue however. In May 1913 there were concerns at the New South Wales Cricket Association regarding the playing areas of some of the clubs in the Grade competition. As for the Gordon DCC it was reported that
the wicket at Chatswood Oval was not good, owing probably to lack of proper foundation. The outfield was rough in places. The ground should be properly drained. The accommodation was fair.13
Salient words for the committee of the club. When the Great War commenced in 1914 men from Australia heard the call and enlisted in the services. The Gordon DCC saw 52 of its players enlist, seven paying the supreme sacrifice. During this period the club struggled to field teams and for a time it was thought it may have to withdraw from the Sydney Grade competition. This did not occur. Finances were tight though and the club found it hard to find committee members willing to be involved. One of the dominant figures in NSW and Australian cricket was Sydney (Syd) Smith. He was an effective secretary at the club after the war and sought to confront the difficulties and challenges that the club faced. There was the need to recruit quality players, deal with the poor rules that governed the running of the club and the perennial problem of the condition of Chatswood Oval. Smith organised for the club committee and a few of the players to work towards the upgrading of Chatswood Oval. An acceptable ground and quality wickets, along with admirable players, would see the Gordon DCC becoming a competitive club in the Sydney Grade competition. The committee of the club accepted a tender of £20 in May 1919 for the construction of practice wickets at the northern end of Chatswood Oval. Relationships with Willoughby Council were good and following negotiations with the council engineer and the planning department, Chatswood Oval was widened on the eastern side by a little over 30 feet. A new scoreboard was also constructed, the cost of £43 being met by donations from club members and supportive people in the community. It is interesting that Mrs Sarah Anne Trumper, Victor Trumper’s wife, contributed 5/- – no small amount considering the financial position she was in following her husband’s passing. In the 1921-22 season the NSWCA provided a one-off grant of £100 to encourage and assist the club in “putting the ground in order”. A large concrete roller was purchased for the centre wicket preparation and the ground top-dressed “with 150 loads of earth at a cost of about £60”.14 The following season it was noted in the club’s Annual Report that “[y]our Club is indebted to ex-Alderman Holterman for kindly donating the top-dressing for the Oval, the Club only paying the cartage”. Continuing, it said that “during the year, the Committee deemed it necessary to purchase a horse, the previous arrangement of hiring a horse when required proving unsatisfactory”. During the winter of 1923 the picket fence was painted, with the council providing the material and the club the labour for the work.
With the ground in a good condition, the wickets prepared better than they had ever been, players of quality in the club, depth within the grades, and hardworking committee members, the club was in a good position to take it all before them and win some premierships.
References
1 The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 17 June 1899, page 1432.
2 The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 July 1899, page 9.
3 The Daily Telegraph, 6 February 1901, page 7.
4 The clubs were Chatswood, Bohemian, Willoughby and Willoughby Waratah.
5 The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 August 1901, page 14.
6 The building contained a large committee room, dressing-rooms and shower baths.
7 The Daily Telegraph, 11 August 1902, page 9.
8 The Daily Telegraph, 2 March 1903, page 3.
9 The Arrow, 11 March 1905, page 5.
10 7 February 1905, page 2.
11 The Evening News, 13 January 1905, page 8.
12 A copy is held in the Cricket NSW library.
13 The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 1913, page 12.
14 Gordon DCC 75th Annual Report 1921-22, page 9
© The Cricket Press Pty Ltd and RL Cardwell.
