Celebrating 100 years at Lindfield Cricket Club
Lindfield District Cricket Club | June 05, 2023
The Great War, as were named at the time, lost such a high percentage of boys and men that almost no Australian family or community was without grief. The story goes that local Lindfield men in the Somme promised each other that if they were fortunate enough to make it back home, they would band together to build a local cricket oval for their community’s recreation and leisure. That is as grassroots as it gets.
Seven esteemed local businessmen were photographed in three-piece suits amongst the eucalyptus in 1907. The North Shore rail line had opened in 1890 and now the post war subdivisions were creating East Lindfield. True to their word, the return diggers had Soldiers Memorial Park gazetted north of Tryon Road at East Lindfield. In those days, there was no Eastern Arterial Road and the forested parkland stretched down to Gordon Creek.
With horse drawn earthmoving equipment they fashioned a cricket oval into the pristine knoll. It was recorded that “the men did the navvy jobs and the woman and girls busied themselves providing the applause and tea”. Patronising tones were rarely spared early in the 20th century!
The soldiers’ plan became real and on 4 November 1922, when Major General Sir Charles Rosenthal and a troop of scouts and crowd of locals declared the Park and Gates open so that local “young bloods could exercise and play” on the oval, as The Sun recorded it in October 1922. Sir Charles was a famous soldier of Gallipoli and more, an architect, musician, a bankrupt and a politician.
The Lindfield District Cricket Club was then founded at an inaugural meeting on 18 July 1923, and began play that summer. Lane Cove and Lindfield are the two remaining foundation clubs in the Sydney Shires competition.
In its 100 years the club has taught tens of thousands the love of the game. It has produced some great cricketers, no better example than former Australian captain Mark Taylor. Mark’s family had moved up from Wagga Wagga in 1978 and they lived for a time at 17 Grosvenor Road before building a house at Epping. The 15-year-old join Lindfield's A Grade team and went on to score a couple of hundreds, but he probably has a more vivid memory of the Saturday where he was run out for a diamond duck. Peter Toohey also played for Lindfield in the late 1980s following his Australian first-class career.
The club celebrated its centenary year last season with a ceremony commemorating the centenary of the Soldiers Memorial Park and Gates. The local council, Ku-ring Gai was represented by Mayor Jeff Pettett, and NSW Sports Minister Alastair Henskens, was amongst the special guests. Following the ceremony, Lindfield played against local rivals Roseville and recorded four wins from four games.
Authored by Greg Cook and Tyson McCallum
