BRIEF HISTORY OF WANGARATTA CROQUET CLUB: 1906 to 2026

Croquet has been played in Wangaratta for more than 120 years.

Click Here for the 120 Year social day flyer (Tues 20th October 2026)

Prior to the formation of a club in 1906, croquet was played in the gardens of the Clement family in Grey Street and Doctor Henderson’s, home in Rowan Street.

On October 20th 1906 a meeting of ladies and gentlemen took place at the bowls club in Docker Street and the Wangaratta Croquet Club was formed with a membership fee of seven shillings and sixpence for the first family member and five shillings for each additional member.

On November 21st 1906 President, Mrs T G Clarke played the first ball on new lawns in Docker Street. The club remained at that location until 1959. In 1957 the club decided that to expand they needed a larger playing area, being restricted to two “B” lawns at Docker Street. Club President, Mrs. Chesterfield approached the Council with a request for a small area of land at either Wareena Park or Ryan Avenue. Following a brief delay, Council agreed to make the Ryan Avenue site available and so began a two-year period of fund raising, backed by a 2000-pound bank loan and much hard work.

After creating three “A” lawns which are readily convertible to six “B” lawns the new location was opened on April 19th, 1960. A neat and compact club house was erected shortly afterwards. The North Eastern District Croquet Association was formed at a meeting in Ryan Avenue on October 15th, 1960.
Mrs. Greta French was the driving force behind the formation of this Association. Affiliated clubs were Albury, Greenfield Park, Wodonga, Corowa, Yarrawonga, Chiltern, Bright and Wangaratta.

Originally, Wangaratta was the preferred location for NEDCA meetings, social days and Tournaments. NEDCA currently has thirteen member clubs.

A regular occurrence at the club was inundation by flood water emanating from the adjacent One Mile Creek. This occurred until the Hume Highway bypassed Wangaratta and some water was diverted away from the town. By the year 2000 the membership had dwindled to two, only playing Association Croquet. A decision was made to introduce the Golf Croquet version of the game in an attempt to gain more members.
This was successful and by February 2001 there were eight members and by 2005 twenty two members were playing Golf Croquet on Mondays and Ricochet Croquet on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Golf Croquet provided a lifeline for an otherwise diminishing club.

In 2006 the club celebrated 100 years with a gathering of members, past members, visitors, Politicians and Council representatives at Ryan Avenue.
Over the next 15 years, membership grew to forty three and currently sits at twenty six with a couple of Associate Members. In 2016 drainage was installed under Court 2 and also under Court 1 in 2022/23. After many years of members caring for the playing surface, the club now employs a Greenkeeper to carry out that work. Club volunteers care for the garden area and lawns adjacent to the Courts.

A former member is presently the Coach of the Victorian Golf Croquet Squad and a current member is a member of that Squad. Current annual membership fees are $150.00 with $5.00 green fees per day The club looks forward to many more years of enjoying the wonderful game of Croquet which is generally a game of “gentle exercise for the mind and body”

Compiled by Terry Wilson in August, 2026 from existing documents.