Time Travellers in Essendon, Flemington and the Keilor Plains

Sporting Clubs

Essendon Golf Club, 1896 - 1912

 The photo is taken in front of Earlesbrae Hall, the home of Coiler and Margaret McCracken.

Golf tournament,1899.  From The Stopover That Stayed: a history of Essendon, by Grant Aldous. 

No source given.

The Aberfeldie Estate mentioned above ran along the railway line south of the Essendon Railway

Station, behind the clubhouse in Buckley St. The Argus 25 Sept 1896.

The first committee of the golf club included the Rev D Macrae Stewart of St John's Presbyterian Church, just on the other side of the railway line in Buckley Street; Stock, A Milne (treasurer), Morrison, Peck and K R Cameron (secretary).

The first handicap match played included A Milne, K R Cameron, Nisbett, Morrison, Coiler McCracken, C G Milnes, Dr Sutherland,  S E Innes and Robert McCracken.  

The golf course was most likely laid out on land owned by Coiler McCracken, close to his mansion Earlsbrae.  In this article Coiler McCracken has become the president of the Essendon Golf Club.   The Argus, 30 Apr 1897.

This news article indicates that the course was a nine-hole golf course, and membership at 40. 

The Australasian 22 May 1897.

Mrs Coiler McCracken, formerly Miss Margaret Robertson, supported the Club with an afternoon

tea at its inaugural meeting, though she did not join the Ladies' Committee.   The ladies were

determined not to let the men have all the fun.  Australasian 14 Aug 1897.

In this advertisement from The Argus on 7 Mar 1903, it would appear the Essendon

Golf Club had premises in Ashhurst, later part of Pascoe Vale Road.

The Sands & McDougal Directory of 1900 shows the Golf Club at 81 Buckley St, Moonee Ponds

(this being the boundary in 1900, later moved south to Park Street.   Sands & McDougall's

Melbourne and suburban directory : 1900

In this MMBW plan from 1905, number 81 Buckley St can be seen above, to the west of St Columba's.   

Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works detail plan. 1637, Town of Essendon

This building would not be the same as the one shown in the 1905 MMBW plan, as that one has a verandah right across the front.  Essendon Golf Club, Leader, 3 November 1900.

This photo from the Moonee Valley Library Service Community Heritage Collection (HER-00019), would appear to show a beachside picnic or holiday.  A small number of golf sticks are visible.  While the photo does not certainly relate to people from the local area, it is in a local collection, and some of the young people in the photo may have been members of the Essendon Golf Club.   Circa 1900-1910.

Extract from a longer piece about the Northern Golf Club. 

Victorians Golf Clubs and Personalities (1934, June 14). Table Talk (Melbourne,

Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 35.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149216463

The amalgamation of the Moreland and Essendon Golf Clubs would seem to be a little later than suggested by the Table Talk article - 

The Age 14 May 1912.

The Herald 21 June 1912.

The Herald, 8 Feb 1913.

The Northern Golf Club finally got going in early 1913.   Eighteen months later their quiet enjoyment of a hit around the links was interrupted.

Honour Board at the Northern Golf Club, courtesy of the Northern Golf Club.  Photo: Lenore Frost, 2013

For further information about the members of the Northern Golf Club from the Essendon district, see The Empire Called and I Answered.