The Club’s beginnings can be traced back to 1959 when a meeting attended by over 50 people was held with the aim of establishing a Bowling Club in the Mount Waverley area.
To demonstrate tangible evidence of worthwhile support for the proposal, people interested were asked to pay a subscription of 10 shillings. Shortly after the meeting, over 100 people had paid the subscription.
Several frustrating years passed as the Committee established to implement the proposal endeavoured to procure a suitable area of land to establish greens.
No less than nine separate sites were investigated before, in 1961, the Waverley City Council advised that it was prepared to enclose a creek reserve (Damper Creek – East) off Alvie Road for the Club’s use.
However, it wasn’t until 1964 that plans were finalised by the Waverley City Council and the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works for the necessary cleaning, filling and levelling of the site. The official opening of the centre and west greens was on Australia Day, 31 January 1966 by the Mayor of the City of Waverley Cr John van Staveren (also a member of the Mount Waverley Bowling Club).
The Club’s membership grew steadily over the next 3 decades, so much so that membership waiting lists had to be introduced to keep numbers to manageable proportions. In the 1990s, there were 8 Ladies Only Pennant Teams. By 2002, membership peaked at 420. In the same year, the Club had 10 Saturday pennant sides, including representation in Division 1, the highest level at that time.
The Club can count many fine achievements since its inception. Over the years, members of the Club have been champions at the State and national level.
Some significant environmental improvements have been made to the Club’s facilities in recent years including construction of water tanks to store roof runoff for irrigation of the greens, the installation of solar panels on the clubhouse roof to generate renewable energy and the replacement of bent grass in the middle green with more drought-tolerant tiff grass.
With the ageing of members and difficulties in attracting new ones, membership has fallen away in recent years, but has now stabilised at around 200. The Club is actively looking at ways to increase its membership base and to broaden its appeal to the local community.