QUICK HISTORY OF ARCHERY IN AUSTRALIA

  
Archery appears to have been introduced into Australia by W.F.E. Liardet of Port Melbourne Victoria  in October 1840. He  called together some enthusiasts at his Brighton Pier Hotel and offered to supply the equipment needed.   In the following month members held their first meeting but this club did not flourish for long.   
 
 In the 1850's the sport regained popularity and in January 1855  the Melbourne Herald reported that " a very pretty exhibition of archery"  had taken place  near Emerald Hill South Melbourne with the winner being " an American gentleman, whose proficiency in drawing the long bow astonished all beholders".   Soon afterwards, when Sir Henry Barkly became Governor in 1856, Victoria's  first major archery competition was held at Government House, with the winner being a women .  At about the same time a club was established in Sydney.
 
In November 1857 the Victorian Archery Club was formed largely  through the efforts of Major John Hodgson.   In December 1857 this club held it's first competition on the park ground in Fitzroy Street, near the present site of St Kilda railway station.    Three hundred people attended this social event, at which the male members wore broadcloth, white gloves and bell-topper hats, while the women appeared in crinolines and hats, that in contemporary terms is likened  to a "floral garden".   Six targets were placed at 60,50,and 30 yards. The ladies were to have competed on the following Saturday for the captaincy of the club, but the  result is not known.
 
In the following year the Alma Archery club was formed with a membership limited to 60 persons.  It's range was situated at the corner of Alma Road and Chapel Street St. Kilda.  Proof that the sport had an active following is given by the fact that a "Ladies Guide to Archery" was published in Melbourne in 1859
 
By this time the St Leonards Archery club was holding regular meetings in Sydney, under the presidency of Lady Burton and the captaincy of  L. Rogers.
 
In 1850 an Archery club florished in Adelaide, it is known to have possessed a membership of 50 for the year of 1855.  Lady Young, wife of the Governor, Sir Henry Young, was patroness and John Morphett was the captain.   It's shoots were held initally on the lawns of Government House but later it met in the East Park Lands  (where the Victorian Park Racecourse is now situated) and then at Medindie.
 
In Tasmania, about 1860, the Western Archery Club  was conducting it's meetings at Westbury, about twenty miles from Launceston, and it continued to do so for ten years.    This club had branches at Deloraine and Quamby.  Further evidence of other clubs came to light on perusal of a book on "Archery Instruction" by Horace Ford which  was inscribed with" Archery Club, Hobart Town".   Two yew bows once used by members of the Westbury club are on display in the Hartley Sports Store  in Hobart.

After 1880 Archery almost died out in Australia as it did elsewhere.     It was only practiced privately by widely scattered enthusiasts.  

Between 1911 and 1913 a club was started at Boolarra Victoria,  but owing to a lack of equipment  this body went out of existence during World War 1.   

In 1948 the Archery Association of Australia was formed. 
 
If any interested historians have more information of these times, photo copies, newspaper cuttings or photographs please  send to:

Pat Wright
P.O Box 1005
Mornington Victoria. 3931.

or email to history@archery.org.au