Croquet in Queensland (History)

If you're joining a Queensland croquet club, you're not just stepping onto a lawn—you're becoming part of a tradition that reaches back more than 170 years.

Croquet arrived in Queensland during the mid-1800s, just as the colonial population was expanding. What began as an imported Victorian pastime quickly found enthusiastic supporters, partly because it was one of the first sports where men and women could play together on equal terms.

A photograph from a croquet tournament at Musgrave Park in Brisbane in 1911 reveals something striking: everyone is in formal attire, suggesting the game was taken quite seriously even then.

The real turning point came in 1922, when Queensland formally established the Queensland State Association of Croquet (now the Croquet Association of Queensland, or CAQ) with official rules and registered membership. By 1935, croquet was thriving enough to attract players across the state, from Brisbane to Kingaroy.

Today, CAQ oversees 40 affiliated clubs throughout Queensland and Northern New South Wales, making it one of Australia's strongest croquet regions.

McIlwraith (founded 1923) sits on land donated by Lady Harriett McIlwraith, widow of three-times Queensland Premier Sir Thomas McIlwraith. The club officially opened on 19 July 1924 with afternoon tea served at tables "decked with bowls of poinsettia, gerberas, arum lilies and coleus leaves." One quirky detail: the club sits on a low-lying floodplain above what is now a hidden creek—surviving more than a century on challenging terrain.

Stephens (founded 1923) has a delightfully unique origin story: on 15 October 1923, Mr F. Stimpson, Chairman of Stephens Shire Council, arrived at Yeronga Park with a horse and plough to turn the first sod. For its first few decades, Stephens was a women-only bastion of Association Croquet in white dresses. In the 1950s, the committee even banned dark-coloured cardigans! Today, Stephens hosts state and national events and has earned a reputation for exceptionally well-maintained lawns.

Toombul (founded 1928) operates from a building that was originally the Misses Franz Schoolhouse—a private school for Nundah's wealthiest families. Two of its most celebrated pupils were Sir Samuel Griffith (who helped draft the Australian Constitution) and Sir Charles Lilley. The building was physically transported to Oxenham Park in 1928, though club historians playfully note they're not sure whether it came by horse dray or truck.

Southport (founded 1935) is now Queensland's largest club with nearly 100 members. When it was established, the Gold Coast was "a sleepy seaside town of just a few thousand people, and a loaf of bread cost only a few pence." Men finally joined in the 1960s—though they had to buy their own cup of tea for five cents!

Laurel Bank in Toowoomba sits in spectacular gardens—70,000 to 80,000 annuals and 11,000 bulbs are planted every spring. The park was donated by Samuel George Stephens, known throughout Toowoomba as "the man of flowers," with the condition it remain a beautiful garden—with the exception of space for croquet lawns.

For most of the 20th century, Association Croquet—the tactical, complex game—was the only version played here. But in 1987, Stephens mentioned Golf Croquet for the first time in their records—a sign that the sport was modernizing.

Today, Queensland clubs offer Association Croquet, Golf Croquet, Ricochet, and Gateball. This diversity has actually strengthened the sport; newer players often start with Golf Croquet's simpler rules, then progress to Association Croquet's deeper strategy.

Queensland croquet has weathered genuine hardships. The 1974 flood wiped out Windsor Club's early records. The Great Depression left Stephens in debt for years. The 1940s WWII years forced clubs to stop paying their tea ladies and ask members to bring their own afternoon tea.

Yet clubs endured. And now you're part of that story.

Whether your club is a century-old institution founded with a horse and plough, built on a premier's legacy, operating from a historic German schoolhouse, or thriving in a spectacular garden city: you're part of a community that has survived depressions, floods, wars, and major social changes.

You're also joining a game that, in Queensland, has always been about more than just hitting balls through hoops. It's about community, friendship, persistence, and local pride.