Women's tennis in Australia
Encyclopedia
While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created. One of the reason women were encouraged to play croquet
, tennis
and golf
during the late 1800s was because it was seen as beneficial to their health. These sports were also seen as passive, non-aggressive and non-threatening to the period's concepts of masculinity and femininity.
Sphairistike was an early form of tennis. It was being played in Brisbane
by 1876 by women. By the end of the 1870s, a number of women's tennis clubs and mixed gender tennis clubs had been established in Australia
and Queensland
. By the mid 1880s, these clubs were well established and women's participation in the sport was widely accepted. During this time period, Australian women wore long skirts and long sleeved blouses to play the game. Clubs that had been established Maryborough
, Bundaberg, Charters Towers, Ipswich
, Gladstone, Townsville, Warwick
, and Toowoomba. Tennis was not cheap: women were also playing on private courts. Racquets cost between fifteen shillings and two pounds. Balls cost one shilling. At the time, most working women made about two pounds a week. Beyond the cities and towns, tennis was also being played in the bush during this time period.
In Australia and Queensland
's early colonial history, tennis
and croquet
were acceptable sports for society women to participate in. During that period, women wore big hats and dresses that covered their arms and legs. In 1908, playing outfits also featured high collared, long sleeved shirts and ties. This uniform had changed little by 1917. By 1920, the uniforms had changed and girls were allowed to wear "holland uniforms" that featured skirts that went down to mid-calf, thigh high stockings, a heavy hat and gloves taken off before the match, and a tie.
Interstate tennis was established by 1908, when the Queensland Ladies' Interstate Tennis Team counted as its team members May Thurlow, Maud Larad, Eva Thurlow and Florence Horton.
Several tennis clubs were created in Queensland during the early part of the 1900s. One such club was the Cosmo Tennis Club of Gympie. It was active around 1911 and provided its female members a chance to socialise and play in a competitive environment. Others clubs were the Townsville Tennis Club and the Charters Towers Tennis Club, which were founded in 1889. Both of these clubs allowed male and female participation. They two clubs regularly competed against each other in the 1900s.
It was hard to get supplies to build tennis courts in rural and bush areas during the 1900s. One of the alternative supplies used for the ground for tennis courts in the bush was crushed termite nests. Mixed gender tennis was being played in Queensland by 1909 at places like the Endeavour Tennis Club in Cooktown. As this area was particularly rural and isolated, the tennis club helped to create community connections that might not exist otherwise. Mixed gendered and single women's tennis was played in the bush on stations like Gracemere Station during the 1910s and 1920s.
In 1922, a committee in Australia investigated the benefits of physical education for girls. They came up with several recommendations regarding what sports were and were not appropriate for girls to play based on the level of fitness required. It was determined that for some individual girls that for medical reasons, the girls should probably not be allowed to participate in tennis, netball, lacrosse, golf, hockey, and cricket. Soccer was completely medically inappropriate for girls to play. It was medically appropriate for all girls to be able to participate in, so long as they were not done in an overly competitive manner, swimming, rowing, cycling and horseback riding.
In 1934, the Victorian Women's Centennial Sports Carnival was held. The event was organised by the Victorian Women's Amateur Sports Council and held at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. The purpose was to increase women's interest in sport by providing them opportunities to play. Sports that were included on the programme included cricket, field hockey, women's basketball, bowls, rowing, swimming, athletics, rifle shooting, baseball, golf, tennis and badminton. There were over 1,000 bowlers involved over the course a week. Cricket featured a match versus a visiting English side. Women's basketball
featured a Victorian side playing against a representative all Australian side. There was a day for watersports such as swimming and rowing. A tennis tournament was held. A field hockey tournament featuring Australian, Kiwi and Fijian teams was played.
In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant and white. The study found that 183 participated in sport. The most popular sport that these women participated in was tennis, with 86 having played the sport.
The second World War
was disruptive to women's tennis in Australia. Some tennis players, such as Nell Hopman, joined up to help the war effort. Other tennis players such as Wilma Fowler joined the Women's Land Army
.
Australian women's sports had an advantage over many other women's sport organisations around the world in the period after World War II
. Women's sport organisations had largely remained intact and were holding competitions during the war period. This structure survived in the post war period. Women's sport was not hurt because of food rationing, petrol rationing, population disbursement, and other issues facing post-war Europe.
During the 1950s, Australian tennis players competed and won at the Empire Games. These players included Margaret Court and Evonne Cawley.
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
during the late 1800s was because it was seen as beneficial to their health. These sports were also seen as passive, non-aggressive and non-threatening to the period's concepts of masculinity and femininity.
Sphairistike was an early form of tennis. It was being played in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
by 1876 by women. By the end of the 1870s, a number of women's tennis clubs and mixed gender tennis clubs had been established in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. By the mid 1880s, these clubs were well established and women's participation in the sport was widely accepted. During this time period, Australian women wore long skirts and long sleeved blouses to play the game. Clubs that had been established Maryborough
Maryborough
Maryborough may refer to:* Maryborough, Queensland, a town in Australia** Electoral district of Maryborough, Queensland* Maryborough, Victoria, another town in Australia* The pre-1922 name of Port Laoise in the Republic of Ireland...
, Bundaberg, Charters Towers, Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, Gladstone, Townsville, Warwick
Warwick
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
, and Toowoomba. Tennis was not cheap: women were also playing on private courts. Racquets cost between fifteen shillings and two pounds. Balls cost one shilling. At the time, most working women made about two pounds a week. Beyond the cities and towns, tennis was also being played in the bush during this time period.
In Australia and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
's early colonial history, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
were acceptable sports for society women to participate in. During that period, women wore big hats and dresses that covered their arms and legs. In 1908, playing outfits also featured high collared, long sleeved shirts and ties. This uniform had changed little by 1917. By 1920, the uniforms had changed and girls were allowed to wear "holland uniforms" that featured skirts that went down to mid-calf, thigh high stockings, a heavy hat and gloves taken off before the match, and a tie.
Interstate tennis was established by 1908, when the Queensland Ladies' Interstate Tennis Team counted as its team members May Thurlow, Maud Larad, Eva Thurlow and Florence Horton.
Several tennis clubs were created in Queensland during the early part of the 1900s. One such club was the Cosmo Tennis Club of Gympie. It was active around 1911 and provided its female members a chance to socialise and play in a competitive environment. Others clubs were the Townsville Tennis Club and the Charters Towers Tennis Club, which were founded in 1889. Both of these clubs allowed male and female participation. They two clubs regularly competed against each other in the 1900s.
It was hard to get supplies to build tennis courts in rural and bush areas during the 1900s. One of the alternative supplies used for the ground for tennis courts in the bush was crushed termite nests. Mixed gender tennis was being played in Queensland by 1909 at places like the Endeavour Tennis Club in Cooktown. As this area was particularly rural and isolated, the tennis club helped to create community connections that might not exist otherwise. Mixed gendered and single women's tennis was played in the bush on stations like Gracemere Station during the 1910s and 1920s.
In 1922, a committee in Australia investigated the benefits of physical education for girls. They came up with several recommendations regarding what sports were and were not appropriate for girls to play based on the level of fitness required. It was determined that for some individual girls that for medical reasons, the girls should probably not be allowed to participate in tennis, netball, lacrosse, golf, hockey, and cricket. Soccer was completely medically inappropriate for girls to play. It was medically appropriate for all girls to be able to participate in, so long as they were not done in an overly competitive manner, swimming, rowing, cycling and horseback riding.
In 1934, the Victorian Women's Centennial Sports Carnival was held. The event was organised by the Victorian Women's Amateur Sports Council and held at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. The purpose was to increase women's interest in sport by providing them opportunities to play. Sports that were included on the programme included cricket, field hockey, women's basketball, bowls, rowing, swimming, athletics, rifle shooting, baseball, golf, tennis and badminton. There were over 1,000 bowlers involved over the course a week. Cricket featured a match versus a visiting English side. Women's basketball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
featured a Victorian side playing against a representative all Australian side. There was a day for watersports such as swimming and rowing. A tennis tournament was held. A field hockey tournament featuring Australian, Kiwi and Fijian teams was played.
In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant and white. The study found that 183 participated in sport. The most popular sport that these women participated in was tennis, with 86 having played the sport.
The second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was disruptive to women's tennis in Australia. Some tennis players, such as Nell Hopman, joined up to help the war effort. Other tennis players such as Wilma Fowler joined the Women's Land Army
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls...
.
Australian women's sports had an advantage over many other women's sport organisations around the world in the period after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Women's sport organisations had largely remained intact and were holding competitions during the war period. This structure survived in the post war period. Women's sport was not hurt because of food rationing, petrol rationing, population disbursement, and other issues facing post-war Europe.
During the 1950s, Australian tennis players competed and won at the Empire Games. These players included Margaret Court and Evonne Cawley.
See also
- Netball in AustraliaNetball in AustraliaNetball is the most popular women's team participation sport in Australia. In 1985, there were 347,000 players. In 1995, there were over 360,000 Australian netball players. Throughout most of Australia's netball history, the game has largely been a participation sport; it has not managed to become...
- Women's association football in AustraliaWomen's association football in AustraliaIn Australia, there are over 60,000 registered women's soccer players.Unless specified otherwise, all statistics and references refer exclusively to women.Association football, football and soccer are used interchangeably in this article.-History:...
- Women's field hockey in AustraliaWomen's field hockey in AustraliaField hockey has been played by women in Australia since 1901. By 1907, there were clubs in several states including New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria. Women's field hockey was eventually represented by the Australian Institute of Sport, though the amount of support it...