Banyo Bowls Club is situated in the beautiful backstreets of Banyo. Our bowls club is different! At the foundation of our club is the wonderful sport of bowls, but we have the added twist of food trucks, live music and craft beer. Each weekend locals, visitors, parents, babies, fur and all, come down to the bowls club to enjoy the outdoors.
We have a huge variety of food trucks visit the club on weekends. Through the week Hiro Meshi kitchen is open Wednesday through to Friday - Lunch 11.30am - 2pm & Dinner 5pm - 8pm, and Saturday Luch 11.30am - 2pm.
Nothing beats a relaxing drink from within the clubhouse with all the friendly local characters that you become to know. The club has friendly staff, an ever-updated modern bar. Keno and Poker room (for members/guests over 18 years of age) 2 large screen tv’s inside. A function room that can be an extension of the club or made private for those more intimate events.
The Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Bishop Tufnell, purchased an area roughly by Blinzinger Road, Tufnell Road, Elliott Road and extending to the site of the railway workshops. The purchase price was about $5 a hectare. Part of this land eventually came into possession of the Henry family which established a dairy farm. Paul Henry, son of Bob Henry who had owned the farm, recalled that the family home fronted onto Victoria Street (now Froude Street).
Amongst the hard work on the farm, the Henry family developed an interest in tennis in the early 1930’s, the Henrys built a tennis court on the Gold Street frontage. One of the early players was the late Charlie Livingstone, who was to become an enthusiastic bowler and later patron of the Banyo Bowls Club. As interest in tennis began to wane, Bob Henry sought to provide another service for sportsmen and set up a private 3 rink bowling green. This stimulated so much interest that a public meeting was held in the RSL Hall late in 1937 and it was agreed in principle to form a bowls club in the Banyo area.
On February 15, 1938, at a meeting in Bob Henry’s residence the club was formed. With Mr Henry at that first meeting were Fred Shaw, Wally Moore, Jim Kelly, Geo Gynther, Bill Iredale, Tom Wilson, Geo Keliher and Herb Easton. A little while later it was officially affiliated with the then Queensland Bowls Association on March 2, 1938.
Fred Shaw was elected as the first club president. Bob Henry agreed to rent his green to the club until such time as it could buy its own land. Rental was $3 a week and the arrangement required Bob to maintain the green. The old cow bails were moved towards Froude Street and served as the first clubhouse.
There has been some good-natured discussion regarding who was first – the Ladies or the Men?
The Banyo Ladies Bowling Club was affiliated with the Queensland Ladies Bowling Association on 3rd March 1939. The first President was Mrs Lily Wilson. Membership was small in those early days and for the first few years averaged between 12 and 20. At the end of World War II the Club was in danger of disbanding due to very small attendance - fortunately this decision was never made.
Mrs Ann Cobb, a foundation member of the Ladies club was contacted on the occasion of the 50th anniversary and she remembered very clearly the time before affiliation with the QLBA and indicated that the first games on the green were organised by Mrs Helen Henry (Bob’s wife). Later on, Ann recalled, some of the husbands joined them and in turn formed their own bowling group. So we understand that the first players on the original greens were ladies.
None-the-less, as outlined later by Life Member Alan Dellit, the Men’s Club were the Controlling Body and the Ladies were associate members as was the norm in all clubs at the time. This continued for approximately the next 58 years until the Club was incorporated under the Corporations Act as a Community club.
