Sport was always important to me and my family, particularly team sports. Apart from learning ballet for two years, my childhood was spent close to the beach in southern Tasmania where I learnt to swim in surf, being dumped by huge waves, often swimming among large kelp and jellyfish. To quote the famous Antarctic scientist Pat Quilty AM, living in Hobart weather was “one penguin short of Antarctica.” My brothers and friends climbed trees and explored the cliffs, caves and a favourite pastime was stealing apples through the fence at the local Sherburd orchards. At primary school I participated in team sports such as netball and softball and was encouraged to gain a Life Saving Certificate by our sports teacher, Joanne Wilkes, who was a state hockey player. I first played tennis in my mid teens with a borrowed racquet from a school friend at the university court in Sandy Bay.
After gaining a Commonwealth Scholarship to the University of Tasmania I played squash and was in the women’s netball team, representing that sport on the Sports Council in my last year (see below).
When I moved to Canberra in 1967 I joined the YMCA, which led me into playing competition squash and water skiing at Lake Conjola in summer and cross country skiing in winter at Guthega. While working in the Department of Immigration, I was encouraged to join a Spanish dancing class, run by local teacher Rita Sheehan. I obtained the castanets and red shoes for flamenco, performing at the old Embassy Motel in Deakin and multicultural events in Canberra - ole!
Remember the days when women wore white tennis dresses and played with Dunlop racquets kept in a wooden frame? I bought my first Dunlop in Singapore on the way to a posting in Indonesia where tennis was not quite as popular as badminton. A group of Australian wives at the Australian Embassy played regularly at 7am on an old court in Menteng, a suburb of Jakarta.
Regular social tennis was a feature of living overseas, many Australian missions having a tennis court along with the mandatory barbecue to assist in developing friendly relations. In Tanzania we were fortunate to stay for three months in the High Commissioner’s residence* in Dar es Salaam while our bungalow at Oyster Bay Beach was being renovated and painted.
The tennis court was an old bitumen court but we played all the same in our white outfits (below: Della, wife of journalist Michael Fathers and I with our Dunlop racquets outside the tennis court).
On later postings in the Pacific, I was kept busy with children attending local schools, enjoying coral beaches, entertaining local people and frequent Australian delegations. We also had trips to the Fiji Islands and French Polynesia. I held weekly yoga classes for local women at the residence, and after a trip to Tahiti, developed a passion for windsurfing at Anse Vata, a safe beach in Noumea. A French friend gave me the loan of her Mistral windsurfer while she was on holidays in France.
Later, in Vanuatu I became involved in the local netball competition and also umpired; and I still have the whistle! A pool was installed at the residence for the children’s safety but there was no tennis court. I was invited on a number of occasions to play tennis at the Le Lagon Resort courts with Mrs Mary Lini, wife of the Prime Minister Father Walter Lini, who wanted to improve her game.
Back home in Canberra, after moving house and returning to work as a public servant, I enrolled the children in holiday tennis coaching at Weston Creek Tennis Club (WCTC). They always enjoyed that experience and we set up badminton in the back yard for them to play with friends. I started playing social tennis with friends and family at local courts in Stirling and was invited to play tennis in the Diplomatic Tennis Tournament, held twice a year over a weekend in March/April and November/October. Local players teamed up with diplomats and games were played on courts around embassies in Yarralumla and other private homes with finals on the Sunday.
I played regularly in this tournament reaching the final in women’s doubles until the mid 1990s when I developed tennis elbow.
I started playing regular social tennis on Saturday afternoons and Wednesday nights at Yarralumla Tennis Club (YTC), joined the club and was invited to join the Committee. A feature of the club was afternoon tea provided by members to share outside under the shade of big trees. The club stalwart Marjorie Bourke often baked a cake, pikelets or scones, and there was a catered Xmas lunch.
I also spent some time playing competition tennis on Thursday nights driving all over Canberra and started playing occasionally on Wednesday nights at WCTC when the weather suited.
After the Canberra bushfires in 2003 I moved from Chapman to Isaacs and joined the Torrens Tennis Club conveniently located next to my grandson’s Primary School. I could give him tennis practice after school while playing social tennis during the week and on Sunday mornings. Young Charlie Camus was often there too being coached by his father, who was a member of the club. We had great fun, just a small group but from different backgrounds, with regular coffee, lunches and dinners at local restaurants. There was no clubhouse but we had access to the Community Hall.
After seeing an article about Southlands Tennis Club struggling with rates and energy costs I contacted the club, started playing there and was again invited to join the Committee, this time as Secretary. The club had received complaints from members about the poor lighting and I was asked to look into energy efficient (LED) options with Tennis ACT. One Saturday morning I dropped into the WCTC courts to talk about lighting options and discovered that Stewart Back was still President! I already knew some of the social tennis players, so it was only a matter of time before I joined.
I continued to play at WCTC on a casual basis, usually on a Monday or Friday morning. After joining the club in 2017, I was invited to join the Committee as part of a restructure, which brought in more women, coaching representation and other changes.
In March 2020 I was asked by the outgoing President, Stewart Back to take over Rebel Sport’s Community Givebacks (CG) Quarterly Rebate credit account. This account provides tennis balls for organised social tennis on Monday, Wednesday, Friday mornings and Wednesday evenings. As the COVID pandemic threatened to restrict all sporting activities, it also led to massive improvements in the club’s facilities and grounds.
As a keen gardener, I was only too happy to assist the club with planting useful and hardy plants from my own garden and donated by other members. The installation of a new hose system has made watering the gardens so much easier, particularly during the summer heat.
I am very proud of the many improvements made to the club’s facilities and grounds by the WCTC Committee with the assistance of government grants and the dedication of our members who volunteer their time, energy and expertise.