Geraldton Tennis Club turns 150 as past and present gather to celebrate milestone

The Geraldton Tennis Club passed a huge milestone as it celebrated its 150th birthday on Saturday afternoon.

Founded in 1872 the club is the oldest in WA, beating out Royal Kings Park Tennis Club, and predates the first Wimbledon tournament which was not held until some five years after the club’s founding.

Deputy Mayor Jerry Clune said the club could not have reached the milestone without the tireless work of volunteers over that time.

“A big congratulations to the club on reaching 150 years, hats off to everyone who has put their hands up over that time to keep the club going,” he said.

Such is the age of the club that much of its earliest history has been lost to time, something which past president and life member John Sewell touched on.

“I’ll just cover the last 50 years because I don’t think we know too much about the first 100, no one’s that old,” he said.

“I can remember a Davis Cup squad with Ken McGregor coming up in the 50s and travelling out to Binnu for tournaments.”

“When I was men’s captain in the early 90s we had to turn people away we had so many players, my how that’s changed.”

Past president Merv Austic said it was a fantastic achievement to reach the milestone.

“A hundred and fifty years is simply amazing and the world has changed so much over that time,” he said.

“We’ve got the best courts in WA out there, I love coming to the tennis club, I love playing here and having a beer with friends out the front and solving the problems of the world.”

While it was a celebration of a long and proud history, there was an eye on the future and what the next 150 years would bring.

“It’s now very difficult to get volunteers into clubs and it looks likely we will have to pay people,” Austic said.

Mr Sewell said a merging of Geraldton tennis clubs was inevitable.

“Amalgamation is on the cards and it has to be, Spalding is well on the way and it has to happen, we owe it to the future of tennis in the region, we need more people around,” he said.