Golf Dreaming

Introduction

This book Golf Dreaming follows on from my previous Aboriginal sports studies, including the history of Aboriginal jockeys, Aboriginal soccer players and Aboriginal boxers, rugby league and Australian rules football players. All my history work seeks to unearth and reveal the many aspects of missing, obscure and erased Aboriginal history. Our people and the wider community need to recognise these missing histories. This new golfing study is an accumulation of personal memoirs, archival research and recording oral memory and stories.

The ancient and noble game of golf is said to have originated in the Scottish Highlands. A game with a rich history and one originally frowned upon by the Crown and authorities, it eventually became the pastime of Kings, Queens and the aristocracy. Then, for a good period of history, it was looked upon as a game only for the wealthy and privileged - back in the 1930s, famed African American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois recognised golf's 'ties to global imperialism, particularly the British Empire.'1

In Sierra Leone, Du Bois was incensed that the white community was carving out beautiful English suburbs complete with tennis courts and golf links 'that insulated them from Africans'.2

Chinese golf chuiwan.

There are claims that the game of golf had its origins in the Netherlands with the Dutch game kolven or kolf. Another northern European game, chole, has also been pitched as the original source of golf. Both games did involve a club and ball being struck and date from at least the 15th century. There was also a very early similar game played in China called chuiwan. There have been other speculations on the origins of golf. As early as 1801, Joseph Strutt put forward the idea that golf may have had links to an ancient Roman game played with a feather-filled ball called paganica. It has also been speculated that the game may have been brought to Britain by Julius Cesar during his occupation. There have been a host of other claims that have included a Palestinian game called kora, the Persian game of chogan, a French game called jeu de mail. There have even been Egyptian art works that depicted a stick and ball game captured in the tomb of Khety at Beni Hasan dating back to 2000 BC. There is a similar Greek artwork on a marble sculpture from 520-500 BC depicting a ball and stick game.3 There has even been a suggestion that a form of golf was being played in ancient Chile.4

However, in his classic 1892 book The Art of Golf, Sir Walter Simpson dismisses all arguments and declared (tongue in cheek) that the Scottish game evolved from a simple discovery by a lonely, bored shepherd who amused himself by hitting a rock with his crook into a series of rabbit holes. With greater substance, while not entirely dismissing other claims, is the conclusion of Neil Millar:

There is evidence that the game of golf took root in Scotland around the beginning of the sixteenth century, where subsequently it flourished, turning into the modern-day game of golf, a sport that is now truly global. While historians will continue to argue that games played in various countries may have played a part in the early pre-history of golf, many will be satisfied that the evidence is sufficient to conclude that, at least in its critical formative years, golf can be considered to have been Scotland's game.5

It is unquestioned that from a humble start, the game flourished in Scotland from the sixteenth century. The Scots were also responsible for transporting the game across the globe from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Certainly, the first reference or mention of golf is recorded in King James VII's Scottish Act of Parliament on 6 March 1457. The Act itself was to ban recreational sports like football and golf. These sports had become increasingly popular, and the thought is that King James VII was wary of war with England and wanted his people to concentrate on military sports training, in particular archery which was decreed as compulsory alongside the ban of golf and football.

One royal, King James VII, banned the game, while another, Mary Queen of Scots, later was reputedly roundly criticised for playing golf only days following the murder of her husband Lord Darnley in 1567. Mary herself and the Earl of Bothwell were suspects in the murder. Adding to the suspicion, Mary and Bothwell married only three months after Darnley's murder. Mary Queen of Scots has often been recorded as the first woman golfer. However, Neil S. Millar, in his recent book Early Golf - Royal Myths and Ancient Histories, has dismissed the numerous claims of the significant influence of Mary Queen of Scots on the early history of the game in Scotland. Millar reveals that Mary's impact on the game is made on 'exaggerations that are based on a single historical document of questionable reliability'.6

Despite the myths, stories and debates on its origins, the game was quickly established as a Scottish national sport. The appeal of the game to all classes has been recorded:

The greatest and the wisest of the land were to be seen on the Links of Leith mingling freely with the humblest. in pursuit of their common and beloved amusement. All distinctions of rank were levelled by the joyous spirit of the game. Lords of sessions and cobblers, knights, baronets and tailors might be seen contesting for the palm of superior dexterity, and vehemently but good-humouredly discussing moot points of the game as they arose in the course of play.7

The game ultimately conquered the globe and would rival soccer for its global participation and impact.

In his 1964 book Gregory's Australian Guide to Golf, Jack Pollard revealed the impact and spread of the game globally:

Every year millions of the human race, white, black and red, Slavs, Serbs, Japanese, Aztecs, Zulus, Filipinos, Aboriginals, Scots, Cajuns, Mexicans and Eskimos, poor men and rich men, old men and very young men, white women and Asian women, artisans and professors, match their proficiency in swinging clubs against cunningly laid-out courses. In all the world, there is probably no game so brimful of legend, ritual and superstition as in golf. Australians are rather proud to be among the more enslaved of all the peoples golf has ensnared.8

The game was introduced to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century. There are several claims for the earliest forms of golf played in Australia. One that can be backed up by archival evidence is ten entries in the diary of Alexander Brodie Spark in 1839. Spark by all accounts was a much respected and connected member of colonial society in Sydney. The diary entries reveal that golf was played in Sydney in 1839 at Grose Farm. Spark and some friends instituted the New South Wales Golf Club on 1 June 1839. But apparently the club had a very short history and disappeared from the records. Nevertheless, the NSW Golf Club (no connection to the present NSWGC) and Grose Farm are the first recognised golf club and course in Australia. Apparently, the golf at Grose Park was influenced through connections with Royal Blackheath Golf Club in England.9

In Victoria, golf was reputedly first played on Melbourne's Flagstaff Hill in 1847. It was apparently introduced by the Hon. James Graham, a recent arrival to the colony from Fife in Scotland. Graham had packed a set of golf clubs and "featheries" (feathers compressed into bull hide as balls) in his luggage. He carried a deep love of the game and set up a club that ran for a few years, but the discovery of gold set off a stampede to the gold fields and all thoughts of the "Royal and Ancient" game disappeared for some time.10

Back in NSW, one John Dunsmore, another Scot, brought his love of the game to Australia. He is said to have hit golf balls around on a paddock at Concord in 1851. Despite his attempts, he did not have any success in encouraging interest amongst the locals and had to ditch his idea and hopes of forming a golf club.11

In South Australia, the game took off in 1869 when the Governor of South Australia, Sir James Ferguson, established the first golf club in Adelaide. The course consisted of nine holes and was set up near the present day Victoria Park racecourse. The Governor was able to spark an interest in the game and the club quickly comprised 20 active members. The attire of the golfers, consisting of knickerbockers, red coats and tam o'shanters ("tammies" or traditional Scottish caps), was responsible for drawing crowds to watch them in action on the course. However, there was one major obstacle to the course and the golfers, and that was the grazing cattle frequently wandering onto and over the course. The cattle left their hoof marks on the greens and are said to have frequently chewed up the flags on them. Sadly, the cows won the day and the constant damage to the course witnessed the club being disbanded in 1875.12

It is recorded that golf was played in Queensland as early as 1880. Again, it was through Scottish influence. Two Scots named Ivory set out a course of a few holes on their cattle station at Eidsvold. The Brisbane Golf Club was formed in 1890. The first course was over nine holes at Chelmer. Only six years later, a full 18 hole course was built at Yeerongpilly.13

Early golf and ladies at Ratho Farm.

In Western Australia, the Perth Golf Club was established in 1895 with a nine...