With the arrival of the new game of tennis the formation of clubs was quite rapid from late 1876 onwards and inter-club and other competitions soon followed.

In Victoria, the MCC was already managing cricket and numerous other club activities for Melbourne’s wealthier families and with the benefit of cash resources and management expertise became one of Tennis’ key driving forces in that state. In mid July 1879, they laid their first asphalt court within the grounds of the current MCG and by early 1880 had conducted their first club competition.

Given the high level of interest in that event, the MCC quickly decided to organise the first Intercolonial competition to be held on lawn courts set up on the cricket ground. Event timing conicided with the Horticultural Show in November 1880, at which many potential intercolonial visitors might be in attendance and the rules simply stated that any doubles combination must be from the same colony or country. To the singles winner, F.J.Highett, came a cash prize of 10 pound 10 shillings and the runner up R.P. Arnold a mounted silver racquet. The doubles was won by A.F. Robinson and C.Trench. The doubles draw included two Englishmen H.Callender and H.Allison making the tournament one of the earliest “internationally” represented tennis events. Also, consider that all the states were in effect different colonies (countries) at least until federation in 1901 so you could also argue that even by being Intercolonial, tennis between Victoria and New South Wales would be equivalent to tennis being conducted between France and Germany.

By way of comparison, the first Wimbledon was conducted in England in July 1877 and the first USA National Championships were conducted in 1881, so the pathway of competitve tennis was commencing on a farily even footing across the key tennis playing Nations. It was not until 1905 that Australia truly adopted a National Championship.

In Victoria, again through efforts of the MCC, pennant tennis began in 1884 and by 1887 the growth in the number of clubs and participation in competition tennis necessitated the creation of numerous grades or levels. Women’s pennant began in 1894.

In 1885, the Lawn Tennis Club of Sydney invited the MCC to an Intercolonial match to be played on the Sydney Cricket Ground. This was an outstanding success and Victoria issued a return invitation in October that year, but NSW declined due to the hosts choice of asphalt courts using uncovered balls whereas New South Wales were playing on grass courts with covered balls, hence the advantage was always with the home team.

Intercolonial tennis involved matches between neighbouring states NSW v (VIC,QLD) Vic v (NSW,SA) and became the breeding ground for our first champions and up and coming players like Norman Brookes, Horace Rice, Rodney Heath and Alf Dunlop.

These contests became the premiere events with some thousands attending the matches which were conducted over 3-4 days of continuous play.

Here are some very rare original photos. They were copied from original glass plate postives take of the 1890 NSW v VICTORIA Intercolonial challenge played on the Sydney Cricket Ground. The Gentleman (below) is Dudley Webb who won many NSW Championships from 1888, 1892, 1893 & 1894. He competed for on NSW Intercolonial team from 1887-1898. The glass plates belonged to Dudley Webb’s family.

As you can see, the crowds were highly supportive and please also note the fashions on and off the court.

Dudley Webb NSW Champion and Intercolonial Representative

Apart from the Intercolonial tournaments which were played in with both Men’s and Women’s teams, state by state tournaments were also popular and so were some key tournaments conducted by some of the more prestigious clubs.

This table shows the first recorded years as indicated in the book “Lawn Tennis in Australasia” By Autsral (R.F.Kidston Journalist and Intercolonial player for NSW)

Location Men’s Singles Men’s Doubles Women’s Singles Women’s Doubles Mixed Doubles

Victoria 1880 1880 1884 1884 1884

NSW 1885 1885 1885 1886 1885

South Aust. 1890 1890 1892 1893 1894

QLD 1889 1892 1892 1898 1892

WA 1895 1896 1897 1900 1902

Tasmania 1893 1893 1893 1901

New Zealand 1886 1886 1886 1886 1899

Australian Championships 1905 1905 1922 1922 1922

Buckley Tourmamet 1888 1888
(Autumn Championships)

Major Club Tournaments

South Yarra 1897

Grace Park 1902

Strathfield
NSW Metropolitan 1892 1892 1892 1911

Geelong (VIC) 1891

Apart from winning the NSW Championships, Dudley won this amazing trophy in 1893 and 1894 at the Strathfield Metropolitan Championships. Edward Dewhurst won this in 1895 before heading to the USA where he won a few prestigious events.

What an amazingly beautiful trophy, created by Elkington & Co. 1892. We have left the picture as large as we can to help define the ornate work within the 3D design, approx. 300mm in diameter. It has been acquired by Tennis Australia.