The Ferntree Gully Cricket Club Archive (1882 – 2021), our heritage, records & stats are maintained by Club Archivist/Historian: Stephen (Steve) Flemming
Records are updated regularly, so come back when you get a chance: read, review and enjoy our history. We are always on the lookout for Club ephemera, Trophies and Awards, Notes, Articles, Photographs etc (originals can be copied and returned). Any corrections, comments and/or updates, particularly past photographs or missing Score sheets (those highlighted in blue in our online Scorebooks), are always welcome.
These pages include updates for all 2020/21 Senior & Veteran XI’s seasons, while Junior records will be compiled from the FTGCA (now FTGDCA) Junior competition origins in 1951/52 to the current season, and posted soon.
The records and statistics have been extracted from the Club’s extensive Scorebook archive (>650 retained from the early 1950’s and faithfully reproduced pre 1950’s), Minute Books (from 1962) and Financial Records (from 1955) as well as from Newspaper references, State Library of Victoria and Eastern Regional Library archives, Public Record Office archives, Knox Historical Society archives, numerous Victorian Cricket Club and Cricket Association histories, other material retained by the Club and from verified observations of Life Members and other prominent Club members, researched and recorded throughout the past four decades.
The process of discovering/recording our long history commenced over 30 years ago (in 1986), when the Club was given access to an original photograph captioned ‘The first Ferntree Gully Cricket team – 1890’. The caption suggested that, if correct, in a few years (1989/90) we would be celebrating the Club’s Centenary season. While some individual memories were strong and recalled a long history, the club had very little material evidence of this significant milestone. The lead up and subsequent success of the Club’s Centenary celebration then provided the impetus for others to carry on the task of recording our rich history, which has continued unabated throughout the years since.
Primary Club sources have included Life Members: Gus & Carol Bull, Peter Clark, Bob DeCoite (Dec.), Ian Ewart, Tony Goldsmith (Dec.), Keith Hill, Cliff James, Barrie & Rick Joyner (Dec.), Mick, Sandra & Alan Kirkpatrick (Dec.), Greg & Kim Mastertoun, Barry Manning, Jim McGowan, Emilio Russo (Dec.), Barry Stuart (Dec.), Wal (Dec.), George (Dec.) & Harry Tew.
Other past and family members who provided/verified information have included Alan (Dec.) & Bob Bailey, Peter & Dick Ballam (Dec.), Geoff Barker (Dec.), Ray Batty, Mick Benham, Grantley Bland, Rob Blythe, Jim Bradley (Dec.), Harold Bromley, Bob Campbell (Dec.), Jack Clark (Dec.), Brian Crocker, Neil DeCoite, Graham Dingley, Alick (Dec.), Bill (Dec.) & Roy Dinsdale (Dec.), Chris Dockery, Glen Douglas, Dave Droscher, Roger Dundas, Lindsay Ewart (Dec.), John Fargie (Dec.), Gavan Feaver, Jack Feaver (Dec.), Maurie Felmingham (Dec.), Laurie & Norma Hamilton (Dec.), Mick Hanrahan (Dec.), Joe Hill, Jim Kirkpatrick, Ivan Light (Dec.), Mal & Ron Lomax (Dec.), Steve Mackey, Bob McDonald, Mal McIntosh, Graham McIntyre, Mal McRae, Kevin Meredith, Doug Merritt, Ken Mutimer, John Nash, Max Paton (Dec.), Rob Sidebottom, Ron Spark (Dec.), Brian Trevenna, Dave (Dec.) & Peter Waters and Neil Watson. Additionally many members of opposing clubs provided material from matches against Ferntree Gully or comment and further evidence supporting playing and Club related events.
In recent years the Club has been fortunate to obtain valuable information including photographs, ephemera and other material from the descendants of Victor Carey, Fred Charman (the Club’s first Secretary – 1882/83), George Lovell, Henry Monk, Alf Pickett, Noel Sandford, Fred Stevens and the ‘famous five’ Williams brothers: George, Henry, Oliver, Thomas and Walter (the Club’s first Captain – 1882/83). These men and their families were among the most significant contributors to the Club from our origins in the early 1880’s until our first recess in 1915: enforced upon the Club and its membership by the horrors of World War One.
We gratefully acknowledge this huge collaborative effort and unreservedly apologise to the many more contributors who we may have inadvertently overlooked. We trust, however, that through these pages you can see the outcome of your contribution and can appreciate that your efforts have assisted in making the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club archive one of the most extensive sporting club archives anywhere in Australia.
NOTE: Where the symbol (* or †) accompanies a name in these records it generally represents an Official or Player who is deceased.
The Ferntree Gully Cricket Club…
- Is the oldest community group (and oldest sporting club), in the City of Knox and is located at the foothills of the magnificent Dandenong Ranges, in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Has operated since 1882/83, being formally recognised at the end of the 1889/90 summer
- Is located at the ‘Walter H. Tew Pavilion’, on the Ferntree Gully Recreation Reserve, formally opened 25th May 1912, and since October 2010 renamed ‘Wally Tew Reserve’ – corner Brenock Park Drive (formerly Lysterfield Road) and Glenfern Road (enter from Glenfern Road)
- Fields Senior, Veterans (Over 40’s), Junior, All Abilities and ‘In2Cricket’ teams ranging from 7 to 70 years of age
- Is affiliated with the Ferntree Gully & District Cricket Association (FTGDCA) and the Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association (MAACA)
Founded in the early 1880’s, the Club has prospered since, except for cessations during World War I (1915/16 – 1919/20), the Depression (1927/28 – 1932/33) and World War II (1943/44). After playing arranged matches in the early years, the Club first affiliated in competition cricket with the Reporter District Cricket Association (now BHRDCA) for seasons 1913/14 and 1914/15, before recessing during World War I.
The Club resumed playing arranged matches after World War I in 1920/21 and then affiliated with the Ringwood District Cricket Association (RDCA) in its second season: 1921/22. The Club switched affiliations between the RDCA (1921/22 – 1926/27, 1934/35 – 1935/36 & 1939/40 – 1942/43) and the Mountain District Cricket Association (MDCA – 1933/34 & 1936/37 – 1938/39) a few times in the inter war years. It recessed 1927/28 – 1932/33 when a dispute with the RDCA went unresolved and was amplified by the onset of the Depression and then again during World War II for the 1943/44 season, before re-affiliating with the RDCA from 1944/45 – 1946/47.
In 1947/48, the Club became a founding member of the Ferntree Gully Cricket Association (now FTGDCA), where it remained until 1992/93, when after a dispute with the FTGDCA, we affiliated with the RDCA from 1993/94 – 2004/05. With the pressure of travelling distances (exceeding 45 minutes to some grounds) and facing a loss of numbers and strength in junior ranks, the Club returned to the FTGDCA in 2005/06 where we remain affiliated today.
Since the first Premiership success in 1933/34 the Club has won 51 Senior XI Premiership Pennants (21 in the 1st XI), 7 Veterans XI Pennants, 24 Junior XI Pennants and 2 other Pennants: the 1953 FTGCA “Coronation Lightning Premiership” and the 1980/81 FTGDCA “Twilight Cup Premiership”. Over 1,700 players have represented the Club in more than 6,500 matches since we commenced formal competition cricket in 1913/14.
Many long time Ferntree Gully families have donned the whites for the Club. These include the Bradley, Bull, Campbell, Clark, DeCoite, Dinsdale, Hamilton, Hill, Joyner, Kirkpatrick, Mastertoun, McGowan, Meredith, Pickett, Tew and Waters families – most of whom have been in the district for 60 or more years.
Since 1882/83, 179 players have participated in Senior and/or Veterans XI cricket for a decade or more and just fifty two members have received Honorary Life Membership from the first recipient; A.F. Pickett (awarded in 1934), to the most recent: F.M. McGowan & Mrs. D.M. Salan, who had Life Membership bestowed upon them at the 2021 Annual General Meeting (May 2020). Additionally, at the 2016 Annual General Meeting (May 2016), a further ten members were honoured posthumously with Associate Life Membership in recognition of their significant contribution to the Club for the fifty two seasons between our commencement in 1882/83 and the bestowing of the first Honorary Life Membership in 1934.
In 140 summers the Club has had two locations as its ‘home’. The Club had its first home base in the grounds of the Ferntree Gully ‘Middle’ Hotel where a rough and ready playing field and pitch was hewn from the open paddock and used for arranged/social cricket matches until the end of the 1911/12 season.
Since May 1912 the Club has been located at the ‘Ferntree Gully Recreation Reserve’, which initially housed one sporting ground (the ‘old oval’), but since the reclamation of the old Ferntree Gully Shire Refuse Tip site in 1980, now features two grounds – the ‘old’ or ‘Number 2 Oval’ and the ‘new’ or ‘Number 1 Oval’. In October 2010, after a joint submission by the Cricket & Football Clubs’, the Reserve was renamed ‘Wally Tew Reserve’ by Knox Council as a part of the 30th Anniversary celebrations which were held to mark the official opening of the new oval and pavilion three decades earlier in the summer of 1980/81. In October 2012, the Club (in conjunction with the FTGFC), celebrated 100 years on the Recreation Reserve at a function attended by over 200 guests.
Within the Reserve, is the Club’s imposing base – the ‘Walter H. Tew Pavilion’, named after local identity, Club legend, Life Member, Ferntree Gully Shire President and four times Mayor of Knox; Walter Harry Tew MBE (Born 18/5/1915, Died 17/7/2007). Wal’s connection with the Club spanned over 80 years, from his youngest days following his father who captained the 1st XI in the early 1920’s, until his final attendance at a Club Function in 2006. His work behind the scenes has left the Club with a legacy that will support future generations of cricketers and footballers at Ferntree Gully for many years to come.
The reserve and its accompanying magnificent two storey pavilion are regarded by the City of Knox as one of its premier municipal venues and the facilities are used for many community events such as the popular annual Knox Festival and Christmas ‘Carols by Candlelight’ functions.
Click on the Link below for a Timeline of the most significant events in the Club’s history