History of Northern Suburbs Tennis Association
T he game of tennis as we know it today came to the North Shore in the late 1870s. It was played on lawns of some of the bigger homes in the area.
By the turn of the century a score of clubs had been formed. There were attempts to form an association but war broke out and it wasn’t until 14th March 1921 that the Northern Suburbs Lawn Tennis Association was formed. Eleven members of a previously unsuccessful association met in Central Hall, Walker Street, North Sydney to form the group.
The first competition booklet for 1921 listed 15 clubs with 179 registered players. The association soon affiliated with the NSW Combined Hardcourt Association and the word ‘lawn’ was dropped from its name. By 1925 there were 39 affiliated clubs with 536 registered players.
In 1928 the association bought land at Wheatleigh Street, Naremburn for courts, 3 of which were completed in 1929 and 2 more in 1932. Funds for the Wheatleigh Street project were raised by a weekly levy of one penny on each registered member.
A peak was reached in 1935 when there were 186 affiliated clubs and nearly 3,000 registered competition players, using mainly single backyard courts and in those days the boundaries excluded Gordon and Killara. World War II caused a sharp drop in numbers and it had an even worse affect on courts with some 50 privately owned courts, used for competition, disappearing by 1946.
A new Wheatleigh Street clubhouse was built in 1961 and the court surface was changed from loam to synethic grass in 1984.
The first General Meeting of the Northern Suburbs Tennis Club Limited was held at Chatswood Tennis Club, Fullers Road, Chatswood on 29th May 1973 when the first Directors of the Club were elected, John Steel, Keith Hawton, Colin Howard, David Raphael, Jack Scully and Colin Howard. At that meeting it was reported that all statutory documents as required under the Companies Act 1961 had been filed with the Commissioner of Corporate Affairs and the Certificate of Incorporation of the Northern Suburbs Tennis Club Ltd, dated 10th May 1973, had been issued by the Commissioner of Corporate Affairs.
At a meeting of Directors on 20th December 1997 it was unanimously resolved that a lease commencing 5th April 1978 for 20 years plus a 20 year option from Willoughby Council of Crown Land known as Talus Street Reserve be signed and sealed and a loan offered by the Bank of New South Wales of $100,000.00 be accepted. Construction of the courts commenced in May 1978 when a quote for earthworks for $11,310 was accepted and on 14th September 1979 tenders for the construction of courts, fencing, drainage and retaining walls ($107,112), lighting of courts ($34,900) and preparation of sub-base ($4,500) were also accepted. On 30th June 1980 the project became operational. Lack of finance prevented the immediate commencement of the Clubhouse but this was finally completed on 24th April 1986.
Change rooms were extended and offices added to the Clubhouse in 1995
and the court surface was changed from plexipave to synthetic grass in
1995 with resurfacing taking place in January 2000.