Bowls marks 180 years, ramps up Brisbane 2032 pitch

It started out the back of a hotel in 1845 and has since grown into a sport played by 2 million people at 1800 clubs across Australia.

Hobart’s Sandy Bay Bowls Club held a celebration on Monday to mark 180 years since the first recorded game in Australia.

That match took place a few kilometres up the road at the then-named Beach Tavern between English immigrant and father-of-19 Frederick Lipscombe and T Burgess.

Sandy Bay Bowls Club in Tasmania, where the sport was officially invented.Credit: Facebook

“We know it was 25 ends, which started the tradition of 25 ends in Australia,” Bowls Australia president Iain Evans said.

“Mr Burgess won on the very last end. It was a very close game.”

The sport, which has become intertwined with Australian culture and more recently, allowed players to forgo footwear, spread its wings to Sydney and Melbourne in the following decades.

The Hobart event featured a barbecue, tea and coffee and sandwiches, while young and old got to have a crack on the green.

Ben Twist of Australia goes about his business on Monday in the lawn bowls.Credit: Getty

Bowls Australia used the anniversary to ramp up its push for the sport’s inclusion in the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Bowls was a demonstration, non-medal event in Seoul in 1988 and has been part of the Paralympics.

“That exposure we get every four years when it is Commonwealth Games time is really exciting for us,” Commonwealth Games gold medallist and world champion Rebecca Van Asch said.

“To take that next step up ... would be phenomenal for the sport and how people perceive us. We think we can be really competitive on that stage.”

Australia boasts the No.2 and No.3 ranked men in the world and the No.2, No.3 and No.4 players on the women’s side.

People from WA, NSW, Victoria and South Australia travelled to Tasmania for the anniversary.

“Bowls clubs are really the centre of communities … it brings people together which is why I think bowls has been so successful over 180 years,” Evans said.

Sandy Bay Bowls Club acting president Yvonne Buckley, who was introduced to the sport by her parents, said it was an honour to host.

“Bowls is not just a sport for old people, it is a sport for everyone,” she said.

“It’s a sport that requires a degree of fitness, skill and a lot of strategy, which is why I enjoy it.”

AAP