Yarra Valley Country Club: Bulleen venue, golf course to close after 50 years

A popular Bulleen country club is being forced to close after 50 years with job losses and sporting groups booted out.

A sporting club in Melbourne’s east is being shut down after 50 years with 20 people forced out of a job and sporting clubs turfed out for a residential project.

Bulleen’s Yarra Valley Country Club, which opened in 1972 and includes an 18-hole golf course near the Yarra River, will close on Thursday after landowners decided not to renew its lease about four weeks ago.

The club has almost 300 members across its golf, tennis, bowls and squash facilities, and a special farewell function was held on Saturday night.

The 18-hole golf course is booked out for final rounds on Wednesday and Thursday.

Landowner Bruce Mathieson is looking to rezone the 22.5ha site for a long-mooted residential redevelopment, which is set include at least 215 dwellings.

It was first floated with Manningham Council in 2015 and at the time, an application lodged with the council estimated the project at $150m.

Veteran staff member Marilyn Fitzpatrick, who retired in 2016 after 43 years service and then returned the following year, said she and other club regulars were devastated about the closure.

“It’s been more than half of my life, so it’s a bit of a shock,” she said.

“I’m sure the community will miss it, some people couldn’t believe it was closing, they were devastated and they don’t want the alternative.”

Club manager Peter Frost said the club’s closure was disappointing, but expected, as the members were well aware of plans to redevelop the site.

“While it is a sad moment for the members and there is a lot of history involved, it’s no surprise the club eventually would close down,” he said.

The Yarra Valley Country Club has been a popular destination for sports and entertainment in Melbourne’s east. File picture.

“Our membership had dwindled over the years, and Covid didn’t do any favours.”

Manningham councillor Stephen Mayne, who will speak about the site at Tuesday night’s council meeting, said he felt the club was closing “prematurely” and it was a “massive loss of community sporting infrastructure”.

“This is the last golf course in Manningham, and after 50 years of affordable golf on the Yarra River, it’s disappointing that is now being abandoned,” he said.

“I know there’s very many disappointed golfers down there … I would have thought he (Mr Mathieson) would keep it open until there was clarity on the rezone.”

Mr Frost said along with its sport offerings, the club had also been a popular social venue with live music through the Sound Garden music club reviving its visitor numbers.

“We had 2500 non-members frequent for the music club, it was phenomenal and showed it got us back into the community,” he said.

Mr Frost said the club’s directors were working to help about 20 staff find new jobs.

Marilyn Fitzpatrick has worked at the Yarra Valley Country Club in Bulleen for most of its 50 years of operation. File picture.

Former Manningham mayor Charles Pick, who left the council in 2011, is the director of developer Linked Solutions, who is working alongside Mr Mathieson on the project.

Mr Pick said a final development plan was yet to be modelled as it was awaiting the State Government’s decision on rezoning the land.

He said the project could have up to 290 dwellings built, depending on whether townhouses, apartments or a mix were used, and about 73 per cent of the site, or 16.2ha, was proposed as public open space.

Mr Pick said the golf course’s closure was planned for more than 12 months and members were “constantly updated as to the closure’s progress”.

He said most golfers and bowling club members had relocated to other clubs.

An independent advisory committee was established by former planning minister Richard Wynne about the future uses of land in the Yarra River - Bullen precinct, which includes the Country Club site.

A Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spokeperson said a decision was yet to be made on future uses, despite findings being presented in April 2021.

“While a formal rezoning application has not been submitted to the minister, the State Government has proposed much of the Yarra Valley Country Club site becomes public open space as part of the draft plan for the Yarra River - Bulleen Precinct, with a smaller portion of the site made available for private development,” the spokeperson said.