Gone with the wind … the end of an era

Ric Finlay18-May-2005The TCA ground might not have satisfied everyone as a first-class
venue in recent years, but there must be an element of regret
among members that a 105-year occupation of a small piece of the
Queen’s Domain is about to end, as far as inter-State and
international cricket is concerned.The ground has had a fascinating history, and it seems appropriate to reflect on some
of the events that it has witnessed in its time. As the Annual Report for 1981-82 revealed, the ground was opened in 1882 after the best part of ten years intermittent development. A game
against a Melbourne Cricket Club Eleven was arranged to
commemorate the event, the match ending in a particularly heavy
defeat for the local Association. Tasmania, of course, has
learned to live with such reverses over the years, and in a
similar way, local administrators have had to accept the fact
that the finances of the Association have not always allowed the
development of the ground to proceed in a satisfactory way; many
of the Annual Reports often bemoaned the fact that various
projects designed to improve the ground, even as basic as
painting and general maintenance, were not possible to implement
because of the lack of funds.One of the early problems was the surface of the ground itself.
Unsympathetically dry weather in those first few years resulted
in the ground cutting up badly, allowing on one occasion EH
Butler to take 6 for 1 for the South against the North. Allied
to the this problem, which was only partially solved by importing
many yards of topsoil, was the one concerning the supply of water
to the ground. Initially, a windmill was tried, but this was
found wanting, which might come as a surprise to the members of
the 1979-80 English team, who had one day’s play abandoned
because of a Force 10 gale in their match against Tasmania. In
the 1885-86 season, the windmill was replaced by a hand-forced
pump system, which by definition seems to have been a rather
labour-intensive device. Nevertheless no further complaints of
the water supply reached the Annual Reports until after World War
One, when a total prohibition of the use of water for
non-essential purposes resulted in the death of most of the
ground’s grass. Reference was made in 1947 to an improvement in
the water supply to the ground, but even so, the water pressure
has never been considered really satisfactory.The provision of suitable accommomdation for members and the
paying public has exercised the minds of many committees over the
years, and in its time, the ground has seen the coming and going
of many forms of seating. Curiously, two of the original stands
have withstood the rigours of the elements and time, and survive
to the present day, albeit in modified form. The original
members’ stand was in place when the ground was opened in 1882,
and in 1906, at a total cost of 1066/18/1, was pushed back to
allow the construction of the brick structure at the front which
is familiar to all today as the HC Smith Stand. Gas was laid on
at the same time as a concession to modernity;in 1926 electricity
was installed, the committee of the day expressing the hope that
this would lead to sufficient lighting to allow “evening
training”. In 1940, the two ends of the stand were glassed in,
but unfortunately the designers of this were inhibited by either
a lack of funds or imagination and failed to glass in the side
where it was really needed, namely, the front. In 1946, the
outside stairway on the southern side of the stand first gave
access to the top deck, and in 1950, the players’ viewing areas
in the front of the dressing rooms were provided. The press,
originally accommodated under the old scoreboard (which was built
in 1907), were relocated on the top deck of the stand in 1977,
the year of Tasmania’s admission to the Sheffield Shield.The Ladies Stand was originally located on the southern side of
the Members’ Stand, and was a slightly more grandiose affair than
it is now. In 1946, it was proposed to move it to its present
location, a scheme whose execution was accelerated by the
intervention of the elements: a series of gales in May and June,
1947 unroofed the structure, thus forcing the committee’s hand
somewhat. A new cantilever roof was designed, but the
non-arrival of some of the materials meant that it was not
completed until the 1948-49 season. The two concrete stands that
are now sited in its place were completed for the 1954-55 season,
along with the entrance gates, turnstile houses and ticket boxes.
The original turnstiles were acquired in 1885, more as a status
symbol than anything else, since the committee was moved to write
in its Annual Report that “we have imported from England two of
Norton’s self-registering turnstiles, similar to those in use on
the Sydney Cricket Ground”! The suggested motivation for the
purchase is confirmed by the fact that they were not installed
for use for another five years.Up to World War One, the ground was more than just a cricket
ground. Two tennis courts (one grass, one asphalt) were opened
with the ground in 1882, and for many years, a members
championship was contested and faithfully reported in the Annual
Report. In 1887, the old pavilion that had been sited on the
original ground further down the hill, was dragged up to its
present position and converted into a Skittle Alley for the
members’ pleasure. The novelty of this sport was evidently
shortlived, for in 1898, it was then converted into changerooms
for a cycling club. The latter group was originally catered for
in 1891, when the committee were moved to report the expenditure
of 46/14/0 on a new bicycle track, but added their “regret that
they have not met with the good faith they expected from the
Ramblers’ Bicycle Club at whose request the work was undertaken –
only three members of the Club have joined the Association of the
15 who undertook the responsibility when negotiating with your
committee. “Football was tolerated at an early stage, despite this sport
being the reason why the cricketers were keen to escape from the
Lower Ground in the first place. By the 1890s, winter Saturday
afternoons were taken up with baseball, and the 1896 Annual
Report announced that the “quoit pitch has been well patronised
on Wednesdays and Saturdays”. The ground even witnessed a
“Japanese Sports Day” in 1902, on the occasion of the visit of
two Japanese warships to Hobart. The gathering at the ground
were treated to the “novelty of Japanese wrestling, single-stick
execises (?) and other feats which proved very interesting to the
public”. This was a year after, incidentally, the Association’s
acquistion of a stone roller and a horse “with a view to economic
labour and making the work on the ground easier for the curator”.
Bowls was the fad in the first decade of this century, and a
considerable amount was spent on the bowling green and pavilion
which were opened in November, 1911. The impending war, however,
seemed to put a stop to all this frenetic activity and things
were never quite the same afterwards. In 1932 the by-now disused
bowling green was converted into the present practice-wicket
area. The only other major sporting liaison since those far-off
times has been with the Hobart Speed Coursing Club, which in 1935
commenced a long and harmonious relationship with the cricketing
fraternity. The greyhounds disappeared a few years ago, however,
and now first class cricket is to follow suit. It is the
Association’s hope that the ground can be retained for club
games, but nonetheless, 1987 marks the end of an era for cricket
in Hobart.