Oldsmobile v Roller
Collision between Strathfield Council roller and Oldsmobile, November 1959. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies
Can you pick the location of the unfortunate accident between the Oldsmobile and Strathfield Council’s street roller during November 1959?
The tennis courts in the background stood on Liverpool Road, opposite Rickard Road in Strathfield South for about 12 years.
The six tennis courts appear to have been built in 1948 by Royce Oliver Summerfield and builder, Darcey Perry. Summerfield owned the land at that time but does not appear to have had permission to build the courts as each man was fined £25 for constructing the courts without a permit.[1]
Detail from Milton Kent aerial photo of Enfield and Strathfield South, 1953. Courtesy State Library of NSW
This cropped aerial photo from 1953 shows the courts quite clearly, surrounded by modest cottages. Bede Street runs down to St Anne’s Catholic Church in the bottom right corner. The vacant land opposite the tennis courts on Liverpool Road now houses apartment blocks.
The tennis courts did not survive much longer after the incident with the street roller. Those with keen eyesight might be able to spot a ‘For Sale’ sign on the fence of the tennis courts, just behind the roller. Within a year of this photo being taken the tennis courts had been demolished and replaced with Australia’s second automatic tenpin bowling centre.
The Biz (Fairfield) 16 August 1961 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189949757
Tenpin bowling was all the rage during the early 1960s. The Enfield bowling centre was opened on 6 January 1961, at a cost of approximately £150,000.[2] The Hurstville centre had opened only a few months earlier on 14 October 1960. Within the space of only one year there were five bowling centres in Sydney.[3] The Enfield centre offered free bowling lessons during February 1961.[4] By the end of 1962 tenpin bowling in Australia was estimated to be worth about £20 million.
Champion bowler, Ted Osmond at Enfield, 1963 School students at Enfield, 1963
Photos courtesy National Archives of Australia
But by 1965 there was a slump in tenpin bowling because so many centres had opened at once and quite close together.[5] During the 1970s the game received increased interest.
Strathfield Superbowl 7 July 2023. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies
Strathfield Superbowl still stands on this site on Liverpool Road, opposite Rickard Road, after more than 62 years of tenpin bowling history. As the Hurstville bowling centre closed in 1987, this must make the Enfield (Strathfield South) bowling centre the oldest mechanical centre still operating in Australia.
By J.J. MacRitchie
Local Studies Advisor
References
[1] The Sun 27 August 1948 p.3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229006357[2] Sydney Morning Herald 14 October 1960
[3] The Biz (Fairfield) 16 August 1961 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189949757
[4] Sydney Morning Herald 26 February 1961
[5] Sydney Morning Herald 18 October 1982