History

In June 1966 a group of people met in a private home for the purpose of forming a tennis club. A motion was moved to form a club, to be known as the Bundoora Tennis Club. The first president of BTC was Brian Household, the secretary was Shirley Gething and the Treasurer was Derek Whibley.

As there were no local courts and no club house, social tennis was played at East Preston, near the tram terminus. Our first competition team played in the Preston District, and played its home games at the Oakhill Tennis Club in Albert Street, Preston (now known as Cranross Tennis Club).

Our first two tennis courts (now courts 3 and 4) were built in 1967 and until the Shire of Diamond Valley built the clubhouse in 1971, a bus shelter was used with power being supplied by neighbours via an extension cord. The official opening of Bundoora Tennis Club was performed by Harry Hopman and Earl Sieler in 1967.

In the 1970’s, the club prospered with membership reaching 600 and junior tennis expanding quickly. With a total of 27 Saturday and midweek teams, another four courts (now courts 1,2, 5 and 6) were built. It was during the early 1970’s that Jim McGregor joined the club as coach, a position that he would hold for over 30 years. It was also around this time, in 1973, that Shirley Gething commenced her long reign as secretary.

In 1984, courts 7 and 8 were built (they were plexipave) and shortly after lights were added to courts 1,2, 7 and 8.

On 30 September 1986, BTC was incorporated and on 24 August 1991 BTC celebrated its Silver Jubilee. In April of the following year, work began on the extension to the clubhouse at a cost of $60,000. The extension was officially opened in February 1993.

In 1994/95, Sue Taylor became Treasurer and Jim McGregor became President, both positions they continue to hold today.

As part of our major works program, courts 1 and 2 were extensively repaired in December 1997 and courts 5 and 6 were repaired in December 1998. In November 2002, courts 7 and 8 were resurfaced in synthetic grass and in April 2005 a new pavilion was built.

Bundoora Tennis Club celebrated its 40th anniversary on 24 September 2006. Of course, numerous men and women have selflessly given their time to the club over the years, attending committees and maintaining the courts and grounds. The club is very proud of the fact that we have many second and third generation families playing at the courts and we are equally proud of the many hundreds, indeed thousands of players, young and old, who have played tennis at our courts.