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Clubs and Organisations

Clubs and organisations have played a vital role in the life of Rowville and Lysterfield.

The Lysterfield Progress Association, formed in 1928, took on the ambitious task of building a hall and achieved their goal despite having to raise funds during the dark days of the Great Depression.

During World War Two, organisations to assist the war effort were formed. Both the Lysterfield and Rowville United Services Association and the Red Cross unit held their meetings in the Lysterfield Hall. The Rowville Fire Brigade which was founded in 1942 held its inaugural meeting there too. The brigade is the oldest ongoing organisation in the district.

Following the war the energies of the few local families were channelled into efforts to raise funds to set up amenities at the Heany Park pool.

The Rowville Progress Association was formed on 14 September 1960 when 47 residents packed into the tiny hall beside the Rowville Post Office.

A rapid increase of population followed the commencement of residential subdivisions in Rowville in the 1960s. This gave rise to the growth in the number of clubs and organisations required to satisfy the needs of newcomers - especially the youngsters who were an increasing percentage of the district's numbers.

There are now over one hundred active clubs and organisations in the district.

As you can see from the list below, several of these groups have had their histories recorded. However, with many of these clubs and organisations now reaching their 25th anniversaries, you are invited to contribute stories and photos so that an ongoing historical record will ensure that the stories of your groups are told and retained.


  • 50th Anniversary of the Rowville Fire Brigade

    By mid 1942 Australia was in a state of crisis. Singapore had fallen, Darwin and Broome had been severely bombed, midget submarines had broken through the defences of Sydney Harbour and a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft, released from a large submarine lurking off King Island in Bass Strait, had flown unchallenged over Melbourne in broad daylight. The authorities were mindful that the Japanese could seriously stretch the defending forces in a summer invasion by dropping incendiary bombs in the hills surrounding Melbourne.

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  • ASTON Michael and Moya Aston Remember

    Mike and Moya Aston were the second couple to establish their home on what is now commonly referred to as the Seebeck Estate. However, when it was first released to the public about 1960 it was known by the grand name of the Ashbrooke Highlands Estate. The undulating nature of the land with its good outlook across the valley of Dandenong Creek attracted Mike and Moya and they bought the block on the north-west corner of Bareena Avenue and Carrara Road. (The very first house on the estate had been built by Dick White in Seebeck Road directly opposite the intersection with Bareena Avenue.)

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  • Allen Conduit Remembers

    Allen Conduit worked at the Church of England Boys Home in Lysterfield from the time of its inceptlion in 1935 until his enlistment in the army in 1940.
    This article will be in two parts, the first recording Allen's memories of Lysterfield and the second telling of his remarkable army career with the famous 2/23 Infantry Battalion.

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  • DAVID LONG REMEMBERS

    Throughout the 2003-04 cricket season, Rowville Cricket Club has been celebrating its 50th anniversary. In January last year the club held a dinner at the Polish Club at which the 50 Year Team was announced. The man named as captain was the founder of the club, Stewart Finn, whose recollections of the early days have been published in the previous two editions of the News.
    The vice captaincy was awarded to David Long who commenced a long association with sport in Rowville when he and his wife moved to their new home in Seebeck Road in October 1971.

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  • DAVID LONG REMEMBERS

    Throughout the 2003-04 cricket season, Rowville Cricket Club has been celebrating its 50th anniversary. In January last year the club held a dinner at the Polish Club at which the 50 Year Team was announced. The man named as captain was the founder of the club, Stewart Finn, whose recollections of the early days have been published in the previous two editions of the News.
    The vice captaincy was awarded to David Long who commenced a long association with sport in Rowville when he and his wife moved to their new home in Seebeck Road in October 1971.
    David has made a huge contribution to the club over many years having served as President, Secretary, Coach and Captain. He was adjudged the club’s best batsman in two seasons and took out the bowling honours six times. He was Club Champion in 1977-78 and 1982-83. As well, David was selected on several occasions to represent the FTGCA combined team.
    David enjoys the distinct honour of having been made a Life Member of both the Rowville Cricket Club and the Rowville Football Club.

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  • FINN Frank and Kath Finn Remember

    Frank and Kath Finn have been the proprietors of the Rowville Caravan Park and Motel on the hill in Stud Road since 1968. They have both had a long involvement with the Rowville Red Cross and for many years the meetings were held at their Motel. Kath has been the Red Cross representative assisting with vaccinations in Rowville for 25 years. The only sessions she has ever missed were when she was in hospital as a result of the cowardly attacks made on her during two aggravated burglaries in 1991.

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  • HISTORY of the ROWVILLE CRICKET CLUB

    STEWART FINN REMEMBERS (Part One)
    On 25th January this year, past and present players of the Rowville Cricket Club gathered at the Polish Club to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary.
    Many tales were told that night, some true and some not so true, and chief among the storytellers was the club’s first secretary and captain, Stewart Finn.
    Stewart was the driving force behind the establishment of the club which played its very first game in the 1953/54 season in the C Division of the Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association. Despite the fact that few of the players had previously played competitive cricket, the team went on that season to achieve an amazing distinction by winning the premiership.

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  • HOBBS Hedley Hobbs Remembers

    Hedley came to Lysterfield as a child after his parents had been forced off their farm in the Western District by bad seasons. Hedley's mother became the first postmistress in Lysterfield and his brother Gordon built and ran the first store in the tiny community.

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  • Lysterfield Progress Association Hall

    In 1928 Martin Alberni (uncle of Marty Alberni whose story was told in the October and November 1995 editions of the R-LCNews) called a public meeting at which the Lysterfield Progress Association was established with George Swan as President, Jack Newton as Vice President and Bill Taylor as Secretary.

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  • Rowville Cricket Club The 50 Year Team
    During the evening of Rowville Cricket Club's 50th Anniversary celebrations on 25 January 2003, the 50 year team was announced. Below are brief details of the careers of the twelve selected players: 1 Stewart Finn (Captain) All Rounder One of... comments Comments (0) Read more...



  • SMITH Arthur Smith Remembers

    Arthur Smith travelled across the continent from Western Australia to find that his future rested with Gail Fitzgerald in Melbourne. The story of their life together is one of devotion, hard work and wonderful generosity.

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  • STEWART FINN REMEMBERS

    On 25th January this year, past and present players of the Rowville Cricket Club gathered at the Polish Club to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary.
    Many tales were told that night, some true and some not so true, and chief among the storytellers was the club’s first secretary and captain, Stewart Finn.
    Stewart was the driving force behind the establishment of the club which played its very first game in the 1953/54 season in the C Division of the Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association. Despite the fact that few of the players had previously played competitive cricket, the team went on that season to achieve an amazing distinction by winning the premiership.

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  • STEWART FINN REMEMBERS

    On 25th January 2003, past and present players of the Rowville Cricket Club gathered at the Polish Club to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary.
    Many tales were told that night, some true and some not so true, and chief among the storytellers was the club’s first secretary and captain, Stewart Finn.
    Stewart was the driving force behind the establishment of the club which played its very first game in the 1953/54 season in the C Division of the Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association. Despite the fact that few of the players had previously played competitive cricket, the team went on that season to achieve an amazing distinction by winning the premiership.

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  • STURROCK (nee BICKERTON) Mary Sturrock Remembers

    Mary recalled that her strongest first impression of Rowville was the smell of percolated coffee brewing on the wood stove of the farm in Wellington Road that her father had bought from Bill Phillips in 1936. She had left Geelong with her father early one morning in his 1928 Chevrolet National to drive to Rowville and of all the impressions made on her nine-year old mind that exciting day, the smell of Mrs Phillip's coffee has always been the most vivid in her memory.

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  • TRESISE Max and Sally Tresise Remember

    Max and Sally Tresise were among the very first residents on the Twin Views Estate. The estate had formerly been the sixty acre farm in Taylors Lane of the Raymond family. The Raymonds had sold to developers Wallace and McKay, who appointed Gordon Norris of Dandenong as the selling agent. It was one of the developers, Jack Wallace, who built the first home on the estate at No 2 Norris Road.

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  • The Gallipoli Lone Pine Lives On

    Through the efforts of Mr Ed Williams of Wantirna, two pine trees - descendants of the famous Lone Pine of Gallipoli - have been obtained from Legacy for the Lysterfield Avenue of Honour. The two young trees have been placed by Ed and his wife Alice on either side of the memorial stone. The following article provided by Legacy tells the story of the perpetuation of the Lone Pine and the ideas it has come to symbolise.

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  • The Rowville Progress Association

    The recently formed Rowville and Lysterfield Residents' Association is another example of people coming together in our area with the aim of improving aspects of the lives of the residents of the district. In earlier times similar groups were brought into existence with similar goals: the 1980s saw the formation of the Rowville-Lysterfield Development Group (the parent body of the R-LC News) and the 1960s was the era of the Rowville Progress Association. This article will detail the early days of the latter group and the concerns of its members in that era of Rowville's history.

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