ABSTRACT

Bowling clubs have been local institutions in Australia for over 150 years. Once a booming pastime, the popularity of lawn bowls has waned and subsequently so has the number of clubs. Sydney has lost nearly half the number of clubs from 1980, many of them in the past decade. Drawing on Ray Oldenburg’s concept of the ‘third place’ as a vital and inclusive local social hub, this paper charts the evolving geography and governance of the bowling club in metropolitan Sydney from the nineteenth century. The focus of this paper is on closures and land use changes between 2005 and 2020 and projected trends. A crucial factor in securing more public-orientated redevelopment outcomes is land ownership. The findings highlight how closure and redevelopment mediated through the NSW planning system impacts the social capital of communities. Bowling clubs as third places constitute important informal social centres. While this legacy persists as they adapt to new societal trends, the decline in the number of traditional clubs suggest that without a wider appreciation of the distinctive character of the Australian ‘bowlo’, there is a risk of not only losing valued community infrastructure but a centrepiece of the Australian cultural landscape.

摘要

保龄球俱乐部作为澳大利亚当地机构已有 150 多年的历史。草地滚球曾经是一项蓬勃发展的消遣活动，但现在其受欢迎程度已经下降，俱乐部的数量也随之减少。自 1980 年以来，悉尼已经失去了近一半的俱乐部，其中许多是在过去十年中消失的。本文借鉴雷·奥尔登堡 (Ray Oldenburg) 将“第三地”视为至关重要且具有包容性的当地社交中心的概念，描绘了 19 世纪以来悉尼大都市保龄球俱乐部不断演变的地理和治理情况。本文的重点是 2005 年至 2020 年之间的关闭和土地利用变化以及预测趋势。确保更多以公众为导向的重建成果的一个关键因素是土地所有权。研究结果强调了新南威尔士州规划系统关闭和重建如何影响社区的社会资本。保龄球俱乐部作为第三场所构成了重要的非正式社交中心。虽然这种传统在适应新的社会趋势时仍然存在，但传统俱乐部数量的下降表明，如果不更广泛地认识澳大利亚“bowlo”的独特特征，不仅存在失去宝贵的社区基础设施的风险，而且还存在失去社区基础设施的风险。澳大利亚文化景观的核心。