History Week 2026: Tracing Australia's First Golfers

Name: History Week 2026: Tracing Australia's First Golfers
Start: 2026-09-13T10:00:00+10:00
End: 2026-09-13T11:00:00+10:00
Location: Marrickville Library and Pavilion

Schedule

Sun Sep 13 2026 at 10:00 am to 11:00 am

UTC+10:00

Location

Marrickville Library and Pavilion | Marrickville, NS

Travel into Sydney’s golfing past and discover how the game began in 1839.
About this Event

The first recorded evidence of golf played in Australia is in the diaries of Alexander Brodie Spark, held in the NSW State Library. The golf was played in 1839 over a short period at Grose Farm, now a built-up area in central Sydney. The driving force for the golf was Captain James Ferrier, Master of a London merchant ship, the Lady Fitzherbert. Ferrier was an enthusiastic golfer and an important member of the Royal Blackheath Golf Club in London. The research journey for this talk was comprehensive and, with its several Eureka moments, should interest non-golfers as well as golfers.

About the speaker: Michael Sheret has a background of research in physics, economics, education and (in retirement) golf history. He is a member of the Australian Society for Sports History, the Australian Golf Heritage Society, the British Golf Collectors Society, the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors, and The Lakes Golf Club.