About us - The oldest registered archery club in Australia
Who we are
Welcome Wendouree Archery Club is based in Ballarat at Prince of Wales Park reserve. Wendouree Archery Club was established in 1941 as Ballarat Archers and underwent a few changes in the late 1940's before taking on its current name. This is the oldest registered archery club in Australia. Archery is a social sport for the whole family, with our coaching courses catering for 5 to 80+ year olds. We also offer a wide variety of skill levels, ranging from recreational to Olympic level and, of course, everything in between! Adding to the diversity of this sport is the range of different equipment available. There is the Robin Hood style of bow known as the longbow, the Olympic style of bow known as the recurve bow and there is the modern style of bow known as the compound bow. Both the recurve and the compound can be used with or without sights. Wendouree Archery Club caters for three types of Archery, Target, Field & Clout, and we provide coaching from Beginner to Intermediate levels. |
Who we cater for
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History
Archery clubs have existed in Ballarat since at least 1864, when the Webster Street Archery Club (ladies) and the Foresters’ Archery Club (men) shot in the Botanical Gardens. The earliest archery competition for which we have the results of was held on the 26-27 of December 1864 as part of a fete to raise money for the building of the Ballarat District Orphan Asylum; and consisted of 7 events (male and female) shooting distances 40 to 100 yards.
The Wendouree Archery Club (WAC) traces its origins to the formation of the Ballarat Archers on the 10th of July 1941, when a group of Ballarat archery enthusiasts (who had been shooting since at least the early 1930's) formed the club at a meeting at the home of the 1st President (Don Johnston at 31 Loch Avenue).
After the second World War the Returned Servicemen's League and the YMCA sponsored many sporting clubs. In 1948, to promote archery, the membership of the Ballarat Archers became the YMCA Archery Club, and they established a daughter club, the Returned Servicemen''s Archery Club (the Ballarat Archers provided the daughter club with equipment, instruction on making equipment, coaching, and shooting venues at the Botanical Gardens and Stawell Street).
On the evening of the 28th of October 1950, the 2 clubs amalgamated and was named the Wendouree Archery Club, because an area of land had been allocated by the Council for an archery range on the Wendouree Reserve (where the club shot until 1979) before moving to its current site at Prince of Wales Park, Gillies Street, Lake Gardens (originally known as Wendouree).
WAC has always been a small club but growing (63 members in March 2015), but one with a long history of proud achievement and is Australia's oldest registered archery club.
A book on the club's history has been written by club member Allan Terrett called "Archery in Ballarat"
We have a long and proud history of continuous archery in Ballarat and have occupied a number of outdoor and indoor ranges over the years. We cater for recurve, compound, longbow and barebow archers of all ages. We offer target, field and indoor archery with our outdoor range located at Prince of Wales Park, Lake Gardens, Victoria and due to the closure of our indoor range located at Ballarat Airport, the club is currently looking for a new home for its Indoor Archery. We also have a Field course near White Swan Reservoir.
We are affiliated with Archery Australia and Archery Victoria, World Archery and Vic Health. We are a family friendly club and adhere to Vic Health policies regarding drinking and smoking on the range in order to facilitate an environment conducive to healthy family recreation.
Our outdoor range includes two granite sand 90 metre walk up shooting ranges which greatly enhance the archers' shooting experience - meaning no muddy shoes (so leave your gumboots and gaiters at home - unless you have overshoots!) Our roll away memory foam targets allow all archers to shoot from a common shooting line, regardless of distance, greatly adding to the social experience of a day's shooting.
The Wendouree Archery Club (WAC) traces its origins to the formation of the Ballarat Archers on the 10th of July 1941, when a group of Ballarat archery enthusiasts (who had been shooting since at least the early 1930's) formed the club at a meeting at the home of the 1st President (Don Johnston at 31 Loch Avenue).
After the second World War the Returned Servicemen's League and the YMCA sponsored many sporting clubs. In 1948, to promote archery, the membership of the Ballarat Archers became the YMCA Archery Club, and they established a daughter club, the Returned Servicemen''s Archery Club (the Ballarat Archers provided the daughter club with equipment, instruction on making equipment, coaching, and shooting venues at the Botanical Gardens and Stawell Street).
On the evening of the 28th of October 1950, the 2 clubs amalgamated and was named the Wendouree Archery Club, because an area of land had been allocated by the Council for an archery range on the Wendouree Reserve (where the club shot until 1979) before moving to its current site at Prince of Wales Park, Gillies Street, Lake Gardens (originally known as Wendouree).
WAC has always been a small club but growing (63 members in March 2015), but one with a long history of proud achievement and is Australia's oldest registered archery club.
A book on the club's history has been written by club member Allan Terrett called "Archery in Ballarat"
We have a long and proud history of continuous archery in Ballarat and have occupied a number of outdoor and indoor ranges over the years. We cater for recurve, compound, longbow and barebow archers of all ages. We offer target, field and indoor archery with our outdoor range located at Prince of Wales Park, Lake Gardens, Victoria and due to the closure of our indoor range located at Ballarat Airport, the club is currently looking for a new home for its Indoor Archery. We also have a Field course near White Swan Reservoir.
We are affiliated with Archery Australia and Archery Victoria, World Archery and Vic Health. We are a family friendly club and adhere to Vic Health policies regarding drinking and smoking on the range in order to facilitate an environment conducive to healthy family recreation.
Our outdoor range includes two granite sand 90 metre walk up shooting ranges which greatly enhance the archers' shooting experience - meaning no muddy shoes (so leave your gumboots and gaiters at home - unless you have overshoots!) Our roll away memory foam targets allow all archers to shoot from a common shooting line, regardless of distance, greatly adding to the social experience of a day's shooting.
