Redefining local social capital: the past, present and future of bowling clubs in Sydney

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.