Netball Victoria has thousands of paper-based items in its archives. Most of the earliest unpublished material, such as minutes of meetings and related correspondence dating back to the 1930s, was written in ink with copperplate script. However, conservators warn that if such pages are exposed to constant harsh light then it is likely that the ink inscribed on paper will completely fade away within the space of 50 years. This cautionary revelation potentially puts at risk the memories contained within some of NV’s most precious artefacts.
One of the oldest items in the Edith Hull Collection containing hand-written material is a non-descript exercise book. Bound with a black card-cover, frayed around the edges, and with a bulging spine barely able to contain the often dog-eared, un-numbered pages, let alone the other attachments (some typed) that have been pasted, pinned or stapled in, the minute book covers the period 1934 to 1938, as indicated by a sticker on the spine. Despite its unattractive functionality, this unique item is probably one of NV’s most historically important, if not its most informative, objects.
The weathered spine of the Victorian Women’s Basket Ball Association (VWBBA) Minute Book, July 1934 to March 1938, with a label added at a later date.
The Melbourne Girls’ Basket Ball Association (MGBBA) was formed in 1922, and commenced its inaugural season on May 5, 1923. It was this fledgling organization that eventually transformed itself into Netball Victoria. Surviving material objects from the first decade of its existence are rare indeed, although some key details can be gleaned from newspaper archives. However, with an extant minute book dating from 1934, much deeper insights into the institutional life of the VWBBA, as it was then known, can be gained.
The first entry in the oldest VWBBA minute book records the business from an Executive meeting held at the YWCA, July 6, 1934. Note the damage from wear and tear.
For instance, it is clear that the VWBBA maintained its strong links with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). The inaugural president of the MGBBA, Louise C. Mills, had a strong formal connection with the YWCA, and in 1934 the newly elected president, Edith Hull, also fostered this important liaison, with the minutes recording that many of the Association meetings continued to be held in the YWCA cafeteria. The ‘Roll Call’ of clubs listed in the minute book for 1934 and 1935 also highlighted this relationship, with the YWCA fielding teams in four of the top five divisions. Other listed clubs across the eight divisions included a high number of workplace teams, including Kodak, Holeproof Hosiery, Pelaco, and Moran & Cato.
The first page of the Roll Call of teams and clubs from the top three divisions of the VWBBA, as recorded at meetings in 1934 and 1935.
In August 1934, the Victorian team travelled to Brisbane for the interstate carnival. The minutes from that year contain a detailed five page report on the trip, with a summary of the All Australian Women’s Basket Ball Association meeting, written by the coach of the Victorian team, Edith Hull. Despite injuries to some players, the Victorians won the tournament, which was declared ‘… the most successful Carnival to date’. Several of the matches were broadcast on radio, and hospitality included an ‘All day motor trip’, and visits to the Adams Cake Factory and a pineapple farm, not to mention ‘Entertainment at a Picture Theatre’ and a formal dinner including the presentation of trophies.
The Victorian team in Sydney, en route to the 1934 national carnival in Brisbane. Pictured left to right: Edith Hull, Dot Middleton, Lilian Angus, Alice Elso, Dot Eckart, May Ord, Ethel McCarthy, Anne Henderson, Lorna McConchie, Becky Douglas (Courtesy of Netball Victoria).
The very detailed bound minute book concludes with some brief handwritten notes from an Executive meeting on March, 7, 1938, but it also has some unexpected surprises in store.
Pasted into spare pages at the back, but out of sequential order, are two reports. The first is a typed page and a half overview of the VWBBA’s ‘first Dinner and Presentation of Trophies night’, held on September 14, 1937, at the Hotel Federal. There were 145 guests at this gala occasion, with the night ending with the singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, and participants expressing the hope that the dinner would become an annual fixture.
Absent from the above event was the Association’s president, Edith Hull, who was attending the annual general meeting of the New Zealand Women’s Basket Ball Association. As the second addendum, a four-page report on her trip, makes clear, Hull was impressed with New Zealand’s ‘very solid … highly organized’ governing body, which had declared a profit of more than 100 pounds for the financial year.
As Hull explains, part of the meeting was given over to an explanation of the seven-a-side Australian rules of netball compared to the New Zealand nine-a-side arrangement ‘… but there was no enthusiasm for a complete change’. Instead, delegates preferred to hold their judgement until they witnessed a demonstration game played with the Australian rules, which took place on September 3, 1937. In her report to the VWBBA, Hull provides a succinct analysis of the differences between the Australian and New Zealand versions of the game, and summarizes the delicate negotiations that then took place with Mrs H. D. Muir, president of the New Zealand Association, regarding future international tours. It was these negotiations that were the precursor to the first game between Australia and New Zealand, which occurred in 1938.
An extract from Edith Hull’s report on her visit to New Zealand, explaining some of the differences in the rules and style of play between New Zealand and Australia, as appended to the 1934-1938 VWBBA minute book.
In this respect, the surviving original minutes and associated reports that constitute the 1934 to 1937 VWBBA minute book are significant foundation artefacts that help to explain key events and turning points in the history of netball. The careful conservation and management of such original documents is one way in which fading memories of netball’s history can be preserved.
Curatorial Notes: Fragile paper-based items in the Edith Hull Collection are kept in storage and only put on public display for a limited period. Anyone with information or artefacts related to the history of the game in the 1920s or 1930s should contact Netball Victoria at communications@netballvic.com.au.
