Royal Park has a long history associated with netball in Victoria, and this large, heavy, metal plaque - now part of the Edith Hull Collection at Netball Victoria - was originally unveiled at the opening of the ‘Women’s Basket Ball Stadium’ on May 31, 1969.
Initially reserved as parkland in 1854, the area originally encompassed 280 hectares, including the Melbourne General Cemetery, Princes Park, and, later, the Zoological Gardens. By 1876, 170 hectares were permanently reserved for parkland and the Royal Park Golf Course - established in 1903 - became the park’s first sporting facility. Royal Park was also used as a temporary army camp during the World Wars, and from 1946 to 1956 the site provided temporary accommodation as a result of post-war housing shortages.
It is not known when netball was first played at Royal Park, but prior to 1970 the sport was known throughout Australia as seven-a-side women’s basketball, hence the inscription on the plaque.
Various upgrades have been made to the netball facilities at Royal Park over the years, with a major overhaul occurring when a Royal Park Master Plan was prepared by the City of Melbourne in 1996. Under the plan, the existing State Netball Centre was demolished and integrated with the State Hockey Centre, with the new facility opening on March 16, 2001.
In 2021, the newly refurbished state-of-the-art State Netball and Hockey Centre is scheduled to be completed and re-opened, not only cementing itself as the ‘spiritual home’ of netball in Victoria, but also the new physical home of Netball Victoria.
