When Captain Cook landed on the Sandwich Islands in 1788 he found that the natives were playing a game with rounded balls. The Maoris used balls similar to the bowls used today complete with a bias like our modern day bowling bowls. A well documented piece of history of the 12 th century AD points to lawn bowling being played in England at that time, but chances of it being played earlier then that cannot be denied. Wood, ash, oak, holly, or boxwood would serve as material of which the balls in 15 th century were made.
In ancient times even though they played bowl they may not have had special lawn greens to play the game, today there are many bowling clubs for the game of lawn bowling. Lawn bowling clubs are scattered all over Australia , from the beautiful lawn bowling clubs of Melbourne to the fun filled lawn bowling clubs of Sydney all have their own charm.
Gladesville is a top bowling club in Sydney , it has been actively upgrading its infrastructure lately. They provide entertainment, sports events and lawn bowling parties, the food at the Gladesville club is very popular amongst the Sydney citizens. the club has two lawn for men and for women, along with bowling they offer fishing and snooker to the members.
The Royal New South Wales Bowling Association has many lawn bowling championships for both the amateur and the champions at the game.
Lawn bowls is also a very popular sport in New Zealand particularly amongst older people. It is quite common for Australian bowls fanatics to orgnaise extended tours of New Zealand to play against their trans tasman rivals. This even leads to Australian players looking for homes for rent in the summer for their extended bowling soujourns.
The lawn bowling clubs of Brisbane like the Pine Rivers Memorial Bowls Club is home to some of the best facilities like meals, entertainment and greens. All the national lawn bowling clubs act as venues for the lawn bowling championships, these provide a platform to the young and budding bowling champs.
Lawn Green Bowling Club Melbourne (The Melbourne Bowling Club) founded in 1864 is the oldest club in Australia . The Melbourne bowling club is situated on a piece of land just behind the chapel street. The Clubhouse includes the original double storey brick building in Georgian style.