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Cricket and tennis have been a part of the Tuggeranong Homestead for many years. The homestead has a historic link to Gallipoli through Charles (CEW) Bean who organised a game on the Gallipoli beach.
The extant concrete cricket pitch was laid April 1st 1921 by CEW Bean and his staff of historians and assisted by their friends, the local farming families.
The new pitch replaced an ant-bed wicket and was surveyed by Bean's draftsman Peter Wightman. John Balfour, Bean's secretary, supervised the working bee. The bags of concrete arrived at the Tuggranong siding by train from Queanbeyan and carried to the homestead by cart where they were mixed and laid in the southern paddock near the homestead.
A game of cricket took place on the new wicket two days later and continued regularly for the duration of Bean's occupancy - until autumn 1925. The local rag "The Queanbeyan Age" regularly reported on cricket matches between the Tuggranong team and Eastlake (2 March 1923), Michelago (12 October 1923) and Williamsdale (7 December 1923) and cricket related tales such as the Cricketers' "Smoko" (22 May 1923). The pitch was continually used until 1977 when the McCormack family's lease was compulsorily resumed.
Tennis summary (more information available soon)
