David and Goliath battle looms as the 9-hole Strathallan Golf Club fights for survival.

After receiving an eviction notice from its landlord, Melbourne’s La Trobe University, the tight-knit Strathallan Golf Club in Bundoora is the latest in a growing list of Australian golf courses fighting urban expansion. The University confirmed to the Leader Community Newspaper this week that it intends to release some of the 18Ha site currently used by Strathallan golfers for a housing development. The club was recently given notice to vacate the premises by January 2019.

Although only 9 holes, Strathallan has an interesting history dating back to the 1950s when the golf club was established by staff and patients of a nearby mental hospital, primarily as a means of providing them with recreational and secure green space. When the hospital was sold in the late 1980s, so too was the land upon which the golf course sits. A subsequent sale to the La Trobe University took place in 1996, with members renting their golf holes ever since.

According to the golf club, the La Trobe University acquired the land in 1996 on the understanding that it would remain as public open space. Says an extract from their website, “for decades, the Strathallan golf course has served the ecology and the community. It has provided a buffer between the wildlife reserve and residences and a sanctuary for native flora and fauna. It has served as an important amenity, providing recreational facilities and low-cost golf together with the benefits of social interaction. As such, it has fulfilled its zoning as ‘Public Park-Recreation’.”

A not-for-profit club managed and operated by volunteers, without assistance from golf’s governing bodies and a genuine effort made to protect public golf, the future for Strathallan is surely dire. Supporters of the club have been lobbying the Banyule Council to intervene in the matter, and oppose the rezoning of the land by supporting the retention of green open space and recreational facilities provided by the golf course.

Without such support, and perhaps additional lobbying by golf’s governing bodies on the social, health and environmental benefits of our game, it seems Strathallan, and others, face a tough battle ahead.

 

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