YACKANDANDAH is celebrating its cricket club's 150th anniversary this week, writes KIM WOODS
The Yackandandah Cricket Club may have been born on the rowdy goldfields, but its afternoon teas have reached legendary status.
"Every club loves coming to Yack, because they get a good afternoon tea," former president Peter Colee said.
He highly recommends the scones, jam and cream.
As one of the oldest clubs in Victoria, Yackandandah is celebrting its 150th anniversary this week.
The community affair will involve bringing backyard cricket to the front yard, with the main street closed off for a junior match.
Other activities include an anniversary dinner, museum memorabilia, a community match and regional final.
Gold miners, business owners and farmers first met to form the club in October 1859, at Rowdy Flat.
The mining area, 4km downstream from Yackandandah, had earnt a violent reputation for disputes among the miners, including several murders.
In the early years club members, known as the Emus, appealed for "all lovers of the noble game of cricket" to join them.
The Rowdy Flat ground was an oval encircled by a racecourse, with a grandstand set against a picturesque hill.
Rivalry with neighbouring gold mining town Beechworth began early, with a crowd of 1500 turning out to watch a match between the two teams in 1866.
A slump in form and loss to Albury in March 1868 resulted in the local Middle Creek Hotel being burnt to the ground that night.
A reporter did not rule out "depression over the cricket result as a cause of the conflagration".
Travel to the games was mainly by horsedrawn coach, with players enjoying Yack soda, Adam's ale and milk on the homeward journey.
An ambitious playing agenda in 1878 resulted in the ground being encircled by 4000 fence palings, with 30 seats installed.
The club even had a link with the famous Ashes test between Australia and England in 1882-83.
Florence Murphy, daughter of Yackandandah's resident commissioner in the 1850s, reportedly presented the ashes of a burnt bail to English captain Ivo Bligh.
This gesture consummated the Ashes legend after Australia's seven-run victory at The Oval.
The passion for cricket then waxed and waned at Yackandandah, with the club lying idle during World War I and World War II.
Among the regular sides played in the first half of last century were Beechworth's lunatic asylum and prison.
The Emus were reincarnated as the Kangaroos in 1972 and joined the Ovens and King Cricket Association.
Today the club's home ground is known as Whiskey Flat, harking back to the mining era, and members play in the provincial division of Cricket Albury-Wodonga.
Ex A-grade player John Bradley said the official anniversary was delayed until this month to enable building work on the town's Sports Park centre to finish.
Once an operating abattoir at Orange, the building was dismantled and transported to Yackandandah in a single weekend by volunteers.
The multi-million sports centre will soon house cricket, soccer, tennis and horse-riding clubs and community events.
Mr Colee, who is ground curator, likes the mateship and family atmosphere of the Yackandandah club.
"I'm 55 and I've been playing since I was nine," he said.
"Every time I say I'm going to retire, my wife says, 'Don't even think about it'.
"I love the social side of cricket - people can make friends anywhere, whether it is rep cricket, Country Week or playing in England," Mr Colee said.
Club historian Colin Barnard began playing with the club in 1974 and now watches his grandson play in the juniors.
"It doesn't feel like I have been in Yack all that long, but already three generations of my family have played cricket here," Mr Barnard said.
He has collected historical documents and photographs to produce a soft cover book, Yackandandah Cricket Club 150 years 1859-2009.
Mr Bradley has used scorebooks from the last 30 years to located ex-players, officials and their families for the anniversary.
"We are expecting 300 for dinner on the Saturday night, from all over Australia," he said.
