Key 38: Sports Union [ii] 1904

 

In 1883 the various sporting groups within the university (including the oldest, boating, cricket, lacrosse, tennis, and football) came together to form the University Athletic Association which waxed and waned until the formation of the Sports Union in 1904 and the institution of a compulsory sports fee the following year.

Old pavilion and new pavilion
Old pavilion and new pavilion
[Source: Melbourne University Magazine, Vol ii, No 3, October 1908, opposite p. 86]
University oval in the 1920s
University oval in the 1920s, showing the old pavilion backed by Ormond College
[Source: University of Melbourne Archives Image Catalogue, UMA-I-1704]

This flourished under the leadership of the versatile Professor (and Victorian Football League President 1919-25) Baldwin Spencer and, later, Professor Skeats, and in 1907 established the Melbourne University Magazine, taken over by the Students' Representative Council and published annually until 1980.

Oval looking south-east, 1919
Oval looking south-east, 1919, cricket match in progress.
[Source: University of Melbourne Archives Image Catalogue, UMA-I-1573]
Aerial view showing beyond the main oval, c1956
Aerial view of University of Melbourne, c1956, showing oval, hockey field and Beaurepaire Centre built for the 1956 Olympics.
[Source: University of Melbourne Archives Image Catalogue, UMA-I-1079]