Dear Nathan

Not all the Surrey Hills members made the move to East Camberwell, and it's likely some of those who stayed were among the golfers whacking balls around the paddocks east of Box Hill, and who, on April 24, 1909, gathered to watch the first ball struck on a nine-hole course measuring about 2000 metres, in the name of the Middleborough GC. Membership for gentlemen was fixed at 10/6, and ladies and junior members (under 18) at 5/-.

A report in The Age newspaper described the course as being 'pleasantly situated a quarter of an hour's walk from the Box Hill station. They are of an undulating character and of picturesque surroundings. The course contains a number of natural bunkers in the shape of gullies and such like, while roads, trees and shrubs afford numerous hazards. The holes vary from about 150 yards (137m) to 400 yards (440m)'.

Of course we all know Melbourne's autumn weather can often be sublime, just as the winters can be pretty awful. That first winter the weather was so exceedingly bad that practically all the lady members had to give up the game on account of the wet and muddy state of the links. In The Weekly Times it was noted that the 'creek hazard was known by all to be a very nasty place, as the creek was nearly always running a banker, and when the ball was hit into the creek there was occasionally a cold bath for the player'.

Because of this, the following year, 1910, the club moved a short distance to another patch of land on and around the Middleborough Reserve, where a new course was quickly established. It opened in July and was described as being in 'good order, notwithstanding the recent rains ... bridges would be placed over the creek, so that players could cross without falling in, as 'one enthusiast did on Saturday'.

Within months though, the golfers and other sporting bodies using the reserve found themselves under attack from, of all people, the deceased, following a move by the Nunawading Shire Council to extend the adjacent Box Hill cemetery. All of the sportsmen and women, the live ones, that is, banded together to provide a spirited defence of their playing field, and the Councillors agreed to preserve the status quo.

Barely six months passed, and trouble again loomed upon the horizon. The club found itself embroiled in yet another crisis, this time in the shape of some pretty formidable footballers, who reckoned they had as much right to play on Middleborough Park as did the golfers.

The local Reporter newspaper was right onto it, explaining that the President of the Nunawading Shire Council had asked the golf club secretary if the club had been granted permission to play golf there, debarring others from making use of the ground.

'The previous Saturday, while a golf competition was proceeding, 30 to 40 lads who had assembled at the park to play football were peremptorily ordered to "clear out" by members - particularly two - of the golf club, and were threatened that if they did not "get", their ball would be taken from them. After considerable debate on the rights of organised sport versus general use of the reserve, it was agreed that the Golf Club be sent a letter informing them that they did not have sole right to use of the reserve'.

This version of events did not sit well with the golf club, and the two members involved in the confrontation with the footballers, W. Bruce Fox (Hon.Sec.) and A. Thodey (Committeeman), wrote a letter to the Editor of the Reporter, disputing some statements and putting forward their position.

They were playing, they said, a visiting club (Brighton), 'when the reserve, over which the right to play was some time since granted to them by the council, had been taken possession of by a number of boys and lads, who were playing a football match, which we understand had no particular significance. There was no threat to confiscate the ball.

'With regard to the general aspect of the matter, we might say that we have been given to understand that the council favors the idea of the golf club, rather than a football club, being granted the right to use the reserve, as it is not desirable that mourners at funerals in the adjacent cemetery should be disturbed by the noise of barracking, which is an inevitable adjunct of football matches.

'Acting on this understanding, the club has spent considerable time and money in endeavouring to improve the links, and we think it is hardly fair or reasonable that we should be taken to task in the manner indicated, in your report of the proceedings at the last council meeting.'

The issue of footballers preventing Middleborough GC from using the western portion of the Reserve was raised again at the Nunawading Shire Council meeting, in April, 1912. It was pointed out by Cr. Davis that the footballers were required to confine themselves to the eastern portion. Council agreed to write to the football club and inform them that the golf club 'has been given permission to play on the western portion of the reserve'.

Unbeknown to the Council the members of the Middleborough GC had by then had enough, and shortly after the club's annual meeting in late April, the club moved yet again, to another site in Box Hill, as if to rid themselves of the past, and commence what they no doubt hoped would be a more certain future.

The first tee of this new course was located at the eastern end of Albion Street. More importantly, perhaps, the members voted to change the name of the club, the first of three name changes that, as we will see, took place along the road to what is now the Huntingdale Golf Club.

Many thanks to Eastern Golf Club member Ian Monks, whose comprehensive history, "One Hundred and Fifteen Years of Eastern Golf Club", provided much of the information for this article.