Kandanga bowls club thrives after adding campsite — will others follow suit?

Kandanga Country Club secretary and manager Julie Worth credits camping with the club’s comeback. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

Many Australian bowls clubs are battling to stay open, but one establishment has bucked the trend by offering camping in the hope of developing a national trail for tourists.

In south-east Queensland’s picturesque Mary Valley, caravans, RVs, and rooftop tents line one side of the green at the Kandanga Country Club.

“We serve meals six nights a week and have lots of bowling activity — more bowling activity than what we’ve had here for probably 25 years,” secretary and manager Julie Worth said.

“The quality of bowls is probably nearly as strong as it was in the 80s and 90s.

“We now have about 68 bowlers and we got down to 35, so we’re definitely going against the trend for bowling in Australia.”

The Kandanga Country Club has survived successive floods and the failed Traveston dam proposal, which saw hundreds of homes resumed.

Ms Worth, who has managed the club since 2009, grew up watching her parents play at the venue and credits the resurgence of the business to its expanded offering.

“It’s sustainability for us — it means that we can employ staff, we’ve actually got eight people employed and we’ve got five school-based trainees, so the young people of the Mary Valley get an opportunity to be trained up in hospitality and sports tourism,” she says.

“We just make sure everybody has a wonderful time.”

‘It was pretty epic’

After their wedding ceremony at a historic railway station, newlyweds Randall and Katie Nitschke held their reception in the club’s bistro.

About 50 of their 120 guests camped on the grounds.

“People could walk 15 metres back to their campsite at night, it was pretty epic,” Mr Nitschke laughed.

Ms Nitschke said the place was “fully booked”.

“Pretty much every campsite was taken — it’s popular,” she said.

Ms Worth, who also runs a bus company and outback pub tours, hopes Kandanga’s success will inspire other clubs to offer camping and develop a tourist trail for regional venues.

“We’d like to see the guests who stay here go on to other clubs,” she said.

“We have tried to encourage other clubs and they’ve come and stayed for the weekend and taken notes and gone back to their councils to talk to them and see what they can do.”

The bigger picture

The Devonport Country Club in Tasmania recently opened an onsite RV park.

New South Wales has several low-cost or free camping options, including at Bulahdelah, Cassilis, Abermain, Molong, and Mathoura.

The Woodbine Tourist Park is owned and operated by the Lakes Entrance Bowls Club.

In Victoria the Broadford Bowls Club has a free camp stopover, the Kerang Golf and Bowls Club offers affordable camping and the Skipton Golf and Bowls Club has two sites.

Bowls Queensland chief executive Brett Wilkie said camping was available at the Theodore, Eidsvold, Wandoan, and Boyne Tannum bowls clubs.

Spokespersons for the Northern Territory and South Australian Bowls Club associations said none of their clubs offered camping.

There were no bowls-club-operated campsites in Western Australia advertised online.

The Roma Bowls Club in Queensland began providing unpowered, self-contained campsites two years ago after the idea was suggested by a Facebook user.

“We’ve got to do something to try and sustain a future for the club and we’ve got to think of other ways to attract more members,” secretary/manager John Hammond said.

Back in Kandanga, where tourists stop to photograph the Mary Valley’s historic rail line, accomplished lawn bowler Adrienne Dan reflected on her 60 years of competition at the club.

“This would be one of the best little clubs in the area and it has picked up with the campers who have come here,” she said.

Camping fees have been deliberately kept low.

“We want the people to come and eat and drink in our club facility because, as I said, it makes it sustainable for our members and for our community around us as well,” Ms Worth said.

“It’s just amazing — the people just don’t stop coming and our most asked question is ‘Can we stay a little longer?'”