Dear Members,
It is always important to acknowledge the efforts of those who have made and continue to make a positive contribution to our club. For many members the club history is largely unknown and today we enjoy modern facilities and a great course that have been made possible by the efforts of so many hardworking members and staff throughout the past 60+ years. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with club patron Judith Tuckey to talk about those ‘pioneer’ days and to get to know more about Judith and what the MCC represents to her family. I hope that once you read the article you have a better understanding of the MCC journey since 1960 and a greater appreciation of what we sometimes take for granted today. When you consider the hardships and challenges faced by the foundation members it exemplifies the need for members and staff to continually work together in the best interests of the club and stay focused on the positives.
Kind regards
Ian Johnson
President
Judith Tuckey – Club Patron & Foundation Member Number 115 – 1960
The Tuckey family is one of the most influential families in the development of the Mandurah and Peel Region originating with the arrival of John Tuckey (widower) who travelled with his son James and daughter Charlotte from Sussex England in 1829 as an indentured servant to Thomas Peel aboard the Peel’s passenger ship, the Rockingham. After a brief stay at Cockburn Sound, the family made their way on horse and foot with other passengers towards Mandurah.
Judith’s (nee McCann) first association with Mandurah came when at the age of 3 months her family moved from South Australia to take up farming at Cookernup a small town between Waroona and Harvey. As with many farmers of the day, Mandurah was the annual holiday destination, and the family spent many holidays renting a property in Fairbridge Road. In 1950 her family moved to Mandurah on retirement and bought a property on Fairbridge Road which has since been knocked down and rebuilt twice and is still Judith’s home to this day.
Judith’s early schooling was at the Cookernup primary school and then later off to Perth College. Judith later graduated as a registered nurse working at Pinjarra Hospital along with Bev Jackson (current 50+ year MCC member).
Judith’s first golfing experience was in 1952 when working in the North Queensland town of Bowen as a registered nurse. At that time all nurses and other emergency services were automatically made members of all clubs in the town including the local golf club, a beautiful links course situated on the Whitsunday coast, and fortunately for the MCC, her long connection to the game began. The love of golfing also ran in the family and Judith’s mother was one of the first lady members at Royal Perth.
By 1954 Judith was back in Mandurah which at that time was basically a small fishing village with a population around 1300. She married local Owen Tuckey and, in her words, “married into a big family and felt everyone in Mandurah was related to me all of a sudden.” The nearest golf course was at Pinjarra and along with approximately 5 other ladies, including Mrs Kilpatrick, the wife of founding MCC President Ross Kilpatrick (who also has the distinction of holding membership number one), Judith continued to enjoy golf.
In addition to working the family farm, they also operated the Mandurah Picture Gardens (movie theatre) on the corner of the Smart Steet Mall, screening movies 7 nights weekly in summer and 3 nights in winter and Judith recalls seeing “a lot of movies during that time”. Neighbours of mine (born and raised in Mandurah) recall Owen chasing non-paying youngsters from the theatre catching more than he lost and that the movie theatre was very popular with Mandurah locals.
By the late 1950’s discussions started on the possible development of a Mandurah golf club and in 1959 an informal meeting took place with a small group, including Owen Tuckey and Ross Kirkpatrick, the Sutton brothers Hal and Tony along with several other hard-working individuals, the idea gathered momentum and the genesis of the MCC originated.
In researching the club history, Judith gave me a document authored by Foundation member ‘Hope Sheppard’, who fortunately recorded the origins of the club and I acknowledge his excellent work and have drawn upon and used his recollections in this article.
In 1959 Mandurah had no Shire Council and came under the jurisdiction of a Commissioner, Mr Richard Rushton who was keen to see a ‘green belt’ encircling Mandurah and is referenced as being a visionary and strong supporter of the golf course proposal. After a great deal of preliminary planning and preparation, the first General Public meeting was held on 9th March 1960 resulting in the adoption of a Constitution, the appointment of the inaugural committee and President. The club was called the ‘Mandurah Country Club’ as it was originally envisaged that other sporting activities, e.g., lawn bowls and tennis, would be played at the club.
Of particular significance in the Constitution was the decision to make women full members as opposed to Associate members, the norm of the day. Judith fondly remembers the ‘men’ stating they would only consider forming a club if their wives were full members and could enjoy all the facilities the club had to offer with equal voting rights. In 1960 this was considered a bold move and the Committee was warned by some other clubs, “that this could lead to dire consequences” but as Judith is recorded stating at the time, “one doesn’t say men and women – just members”.
The Sutton brothers Hal and Tony provided 50 acres for the nominal sum of ten pounds an acre with a further 50 acres given to the Shire as an allowance against any future subdivision they might make around the links site. The end result was a 100-acre reserve that would be leased from the Shire as a golf links. The commencement of the club also required a minimum of 50 members and Judith recalls, with a chuckle, many of the local business people and families were conscripted (encouraged rather than coerced) into being a Foundation member on the payment of a £10 debenture – some of whom had never played the game and never intended to play either. Foundation members included Judith and her husband Owen, Judith’s mother, and Owen’s mother (who also never played).
Judith has very fond memories of those early days and the hard work that many families put into the creation of the club and course. The course design was created by Murray Dawson and his wife Eileen who walked around the site pegging out the future fairways, tees and greens and one can only imagine how difficult this was in virgin terrain. The course we play on today is pretty much in accordance with the original design which is a great credit to the course architects and for their incredible efforts they charged a miserly fee of £10.
Everyone pitched in bringing along tractors and other machinery to clear the course, including Shire trucks and other machinery kindly donated to the cause on weekends. Each family was assigned a particular hole and Judith and Owen, along with their two children had responsibility for the 5th and spent much time picking up sticks and caring for the fairway (no blowers around in those days). With predominately black sand throughout the course the work was hard and dirty but rewarding in the sense of a community working together to create something special.
To manage and finance such a massive undertaking, it was decided to firstly create a nine-hole layout with the other holes to come at a later stage, so the 18 holes was achieved by playing the 9 holes twice until 1964 when the additional 9 (inner) holes were completed. The fairways were planted with a combination of oats, New Zealand clover and Bermuda couch (quite a combination) and sand-greens were initially used. The first green to have grass was the 9th (and later the 18th) and this was achieved with the assistance of the Rockingham golf club who kindly donated ‘sods’ which were transported back to the club (by volunteers of course) and then the members broke them up into tiny tuffs which were planted on hands and knees, mostly done in the evening when plagued by mosquitos.
The clubhouse was a tin shed built by members almost opposite the 9th green, lavishly equipped with a ‘meta stove’, a toilet out the back (which blew over a few times – Judith wasn’t forthcoming as to whether it was occupied at the time), dirt floor, piano, barbeque and a portable dance floor made by husband Owen and transported to the shed when required. Judith recalls many fun filled evenings, singing along with the piano player and a great sense of camaraderie.
A landmark for the club was the first MCC Ladies Day held in 1961 – no changing rooms available and visitors had to change in the Ambulance trailer (kindly donated of course) on a glorious day that rained non-stop with the pleasure of putting on oiled sand-greens described by Judith as “horrible”, (I’ll never complain again about misreading a green).
The course was still in progressing and had some interesting developments during the initial stages. A landscape gardener donated their time to assist but unfortunately wasn’t a golfer which was evidenced by some of the shrub/tree selections which resulted in branches too low making shots unplayable and the offending plants removed after much complaining. Another memory that brought a chuckle was the mysterious disappearance of a few wattle plants overnight – although never proved, there was a member who suffered hay-fever and was considered a prime suspect.
Those years throughout the sixties certainly bring back great memories for Judith and a highlight of that decade was the official opening on completion of the clubhouse premises on Saturday 22nd February 1969. Once again much hard work went into the financing and creation of the clubhouse and Judith recalls the members were always raising money to pay for improvements. The clubhouse site had been identified back when the club was first formed, and a deal struck by the inaugural President Ross Kirkpatrick and Hal Sutton resulted in the club purchasing the half acre for twenty-five pounds and Hal never cashed the original cheque.
The architect of the clubhouse, Mr Hal Menzies, wouldn’t accept a fee for his services and his vision for capturing the great outlook is still enjoyed by all today. The opening event was attended by many notables and from all accounts was a grand affair to celebrate a terrific milestone achieved by the hard work and foresight of so many willing volunteers. The clubhouse was a popular venue for many balls and gatherings with NYE parties attracting crowds in excess of 400. Even the WA Governor came each year with his golf team and Judith along with Billie Friedlander (current club Trustee) would source white linen for the tables with food being prepared by the Billie and Judith.
Over the years the MCC hosted a number of large golf tournaments attracting many well-known golfers including Graham Marsh, Roger Davies, Peter Thomson, Ian Stanley, Terry Gale to name a few. Judith recalls Sam Snead[1] playing in a Pro-Am one year and later walking into the bar wearing one of his famous ‘straw hats’ before being advised he would be required to ‘buy for the bar’ if it remained.
Protocol and formality were a big part of golfing scene in those early years and the dress code as strictly adhered to. Men wore long trousers with shirts tucked in, no shorts being allowed. Ladies wore very plain pleated shirts and blouses and were eventually allowed to wear shorts which had to be a prescribed length to ensure they touched the ground when kneeling down. Ladies always changed after golf and Judith commented with envy about the range of clothing available for women today.
The formality wasn’t restricted to clothing and equality was a word that rhymed with absurdity when you consider that women golfers were not allowed in the bars of other clubs and when playing pennants some clubs sectioned off a small area so they could access drinks but not the bar and “on men’s day women were not allowed anywhere near the bar.”
Judith considers herself an average golfer who played off a 16 handicap and was once runner-up in the Ladies championship. She also represented the MCC in pennants and was the Ladies Captain for 3 years, 1966 to 1968. Unfortunately, in 1999 she had to stop playing when she broke both wrists after a fall but still maintained her membership.
The contribution to the MCC by Judith and her late husband Owen is to be revered and in Judith’s words, “the club has always been a part of our life.” In addition to being foundation members and enthusiastically involved in the development of the club over many years, Owen went on to be the President in in 1964 to 1968 and again in 1983/84 and was awarded life membership status. Judith took on the role of club patron in 2012, a position she still holds today.
Their positive impact and community involvement was not restricted to the MCC and in 2019 Judith was awarded ‘Local Legend status’ by the Mandurah City Council. An extract from the media attending the award describes the contribution made by Judith:
Mandurah Mayor Rhys Williams said the Tuckey family has been one of the most influential families throughout the Peel region, helping make Mandurah the beautiful city that it is today.
“For more than 60 years, Judith has dedicated her time and resources to improving the lives of others.
“In 1968, Judith and her husband Owen Tuckey started the Coolabah retirement village, to provide affordable accommodation and aged care in Mandurah. Judith is still patron of the facility today.
“Judith is a foundation member and patron of the Mandurah Country Club after helping establish the golf course. She founded the first kindergarten in Mandurah in 1961 and formed the Mandurah branch of the Arthritis Foundation in 1974. She is also a life member and former President of the Mandurah Bridge Club and a great supporter of the arts.
“As recently as 2008, Judith trained with the Australian Tax Office as a volunteer to help low-income earners and people with disabilities complete their tax returns.
“On behalf of the City of Mandurah thank you for your lifelong commitment to helping others, our community is a better place because of people like you,” Mr Williams said.
The Tuckey family came to the Peel Region right at the start of its development and became one of the most successful families in the area. They established fishing and timber industries in Mandurah and also played key roles in the development of education, tourism, and transport in the region
Late husband Owen was made Honorary Freeman of the City of Mandurah and in 1997 was awarded the OAM[2] “for service to the community of Mandurah through the Peel Inlet Management Authority and sporting and commercial organisations.”
Many years have passed since the idea of the MCC was first discussed in 1959 and when reflecting on what had been achieved over those years Judith was extremely proud, particularly in relation to the growth and improvements in the past few years.
Each year when I ask Judith if she will continue in her role as club patron, she is gracious and thrilled to remain in the role but always with the caveat that she wants to be sure there is no one else we would like to consider and that she was not preventing other deserving people from taking on the role – personally, I can’t think of no one more deserving.
Kind regards
Ian Johnson
President
[1] Considered one of the all-time greats with 82 PGA tour wins including 7 majors
[2] In the Australian honours system appointments to the Order of Australia confer the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service.
