Southern Tasmanian Badminton Association Inc (STBA)

History of badminton in tasmania – where it all began

Exeter, a little orchard town on the banks of the river tamar is credited with being the first place in tasmania where badminton was played. Many attempts had been made to introduce a game; battledore and shuttlecock, very similar to badminton, but the attempts were unsuccessful. Some settlers from england who had some orchards at exeter played the game in their packing sheds during the slack season. 

The game had previously been played on the mainland and when miss e. Hewton came to launceston in 1923 from the mainland she was credited with having induced some of her friends to take up the game and she organised a social club, with the st. John’s parish hall as its headquarters. 

Original players were captain e. L. Sheehan, miss. E. Ross-hewton, mrs. T. H. Humphries, miss. A. Humphries, mrs. H. F. Barnett, miss. K. Pardey, miss. E. Cragg, mrs. S. Thynne, miss. N. Cuff, mrs. H. G. Doolan, t. Humphries, p. G. Henty, b. O’donnell, w. L. Brown, a proctor and a grieve. 

Mr. Alf leonard, of victoria, brought over some racquets and shuttles and with Mrs. Humphries gave the first exhibition game in st. Johns hall, launceston. Mr. Henty, who also played in victoria, supplied a few racquets and two or three dozen shuttles and games started to be played regularly once a week. 

St. Aidans club formed the following year, and later y. M. C. A. Started and social games began. 

What was the reason that the game took such a remarkable hold on tasmanians? The first reason is our climate conditions make it an ideal winter sport, and secondly, there were always a great number of halls that were easily obtained for a reasonable rent.