Queanbeyan Football Club
The Queanbeyan Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club that competes in the AFL Canberra. The club is based in Queanbeyan, one of the oldest and fastest growing municipalities in New South Wales, that draws players and administrators from a region of 100,000 people covering the Division of Eden-Monaro. Affiliated: The team was affiliated with Federal Territory Football League in 1925–26, it was affiliated with the Canberra Australian National Football League in 1927–74, the ACT Australian Football League in 1975–99, AFL Canberra 2000–10 and the North East Australian Football League 2011–present. The club adopted black and gold colours in 1935 after VFL club Richmond donated a set of playing jumpers. Alan Muir wrote about the team: "The fact that the club survived all of those tough periods was due to the dedication and vision of men like our Foundation President Wal Mason followed by other outstanding Administrative personalities in Jim Prendergast, Maurie Richards, Dick Sydes, Tom Borrowman, Reg Watson, Jack McNamara and Dave Imrie through to more recent administrators covering both football and the licensed club in Ron Fowlie, Gary Bullivant, Van Rakowski, Geoff Gosling and Mark Thompson”.
The Junior Tigers commenced their 66th Year in the ACT Junior Football League in 2013 and provide over 80 per cent of the senior grade teams. Since 1979, the team has been located at Dairy Farmers Park and supporters have raised $800,000 to install facilities such as a roofed grandstand and Coaches Boxes for home and visiting teams, an Administration Building, ground lighting, a Hall of Fame walk, goal netting and disabled access. Premierships: Mulrooney Medallists: Tom Kelly 1938 Merv Strang 1938 Keith Schow 1950 Roy Watterston 1953 and 1954 Tony Wynd 1983, 1988, 1989 and 1990 Steve Cornish 1990 Michael Kennedy 1994 Steve Vizy 1997 Mitch Daniher 2009. League top goalkickers: G. Lovell 1940 R. Savage 1946 L. White 1956 M. Wheeler 1958 J. Lysewycz 1977 I. Male 1987 D. Skuta 1989 S. Cornish 1990 A. Mapleson 1992 M. Niesen 1997 1998 L. Ellis 2002, 2003 M. Armstrong 2007, 2008 2010. Highest score: 43.37 vs. RAAF on 27 July 1940. Record finals attendance: 10,000 for 1985 Grand Final: Queanbeyan 23.18.
The club entered the NEAFL for the competition's inaugural season in 2011. In 2012 it won the Eastern Conference premiership with an 18.13.121 over Sydney Swans 13.13.91. Queanbeyan Tigers have appointed Peter Williamson – a former Captain Coach of the Tigers Club who has moved to the South Coast to coordinate a pathway for developing players from all Sapphire Coast Australian Football League Clubs. For many years the Queanbeyan Tigers sponsored the South East Region Academy of Sport which involved players from clubs in areas such as Bateman's Bay, Bega and Merimbula, throughout the Bega Valley Shire. Queanbeyan Tigers have a formalised development relationship with the Cooma Cats Australian Football Club. There is a list of players who have played at AFL/VFL: Robert Anderson Wayne Carroll Kevin Delmenico Michael Kennedy Jack Lucas Keith Schow Lindsay White Roy Williams Queanbeyan Football Club website Queanbeyan history at Australian Football.com Queanbeyan Australian Football at Sporting Pulse
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of, a 20-metre pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at the wicket with the bat, while the bowling and fielding side tries to prevent this and dismiss each player. Means of dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, by the fielding side catching the ball after it is hit by the bat, but before it hits the ground; when ten players have been dismissed, the innings ends and the teams swap roles. The game is adjudicated by two umpires, aided by a third umpire and match referee in international matches, they communicate with two off-field scorers. There are various formats ranging from Twenty20, played over a few hours with each team batting for a single innings of 20 overs, to Test matches, played over five days with unlimited overs and the teams each batting for two innings of unlimited length.
Traditionally cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a raised sewn seam enclosing a cork core, layered with wound string. Cricket's origins are uncertain and the earliest definite reference is in south-east England in the middle of the 16th century, it spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the first international matches in the second half of the 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council, which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test matches; the game's rules are held in a code called the Laws of Cricket, owned and maintained by Marylebone Cricket Club in London. The sport is followed in the Indian subcontinent, the United Kingdom, southern Africa and the West Indies, its globalisation occurring during the expansion of the British Empire and remaining popular into the 21st century.
Women's cricket, organised and played separately, has achieved international standard. The most successful side playing international cricket is Australia, having won seven One Day International trophies, including five World Cups, more than any other country, having been the top-rated Test side more than any other country. Cricket is one of many games in the "club ball" sphere that involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement. In cricket's case, a key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the wicket, that the batsman must defend; the cricket historian Harry Altham identified three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in which the ball is driven to and fro between two targets. It is believed that cricket originated as a children's game in the south-eastern counties of England, sometime during the medieval period. Although there are claims for prior dates, the earliest definite reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given at a court case in Guildford on Monday, 17 January 1597.
The case concerned ownership of a certain plot of land and the court heard the testimony of a 59-year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that: "Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play there at creckett and other plaies". Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school and so it is certain that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey. The view that it was a children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave's 1611 English-French dictionary in which he defined the noun "crosse" as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket" and the verb form "crosser" as "to play at cricket". One possible source for the sport's name is the Old English word "cryce" meaning a staff. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick". In Old French, the word "criquet" seems to have meant a kind of stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch "krick", meaning a stick.
Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word "krickstoel", meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de sen. Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but the sport itself may be of Flemish origin. Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most runs, the early form of cricket differed from the modern game in certain key technical aspects; the ball was bowled underarm by the bowler and all along the ground towards a batsman armed with a bat that, in shape, resembled a hockey stick.
Sheffield Shield
The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from six states of Australia. Prior to the Shield being established, a number of intercolonial matches were played; the Shield, donated by Lord Sheffield, was first contested during the 1892–93 season, between New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Queensland was admitted for the 1926–27 season, Western Australia for the 1947–48 season and Tasmania for the 1977–78 season; the competition is contested in a double-round robin format, with each team playing every other team twice, i.e. home and away. Points are awarded based on wins, losses and ties, with the top two teams playing a final at the end of the season. Regular matches last for four days. In 1891–92 the Earl of Sheffield was in Australia as the promoter of the English team led by W. G. Grace; the tour included three Tests played in Melbourne and Adelaide. At the conclusion of the tour, Lord Sheffield donated £150 to the New South Wales Cricket Association to fund a trophy for an annual tournament of intercolonial cricket in Australia.
The three colonies of New South Wales and South Australia were playing each other in ad-hoc matches. The new tournament commenced in the summer of 1892–93, mandating home and away fixtures between each colony each season; the three teams competed for the Sheffield Shield, named after its benefactor. A Polish immigrant, Phillip Blashki, won the competition to design the trophy, a 43 in × 30 in silver shield; the competition therefore commenced some 15 years after Australia's first Test match. In 1999, the Australian Cricket Board announced a sponsorship deal which included renaming the Sheffield Shield to the Pura Milk Cup to the Pura Cup the following season. Pura is a brand name of National Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Philippines-based San Miguel Corporation; the sponsorship increased total annual prize money to A$220,000, with the winners receiving A$75,000 and the runners up A$45,000. On 16 July 2008 it was announced that Weet-Bix would take over sponsorship of the competition from the start of the 2008–09 season, that the name would revert to the "Sheffield Shield" or the "Sheffield Shield presented by Weet-Bix".
Weet-bix is a cereal biscuit manufactured by Sanitarium Health Food Company. In the 2017–18 season, JLT took over the sponsorship for the competition. A Each team has used several venues to host matches. For a full list, see list of cricket grounds in Australia; each side has played each other both home and away every season with the following exceptions: South Australia had no home game with: Victoria in 1901–02 or 1903–04. Queensland and South Australia played only once in 1926–27. Western Australia played each team only once from their debut in 1946–47 until 1955–56 inclusive. Tasmania played each team only once from their debut in 1977–78 until 1981–82 inclusive. Where the teams played an unequal number of games, their final points were calculated on a pro-rata basis. Matches were timeless up to 1926–27. A 4-day time limit has applied since 1927–28. Since 1982–83, the top two teams after the 10 home and away rounds have met in a final; the team with the most points hosts the final against the second-ranked team.
The match is played over five days at the home ground of the top-ranked team. Between 1982-83 and 2017 -- 18, the home team only needed to tie that match to win the title. Starting in the 2018-19 summer - on a one-year trial - the bonus point system was introduced for the final in a bid to force more results after several years of lacklustre draws. A number of different systems have been used over the years. Points are awarded for each match during the home and away season according to the following table. Bonus point example – If after 100 overs the score is 8/350, the batting team would receive 1.5 points, the bowling side would receive 0.8 points Quotient is used to separate teams which finish on an equal number of points. Teams can be penalised points for failing to maintain an adequate over rate; the bonus bowling points were modified for the 2016–17 season. For the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, the bowling team received 0.5 points for taking the 5th, 7th and 9th wickets. The Shield was envisaged as a match-by-match challenge trophy.
The quotient has been used as a tie-breaker for teams on equal points since 1893–94. First innings points were introduced in 1932–33 and used until 1970–71. Bonus points for first innings batting and bowling were used from 1971–72 to 1980–81 inclusive. During the first 100 overs of each side's first innings, a maximum of 10 batting bonus points could be attained, they were awarded for every 25 runs scored from 175 to 400 inclusive. A maximum of 5 bowling bonus points were available upon capture of the second, sixth and last wickets; this was changed to wickets 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 as batting teams declared when 9 wickets down to deny the bowling side the additional bonus point. Prior to the introduction of a Final in 1982–83, the team with most points
Prime Minister's XI
The Prime Minister's XI or PM's XI is an invitational cricket team picked by the Prime Minister of Australia for an annual match held at the Manuka Oval in Canberra against an overseas touring team. The Australian team consists of up and coming grade cricketers from the Canberra region and state players. In 1962–63 Sir Donald Bradman came out of retirement to play for the Prime Minister's XI against the MCC; when he returned to the pavilion he told Robert Menzies. Anyway that's my final appearance at the wicket."India lost the December 1999 PM's XI by 164 runs. England lost the 2002 Prime Minister's XI. In 2003 there was a match between an ATSIC Chairperson's XI held at Adelaide Oval. Pakistan won the match in January 2005 with a five-wicket victory with seven overs remaining; the 2005/06 match was changed from South Africa to the West Indies. The team announced; the match on 2 December 2005 had to end early due to the Canberra storms, with Australia getting 4/316, West Indies finishing in the 31st over at 3/174.
The PM's XI won by six runs using the Duckworth-Lewis method. In 2006/2007 England lost to the Prime Minister's XI by 166 runs; the game was scheduled earlier than usual due to the Ashes Series. It was the first English tour match of the summer. In 2014, the Prime Minister's XI suffered the biggest defeat in the history of the match against England after being bowled out for just 92. In 2018 the Prime Minister's XI beat South Africa by 4 wickets In the MCC tour of Australia in 1954–55 the cricket loving Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies invited the MCC to a reception on the evening before the match and the ex-Australian captain Lindsay Hassett recited a ditty about facing "Typhoon" Tyson, they say that this bloke Tyson is fast! Faster than Larwood so they say! They say that he takes a run-up of a hundred yards! Fast - psshaw! I'm not scared of his long run. Tomorrow when I bat, I'll hook him out of sight! When he finished there was a thunder-clap from the storm outside "Listen, he's just started his run-up!"
Joked Hassett. The match was a game played in one day with each side playing one innings rather than Limited overs cricket in the modern sense of the term. Hutton won the toss and opened with Bill Edrich, but both were out for 25/2, but Peter May made 101 and added 98 with Vic Wilson and 76 with Tom Graveney. Johnny Wardle scooped and swatted 37 not out and the MCC declared on 278/7 after 40 eight-ball overs; the match had a party atmosphere and Hassett gave 9 of his players a bowl, six of them took a wicket and himself 2/34 with his medium pacers. Tailender Ian Johnson opened the Australian bowling and was out for 4, but his partner was the big hitting Richie Benaud who smashed the ball all over the ground in his 113 as the Prime Minister's XI made 247 off 30.3 overs at over a run a ball. One of his sixes was caught by the Governor General Field Marshal Sir William Slim and a businessman donated £35 and 10 shillings to local charities, 30 shillings for each six and 10 shillings for each four.
Veteran batsman Sam Loxton hit 47 and Keith Miller 38 as Bill Edrich's fast bowling cost him 40 runs off 5 overs, though he did take 2 wickets. Johnny Wardle produced a middle order collapse from 195/2 to 234/7 with Vic Wilson helping him with three catches; when Hassett came in to bat Tyson was brought on and took an outrageously long run up before bowling a slow donkey drop. He bowled a real bouncer that hit Hassett on the hand before catching him off Len Hutton's leg spin for a 31 run victory. On the MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59 Prime Minister Robert Menzies had five Australian captains in his team, they batted first and the opener Morris hit 14 boundaries in his 79 and Brian James, a New South Wales Country player hit 5 sixes in his 88 before retiring hurt. Tom Graveney took 2/38 with his leg-spin and Jim Laker 2/61, they declared on 288/7 off 38 eight-ball overs in two hours and thirty-five minutes, leaving the MCC the same number of overs in less time. Peter Richardson was out for a duck to Lindwall, Ted Dexter thrashed 76 before hitting his wicket and Colin Cowdrey struck 101 runs in 84 minutes with 10 boundaries to win the match by four wickets.
After the victory the MCC batted on to entertain the crowd and Cowdrey reached his century before he was caught by Hassett off Morris, who ran through the lower order with his part-time leg-spin and they were all out for 332. In the MCC tour of Australia in 1962–63 there was intense anticipation for the match against the Prime Minister's XI as the 54-year-old Sir Donald Bradman agreed to captain the team after 14 years without playing cricket; the thorough man that he was Bradman started practicing for the big day and 10,000 men and children came to see him bat for the last time. His old foe the MCC assistant-manager Alec Bedser agreed to play and the Bradman Pavilion was unveiled at the Manuka Oval; the Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies was a keen cricket fan who initiated these matches in 1951 and the money raised was donated to Legacy, a charity for the dependents of deceased Australian servicemen. Ted Dexter won the toss and elected to bat with Bradman fielding at first slip they rattled the fence with 36 fours and birthday-boy Fred Trueman hit a six.
David Sheppard top-scored with 72 and Colin Cowdrey made 42. Richie Benaud took 2/62 off 8 overs, but the bowling honours went to the Canberra leg-spinner G. Brown, who took 3/61. Dexter nicked
Nathan Lyon
Nathan Michael Lyon is an Australian international cricketer. He holds the record for the most Test wickets taken by an Australian off-spin bowler, after passing Hugh Trumble's 141 wickets in 2015. Nathan Lyon moved from Young to Canberra as a teenager where he went on to play for ACT Cricket's under-17s and under-18s representative teams. Lyon played for Western Districts and University of Canberra Cricket Club in ACT Grade cricket and debuted for the ACT Comets in 2008 in the Cricket Australia Cup against the South Australian Second XI where he claimed a wicket on day one. During his time with Comets Lyon was mentored by captain, captain-coach, Mark Higgs, who helped him in his spin bowling, getting his bowling action right as well as the tactical side including what lines to bowl and fields to set. After Lyon left the Comets he continued to keep in contact with Higgs in regards to the game. In 2010 Nathan Lyon moved to Adelaide and worked as a member of the ground staff team at the Adelaide Oval.
He played for the Prospect Cricket Club in the South Australian Grade Cricket League while continuing playing for the Comets in the Futures League. After Lyon’s performance in the 2010 Futures League Twenty20 in December for the Comets in Melbourne which South Australia's Twenty20 coach Darren Berry witnessed he was selected to play for the Southern Redbacks in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. In 2010–11 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Lyon was the leading wicket-taker where the Redbacks went on to win the competition. Lyon went on to play for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield and the Australian domestic limited-overs competition. In the same year he was selected to represent Australia A in Zimbabwe where he took 11 wickets in the tri-series to be named man of the series. Nathan Lyon has signed to play in the inaugural season of the Big Bash League for the Adelaide Strikers. In 2013, Lyon returned to represent his home state Sydney Sixers. In May 2017 it was announced that Worcestershire had signed Lyon as a replacement for compatriot John Hastings, competing in the ICC Champions Trophy.
On 15 November 2017, during the final moments of the Sheffield Shield match against Queensland at the Allan Border Field, Lyon was involved in a bizarre incident, burning a piece of toast in the dressing room and causing the smoke alarm to go off, which brought the fire services to the ground and stopped play for 30 minutes. On 26 July 2011, Lyon was selected in the Australian Test squad for the tour to Sri Lanka in 2011, he took two wickets for Australia against the Sri Lanka Board XI in the three-day warm-up match at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium. Lyon made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Galle on 31 August 2011. Nathan Lyon took his first wicket off his first ball in Test cricket on 1 September 2011, his victim was Kumar Sangakkara. With this feat he became the third Australian to take his first wicket off his first ball in Test cricket, the first Australian since Arthur Coningham, in 1894, he finished with 5/34 in his first innings, becoming the 131st player to take five wickets on debut in a Test match, the 15th Australian player to take a caught-and-bowled dismissal on the final ball of the innings.
In November 2011, Lyon became just the seventh number 11 batsman to have the top score in his team's innings, when he scored 14 in Australia's second-innings total of 47 in the 1st Test against South Africa. Nathan Lyon played his first Test in Australia at the Gabba starting on 1 December 2011 against New Zealand in the first Test match of the series. Lyon took 4/69 in the first innings and 3/19 in his second innings, culminating in match figures of 7/88, the best Test match bowling figures by an Australian off-spinner at the venue, he played in three of the four Tests of the subsequent home series against India—being left out of the team for the third Test on the pace-friendly WACA Ground—taking seven wickets at an average of 41.57. Former Australian off-spinner Ashley Mallett criticised Lyon's delivery method during the series, saying he had been bowling too wide on the crease. On 24 April 2013, Lyon was named as the only spinner in the upcoming 2013 Ashes series for the Australian squad.
It held true until hours before the first match when he was dropped from out of the lineup in favour of shock debutant Ashton Agar, who went on to score 98 on his Test debut, a world record for a no. 11 batsman. However, Lyon was recalled to the team for the third Ashes Test, in the fourth Ashes Test at Chester-le-Street, he took figures of 4/42 on the first day to help restrict England to 238 in their first innings. On 28 December 2013, during the Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Lyon took his 100th Test wicket and his first five wicket haul in Australia, he became just the sixth Australian off-spinner to take 100 Test wickets. On 5 January 2014, Lyon became only the second cricketer to not be dismissed in any innings during a five-Test series. Lyon made 60 runs during his six innings, with a strike rate of 52.63. On 13 December 2014, Lyon was named man of the match in the first Test of the Border–Gavaskar Trophy series against India at the Adelaide Oval after taking a personal best haul for the match of 5 for 134 in the first innings and 7 for 152 in the second.
This was the first match the Australian team had played after the death of Phillip Hughes just two weeks earlier. After taking the final wicket of the match to secure the victory for Australia, Lyon knelt down and patted Hughes's Test number 408, painted on the field for the match. In 2015, Lyon was not named in Australia's final squad of 15 for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Xavier Doherty was picked in his place as a specialist spin bowler. In June 2015, Lyon took his 142nd Test wicket, passi
Women's National Basketball League
The Women's National Basketball League is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is composed of eight teams; the league is the women's counterpart to the National Basketball League. Several WNBL teams have NBL counterparts; the Adelaide Lightning, Melbourne Boomers, Perth Lynx and Sydney Uni Flames are the current WNBL teams sharing a market with an NBL team. The current league champions are the University of Canberra Capitals. In August 1980, West Adelaide Bearcat Coach Ted Powell, after an encouraging exchange of letters with St Kilda's Coach Bill Palmer, called a meeting at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel in Adelaide. In attendance were Ted, North Adelaide Coach Kay McFarlane and Noarlunga Coach Brendan Flynn. At this meeting it was decided to approach three Victorian teams with the idea of forming a home and away Interstate Competition; the six teams' delegates all met and confirmed the new League at the Town and Country Motel in Sydney during the 1980 Australian Club Championships.
The meeting resolved to form a two-round competition between these teams to be held in July and August in 1981. The basis for the idea was that many of the top sides in both States wanted a varied competition from their standard State League as well as a suitable preparation for the Australian Club Championship, held on an annual basis for the top 24 teams in the country. There was much excitement with the formation of the Men's National League in 1979 and the women felt that one of the best ways to develop the game was to provide more opportunities for the best players and clubs to play against each other more regularly. A major consideration was finance and with this in mind the competition was formed with the six teams with a full home and away series between all teams with three games on one weekend to save costs; the NSW based clubs of Bankstown and Sutherland were not happy to be left out due to costs and offered to pay their own way to Melbourne and Adelaide where they would play each team once for double points.
And so the WNBL was born. Reference. In 1981, the Australian Institute of Sport was opened and the men's head coach Dr. Adrian Hurley contacted the clubs and asked whether the AIS could participate in the competition to commence that year; the nine teams in the inaugural season of the league were: Australian Institute of Sport, Bankstown Bruins, Catholic Young Men's Society, Melbourne Telstars, Noarlunga Tigers, North Adelaide Rockets, St. Kilda Saints, Sutherland Sharks and West Adelaide Bearcats; the competition commenced on 19 June 1981 with the first game to be played in Adelaide between the AIS and West Adelaide. The competition was called the Women's Interstate Basketball Conference with each team paying the sum of $25 to be a part of the WIBC – giving a central fund of $200 to conduct the competition; the inaugural winner was St. Kilda who defeated the North Adelaide Rockets 77–58. St. Kilda went on to win the Victorian State Championship and the Australian Club Championship in Melbourne, defeating Bankstown Bruins in the final.
St. Kilda had three Australian representatives in Karen Ogden and Patricia Cockrem. Ogden became the national league's first dual Most Valuable Player award winner when she took the individual trophy in 1982 and again in 1983. In 1982, the competition expanded into another state with the entry of a combined Brisbane team; the new revised program saw Victorian teams travelling to NSW and AIS, NSW teams travelling to South Australia and South Australian teams travelling to Victoria. It was not the beginnings of what was to come in the future; the competition changed its name to the more appropriate Women's Basketball League. St. Kilda repeated in 1982 with a grand final win over Bankstown – the men's team won the first two NBL titles, which showed the strength of St. Kilda at that time. In 1983, Nunawading Spectres led by Robyn Maher defeated St. Kilda and went on to win nine WNBL titles during the next 12 years. During the 1983 Australian Club Championships, a workshop was held to discuss women's basketball and from that meeting came the decision to bring together a second tier of clubs to form the Women's Conference.
There were now 20 women's teams playing in a home and away competition, which improved the standard of women's basketball in Australia. With the NBL riding the crest of a sudden wave of popularity, media interest in the women's league was on the increase. Most clubs were recognising the image of the league. Double header matches with the men's NBL and with South East Basketball League games – a secondary men's interstate competition – pushed the women's game before a wider spectator audience unfamiliar with the quality of women's basketball. In 1985, the two competitions continued to work together to improve women's basketball and recognised the need to promote the competition and the individual clubs and athletes. Hobart was winners of the second conference and was keen to enter the main competition, however this was not to be until 1986; when Perth admitted a team for the 1986 Women's Basketball Conference, the two women's leagues could rightfully claim that between them they had a national competition.
The Australian Basketball Federation approved the WBL's appli
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938 and referred to as the ACT, is a federal territory of Australia containing the Australian capital city of Canberra and some surrounding townships. It is enclaved within the state of New South Wales. Founded after federation as the seat of government for the new nation, all important institutions of the Australian federal government are centred in the Territory. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies of Australia was achieved. Section 125 of the new Australian Constitution provided that land, situated in New South Wales and at least 100 miles from Sydney, would be ceded to the new federal government. Following discussion and exploration of various areas within New South Wales, the Seat of Government Act 1908 was passed in 1908 which specified a capital in the Yass-Canberra region; the territory was transferred to the Commonwealth by New South Wales in 1911, two years prior to the capital city being founded and formally named as Canberra in 1913.
While the overwhelming majority of the population reside in the city of Canberra in the ACT's north-east, the Territory includes some surrounding townships such as Williamsdale, Uriarra and Hall. The ACT includes the Namadgi National Park which comprises the majority of land area of the Territory. Despite a common misconception, the Jervis Bay Territory is not part of the ACT although the laws of the Australian Capital Territory apply as if Jervis Bay did form part of the ACT; the Territory has a dry, contintental climate experiencing warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters. The Australian Capital Territory is home to many important institutions of the federal government, national monuments and museums; this includes the Parliament of Australia, the High Court of Australia, the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Australian War Memorial. It hosts the majority of foreign embassies in Australia as well as regional headquarters of many international organisations, not-for-profit groups, lobbying groups and professional associations.
Several major universities have campuses in the ACT including the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, the University of New South Wales, Charles Sturt University and the Australian Catholic University. A locally elected legislative assembly has governed the Territory since 1988. However, the Commonwealth may overturn local laws, it still maintains control over the area known as the Parliamentary Triangle through the National Capital Authority. Residents of the Territory elect three members to the House of Representatives and two Senators to the Australian Senate. With 419,200 residents, the Australian Capital Territory is second smallest mainland state or territory by population. At the 2016 census, the median weekly income for people in the Territory aged over 15 was $998 and higher than the national average of $662; the average level of degree qualification in the ACT is higher than the national average. Within the ACT, 37.1% of the population hold a bachelor degree level or above education compared to the national figure of 20%.
Indigenous Australian peoples have long inhabited the area. Evidence indicates habitation dating back at least 21,000 years, it is possible that the area was inhabited for longer, with evidence of an Aboriginal presence in south-western New South Wales dating back around 40,000–62,000 years. The principal group occupying the region were the Ngunnawal people. Following European settlement, the growth of the new colony of New South Wales led to an increasing demand for arable land. Governor Lachlan Macquarie supported expeditions to open up new lands to the south of Sydney; the 1820s saw further exploration in the Canberra area associated with the construction of a road from Sydney to the Goulburn plains. While working on the project, Charles Throsby learned of a nearby lake and river from the local Indigenous peoples and he accordingly sent Wild to lead a small party to investigate the site; the search was unsuccessful, but they did discover the Yass River and it is surmised that they would have set foot on part of the future territory.
A second expedition was mounted shortly thereafter and they became the first Europeans to camp at the Molonglo and Queanbeyan Rivers. However, they failed to find the Murrumbidgee River; the issue of the Murrumbidgee was solved in 1821 when Charles Throsby mounted a third expedition and reached the watercourse, on the way providing the first detailed account of the land where Canberra now resides. The last expedition in the region prior to settlement was undertaken by Allan Cunningham in 1824, he reported that the region was suitable for grazing and the settlement of the Limestone Plains followed thereafter. The first land grant in the region was made to Joshua John Moore in 1823 and European settlement in the area began in 1824 with the construction of a homestead by his stockmen on what is now the Acton Peninsula. Moore formally named the property Canberry or Canberra. A significant influx of population and economic activity occurred around the 1850s goldrushes; the goldrushes prompted the establishment of communication between Sydney and the region by way of the Cobb & Co coaches, which transported mail and passengers.
The first post offices opened in Ginninderra in 1859 and at Lanyon in 1860. During colonial times, the European communities of Ginninderra and Tuggeranong settled and farmed the surrounding land; the region was called the Queanbeyan-Yass district, after the two largest towns in the area. The villages of Ginninderra and Tharwa developed to service the local agra
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