Mintaroites have always loved their sports and leisure activities. Outside of work, family and spiritual duties these activities provided opportunities for building social cohesion.
Some of the earliest recorded activities, such as fox hunting and horse racing, reflect the homeland origins of the settlers.[1][2][3] Coursing, or live hare racing, started at Mintaro in 1884 and was well patronised up until it was outlawed in 1986.[4] Interestingly, Joseph Gilbert, one of the founder brothers of Mintaro, was the first person to import hares into South Australia.[5]
These were soon followed by cricket—the first matches being played in the town on the land which is now Torr Park[6]—along with football and tennis. Torr Park also had a Croquet court, laid down in 1929[7], and now hosts the Mintaro Bowling Club, established in 1959[8], alongside the tennis courts and the children’s playground.
Mintaro had a football team as early as 1881, the newspaper reporting ‘Football matches are the order of the day, and to distinguish one side from the other the most fantastic dresses are worn.’[9]
In 1911, in response to a public request, W. T. Mortlock donated 11 acres of land on the southern edge of the town for a recreation reserve, to be known as Mortlock Park.[10] Mintaro Football Club was admitted to the Mid-North Football Association in 1932.[11] Mintaro Netball Club entered the North Eastern Association in 1976, at the same time as Min-Man Football Club.[12]
For those whose leisure pursuits were less athletic in nature there were the regional agricultural and horticultural shows in the later 1800s where residents and local farmers could show off their gardening and produce-making skills.[13] There were also ploughing competitions where they could demonstrate their talents with the latest in farming equipment.[14]
And then there were the picnic days and sports galas of the late 1800s and early 1900s[15][16], as well as the major events such as the State’s Centenary in 1936 which brought all the town and rural folk out to celebrate.[17]
Originally public meetings, celebratory events, dances and other such events were held in the hotels, especially the Devonshire Inn which had a very large room and, for a time, a downstairs bowling alley. When it opened in 1878[18], the Mintaro Institute became the hub for these social events and the venue for travelling shows and entertainments that came to the town.[19]
The Institute continues to be a centre for meetings, functions, events and festivals. It is complemented by Mortlock Park and Torr Park, which continue to be developed to provide the best possible sporting and recreational facilities for the people of Mintaro and surrounds.