Cricket and Regional Development on the Sunshine Coast: The Case of the Turf Wicket, 1930-1960

In Australia, sports historians have concentrated on the expansion of sporting cultures in the two largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne, though there is an increasing interest in other metropolitan areas. Although much has been written on the development of sport and community identity within Australia, few studies have focused on the significance of sport in rural and regional Australia. This paper seeks to add to this vastly under researched area in Australian sports history through an examination of the development of cricket in the towns of the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland from the 1930s to the 1950s as local competitions and associations appeared and as towns, clubs and officials struggled to promote the game