Mueller Park croquet club came into being in 1908 at Mueller Park, adjoining the Subiaco Oval site.
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich Von Mueller was a German botanist and explorer, who came to Australia firstly to Adelaide in 1847 then as an explorer/botanist in Western Australia, before settling in Victoria. Other interesting things about him are that he was the first to identify the Macadamia Tree when in Queensland and that he in fact wasn’t German at all but Danish both by the borders of Europe at the time and by passport.
The club existed under this name until 1916 when due to the political feeling during the first world war it was decided to rename the park area more patriotically as Kitchener Park.
This is where things need more research, it seems the club didn’t change name to Kitchener Park until 1924, it certainly operated a club at the venue under the name Westville ( presumably a contraction from West Leederville ) but the club may not have been based there for all of that 1917-24 period.
The 4 courts were prized and used by the Western Australian Croquet Association as a headquarters for a fair number of years.
Kitchener Park club carried on until at least 1942.
No club colour reference has been found yet for either Mueller or Kitchener Park clubs but Westville was mentioned as Blue and Gold.
Despite being the centre of the croquet world in WA for a number of decades, the clubs had little success in the pennants competition, Mueller Park winning A in 1912, Kitchener Park A in 1927, 1928 and 1929. No success for Westville at all.
As an aside Muller Road was renamed Roberts Rd during the WW1 changes but never reverted back, unlike the park which once again celebrates the Baron Von Muller’s achievements.
Martin Clarke
