Owners of 122-year-old bowls club make heartbreaking announcement – as its dire financial woes are revealed
One of Australia’s oldest bowls clubs has been placed into administration after 122 years, with locals fearing it could make way for housing.
Olvera Advisers’ Michael James Billingsley and Anthony Phillip Wright were appointed administrators of Warringah Bowling Club in Mosman, on Sydney’s lower north shore, on August 8.
The move comes just months after venue manager Liarne Peek warned the historic club was on the brink of collapse.
‘Warringah Bowls Club is hanging on by its fingernails,’ she told Mosman Collective in April, urging the community to support the struggling institution.
‘If the community could help us by coming in and buying a drink, it would help.’
At the time, it was revealed the club had sold just 450 beers and 16 coffees over an entire week.
‘Things are looking dire for the club – there is no other way to put it. We need a lifeline, and we need it now,’ Ms Peek said.
The club’s books underline the extent of the crisis, with financial records showing an operating loss of $165,715 in 2023 and a further $45,677 deficit in 2024.
Warringah Bowling Club (pictured) has gone into administration after 122 years of operation
A pickleball court has been established on the grounds of the Bowling Club (pictured)
Figures for 2025 have not yet been released.
By comparison, neighbouring Neutral Bay Bowls Club reported a healthy $272,982 surplus in 2024, following a $443,010 profit the year before.
In an attempt to turn things around, members voted in April to convert one of the club’s bowling greens into six pickleball courts under a 12-year licensing deal with Mosman Pickleball.
It was estimated the deal would bring in around $200,000 a year, assuming the pickleball players became club members and purchased food and drinks from the venue.
The plan for a full overhaul, which would’ve included a resurfacing of the turf, appears to have been abandoned in the wake of the administration.
A pickleball court has been erected on the site.
Mosman Collective has urged residents to attend the venue in an effort to save it from going under.
‘Warringah Bowling Club is more than a sporting club,’ they said.
Mosman Pickleball (pictured) had planned to partner with the struggling venue
‘It’s one of the last remaining communal venues in Mosman – publicly accessible, family (and dog) friendly, heritage-rich and deeply embedded in our local fabric.’
Focus is now shifting to the club’s valuable landholding.
The site covers more than 5,300sq metres, fuelling speculation that developers may swoop in if the property is put on the market.
A rezoning and State Significant Development declaration could fast-track a residential project, transforming the site entirely.
But rezoning remains a flashpoint on Sydney’s lower north shore, with Mosman Council backing 89-year-old Judith Pearson in her legal fight against the NSW Government’s housing reforms.
