by Carla Caruso

Adelaide has something most cities don’t: an archery range in your Park Lands.

The Adelaide Archery Club is based in Bullrush Park/Warnpangga (Park 10) – on the corner of War Memorial Drive and Bundeys Road, North Adelaide. The club’s history dates back to 1850, and it’s been on this site since 1950.

Over the years, the club has been noteworthy for producing champions, and this continues today. Member David Barnes is set to compete as part of the Australian archery team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, kicking off July 23. Graham Winston, another member, is also the coach of the Paralympics team.

Club president Daniel Caon said whenever the sport was in the spotlight, they often fielded a heap of enquiries from the public. “That happened about five years ago when there were The Hunger Games [films] and there was also a kid’s movie called Brave. The lady protagonist used a bow and arrow in the cartoon and that piqued the interest of a lot of kids. It does make a difference and the Olympics usually creates another bump as well.”

The club boasts about 220 members, ranging in age from nine to 80. “We’ve had visitors from overseas come and shoot at our club and they just can’t believe we have an archery range based in the centre of the city,” Daniel said. “Most archery ranges are 10 to 15km out in the hills or somewhere. That’s a unique feature about Adelaide.”

In 2019, the City Council approved (in concept) a small extension to the Archery Club building. The club is seeking funding from the Office of Recreation and Sport to build an additional room to accommodate larger archery targets and remodel toilets, to make them wheelchair accessible. (See the plan below.)

“It’s quite a popular wheelchair sport,” Daniel said. “Even if people have lost the use of their arms, they can use their teeth or neck to compete.”

The club has use of the grounds seven days a week, but it’s busiest sport-wise on Thursday mornings and Saturdays and Sundays. “On the weekends, it’s getting used all the time,” Daniel said. “But if people come and have a picnic on a Wednesday and a member decides to do some practice, I’m sure they can just avoid each other.”

Nailsworth resident Annabelle Conboy, 16, got into archery after doing a beginner’s course two years ago. She hasn’t looked back. “It’s a really calming sport in a lot of ways and it’s also very challenging. Another thing I really love about it is the people. It takes a certain kind of person to be that persistent, having to shoot arrow after arrow and getting nowhere. You have to be focused and you have to be dedicated.”