Scrabble Australia
Chronology
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1978 |
Scrabble® tournament John Fairfax Auditorium (NSW) – potentially the first tournament in Australia, using Concise Oxford Dictionary 1976 – scoring was on a blackboard (information courtesy of Joan Rosenthal/JeanMcGiffen) |
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1980 |
First Moomba – eventually became Australian National Championships |
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1981 |
September – second Moomba |
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City of Sydney tournament |
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October 3-5 fourth NSW Championship |
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1982 |
June - third Moomba |
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October – fifth NSW Championships |
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1983 |
Bendigo Tournament – individual and team event. First country tournament |
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May/June fourth Moomba |
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Sixth NSW Championship |
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Festival of Sydney champion Joan Rosenthal |
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1984 |
Fifth Moomba introducing new ‘win’ system, |
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1985 |
Inaugural City of Sydney Masters Invitational Tournament, 3 day event, |
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1986 |
Inaugural ASPA Australian Championship (17 games over three days) |
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TOURNAMENT HISTORY |
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1987 |
Essendon Tournament the first to implement the revised format of four sections |
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November first Victorian country promotional tournament at Geelong |
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1988 |
March 12/13, K-Mart Australian Scrabble Championships |
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Inaugural South Australian Tournament |
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1989 |
Australian Scrabble® Championships held in Perth – the first time the event is held outside of NSW/Victoria. The starting point for rotation of the tournament between States |
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Inaugural WA Championship |
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White Rabbit. The white rabbit trophy was a multi-coloured rabbit stuck on a block of wood. The "bunny" competition as it was commonly known is nearly 2 years old in 1989; instigated by the Melbourne Scrabble® Club to promote ‘double challenge’. It was always held on the 1st of the month. The bottom placed person is given the boot and it was the duty of the winner to organise the next tourney. The first event was won by Rhonda Palmer 1 March 1987. |
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Sixth National Tournament USA organised by Joe Edley Expert Division – 203 players – Australian achievers:
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First Melbourne Match Play tournament |
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1990 |
10/11 March - Moomba sponsored by McDonalds and Murfett Regency who both donated dictionaries as prizes. Winner Alistair Kane, 2nd Nick Ivanovski, 3rd Geoff Wright, 4th Roger Blom |
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TOURNAMENT HISTORY |
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1991 |
Australian Masters Scrabble® Tournament, Melbourne 30 March – 1 April (18 games) – first four placings to qualify for first World Championship in London September 1991 (1. Lena Boyd, 2. Glenys Lawrie, 3. Geoff Wright, 4. John Holgate. 5. Alastair Kane, 6. Paul Cleary) Lena Boyd and Geoff Wright both declined their places for the World Tournament (Lena electing to stay at home and look after her aging dog); the Aussie reps were Glenys Lawrie, John Holgate, Paul Cleary, Alistair Kane, also Barry Harridge played – won a ballot for the standby player position. First World Tournament All five Australian players were eliminated from the World Championship and played in the Plate – rankings John Holgate (3), Alastair Kane (10), Barry Harridge (16), Glenys Lawrie (19), Paul Cleary (29) |
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Moomba, two dictionaries were given as prizes; |
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1992 |
Western Australia introduces ‘open’ club tournaments to establish a grading system in WA |
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1996 |
First Trans-Tasman Challenge, staged in Sydney |
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1997 |
Inaugural NSW/Victoria Border Challenge (Wagga Wagga) |
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1998 |
Northern Territory Championships (Alice Springs); winner Glenys Lawrie |
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1999 |
Australia (Melbourne) hosts World Scrabble Championships |
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2003 |
Inaugural NSW Junior Scrabble® Championship |
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2006 |
Inaugural World Youth Scrabble® Championship held in Sydney, (Wollongong) December |
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2007 |
First youth tournament (players under 18 years of age) under the Australian rating system |
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Inaugural Central Coast Championship |
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2008 |
Inaugural Annual South Gippsland Primary Schools’ Scrabble® Tournament (Vic) |
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