It’s a bold claim but Nowra Public School believes the game of handball originated on their turf.
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The school is preparing to celebrate their 150th anniversary in October, and discovered the history of the game in their search through the archives.
P&C member Phaedra Walsh said the story started in the 1950s when the Mackenzie kids were drafted from Nowra Hill to Canada.
After two years away the exciting news came through that the children were coming back.
As it grew closer students began to speculate on what they would bring with them? Would they dress in furs and have dragster bikes? Would they look like something out of the American comics everyone was reading at the time?
The day arrived when Pete Mackenzie finally arrived back at Nowra Hill. While he disappointed many kids with his lack of dragster bike, he brought something else – handball.
Pete asked each student to stand in a square of concrete and hit a tennis ball, basketball, or any sort of ball to and fro.
The idea was to hill the ball to an opponent as hard or as cunningly as you could, so that it bounded twice in their square while never letting it bounce twice in your own.
By doing this you could slowly whittle away at the opposition until just one person was left as the undisputed champion.
The game appealed to the kids and it caught on like bushfire until their marble bags lay at home, forgotten in the cupboard.
The teachers, who initially attempted to discourage the students from the single minded pursuit of handball glory, eventually caved in to the relentless pressure of the pupils and painted squares in the concrete to the boundaries were more clearly defined.
The stoke of genius solved a lot of arguments and fights which were erupting during the breaks.
The rest is history. According to Nowra Hill Public, through the offices of the Navy draft, the game spread to every little school in Australia.
Nowra Hill Public School’s 150th anniversary country fair and anniversary dinner will be held on October 14.
All ex students and staff are invited to attend. For more information contact phaedra.walsh@gmail.com