The history of Armadale Roleystone Kelmscott Rugby Union Football Club now known as ARKS Harrisdale Rugby Union Football Club Inc.
Back in the early 1970s three guys living in Kelmscott, Dave Gillard, Alf Rosethorne and John Gault, were playing rugby union for the Perth Bayswater Rugby Union Club. Back then the Tonkin Highway hadn’t even been thought of, so the trip home from training Tuesday and Thursdays and from home games on Saturdays was a 3 can an hour trip.
It was on these trips that the idea of starting a rugby club in Kelmscott was born. An advert was put in the local Comment Newspaper arranging a meeting of interested parties in the front bar of the Kelmscott Hotel. At the designated time on the designated evening another four rugby enthusiasts turned up, Tom Smith, John Barron, Terry Woodward and Maurice Mitchell. Between them, the five POMS, one Welshman and one Australian came up with the idea of ARKS.
Word got around locally and a number of others were keen to get their sons playing so ARKS Juniors was born first, playing a number of teams in the WAJRU competitions (held Saturday mornings on Langley Park in Perth) in 1975.
Formalised, ARKS Seniors played their first game that same year against a travelling social side called Perth Maori. The game was played at the Kelmscott Senior High School with post game “festivities” at the River Road Oval (the High School being a government building precluded the consumption of alcohol there). The seven founding members of ARKS each put in $5 to purchase a keg of beer which was sold to the thirsty rugby players, thus starting ARKS’ first treasury.
ARKS nominated to play in the WARU competition the following season, fourth grade only due to the lack of playing numbers. WARU Secretary John McCullough informed ARKS they were accepted into the competition but had to play both 3RD and 4th grade every week (thankfully they played at the same venue, against the same club, one after the other). John also suggested that it was the great showing of ARKS’ juniors in the ’75 season that got the club “over the line” into the senior competition.
ARKS first home ground was that very same River Road Oval which unfortunately had a concrete cricket pitch in the very centre of the rugby pitch. For winter sports this was liberally covered with yellow sand which, while adequately meeting the safety need, was less than kind if you happened to tackle someone in it.
With a playing strength of about 22, a number of whom were new to the game, playing the first couple of seasons was tough. 4th grade ran on and played, finished, and then much the same team ran on again to play 3rd grade.
The red and white colours of ARKS’ playing strip were chosen seeking to earn favour with the Shire Council. It was either the red and white of South Fremantle or the blue and white of East Fremantle, red and white won.
With the local MLA, Cyril Rushton, as patron and support from such local luminaries as Peter Stocker and Ian Blackburn, ARKS found favour with the Shire of Armadale Kelmscott (as it was then). The floodlighting at River Road was sketchy at best so the Shire offered ARKS the opportunity to move just up the highway to a new oval, Creyk Park.
The floodlights at Creyk Park were a huge improvement but sadly there was still only sufficient room for one pitch. A hall and kitchen (which on match days doubled as the bar) were put to good use and the club had a number of enjoyable seasons there, growing steadily in playing numbers to the extent that seniors playing two games on match days became a rarity. All the while the junior club was growing apace and achieving considerable success on the field. Rugby Union was having an impact in Armadale, Kelmscott and the surrounds.
While the Shire was an accommodating host, the grounds and facilities at Creyk Park were shared with other organisations and there were obviously occasions when uses clashed. With that in mind, and ever mindful of the desirability of two adjacent pitches instead of one, ARKS kept talking to the Shire (who had probably progressed to the Town of Armadale by then) about facilities that we didn’t have to share and that had room for two pitches. To their credit they came up with Kuhl House.
Kuhl House was the old, heritage listed farmhouse along Westfield Road that was adjacent to an oval that had more than enough room for two pitches. A deal was struck and ARKS had exclusive use of both the oval and the house as long as the club was responsible for all aspects of upkeep for both fields and clubrooms.
And so it was, over a lengthy period, the farmhouse was converted by club players and supporters into clubrooms (including a bar and cool room), an outdoor patio area was constructed surrounded by a seven foot tall brick wall (supposedly to contain the after match noise but it was less than successful), floodlights were installed, posts and crossbars were manufactured and installed on the two pitches, change rooms were built, fields were mowed, dressed, fertilised and marked as needed and the farmhouse outside toilets were completely renovated, allowing for both male and female members. We moved in, took over, and it was heaven.
Having firmly established the club at Kuhl House it was decided to have a crack at the big time and gain a spot in the WA Premiership rugby competition. This would require fielding 4 senior teams each week and necessitated a big and rapid increase in both senior playing numbers and ability. The proposal was put to the Council of WARU (Western Australian Rugby Union) meeting at the end of the 1984 and passed by a narrow majority.
It was on. ARKS advertised far and wide for players to come to WA and play. Players from New Zealand, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales answered the call and in total in excess of 50 players joined ARKS for the 1985 season, most paying their own way to get here. They were more than welcomed, a tireless group of ARKS players and supporters finding them jobs, temporary accommodation, permanent accommodation, transport and the like. To their credit they all worked hard to establish themselves as self-sufficient as soon as they possibly could.
So began 12 or so years where ARKS established itself as a force in WA rugby. In the first season our premier grade side finished 6th on the table (out of 12 teams) and we had proven ourselves to the WARU Council. Over the next few seasons a number of our premier grade side earned state representative honours, Matthew Kerr, Mike McDonagh, Peter Roberts, Robert (Nudge) Edwards and Gavin Johnstone to name a few. Home games at Kuhl house were memorable affairs and the post game socialising was legendary.
In those years ARKS hosted some British and Irish Lions members on tour to Australia along with the tour manager, former England and Lions player Roger Uttley, a touring Bank Of Ireland team who actually played ARKS (the cool room was full of kegs of Guinness for those post-match festivities) and on a more artistic note, the world famous Baragwanath Choir from Soweto, South Africa.
Excerpt and imagery provided by City of Armadale Museum Curator Christen Bell
ARKS took over Kuhl house around August 1983 after signing a 21 year lease on the house. The file I’m looking at also includes some references to the ‘behaviour of the club’ in relation to a few functions that features ‘live’ bands with amplified music. There is an amusing letter of complaint from a neighbour referring to ‘their language has been somewhat colourful and they have been rather noisy on occasions, but we have put up with that.’ Also ‘On training nights, large groups of men gather at the Clubrooms after training, drinking and “roughhousing” and generally making a racket. So far, we have also put up with that.’ The letter goes on to complain about a country and western evening that they actually called the police on. It looks like this lead to a rather complicated deal where a new fence was put up between the club rooms and the homes neighbouring the property.
Kuhl House 1974
Kuhl House April 1985
ARKS was a successful rugby club, financially stable and healthy, with a well-deserved reputation for consistency and a “can do” attitude. In the late 1990’s the Town of Armadale approached ARKS with a proposal to move to the John Dunn facility in Kelmscott that was being leased by the Kelmscott Bulldogs Aussie Rules club. It wasn’t ARK’s preferred option as there was only room for one pitch, goalposts had to be put up before games and taken down after to allow for the Aussie Rules who played on Sundays and as lessees Kelmscott Bulldogs ran the bar.
The Town of Armadale were very persuasive however and ARKS moved to the shared facilities at John Dunn, commencing a seventeen year association with that venue. The move to John Dunn coincided with fluctuating fortunes for ARKS, especially on the playing field. A succession of seasons with poor results saw ARKS demoted from the premier grade competition, playing only in the lower grades.
In 2014 WARU (who had trans morphed into RugbyWA) were looking to expand the rugby competition and offered ARKS a premier grade status in 2016 on a “this is your last chance” basis. Coinciding with that offer was another one from the City of Armadale to move from John Dunn to a new ground and facilities in Harrisdale and so deals were struck. ARKS moved to the Harrisdale playing fields and pavilion they currently occupy with two pitches, permanent goalposts, excellent floodlighting and 4 change rooms. Here we are and hopefully here we’ll stay for some time.
Written by
John Gault
ARKS Life Member