The Canberra Burns Club celebrates 100 years in 2024

The Canberra Times

The club is the oldest in Canberra and the second-oldest business in the national capital, after the Cusack's furniture store

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:20 So the Canberra Burns Club started on the 13th of October 1924, so when Canberra was what, 11 years old.

00:27 In 1924 there was about 3,000 people in Canberra, about 1,400 of those were building the city

00:33 and a big part of that 1,400 was Scots who had been brought ahead to build it.

00:37 So those Scots decided they'd form a club to keep their culture alive and their traditions alive.

00:42 The Canberra Burns Club was born out of that.

00:45 And so it's been in continual operation for 100 years, making it the oldest club in Canberra

00:50 and the second oldest business in Canberra.

00:53 The club actually built its first clubhouse, dedicated clubhouse and opened it in 1957 in Forrest

00:59 and it's right behind a Robbie Burns statue.

01:02 The statue actually was there from 1935, opened by the Prime Minister of the day, Joseph Lyons.

01:07 The club funded that, orchestrated the funding, built the statue, first public statue in Canberra.

01:12 Biggest ceremony that had been held in Canberra to that date, 1,000 people came to it, amazing.

01:17 So they were there from 1957, then the club went through some pretty tough times in the 70s and 80s.

01:21 There was a lot of demographic changes happening, consumer tastes were changing, the club was really struggling.

01:26 They decided they needed to move and they moved out to Canberra,

01:29 which at that stage was the fastest growing area in Canberra.

01:32 So they moved into a high growth area.

01:34 When they left Forrest, they had 300 members, but in a few years they had 14,000 members.

01:40 So the club, then there's a bit of resurgence going on.

01:43 Since then, this has been the main venue, has been at Canberra.

01:47 And now, last year we actually bought our second venue.

01:51 We bought a golf course on the other side of town, it was the Magpies Golf Club,

01:54 it's now the Burns Golf Club at Holt.

01:57 So as we turn into 100 years, for the first time in our history, we've got two venues

02:01 and we've got 35,000 members, more than we've ever had.

02:04 So one question I often get asked is, well, what's the secret to surviving for 100 years?

02:08 Because the club survived the Depression, the Second World War, changes in consumer patterns and everything else.

02:13 I think it's probably a mixture of good old Scottish resilience and tough DNA that the Scots are pretty hard to knock down, really.

02:19 But I think the club's just reinvented itself every 30 or 40 years, recognised that something had to change.

02:25 They had to change the way the place operated, they had to go to high growth areas.

02:28 So this last move, for instance, out to Holt, it backs onto Gin and Dairy, the fastest growing area in Canberra.

02:34 I'm very proud to be President. I've been President for 10 years.

02:41 I'm very happy to be President when we've got the most of the members we've got.

02:44 We've got two venues, one's a golf club, so a good Scottish game, it's nice to own a golf club.

02:49 So this year we've got a lot of things planned to celebrate that, because I want Canberras to know that the club's 100 years old,

02:55 but also understand the contribution it's made to Canberra.

02:58 So lots of events throughout the year. We've got traditional events, our Burns nights and Andrews nights,

03:02 Scottish concerts out on the deck.

03:05 But we've also got this year a major darts championship,

03:08 which is going to have the best darts players in the country coming along to the place.

03:11 There's world darts points at stake, a big snooker tournament.

03:14 I'm going to have a big President's Lunch with all the past Directors and CEOs and Presidents,

03:20 because I think the fact that we've got hundreds of great testament to their skill and their commitment,

03:24 it's not just I happen to be sitting in the chair at this point in time.

03:27 So I'm hoping by about the end of this year, Canberra Museum and Gallery are going to do a three month exhibition of all our old collateral.

03:34 So I'm hoping by the end of the year, a lot of Canberrans will know about the Burns Club,

03:38 will know the contribution it's made to the city, and hopefully come to one of our venues and enjoy the hospitality.

03:43 [Music]

03:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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