HISTORY OF THE CLUB

Most of the early Croatian settlers in the A.C.T arrived from the Migrant Reception Centre in Bonegilla near Wodonga, Victoria.

By 1956, a large number of Croats settled in the ACT. In this year the Croats in Canberra-Queanbeyan first attempted to form a Croatian soccer club.

At the time, a need to also form a Croatian association became apparent amongst the Croatian migrants. To this end, a meeting was held at the house of Ivica Pavelić on November 21, 1958 where the Australian Croatian Association was formed.

Present at the meeting were: Marko Tomašević, Šime Čirjak, Mato Belančić, Ante Tomas, Predrag Amančić, Ivica Pavelić, Ismet Gjurbuzović, Franjo Hamburger, Slavko Puškarić and Branko Buljat. At this meeting Ante Tomas was elected as the first president of the Association and a decision was made to give full support to establishing a Croatian soccer club.

Within the next few years, the Association, known afterward as the Australian Croatian Club Inc., became a strong social, cultural political centre of the Croatian migrants in Canberra. The club organised regular dinner dances as well as numerous cultural events which were held on the premises of the YWCA, RSL and the Youth Centre in Braddon.

As the club’s membership steadily grew, the need for its own premises became apparent. To this end, Josip Butković, on behalf of the club. wrote inviting all interested Croats in Canberra and Queanbeyan to attend a special meeting where this matter was to be discussed. The meeting, attended by a large number of Croats, was held on March 6 1965, on the premises of the YWCA in Civic Centre, Canberra. At this meeting the decision was made to commence searching for a suitable land on which the club’s premises were to be built.

The Australian Croatian Club’s Memorandum and Articles of Association (i.e. the Club Constitution) was accepted and signed by eleven of the club’s foundation members on the 12 December 1965. These foundation members were: Vlado Skrtić, Ivan Kovačić, Josip Kovač, Adolf Janković, Zvonimir Vlašić, Drago Rezo, Ivan Luketić, Stjepan Salaj, Tomislav Babić, Ivan Katinić and Ivan Perić.

The Australian Croatian Club Ltd received its Certificate of Incorporation as a Public Company on 7 January 1966.

The Association approached the National Capital Development Commission which, after numerous discussions, allocated to the Association this block of land in the suburb of Turner.

The volunteer to guarantee the loan from the bank for building the premises were Zvonimir Vlašić, Jusuf Seferović, Ivan Luketić, Mijo Beršinić, Ivan Katanić, August Žaja and Pero Simić.

The building of the Association premises began in 1966 and was completed and officially opened in 1969. The premises comprised a main hall with a seating capacity for over 400 persons, a function room for 200 persons, a bar, a disco dancing hall 200 persons, library and several conference rooms.

Subsequent generations have integrated into the Australian community and in the last few years the club has decided to transform and open to the wider Australian public; whilst also keeping the Croatian culture alive.   

Since 1997 we are proudly the home of the O’Connor Knights Soccer Club.

Everyone welcome.