The history of the very Australian game of Aussie Rules in Wellington goes back to the early 1900s with matches at the Basin Reserve played under the “Australian rules”. The city’s first taste of the professionalism of the AFL came in 1998, when the Melbourne...
While cricket was the first sport to be played on the Basin Reserve, it was followed closely after by other pursuits as athletics quickly found a place here. The Basin Reserve was home to Harry Kerr, the walker who would deliver our first Olympic medal,...
Since their formation in 1927, the Harlem Globetrotters have travelled the world peddling their brand of razzle-dazzle basketball. When they visited Wellington for the first time in 1957, the lack of a suitable indoor venue saw a wooden court laid at the Basin Reserve, right...
Established in the 1930s, Sam Snyder’s Water Follies was one of the world’s greatest aquatic exhibitions when it visited Wellington in 1957. Featuring diving, synchronised swimming, and water ballet displays, the Water Follies saw the build of one of the most unusual structures in the...
Boxing does not have a long history at the Basin Reserve, but the events held here have been notable. At Easter 1943, the ground saw a full programme of fights take place between the army and American marines. Later, in 1954, a New Zealander would...
The summer of 1940 was a hectic one for the Basin Reserve. Between late-January and early-March, the ground hosted four major athletics meetings, including the Centennial Championship. At this event, athletics and cycling were joined by wood-chopping competitions, a first for the ground....
Of the American sports played in 1800s’ New Zealand, baseball perhaps benefited most from the place of cricket as our national game as many players crossed codes. In Wellington, the first recorded baseball game was played between Wellington and the, suitably American-sounding, Hick’s Sawyer Ministrels...
The Basin Reserve was the finish line for 1931’s Palmerston North to Wellington cycling road race. With the first cyclists expected to arrive after 3.30pm, an athletic meeting was scheduled to entertain the crowds. Alongside the usual running and cycling events, the day’s programme also...
Like many sports, gymnastics found its place at the Basin Reserve as an exhibition sport to entertain fans in the midst of larger athletics meets and community events. The heyday for gymnastics at the ground came through the 1930s when Alf Jenkins, who ran a...
For many years, cycling events at the Basin Reserve were held alongside athletics meets, both sports sharing the outfield. In 1926 further excitement was added to cycling events at the ground when electric lights were installed to provide the opportunity to hold races at night....