Women's archery in Australia

In Australia, archery is perceived as a sport that men and women can compete with each other on an equal playing field. They regularly did this during Australia's colonial era.[1] An example of one such competition took played in Yandilla, Queensland, in 1878.[2]

Women's archery was established in Victoria by the 1870s, with the sport most often being played at archery clubs. At the time, the sport was viewed as a royal one. Early Australian archers from this era included Roma Bowen. The sport was encouraged because it didn't require women to give up their womanhood in order to compete.[3]

Women were members of an archery club in Adelaide by 1870.[4]

Archery became part of the women's physical education curriculum during the 1880s. The largest area to adopt this sport in the curriculum was in Victoria at schools like MLC Kew, which borrowed heavily from a British sporting tradition.[5]

In 1932, the Australian branch National Council of the YWCA sent questionnaires to individual branches asking the branches what sports they preferred to participate in. Archery was one of the sports women indicated interest in. The Adelaide branch cited archery and said participation in this and other sports taught girls loyalty, "fair play, co-operation, friendliness, unselfishness, self-control and doggedness."[6]

At the 1982 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, new women's sports were included on the programming including archery and lawn bowls.[7]

Elisa Barnard competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games, one of two archers to representing Australia.[8]

Australian women have been awarded scholarships for archery at the Australian Institute of Sport. They include Jade Beatty who held a scholarship from 2001 to 2002,[9] Deonne Bridger who held a scholarship from 1997 to 2000[10] and Mary Chidlow who held a scholarship in 1998.[11] Australian women on scholarship are based in Canberra.[12]