New book details the Golden Age of women’s squash in Australia
Published Thu 21 Apr 2022
A new book focussing on the extraordinary story of Australia’s successful women’s squash history was launched on Thursday 21st April in Canberra.‘The Golden Age of Australian Women's Squash 1962-2010’, details the amazing performances of Australia’s top female players over several decades.
Many of these performances have not been previously reported but the author, Barbara Slotemaker de Bruine (nee Baxter), sets the record straight about the stories of these incredible champions as she was there at the beginning of this success.In 1960, she was the runner-up to Heather McKay - Heather Blundell at the time - in the NSW Junior Championships before being selected to represent Australia against New Zealand just two years later. She went on to be a member of the first Australian Women's team to defeat the United Kingdom in 1964. She represented again in the winning Australian team in 1967.
Barbara was National Coaching Director from 1988 - 92, became Australian Coach of the Year in 1993, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from Squash Australia in 2010 for her services to squash over 50 years. One of her former pupils, Stewart Boswell, is now the National Coach (2021).
With Barbara's vast career experience, it wasn't hard to see where the inspiration for the book came from. “I was thinking where are these stories going to go and I thought we’ve got to do something soon…all that knowledge wasn’t recorded,” she said. A book ' A History of the Women's Squash Rackets Association 1934-89' was published by the WSRA in 2020, but names of the Australian team members were often inaccurate or omitted, and it wasn't clear that Australia had dominated from 1964-1980 in the Amateur game. It was virtually unwritten, so I thought I have to get this down.”
Whilst in Queensland for a holiday, Barbara met with players and administrators, including Rachael Grinham, Marion Jackman, Jenny Irving, Rhonda Thorne, Heather Rhead, and Jan Honeycombe, Rita Paulos and Col Clapper to start the interview process. She had previously been in Melbourne, in 2019, where she had interviewed Judith Fitzgerald, Vicki Cardwell, Margaret Zachariah and Sarah Fitz-Gerald. Closer to home (ACT), Heather McKay was a virtual 'mine of information' and was extremely helpful and encouraging.
By the end, through emails and interviews she had collected the personal stories of most of Australia's greatest players from The Golden Age.
“Researching something and what actually happened are two different things. The research has been quite accurate because I had a lot of people digging stuff up including records, photos and more,” said Barbara
“These records, in many cases, have not been recorded before and eventually I am hopeful that this book will become an inspiration to the next generation of young women, who aspire to success on the world stage,” she added.
The Golden Age (1962-2010) saw Australia rise to prominence, and there are also stories of three-time Australian champion Betty Meagher founding the Australian Women’s Squash Rackets Association (AWSRA), Heather McKay’s dominance on the world stage ( where she won the British Open 16 times consecutively) and Australia’s impressive record at the World Individual and Teams' Championships. This year (2022) is the 70th Anniversary since the formation of the Australian Women's Squash Rackets Association and this book is a fitting tribute to those early pioneers and the subsequent champions that followed.
Find out more and purchase Barbara's book HERE
