Some notes about the history exhibit at the Dead Merch Fair, 11AM–4PM Sunday 22 December 2024.
The Fremantle Buffalo Club has a long history, and as such, the Management Committee created the volunteer History Subcommittee. The remit of this group is to consolidate and organise the extensive archive of this club. Presented here is a small sample of the work done so far by Alex Patching, Daniel Elias, David O’Sullivan, and Sam Wilson.
Darts Club
Right: The Fremantle Buffalo Club Darts Club was virtually a club within a club. Founded in 1969, it boasts a long history of inclusivity. At its height in the late 1980s, multiple ladies and men’s teams.
Correspondence
Centre: The club has a tradition of ‘Buffaloism’, the core of which can be summarised by the aphorism: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and, in all things, charity.” These ethical convictions, in particular the commitment to social union, speak to the history and actions of the Fremantle Buffaloes.
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Architectural plans
Left: Architectural plans for the Buffalo Club show the bar's former and current positions. Today's layout features changes, including the absence of a right-sided staircase to the upper level and the 1984 extension known as the ladies' lounge.
Knight of the Order Merit
Royal Antediluvian Order Buffaloes - Knight of the Order Merit
This official document is the oldest item in the Buffalo Club archive. Dated the 28th of September 1922, it is addressed to Edwyn Lowell and awards him with a Buffalo Knight of the Order of Merit in Fremantle. The secretive nature of the Buffalo Lodge means we are unsure what a Knighthood in the Buffalo Order entitled Edwynn to.
Buffalo Club Floor Plans - 1954 & 1984
Architectural modification plans for the Buffalo Club detailing the former and current position of the bar. Other differences to today’s layout include a former staircase to the upper level, positioned to the right of the bar. The 1954 club configuration does not include the extension to the club, which occurred thirty years later in 1984, and is described in this plan as the ladies’ lounge. The sexual discrimination act of 1984 made it illegal to partition rooms along the lines of gender in public venues, so this space could not legally be partitioned as a women-only space.
Portrait of R.S. Haynes
Richard Septimus Haynes KC (14 August 1857 – 20 February 1922) was president of the West Australian Buffalo Club when it was founded in 1919. He was a barrister and also a member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1896 to 1902.
Buffalo Club Constitution and Rituals
These little booklets containing the club’s constitution and rituals were given to members when they were accepted into the lodge. Before becoming a member-based, not-for-profit social club in 1963, the Fremantle Buffalo Club was registered under the Corporations Act. Even so, it was considered a fraternal organisation that promoted social unity and charitable causes. And like most fraternities, the Buffaloes were a male-only group that had unique rituals of initiation. These rituals, though, were mostly fun and games, as the Buffaloes never took themselves too seriously. Now, the Fremantle Buffalo Club is technically two organisations: a fraternal lodge and a social club. The latter of which now includes women and runs the affairs of the venue.
Fremantle Division Darts Association Memorabilia
Fremantle Division Darts Association Memorabilia: 2nd Team State Division Ladies State Team Winners 1986 & F.D.D.A Premiers 1993 Pennant - Vicki Roberts Quotes
The dart teams in the Fremantle Buffalo Club during the 1980s and 1990s, Vicki Roberts remarks, effectively “kept the club rolling.” In fact, the ladies’ teams made up the majority of gamers in the club; there was even a ladies’ non-competitive 10-pin bowling team upstairs during this period. Although they were club members, their spending habits differed from the men's. Vicki recalls, “It was the men who would smash the bar, and the ladies mostly drank tea and brought their own food.” After every game, the Buffalo Club would further provide the teams with supper and two jugs of beer. The Buffalo dart teams carried the ethos of social unity, “The Indigenous ladies were the best dart players in the team. Everyone in town knew who they were and respected them because of it.” What eventually ended the gaming culture at the Buffalo Club was a combination of increasingly expensive parking tickets and fines, steeper Fremantle & Districts Dart Association fees, and age.
- Donation to Legacy:
- Support of the Newcastle Club Hotel Ladies' Darts Club:
- Body in harbour:
This page:
