A reflection on the building’s history to date.

The building turns 50 this year and it’s time to reflect on it’s lively history…

The centre opened in 1961.  The same year that: ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and ‘West Side Story’ topped the box office, the Vietnam war officially began, the first human went into space, the Berlin Wall started being built, and the year that Julia Gillard was born.

‘Box Hill Squash Bowl Swim’ (as the centre was known then) was opened as a place for friends and family to have fun playing sports and socialising together.

In 50 years, nothing much has changed.  Friends and families still need a place to have fun playing sports and socialising together.

However, the building has changed a lot in those 50 years;  the details of which are a bit sketchy.

Very little is known of the building’s history predating the mid-70s as there was a flood in the local council’s records office in 1974 which destroyed building documents.

This is what we do know:

• The Dimatina family built the centre and opened it in 1961.  Dominic Dimatina and his sister, Frances, managed the business for the family.
• Most notably, the bowling lanes were the first bowling lanes in Melbourne and had an adjoining restaurant upstairs.
• In the late 60’s the business was sold to the Venturini family, who in the mid-70s closed the restaurant and put in pin-ball machines.  They eventually sold off parts of the business in stages and different operators came in to take over their sections of the building.
• At some point between the late 60s and the mid 80s, the Church of Darwin’s provident fund bought the property and continued leasing the different sections of the building to the different operators.
• At some point around the late 70s – early 80s trampolines were installed in some of the squash courts.
• In 1984, JDS Sports took over the management and ownership of everything in the building except the bowl, which was still leased to a separate business.  JDS Sports closed 3 squash courts and installed the gym in the mid-90s.
• In 1996, the Simcocks family bought the centre and in 1997 took over the bowl as well.  For the first time in over 20 years, the building was occupied by just one operator.  Having just one operator meant that building upgrades which had been ignored for 20 years have slowly been done.  Almost $2 Million has been spent upgrading the building over the past fifteen years.
• Mark and Nina Simcocks still own and operate Healthways and aren’t planning on going anywhere.  In relation to the building, the past fifteen years have been marked by constant building maintenance and improvements.  The solar panels on the roof and now the plans to expand the facilities to Dunloe Ave (currently being reviewed by VCAT) will bring the building into the 21st Century.

Below: Architect drawings of the proposed building extension to Dunloe Avenue.