The Rockley Mill and Stables Museum held a re-enactment on Sunday of the historic local girls’ game of cricket known as the Rockley Game to celebrate its 125^th anniversary.

The young female players were dressed in skirts with sashes and hats to replicate the uniform in the 1890s and the umpires wore waistcoats and bowler hats.

Rockley Mill and Stables Museum Committee chair Deidre Robertson said the players on the day came from the Cricket NSW Western Zone.

“We had players from Grenfell, Orange, Wellington, Cowra, Bathurst and Dubbo and they formed two teams, Triangle Flat team and Rockley team, to play according to the old rules of the Rockley Game,” she said.

Triangle Flat scored 188 in the first innings and 170 in the second innings for a score of 358.

Rockley scored 192 in the first innings and 131 in the second innings for a score of 323.

That made Triangle Flat the winners for the day.

“The morning session was played according to the old game rules and after lunch they played a modern game within the boundaries of the Rockley Game field and played 45 minutes each side,” Ms Robertson said.

“There was some exciting play from these talented girls during the afternoon play.”

FROM the archives of the Rockley Mill and Stables Museum.

In the 1890s, John O’Hara, an inspector for the Land District of Bathurst and Lithgow, invented a new game for 14-year-old school girls. 

Launched at Triangle Flat in about 1892, it was taken up with so much enthusiasm in the nearby village of Rockley that it became known as the Rockley Game.

Teams were generally 13 in number and team captains were known as queens.

Each team adopted a distinguishing coloured sash which was worn around the waist.

A boy’s bat was used and the ball was only slightly bigger than a tennis ball, so pads were unnecessary. 

Rockley cricket spread rapidly through the Central West and by 1899 there were 700 girls playing in the Western Districts.

Matches were played between villages and towns and when teams travelled to other places they were always chaperoned.

Trips to play teams in other locations included concerts, visits to places of interest and educational outings for the girls.

When Mr O’Hara was appointed to Queanbeyan in September 1899, he established the Rockley Game in Queanbeyan with great success.

Into the 20th century, the Rockley Game was played at Albury, Moruya, Queanbeyan, North Sydney, Port Macquarie and Broken Hill.