The Woodford tennis court dates back to around 1907 when the Waterhouse family built Weroona – their palatial residence – here in north Woodford.

Having acquired the bulk of the former Fairfax estate, the Waterhouses took advantage of the location’s cultivated surrounds including the established gardens and orchards.

As the Blue Mountains Echo described it in 1909:
“The house contains every comfort and convenience known in the best city mansion, while its extensive flower gardens, fruit orchard and spacious and splendidly arranged tennis court make it one of the most charming and attractive homes the mind of man can conceive.”

The Woodford tennis courts were prominently featured in the 1924 Woodford Academy Estate subdivision plans showing the main town buildings. Following Weroona House burning down in the bushfires of 1957, the courts were resumed by the Blue Mountains Council in the following year.

From the outset, the Waterhouses were happy to share their new ‘splendidly arranged’ tennis centre. At the inaugural Woodford Academy speech day in 1907, they were heartily thanked for putting their tennis court at the school’s disposal.

Weroona

The dominant presence of the new Weroona property on the Woodford landscape can be appreciated in this recreated aerial view of how Woodofrd would have looked c. 1910.

At that time Weroona Avenue was nothing more than a path connecting the main house with its adjacent tennis court.

Located immediately north of the open ground that the Woodford Academy used as their sports grounds, the tennis court would have indeed felt a natural part of the school expereince – a community asset from the outset of its operations.

the 1940s

Aerial photography came into its own over the early 1940s as army survey units focussed on the production of accurate maps as a key part of the national security efforts.

Today these images offer us a wonderful insight into the landscape settings of this period.

Here at Woodford, the origins of Weroona Avenue are being traced out as a service corridor running past the front of the courts.