Kitty, the first women of sports writing honoured at Vic Awards night

By Michael Davis

Kitty McEwan, believed to be the first woman to write about sport in Australia, was inducted into the Victorian Golf Hall of Fame as the industry came together at Huntingdale Golf Club for its annual celebration of the game at the Victorian Golf Industry Awards Dinner. 

A talented sportswoman with a particular interest in golf, Kathleen ‘Kitty’ McEwan was a member at several clubs, including Barwon Heads, Riversdale, where she was club champion in 1933 and Commonwealth, where she was the inaugural women’s club champion in 1926. She was also Women’s Captain.

McEwan started covering golf for The Radiator in 1937 and then the Sun News Pictorial in 1938, which she continued – with a break for war service in the Land Army – until she retired in 1966. 

A student at Ormiston Ladies College, she was instrumental in setting up what was originally called the Table Talk Cup, an interschool challenge event between teams from private girls’ schools and named after the magazine which sponsored it. 

This later became The Sun Cup, named after The Sun News-Pictorial for whom she worked. McEwan became secretary of this event between 1929 and 1947.  That event is now known simply as the Women’s Interschool Challenge Cup and has throughout its history raised a lot of money for charity.

Aside from her war service, she lobbied strongly for improved conditions for women in the workplace and for women’s sport to receive press coverage.

She had a range of interests and involvement in several prominent groups.

Among other things, she McEwan is remembered by the Kitty McEwan Trophy at Barwon Heads and by the Vic Sport’s Kitty McEwan Award for the Victorian Female Athlete of the Year.

Kitty was a strong influence on female journalists like Peg McMahon and Di Gatehouse, pioneers in writing about women’s sport in general and golf, in particular, for
The Age and Herald-Sun newspapers in Melbourne.

McEwan was one of two new inductees alongside the popular and well-known amateur golf official, Richard Kirby, a former Victorian Golf Association President who received an Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours. 

Kirby was honoured for service to golf, which included five years as President of the VGA from 2002-2007, a long association with the Golf Society of Australia and the Spring Valley Golf Club in Melbourne.

Other award winners were:

PGA Awards:

• 2023 Club Professional of the Year: Michael Moore, Rossdale Golf Club

• 2023 Coach of the Year – High Performance: Brandon Rave, Metropolitan Golf Club.

• 2023 Coach of the Year – Game Development: Kim Collett, Settlers Run Golf and Country Club.

• 2023 Management Professional of the Year: Sienna Voglis, Barham Golf Club.

• 2023 Legends Pro-Am of the Year: Gardiners Run Golf Course.

• 2023 Regional Pro-Am of the Year: Gippsland BMW Warragul Pro-Am.

• 2023 Metropolitan Pro-Am of the Year: Peninsula Sotheby’s Portsea Celebrity Pro-Am.

• Hall of Fame Inductees: Kathleen McEwan and Richard Kirby

Golf Australia (Victoria) Awards:

• Volunteer of the Year: Allen Gilgen, Commonwealth Golf Club.

• Inclusion Initiative of the Year Award: Red Cliffs Golf Club.

• Victorian Golf Club or Facility of the Year: 13th Beach Golf Club.

• Victorian Amateur Players of 2023: Jazy Roberts and Jasper Stubbs.

Golf Management Victoria Awards:

• Golf Management Victoria Employee of the Year Award: Max Oliver – Golf Operations – The Dunes Golf Links.

• Golf Management Victoria … Excellence in Management Award: Anthony Masters – General Manager – Barwon Heads Golf Club.

VGCSA Awards Superintendents’ Recognition Award

Kyle Wilson, Moonah Links Golf Resort.