Major Party Alert! – 60th Anniversary of The Madang Club
It is a splendid treat in Madang to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of a colourful, beloved, and enduring social institution – The Madang Club.
Eunice and I have been privileged to be either members or moochers (mostly moochers, I admit) since we came to Madang in 1981.
James Sinclair, in his book Madang (DWU Press, 2006) briefly marks the birth of the iconic watering hole.
In late 1947, the first moves to establish a Madang Social Club were made. This evolved into the Madang Social and Recreation Club, the Madang Recreation Club, and finally the Madang Club, which exists to the present day.
Now we all have the opportunity to participate in this joyful celebration. Here is the invitation (click to enlarge).
It sounds like a major party to me. Fancy dress prizes . . . hmmm . It seems a great photo-op.
One of the things that I have appreciated about The Madang Club over the years is that, when nearly everything else seems to be crumbling and rotting around us, The Madang Club has been constantly improving. If decay is getting you down, keep your eyes fixed on The Madang Club – you’ll feel better.
This is not a recent phenomenon. Witness Sinclair’s comment on the subject in a more recent epoch:
In 1970 tenders were called for the renovations, with a dining room, kitchen facilities and a new bar area, at a cost of $35.000. The manager at this time was Mervyn Livermore. Town and country membership now exceeded 300. The population of Madang town at this time was 15,751, expatriate and national.
I’m not in the record tending business – leave that to Guinness. However, I’d guess that if you were keeping track of Madang social life since the war, The Madang Club would probably hold records for beers downed, business done, lies told, friends comforted, sweethearts wooed, wages gambled away, fistfights erupting (notably fewer these days), depression relieved, fears calmed, tasteless jokes heartily laughed at . . .
All said, it’s a perfect fit.
Cheers!
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Where is the Madang Club? I’ve lived in Madang but don’t remember it. Can you give me a street address (I know there’s no numbers in streets & all that). But some sort of directions I would like to know. I live in Brisbane.
Hello Phil,
If you know where the main post office is in town, I can get you there.
As you are standing in front of the PO boxes, cross the street and begin walking to your right. You’ll go past the big sports oval on your right. Soon you will come to a large building on your left that is set back behind a parking lot. There is a fenced in parking area to the right of the building. That is the Madang Club. The door is locked because it is members only. If you are a visitor you can get the guard to find someone to let you in as a guest.
Cheers
Hello webmaster While searching for Blogs about business invitations I found your site Major Party Alert! – 60th Anniversary of The Madang Club. Thank you for the effort you have put in.
Read about the party . . .
oh my gosshhh!
My like grandfather like founded the Madang club, or my great grandfather or something. Like Malcom or Micheal Broadhurst? does that like mean anything to anyone?
Mel, I seriously Googled this and had no luck. Do you have any idea what year it was. I have some historical references here. I’ll see what I can find out.