History
In 1836, a grant of 640 acres of land, known as "Campdale" was made to William Ealy Simpson for which he paid 160 pounds. In 1849, James Dalton moved to Orange having previously owned and operated a small store in the nearby village of Lucknow. He later went on to establish a number of flour mills in Orange in partnership with his brother Thomas, and later, his half-brother Michael. Over the years, the Daltons acquired substantial land holdings in and around the Orange district.
James Dalton purchased the property and built the house where it stands today in 1876. The name Duntryleague was taken from his birthplace near Galbally in County Limerick and means "The Fort of the Three Pillar Stones". It refers to the burial of King Cormack, who was the King of Munster in the 11th century. The original spelling of Duntryleague was Doon-tri-liag.
The house was built over three levels from bricks made on the property and features a magnificent stairway, wrought iron lace embellishments and iron lace portico. The pride of the building is a stained glass window which features in the stairway and was a gift to James Dalton upon his investiture as a Papal Knight in recognition of his services to the Catholic Church. The window had been presented to Dalton by Pope Gregory and carries his papal crest and motto, "Inter Cruces Triumphans in Cures".
Image reference: NSW State Records
James Dalton died on 17th April 1919 aged 84 years and was buried in the family vault at Orange Cemetery. The property was left to his brother, Father Patrick Dalton a Jesuit Priest but in accordance with his faith, he was unable to hold the estate and it became community property. In 1935, the property was sold to the Orange Golf Club after negotiations with the Council.
Orange Golf Club limited.
Golf was first played in Orange by a Presbyterian Minister, the Reverend W.J.MaConochie who was stationed in Orange between 1891 to 1897. He saw golf played in Scotland whilst on holiday and brought the game back to the district where he and some friends put in some holes in an area known then as Moulders Flat.
In 1901 there was sufficient interest to form a Golf Club and a course was formed on a piece of land north west of the current Orange Base Hospital. The area was known as Bletchington, sometimes as Clover Hill. In 1919, a decision was made to move the course from Clover Hill to Icely Road, opposite the current site of Canobolas High School. Initially, they developed a 12 hole course with sand greens on 80 acres of land. The course was later extended to 18 holes.
In the early 1930's, a number of players came to the realisation that the Icely Road location could never become a championship layout due to rocky outcrops, steep slopes and a lack of land. A search for a suitable site reached a conclusion when the 180 acre Duntryleague Estate was purchased on June 16, 1935 for the amount of 12,000 pounds. An additional 13,000 pounds was raised for course development and a new club house. The Icely Road course was sold to the Catholic Church for 1,500 pounds.
The Duntryleague site had been cleared of native vegetation before the start of the century and used for dairy farming. The property was quite literally a blank canvass on which the course could be designed and developed. An orchard occupied the area in front of the tenth tee back to the practice green and included the thirteenth tee and 18th green. The last of it, two old Mulberry trees were removed in a clean up in 1975.
The Dalton vegetable garden was situated near the well to the right of the ninth green and the area that is now the practice green was also used as a vegetable garden and fowl run between 1936 to 1954. The stables, double storey buildings 70 feet long and 24 feet wide are now used as the machinery sheds.
Course development.
If there is one single feature of the Duntryleague Golf Course that stands above all others it's trees! In 1949, the Committee learned that a new Australian was working on the Sampson's farm on Pinnacle Road and that he was a Landscape Architect. A meeting was arranged and Mr Ilmar Berzins was commissioned to draw a plan of the golf course, marking on it the existing trees and the trees that were to be planted in the future.
Image reference: NSW State Records
The original Duntryleague layout was designed by then club professional John Irving in 1935. The Club then employed Course Architect and champion golfer Eric Apperly to look over Irving's design and make any necessary changes. Bunkers were originally grassy hollows that were later dug out and filled with beach sand. But because the sand was transported from Sydney it became too expensive to maintain all the bunkers because the sand was so fine that rain would wash it into the ground. A coarser grade of sand was sourced from Bathurst and Wellington areas and the fairway bunkers on the first, fourth and sixth holes were filled in and trees planted in their place.
The early fairways were sown with Rye, Clover and Kentucky Blue but over the years, the course struggled to maintain consistent growth and playability due to the weather and later, a pest known as the Pasture Scarab Grub. In 1949, the Bathurst Golf Club Greenkeeper, Mr Frank Scobie gave our Greenkeeper a four by four feet square patch of African Couch. The grass was tested and found to be ideal for the climate. So, in that year, the entire course was planted out with African Couch. Over a period of about 5 years, the course was in excellent condition and the fairways remain that way today.
There are reputedly 12,000 trees and shrubs on the golf course. The oldest trees are 132 years old, planted when the mansion Duntryleague was built. The first trees were planted on the golf course in the 1930s when it was a tree less dairy farm. However, most trees were planted in the 1950s when the landscape architect Ilmar Berzins took charge. Since then many have contributed to establishing the virtual botanic gardens that now exists as Duntryleague golf course. Some of the notable contributors are Tom Hood, Edith Robinson, Denis Mullen, Jack Weltzer, Neville Hawke, John Cochrane, Ray Golland and Geoff Townsend.
The greens are covered by Bent Grass, generally they're in first class condition and quick.
