70 years since Pleasant Hills
At the 11th hour on the 27th day of March the tiny community of Pleasant Hills will gather at their community hotel to pay homage to the remaining five members of their last-ever footy team from 1955.
The occasion will be marked by a release of the podcast on the history of the club by well-known Albury broadcaster Robbie Mackinlay.
Pleasant Hills is a small village in the Shire of Lockhart in southern Riverina. At the 2021 Census the population was 127. It is a vibrant village community and still supports a public school, a public hall, a Lutheran church, and a community pub that also houses a general store and post office; it is at the heart of the community.
The village was serviced by the Rand branch line established in 1920 by an extension from Henty on the main southern line from Sydney to Melbourne to transport grain. It closed in 1975.
Significantly, Pleasant Hills is situated about equidistant from four surrounding football clubs: Osborne, Henty, The Rock-Yerong Creek, and Rand-Walbundrie-Walla.
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Pleasant Hills is surrounded by famous football towns.
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However, it did have its own football club from its formation in 1905 until its last season in 1955. Paradoxically, the club never won a match in its first season nor in its last season.
The Pleasant Hills club entered the Lockhart Association against teams from Napier South (Osborne), Boree Creek, Milbrulong, and Lockhart. They lost all eight games.
The club’s only premiership was in 1920 in the Urangeline and District competition.
They were referred to as the “Hillites” and wore red and white colours.
Pleasant Hills did not reform after the Second World War until 1948, and competed in the Milbrulong and District league, which was renamed the Central Riverina National Football League in 1949.
The “Hillites”, wore a royal blue guernsey with a maroon vee, as Collingullie had entered the league in 1946 and wore their familiar red jumper with a white vee.
However, they continued to struggle winning only one game in 1953 before going into recess in 1954.
The club reformed in 1955 but failed to win a game, and subsequently folded.
Nonetheless, the footy club was an integral part of the community for fifty years.
The Pleasant Hills community is now linked to the Osborne footy club, which famously only consists of a football ground. The Osborne players and supporters return from away games in the Hume league to patronize the Pleasant Hills community pub.
As for the story of the Lost Point Post, you’ll have to listen to Robbie’s podcast, which you can find anywhere you listen!
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Hear a sneak peak of some of Robbie Mackinlay’s stories of Pleasant Hills Football Club…
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