Bounce: Sunshine Coast Sport History investigates how sport has shaped social organisation and identity in regional Queensland from the nineteenth century onwards.
Research background: Produced through the Sunshine Coast Council (SCC) Historian in Residence program (appointment through a quality review selection process), this research investigates the development of ball sports on the Sunshine Coast, including Australian Rules football, basketball, cricket, netball, rugby league, soccer, tennis, and vigoro. Drawing on archival research, it examines how codified grassroots ball sports developed through school systems, voluntary associations and regional competition structures (Cashman, 1995), foregrounding volunteer labour as a key driver of regional identity formation.
Research contribution: This research produces original knowledge by integrating eight ball sports into a single regional historical framework, challenging metropolitan and single-code sport historiography. Regional sport development is reconceptualised as an interconnected system shaped by shared infrastructures (such as local governments, schools, and transport networks), rather than discrete codes. Combining community memory with archival research enabled grassroots sport to be interpreted as a site of innovation and cultural adaptation rather than as informal recreation (Day and Vamplew, 2015).
Research significance: The research is the first comprehensive multi-sport history of the Sunshine Coast and directly informed the Grassroots to Glory: Bounce! exhibition (Landsborough Museum, May to August 2025). It shaped exhibition themes, interpretation, and object selection, translating research into immersive public history. The exhibition attracted 2,296 visitors, with feedback provided to SCC highlighting inclusive representation, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ball sport histories and adaptive disability sport history. The project strengthened museum–community partnerships and contributed to Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games legacy planning (Sunshine Coast Council, 2023).