Kōrero: Bowls, pétanque and tenpin

Bowlers contemplate their early season form at Grafton Road Bowling Club in Auckland, in October 1898. Grafton Road was the first green opened in New Zealand, in 1862. By the 1890s the game had become relatively popular, especially among older urban males, as seen here. Although quite formally dressed, with some in white trousers, the bowlers had not yet adopted the full 'whites' seen in modern games.