Historical information

Dulcie Brooke (nee Hoffman) was born in 1927. The history of women and the Wendouree Amateur Athletic Club seems to be very closely linked to that of women's athletics in Ballarat. Club photos of the 1953/54 season are the first to show women to be represented among the numbers who competed for Wendouree. However the Kevin Ruddick book, Always Striving - The Ballarat Harriers First 100 Years, notes that a Ballarat Harriers Women's Club was formed in September 1952 to compete against a Wendouree team and also mentions the Harriers women winning the premiership of 1953. Whatever the chronology, what is for certain is that Wendouree was at the forefront of the development of women's athletics in Ballarat and continued to be so until the unification of the sport for both men and women in 1979. Dulcie was one of those who are thought to be among the original members for Wendouree.
Ballarat College of Advanced Education established a Health and Safety course.This became known as the Victorian Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Australia (VIOSH) beginning in 1979. Max and Dulcie Brooke were members of Staff at Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education and became part of the initial group in presenting the course. Dulcie had science qualifications and was a bacteriologist. She was involved with the library aspect of the course and informed on the selecting of resources.
In the early 1990s, Max became ill and Dulcie retired to care for him. Max died in 1992 and Dulcie established the Max Brooke Memorial Shield in his memory. This was presented by Dulcie to the winner of the Award at the Presentation Dinner every year from 1993 to 2010.

Subjects