Everything associated with the club from 1874 onwards is eligible for inclusion on our Heritage List, from memorable moments to our home ground and emblem.
Like the Australian Heritage List, which doesn’t recognise individuals, our Heritage List doesn’t recognise the careers of players or coaches because that is the purpose of the Hall of Fame.
Last week, three new items were added to the Swans Heritage List during our 2024 Swans Hall of Fame.
To celebrate our new heritage listings, we will feature each of the new items this week, today featuring Sydney Swans HQ - The Basil Sellers Richard Colless Centre.
SYDNEY SWANS HQ - THE BASIL SELLERS RICHARD COLLESS CENTRE
By 2014 the club’s home base at the SCG was no longer conducive to creating a high-performance environment to meet the demands of the National Competition.
The facilities were under severe stress and moreover aspirations of a team in the AFLW competition would not be realised unless change came about.
The Royal Hall of Industries was identified as the priority solution.
Built in 1913 for the Royal Agricultural Society, a Federation Free Classical style structure, it is a building of Heritage Significance with a majestic grandeur.
Its rich history of uses included an exhibition hall for the RAS, ice skating rink, makeshift hospital and morgue during the Spanish Flu, World War 1 Australian Army base, Showbag Pavilion and an event and exhibition facility.
One of the oldest continuous use buildings in Sydney would become home to one of the oldest football clubs in the world.
It was an ambitious and courageous undertaking, but it has established a new benchmark in sports and community facilities in this country.
It is a transformational facility. It brings deep and immediate benefits and future proofs the club for years to come. It enabled the establishment of our AFLW team.
It opens its arms to the community and has re-energised the precinct.
A $70 million fit out delivered world class high-performance features for elite football programs, the QBE Sydney Swans Academy, and seamlessly integrated a whole of club operation.
Crucially it captures our DNA. It feels right. Reflects who we are and where we have come from.
The facility was officially opened in late 2023 at a gala event where Swans Chaiman Andrew Pridham announced that it would be named in honour of two of the clubs greatest ever contributors, Club Patron Basil Sellers and Former Chairman Richard Colless.
"It is appropriate that the naming reflects two people who have been critically important figures in our club's history. Both Richard and Basil have been as important in forging our future in Sydney as they have been in preserving our heritage as South Melbourne. Two cities, one club; two great men, one building."
The Basil Sellers Richard Colless Centre is a significant development in the history of the club and provides an enduring and far-reaching benefit for the entire Swans family and wider community.
