The Kooralbyn Project
Kooralbyn is located in the Scenic Rim in Queensland, Australia. It is approximately 22 kms south-west of Beaudesert, itself some 64 kms south of Brisbane in South East Queensland, and 56 kms west of Queensland’s Gold Coast. Kooralbyn is situated at the southern end of the Teviot Range.
Both Robert and Katie have been lucky enough to have both played competitive polo at Kooralbyn and have marvelled in the history the facility holds within our sport and especially QLD polo. So, when K&R was looking for a QLD base, it seemed the perfect location to set up their business and a big enough project to challenge them both.
In 1986 Kooralbyn Polo Club was instrumental in the first ever world cup as it was where the play-off was held for the Australasian Zone. By coincidence Robert’s father, Greg Ballard, who was also a heavily capped Australian player, was in the winning team that played at Kooralbyn that year and went on to represent Australia at the World cup which was held the following year in Argentina.
They are both keen to see this facility brought back to life and to have a base that can cater to all K&R Pro Polo clients. They wish in time to run it as a community-based club and to open it up once again as a cost effective a base for interstate players, making it viable once again to add QLD back in to their calendars.
The Australian Junior National Polo Championships took place in July 2019 at the newly opened Kooralbyn Valley Polo Club this was a new iniative from the APF after receiving a grant from the FIP solely for junior development with the backing of the QPA and some other generous sponsors the APF were able to stage this inaugural coaching event. There were 37 juniors aged between 5 and 18 years old in attendance that culminated in the selection on 6 state teams.
The event was a great success and it was very rewarding to see polo back in the valley after such a long time. Sadly, this year’s event did not go ahead due to Covid 19 restrictions.
Click on link from local newspaper “The Beaudesert Times”.
https://www.beaudeserttimes.com.au/story/6268227/polo-making-a-comeback-at-kooralbyn/
Due the drought and Covid 19 the polo club will not host any tournaments this QLD polo season, but Rob and Katie are hoping to re-open The Kooralbyn Valley Polo Club for the “summer series”. This will be twilight chukkas 3-4 days a week. Everyone will be welcome to bring their young horses or novice players who want to make the most of the summer evenings.
The Kooralbyn Valley Polo Club offers a range of memberships from Full Senior players to workriders’ and grooms’ packages. The club also offers various social memberships.
All memberships include various levels of discounts to the Kooralbyn Valley Resort for all its services including accommodation as well as the use of the Golf Course and multiple swimming pools.
At the polo club we can provide accommodation for horses, players, families, and their staff. To find out more, please email us [email protected]