Scrabble Australia

Australian Championships History

National Championships, held yearly at Easter, have been held since 1986. Here is a table showing where each National Championship was held, how many attended and the top three players in each section.

1986	Melbourne	Champ		Moana Nepia	Roger Blom	John Holgate
1987	Sydney	Champ		John Holgate	Esther Byers	Dulcie Lyall
1988	Melbourne	Champ	42	Steve Sunter	Geoff Wright	Nick Ivanovski
1989	Perth	Champ	24	Steve Sunter²	Meg Henderson	Jim Warmington
1989	Perth	Plate	42	Dianne Ward	Jean Jones	Kevin Knighton
1990	Sydney	Champ	33	Nick Ivanovski	Marie Knight	John Holgate
1991	Melbourne	Champ	54	Lena Boyd	Glenys Lawrie	Geoff Wright
1992	Hobart	Champ	62	John Holgate²	Bob Jackman	Joan Rosenthal
		Plate	16	Sandra Levis	Ian Woolward	Norma Large
1993	Adelaide	Champ	76	Bob Jackman	Geoff Wright	Joan Rosenthal
		Plate	38	Tracey Kneebone	Pat Foster	Rosemary Brown
1994	Perth	Champ	52	Trevor Halsall	John Barker	Glenys Lawrie
1995	Brisbane	Champ	66	Tony Sim	Trevor Halsall	Bob Jackman
		Plate	26	Kim Durnan	Cherry Carter	Jack Ashwin
1995	Sydney	Champ	70	Joan Rosenthal	Marie Knight	Paul Cleary
1996	Melbourne	Champ	62	John Holgate³	Bob Jackman	Alistair Kane
		Plate	10	Zina Collaris	Eric Pitt	Pat Watson
		Saucer	8	Win McKenna	Elaine Hansen	Dorothy Wasley
1997	Adelaide	Champ	76	Paul Cleary	Tony Sim	Alistair Kane
		Plate	40	Robert Dormer	Richard Birch	Gael MacKenzie
1998	Hobart	Champ	94	John Holgate⁴	Bob Jackman	Alistair Kane
		Plate	18	Elizabeth Spillane	Wendy Hawthorne	Brenda Thurgar
1999	Sydney	Champ	90	Paul Cleary²	Bob Jackman	Ivor Zetler
2000	Brisbane	Champ	74	Paul Cleary³	Saheed Jimoh	John Holgate
		Plate	42	Vicki Russell	Richard Birch	Jack Ashwin
2001	Melbourne	Champ	98	Edward Okulicz	Bob Jackman	Trevor Halsall
		Plate	32	Pat Schuberg	Eric Pitt	Wayne Stoyan
2002	Fremantle	Champ	72	Cheah Siu Hean	Tony Sim	Paul Cleary
		Plate	18	Muriel Berman	Kim Quek	Raja Dorai
2003	Adelaide	Champ	105	Bob Jackman²	Andrew Hamblin	John Holgate
		Plate	34	David Eldar	Joyce Browett	Rowena Vnuk
2004	Canberra	Champ	102	Cheah Siu Hean²	Paul Cleary	Andrew Fisher
		Plate	42	Helen Maurus	Justin Moyle	Ann Fiddler
2005	Hobart	Champ	98	Naween Fernando	Andrew Fisher	Rod Talbot
		Plate	44	Linda Puls	Sunny Wright	Robin Andersen
2006	Brisbane	Champ	106	Andrew Fisher	Rod Talbot	Bob Jackman
		Plate	52	Stuart Pridham	Grant Breadsell	Jeanette Hansen
		Saucer	28	Richard Phillipps	Jimmy Shannon	Patti McDonald
2007	Sydney	Champ	116	David Eldar²	Cheah Siu Hean	Chris May
		Plate	43	Nick Cavenagh	Quentin Abbott	Sherie Brown
2008	Melbourne	Champ	108	Naween Fernando²	David Eldar	Bob Jackman
		Plate	57	Matthew Selvanera	Paula Messer	Sherie Brown
2009	Perth	Champ	86	Andrew Fisher²	Joanne Craig	David Eldar
		Plate	38	Sunny Wright	Ryan Anderson	Cori Lodder
2010	Adelaide	Champ	94	Naween Fernando³	Andrew Fisher	Rod Talbot
		Plate	55	Michael Rubinstein	Tony Miller	Margaret Bishop
2011	Canberra	Champ	96	Chris May	Naween Fernando	Trevor Halsall
		Plate	56	Raya Wilkinson	Yvonne Edwards	Patti Ashwin
2012	Hobart	Champ	80	Andrew Fisher³	Alastair Richards	Richard Jeremy
		Plate	50	Janine Whittaker	Margaret Berliner	John Salmon
2013	Southport	Champ	94	David Eldar³	Andrew Fisher	Esther Perrins
		Plate	94	Rhonda Rickard	Peter Bauer	Kay Anderson
2014	Sydney	Champ	88	Daniel Piechnick	Edward Okulicz	Chris May
		Plate	66	Don Hadley	Keri Heart	Lewis Hawkins
2015	Melbourne	Champ	82	Peter Kougi	Alastair Richards	Daniel Piechnick
		Plate	80	Anne Schick	Dianne Gibson	Rene Chelton
2016	Adelaide	Champ	80	Trevor Halsall²	Andrew Fisher	Ayorinde Saidu
		Plate	74	Larrie Strautmanis	Dorothy Barraclough	Caroline Scowcroft
2017	Perth	Champ	57	Russell Honeybun	Trevor Halsall	Esther Perrins
		Plate	47	Susan Roberts	Rene Chelton	John Hayes
2018	Canberra	Champ	89	Edward Okulicz²	Daniel Piechnick	Yeo Kian Hung
		Plate	60	Don Hadley²	Francoise Finlayson	Suzy Brownlow
2019	Hobart	Champ	77	Cameron Farlow	Andrew Fisher	Peter Kougi
		Plate	58	Rene Chelton	Margaret Bishop	Pam Thomas
2021	Sydney	Champ	48	Chris May²	Jakob Teitelbaum	David Eldar
		Plate	42	Alex Tan	Susan MacGillivray	Susan Roberts
2022	Southport	Champ	52	Peter Kougi²	Chris May	David Eldar
		Plate	46	Sharon Sorensen	Kerry Reimers	Glenys Logan
2023	Melbourne	Champ	50	Naween Fernando⁴	Andrew Fisher	David Eldar
		Plate	40	Kris Howat	Keri Heart	Margaret Griggs
2024	Western Australia
2025	South Australia
2026	ACT
2027	Tasmania
2028	Queensland

Interesting facts

In 1995 there were two National Championships. The one in Brisbane used the new "Double Dictionary" but the one in Sydney used the old "Chambers Dictionary only".
In 2020 there was no National Championship due to COVID 19.
David Eldar won the Plate in 2003 and went on to win the Championship in 2007 and 2013.
Tournament placings are determined by wins and spread since 1995. Early tournaments used wins and aggregate. The very first few used aggregate alone.
The best attended was in 2013, 188 players at Southport.
John Holgate and Naween Fernando won 4 times.

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4 John Holgate
4 Naween Fernando
3 David Eldar
3 Andrew Fisher
3 Paul Cleary
2 Trevor Halsall
2 Cheah Siu Hean
2 Steve Sunter
2 Edward Okulicz
2 Bob Jackman
2 Don Hadley
Bob Jackman placed in the top three 10 times.

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10 Bob Jackman
9 Andrew Fisher
8 John Holgate
6 Trevor Halsall
6 Paul Cleary
5 David Eldar
4 Naween Fernando
3 Tony Sim
3 Cheah Siu Hean
3 Chris May
3 Rene Chelton
3 Daniel Piechnick
3 Alistair Kane
3 Edward Okulicz
3 Joan Rosenthal
3 Geoff Wright
3 Rod Talbot
2 Margaret Bishop
2 Peter Kougi
2 Alastair Richards
There have been 35 National Championships. John Barker attended 31 of them.
... perhaps more since attendees at the first five are unknown.

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31 John Barker
29 Bob Jackman
27 Rene Chelton
25 Carmel Dodd
25 Trevor Halsall
25 Rod Talbot
25 Marie London
23 Liz Jackman
23 Glenys Lawrie
21 Joanne Craig
21 Angie Pearse
21 Betty Foreman
21 Cheryl Michler
20 Karen Richards
20 Peter Shaw
19 Jan Hill
19 Alistair Kane
19 John Holgate
19 Margaret Bishop
19 Carol Johnsen
19 Daniel Piechnick
18 Olga Visser