With its moss-green carpet, vinyl chairs and walls adorned with wooden honour boards, the Quarry Hill Croquet Club is a setting right out of 20th century Australia.
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The club’s members, mostly elderly and all Caucasian, are not the audience one might expect for a workshop on Islam.
But people should not be judged by their appearance.
That was the central message at a workshop about Islam held at the club on Tuesday, an opportunity to vanquish misconceptions about the religion by quizzing Muslim Bendigonians on their beliefs.
Leaders from the local Islamic community talked about topics like the burqa, mosques and Ramadan, while also sharing laughs over subjects that transcended race and religion: parenting, marriage and food.
Club president Ian Smith said Australians from all backgrounds needed to feel welcome at community sports clubs.
“Croquet is such an Anglo-Saxon, white bread sport,” Mr Smith said.
“It’s cliched and fuddy-duddied.
“There should be more outreach to the cultures that are here.”
Physiotherapist Mohammed Omer Rizan, one of the workshop’s presenters, said he felt comfortable sharing his religion with the croquet players, explaining they reminded him of the ageing clients with whom he worked.
“If someone has questions, I’m always happy to clear their doubts about Islam,” he said.
“Today was a really good experience.”
For some among the 50 attendees, Tuesday was not the first opportunity to learn about the lives of those in the Muslim community.
Club members Terry and Trish Potter first welcomed a Muslim Indonesian exchange student to their Harcourt home 25 years ago.
They remained firm friends with their guest and have since stayed in her family home on visits to Indonesia.
“We’re just so surprised we could mesh in so well,” Mr Potter said.
“It’s about understanding and respect, education.”
The croquet club workshop was the final installment in a series of workshops led by Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services that saw sessions held for Bendigo’s schools, police station and media outlets.
LCMS community development worker Diantha Vess said the project was an effort to give people who did not normally meet with Muslims in their daily lives the chance to have a conversation “on a one-on-one, intimate level”.