Our History
From social gatherings to an ultra-modern, award-winning club supporting the community of Bundaberg.
First opened on 19 October 1968, the original club was solely utilised for social gatherings around bocce and soccer by early immigrant Italian farmers of Bundaberg. It was so named 'Across The Waves', for that was how they travelled to Australia aboard the Angelina Lauro - across the waves of the Indian Ocean.
Since that time The Waves has seen much growth and many changes, with the most recent redevelopment occurring in 2020, resulting in the ultra-modern, beautiful club you see today. Our membership has grown too from those early times to what is now over 70,000 members from Bundaberg, Australia, and all over the world.
From humble beginnings, The Waves now stands as an icon of Bundaberg, not only in its presence but also within the local community. The Waves employs over one hundred staff, supports sixteen local sporting clubs, and contributes to a countless number of community events, charities, benefactors, and projects each year, donating over $1.6M directly to local individuals and businesses in the 2021/2022 financial year alone.
Whether you are a visiting guest or a valued member, we welcome you to our multi-award winning club. We invite you to enjoy award winning dining, free weekly entertainment, social activities, promotions, game shows, children's play facilities and much, much more. We are Bundaberg's truly integrated community club and a place where you are guaranteed to experience real fun, every day.
The Emigrante Statue Unveiled
The statue pays homage to the Italian immigrants who left Italy for Sydney, Australia, travelling aboard The Angelina Lauro, 'across the waves' of the Indian Ocean, eventually travelling north from Sydney to Bundaberg for better farming opportunities.
The statue depicts her as pregnant, with he by her side, both awaiting departure from their country carrying nothing but a few small bags with which to create an entirely new life in Australia.
This statue is donated by The Waves Sports Club and dedicated to those Italian immigrants whose hard work, dedication, forward-thinking and commitment saw the first Across the Waves club open on 19 October 1968. That small club, predominantly of bocce, soccer and socialising, has since been rebuilt, redeveloped many times over, and now stands as a Bundaberg icon, rebranded as The Waves Sports Club, with over 55,000 members, supporting 16 sporting and social clubs, and contributing over $1M in financial donations and support to local individuals, organisations, and businesses each year.
The Emigrante Statue shall remain in place for decades and perhaps longer and will forever commemorate, honour and thank those founding members of Across the Waves Sports Club, 1968.
The history of our logo
The Waves' original logo was that of a lighthouse standing proud atop the point of the mainland, guiding the steam vessel Angelina Lauro to the Australian shore as it carried our club's founding members from Italy.
Then in 2010, the club completed its first massive, modern rebranding, and a new logo was designed. From almost fifty design ideas, this crisp, streamlined wave was selected. However, it wasn't chosen solely for its beautiful aesthetic appeal! It was also chosen because this new logo properly honoured the meaning and iconography of the former lighthouse logo.
Modern Respecting Tradition
The first and most obvious observation is that the modern logo icon is a wave shape, in line with the club's name.
Next, the six dominant blue lines within the wave start as black at the bottom and move up through various shades of blue along the gradient to its aqua tips. This is to depict the journey across many waves of deep, black ocean, blue seas, and the crystal-clear shorelines of Australia.
Through these lines is a beam of white which is iconic of the lighthouse striking its light beam across the waves, guiding the visitors to the shore.
And where this beam ends is at the yellow line, which is symbolic of the golden beaches of Australia, the final destination of our founding Italians.
In short, the icon depicts travel across the waves of the deep ocean and seas to the shoreline of Australia, where the lighthouse guided our founding members to their final destination of Australia.
Dine with us for great entertainment, great atmosphere and great times.