Fielke Cricket Bats – South Australian owned

Fielke Cricket Bats has a rich history dating back to over 100 years and remains the only South Australian based cricket bat manufacturing setup, now run solely by Robert “Bob” Fielke (pronounced: Fill-key).

I attended a presentation of Bob Fielke’s setup out in Gawler, regional South Australia. At this presentation Bob gave a look into the history of the cricket bat, a thorough breakdown of the Fielke company’s history in Australia, and lastly showed us how he has fine crafted his bat making skills to keep the family business on the go from his small workshop.

The company is best seen as a small-privately owned cricket bat specialist company. Bob now does everything on his own, using his own skills and expertise. He has a definite sense of pride and passion for the Fielke brand and gets a real buzz when discussing the history of the cricket bat, knowing his family is connected to it in some way.

He has a showroom where not only does he display some of his most recent, modern cricket bats manufactured in his back garden (literally) but he has also collected a variety of bats dating back to the early-to-mid 1900s, when the business was initially operating under Kumnick Bats in Lobethal, South Australia.

Bob’s son, Noel Fielke, played state cricket for South Australia. He is featured in a team photo on the wall, celebrating a centenary of Sheffield Shield Cricket in a match between South Australia and New South Wales (1992). Another photo of Noel shows him batting that same season, the caption text highlighting how he established a new South Australian Cricket Association record by scoring 1,102 runs in a season for Salisbury District Cricket Club. The family even features in the history books on the cricket field.  

Alongside cricket bat manufacturing and refurbishing, Bob has manufactured all sorts of merchandise and household novelties; my best one being a full length bat that can hold wine glasses or a bunch of pints. He has also impressively taken the time to produce replica bats to demonstrate how they evolved throughout the known history of the game.

Each of the historic bats Bob pulls out has a story of its origins and intended purpose as to how the game

The history display at the Fielke showroom.

was at that estimated period in time. It’s intriguing to be reminded every now and then how this great game of ours came to be. Some of these replica bats of his can be found at the Adelaide Oval Museum, although these are probably stashed away as the ground is well into redevelopment.

The history behind Fielke bats dates back to 1894 when the company was founded by Mr. Ewald Kumnick, who was from a family of German descent, as is the Fielke family. He began manufacturing cricket bats in Lobethal, South Australia, with the factory being based in an old church. Much experimentation with a variety of timber was done until English Willow became the standard timber used and Kumnick bats gradually founded a strong reputation as good quality cricket bats.

In the 1900s before the Second World War, the infamous company Spalding approached Kumnick to manufacture cricket bats for them to their then known and well regarded standards, but Spalding wanted their branding to appear on the bat. The agreement was made and with an initial work force of sixteen employees, Kumnick grew and was able to churn out approximately 10,000 to 15,000 bats a year. This was unfortunately brought to an end when the Second World War erupted. Ships were no longer coming to Australian shores with the timber needed for the bats and, as a result, the working relationship with Spalding came to an end and never renewed after the War.