Acknowledgements
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS History, it has been said, is not what actually happened but what was recorded! This is true of many things and no doubt there are comments or numbers in this document that may not be true and correct. The reason for sharing this document is to provide lacrosseurs past and present with information on the history of lacrosse in Australia, but this is written from information gathered mainly by Victorians, thus its focus was on Victoria, as is its natural bias, but does provide a lot of information about men’s lacrosse in all states and a little bit about women’s lacrosse. This document has come a long way from what we were provided in hand written manuscripts for various periods from 1876, and no doubt still contains errors of fact or spelling. If you can help with correcting any errors or filling in any gaps we would appreciate you contacting us. With some help from our lacrosse brothers and sisters in all states it can one day tell the story of lacrosse in Austalia from many perspectives and include far more information and knowledge than we have provided in this document. Our intention longer term, with the cooperation of all interested lacrosseurs in Australia, is to develop a book on the history of lacrosse in Australia, covering men’s and women’s lacrosse, all states and all types of lacrosse played. I trust you find the early years as fascinating as we have. Lacrosse was once a significant sport in Australia, played on such great venues as the MCG, SCG, the WACA and Adelaide Oval. It had in its early days as patrons people in such high positions as Governors, Chief Justices, federal and state politicians. It was played in every state in Australia and hosted its first international tour of a Canadian team in 1907 where over 14,000 spectators witnessed a game of lacrosse on the MCG and other great venues. Lacrosse is a wonderful game with a proud heritage passed on to us by the North American Indians. We thank them for sharing this great game with us. The vast majority of this document would not have been possible without the invaluable contribution of the major author, the late Horrie Webber, who provided the vast majority of the information in this document, thus it has started out from a Victorian perspective and information primarily from Victorian records. As this document has evolved it now includes quite a lot of information and photos from other sources, so perhaps it is emerging as a nationally focused document. We, Bill Gray Jnr and John Nolan, have merely facilitated typing, editing, correction and tracked down people with knowledge or records to fill in gaps or provide information that was lacking. This is a living document and will continue to evolve with the inclusion of information beyond 1994, historical photographs and no doubt historical information and photos from other states of Australia. Please feel free to use this document as you see fit, it is not meant to be a secret, we want to spread lacrosse and its wonderful history, to be a growing sport and this magnificent history may help. We have very little history on women’s lacrosse, if you have any records, information or photos, we would love to see them and include any relevant information in the document we have commenced on women’s lacrosse. If you want to contact us to provide information, fill in gaps or ask questions, please contact us as follows:- Bill Gray [email protected] John Nolan [email protected] A HISTORY OF MEN’S LACROSSE IN AUSTRALIA 1876-1994 by Horrie Webber Published posthumously with editing and additions by John Nolan & Bill Gray Melbourne 2015 Much use is made these days of the term "Multi-cultural" but Victoria in the second half of the 19th century was already multi-cultural. Immigrants from many countries and of various skin-pigments had entered the colonies in search of wealth, health or political freedom. The various streams of migrant brought with them their social customs, religious dogma and pastimes. German migrants, for instance, brought with them their gymnasia and their liedertafels (German musical concert). The French were not at that time greatly devoted to sport, and their contribution was to painting, sculpture, music and philosophy. Later they became leaders in aeronautics and bicycling. Many of these multi- cultural interests became woven permanently into the fabric of the society of the colony of Victoria. Such athletic pastimes as immigrants from countries other than Great Britain brought with them survived with difficulty against the traditional Anglo-Saxon pastimes such as horse-racing, cricket, football and rowing. Of those that retained their particular characteristics and retain to this day a loyal though perhaps esoteric following, is lacrosse. This game was played in a rudimentary form when the first Englishmen made the acquaintance of the "Indians" of Canada. It was soon adopted as the national sport of Canada, and from there it made its way to Australia. Among the many inhabitants of the Victorian goldfields there were some Canadians. According to the Historical Atlas of Australia (Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, 1887) about 1% of the population of Australia in 1861, had been born in Canada. No doubt many were attracted to the "diggings". Among the Canadians to be found in the gold-fields was Dr. Mount, of Ballarat, having arrived there in 1853. His claim for distinction, for he does not feature in the records of the Australian Encyclopedia, is that he was the father of a boy in his time who became renowned as an amateur pedestrian (Sprinter or middle distance runner), Lambton Le Breton Mount, the rival for amateur fame of the illustrious H.C. Harrison. The boy was born in Montreal in 1839, and arrived in Victoria in 1853. He was therefore about fourteen years old, at an age when boys are subject to home-sickness, and when recollection tends to magnify places and romanticise people and events. At the age of fourteen he would have developed some degree of skill at the national game of his native land. He became a notable pedestrian, as his contests with H.C. Harrison for the Amateur Championship of Victoria testify; but he achieved no distinction in the other games of Anglo-Saxon origin, though he was at one time a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club, but the memory of the games of his boyhood remained vivid. He, like Wills, Harrison and others, found that the winter season offered little in the way of manly exercise for vigorous young men. The Melbourne athletic coterie directed their energies towards establishing an indigenous form of football. Lambton Mount set about arousing interest in the game of his boyhood, and, with this in mind, he wrote a letter to "The Australasian", which was published in the issue of 8 April, 1876. It read: "The Game of Lacrosse" "To the Editor of the Australasian, Sir, Very many years ago, when a small boy in Canada, I used to watch with rapturous excitement, the Red Indians, tribe against tribe, play the game of Lacrosse, and always yearned impatiently for the time when I would be big enough to play also, for it was then a select game, and small boys did not aspire to more than imitate it in a bastard manner by playing shinny, or shinty, or hockey or whatever you like; but migrating to this colony while yet a lad, the feverish scenes of the golden days completely banished it from my mind, until about six months ago, while watching the final match of the football season between the Carlton and the Melbourne football clubs, it occurred to me what a superior game Lacrosse was, and I then resolved to take steps to initiate it in Victoria. By the following mail, I sent a message to Canada for 40 La Crosse sticks, and the rules of the game. Now follows a strange coincidence. By the incoming mail from England, arriving here about mid-October last, came the Illustrated London News dated 16 October 1875, containing a large picture of "The Game of La Crosse as played in Canada", and on page 375 a description of the game, and some interesting remarks thereon, which with your permission I will now copy. "This excellent outdoor pastime is the national game of Lower Canada, where it was learnt by the French from the Indians, before the English conquest. Mr W. Cruickshank, of Toronto, up to which city it was passed from Montreal, contributes a sketch which requires but little explanation. Two goals, each six feet wide and six feet high, are placed several hundred yards apart, between which are the players of the respective sides, opposed to each other in pairs. The ball is started by the captains exactly in the middle of the field, and play begins. The position of the players is now entirely at discretion, or subject to the directions of their captain. The ball may not be touched with the hands or feet, but it is shovelled off the ground or "caught on the fly" by a crosse, which is a very primitive racquet-bat of Indian manufacture. The "crosse-stick" is about 4 feet 6 inches long, and has a large curve on itself at one end. From the tip of the curve to about the middle of the straight part there is a cat-gut "leading-string", and the interspace is netted with gut, so that you have a kind of racquet, only the net-work is wider and longer, and the handle is longer.