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In from the Cold: Tom Wills – A Nineteenth Century Sporting Hero By Gregory Mark de Moore A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Human Movement, Recreation and Performance Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development Victoria University Melbourne, Victoria September 2008 i Abstract Tom Wills was the most important Australian sportsman of the mid-nineteenth century, but it is only in the first decade of the twenty-first century that he has grown in profile as a figure of cultural significance. Although Tom Wills is best recalled as the most important figure in early Australian Rules football, it was cricket that dominated his life. He rose to prominence in cricket during his time at Rugby school in England during the 1850s. When he returned to Australia he became the captain of the Victorian cricket team. On 10 July 1858 he penned what has become one of the most famous documents in Australian sporting history: a letter calling for the formation of a ‘foot- ball’ club. Only three years later his father was murdered by aborigines in central Queensland in what is recorded as the highest number of European settlers killed by aborigines in a single assault. Remarkably, only five years after his father’s murder, Tom Wills coached an aboriginal cricket team from western Victoria. Tom Wills’ life ended early, as did so many lives of colonial sportsmen, shortened by the effects of alcohol. Alcohol abuse led directly to the suicide of Wills at the age of 44 years. This thesis is the first academic attempt to uncover and then critically review some of the important parameters that shaped his life. ii Declaration ‘I, Gregory Mark de Moore, declare that the PhD thesis entitled ‘In From the Cold: Tom Wills – A Nineteenth Century Sporting Hero’ is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work’. Signature: ___________________________ Date: __________ iii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge Dr Rob Hess, my supervisor at Victoria University, who has guided me patiently through the doctoral process. His care and organisation over many years has been vital in bringing this thesis to its conclusion. Adjunct Professor Richard Cashman at University of Technology, Sydney, co-supervised this project and has offered encouragement and critiqued the thesis at various points for which I am grateful. In a project of this length there are literally hundreds of people who have assisted with my questions. I can only thank all of them. To name each person and institution would require pages of tributes. Each of these people will know of their assistance and their contributions will be found at different times in the footnotes and in the bibliography. Of all these people I would especially thank Mr Peter Gill who assisted with my search for various materials in the state of Victoria. The Melbourne Cricket Club’s wonderful collection and staff were of great help over many years. Finally I would like to thank the descendants of the Wills family: Terry Wills Cooke, Tom Wills and Lawton W. Cooke for allowing me to study their collections of family documents. iv Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my wife, Heather and my two children, Eve and Willem. Without their love and support the project would never have been undertaken let alone completed. v Table of Contents Abstract i Declaration ii Acknowledgements iii Dedication iv Chapter One Introduction and Methodology 1 A Sketch of Tom Wills’ Life 1.1 A Sporting Career 1 1.2 A Pioneering Family 2 1.3 Sport, Alcohol and Suicide 3 2 Literature Review 2.1 Biographies 4 2.2 Other References 7 2.3 Errors 9 3 Scope and Structure of the Thesis 3.1 The Six Themes of this Study 10 3.2 Suicide 11 3.3 Alcohol 12 3.4 Sporting Career 13 3.5 Family and Developmental History 14 3.6 Aborigines 15 3.7 Rugby School and England 15 vi 4 Biography as Historical Enquiry 4.1 The Relationship between Writer and Subject 16 4.2 Style of Biography 17 5 Methodological Difficulties 20 6 The Validity of Reconstruction 21 7 Sources for a Study on Tom Wills 7.1 Secondary Sources 23 7.2 Primary Sources 24 7.2.1 Newspapers and Journals 24 7.2.2 Family Documentation 27 7.2.3 Sporting Records 27 7.2.4 Other Official Documentation 28 7.2.5 Overseas Material 28 7.2.6 Theses 29 7.2.7 Drawing/Photography/Painting/Maps/Film 29 8 Conclusion 29 Chapter Two Tom Wills at Rugby School 1 Introduction 32 2 Cricket 35 3 Football 44 vii 4 Athletics 4.1 Hare and Hounds 51 4.2 Athletic Games 54 5 Drinking of Alcohol at Rugby 5.1 Sanitary Reforms at Rugby 56 5.2 Beer as a Water Substitute 57 5.3 Alcohol Consumption: Evidence and Protocols 58 5.4 Links with Sport 62 6 The Rugby Template Comes Home to the Colonies: Mr T. W. Wills of English Reputation 64 7 Conclusion 71 Chapter Three A Sporting Life 1 Introduction 72 2 Tom Wills: Satan’s Little Helper A Case Study of Throwing in Nineteenth Century Australian Cricket 72 2.1 Nineteenth Century Laws on Throwing 74 2.2 Wills at Rugby School 75 2.3 Return to Australia: 1856-1864 76 2.4 On Borrowed Time: 1864-1869 79 2.5 The Plot to bring down Tom Wills: 1870-1873 82 2.6 Drifting to the Periphery: 1875-1880 90 3 Football viii 3.1 Tom Wills, Marngrook and the Evolution of Australian football 93 3.1.1 The Beginnings of an Idea 94 3.1.2 Development of the Idea 97 3.1.3 Evidence 99 3.2 Suicide, Mythology and the Place of Tom Wills in Football History 105 4 Conclusion 113 Chapter Four Tom Wills and Indigenous Australians 1 Introduction 117 2 The Murder of Horatio Wills 2.1 Family Attitudes towards the Aborigines of Central Queensland 119 2.2 Murder and its Aftermath 122 3 The Aboriginal Cricket Team 3.1 Events Prior to the 1866 Boxing Day Match 136 3.2 The Aboriginal team plays the Melbourne Cricket Club 139 3.3 Motivation and Family Attitudes 141 3.4 Matters of Style and Teaching 144 3.5 On the Question of Identity 145 3.6 Christianity and the Aboriginal Team 148 3.7 Visual Imagery and the Aboriginal Team 149 3.8 Wills within the Troupe and as a Focus of the Tour 150 3.9 The Tour in the Light of the Murder of Horatio Wills 153 ix 3.10 Early Progress of the Tour 153 3.11 The Arrest of Tom Wills 154 3.12 Charles Lawrence and Tom Wills 159 3.13 The Contract 166 4 Conclusion 167 Chapter Five A Father’s Care 1 Introduction 1.1 Background: Birth date, Birthplace and Family Name 170 2 Horatio Wills 2.1 Horatio’s Parliamentary Career 173 2.2 Father and Son 175 2.3 Horatio’s Aspirations for his Children 177 3 Rugby School 180 4 Return to Melbourne and a Legal Career 184 5 Queensland 5.1 Leaving for Queensland 187 5.2 Trek to Queensland 188 5.3 Death and Religion 189 5.4 Grief and False Assurances 191 5.5 Struggle on the Farm 191 5.6 Idealisation of Horatio 193 5.7 Expulsion of Tom from the Station 196 x 6 Conclusion 203 Chapter Six The Sons of Lush: Tom Wills, Alcohol and Colonial Sport 1 Introduction 205 2 Background 206 3 The Death of Tom Wills: Delirium Tremens 209 4 Neuropsychiatric Syndromes associated with Alcohol 212 5 The Murder of Horatio Wills and its Role in Tom Wills’ Drinking 215 6 Physical Sequelae of Alcohol Abuse 217 7 Developmental History 7.1 Genetics and Family History 219 7.2 Schooling 221 7.3 Social and Financial History 221 8 Colonial Sport and Alcohol 8.1 Drinking and the Intercolonial Player 226 8.2 Alcohol off the Field 231 8.3 Aboriginal Cricket Team 236 8.4 English Tours of Australia 243 8.5 The Publican Cricketer 246 8.6 Newspapers 249 8.7 Alcohol as Stimulant and Tonic 253 9 Conclusion 257 xi Chapter Seven In from the Cold: The Suicide of Tom Wills 1 Introduction 259 2 The Death of Tom Wills 2.1 Admission to Hospital 261 2.2 Death in Heidelberg 265 2.3 Restraint and Role of the Police 268 3 Victorian Medical Perspective on Insanity and Suicide 270 4 Brain Structure and Insanity 272 5 A Modern Conceptualisation of Wills’ Death 5.1 Psychopathology 274 5.2 Post Trauma Syndromes 278 5.3 Series of Losses 279 6 Legal Sequelae to Tom Wills’ Death 6.1 English Historical Background 286 6.2 Victoria in the Nineteenth Century 287 6.3 The Inquest 289 7 The Burial 291 8 Reaction to Wills’ Death 8.1 Newspaper Reports 292 xii 8.1.1 Reports on Suicide in General 293 8.1.2 Wills’ Obituaries 295 8.1.3 Other Publications at the Time 298 8.2 Family and Friends 300 8.2.1 Background 300 8.2.2 Family 302 9 Will and Probate 306 10 Comparison with the Deaths of Contemporary Sportsmen 309 11 Conclusion 311 Chapter Eight Conclusion 312 Appendix: Errors and Mythology 315 Bibliography 322 xiii 1 Chapter One Introduction and Methodology … [drink], the curse of these colonies – the demon which has desolated so many homes and blasted the fair fame of thousands – got its hold upon him …1 Thomas Wentworth Wills was the most important sportsman of his time.