Paper presented to the Canberra District Historical Society-

13 May 2014. National Archives of Australia. Menzies Room.

Alured Tasker Faunce and William Davis: The

Founder and the Champion of Early Cricket and its Values in the Queanbeyan-Canberra Region

Prof. Thomas Faunce

I wish first to acknowledge the Ngunawal people, the traditional owners of this land and pay respects to their elders past and present. I should also like to mention that it is just over 50 years since my father himself addressed the Canberra District Historical Society.

The Queanbeyan v Goulburn Cricket Match, March 1859 An interesting place to begin an investigation of the origins of cricket in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region is a match report from the Goulburn Herald on 2nd March 1859. The match was between the Queanbeyan and Goulburn cricket clubs and was played at Goulburn on the recreation ground in front of the Commercial Bank. Play began a little later than anticipated at 11am under clear blue skies and before a small crowd.1 Prominent in the match report amongst the players for the Queanbeyan side were the names of two young cricketers ‘Faunce’ and ‘Davis,’ on this occasion Alured Dodsworth Faunce for batting and William Davis for bowling. These family names figure prominently in the historical records of the origins of cricket in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region. This 1859 report also reveals how, even at that early time, the question of who was responsible for founding and championing cricket on the Limestone Plains was an issue of some consequence. Yet, whilst the vital contribution of the ‘squire of Ginninderra’ William Davis to the early days of cricket in the Queanbeyan-Canberra

1 Goulburn Herald 2 March 1859 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118243834?searchTerm=woodward%27s%20Hotel%20and%20Futter%20and%20Davis& searchLimits=l-title=364|||l-publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc region was expressly mentioned on this occasion, the even earlier role in this context of Queanbeyan’s first police magistrate Alured Tasker Faunce appears to have been passed over. Captain AT Faunce was the father of 19 year old Alured Dodsworth Faunce who had just played so well alongside William Davis for Queanbeyan in this 1859 match against Goulburn. The match report pays closer scrutiny as it gives a lively account of the spirit in which such games were played.

“Goulburn having won the toss sent in Queanbeyan first. After the lapse of about half an hour, the whole eleven had succumbed to the bowling and fielding of their antagonists, having succeeded in scoring only 18, of which 4 were byes off Richards bowling. Faunce, one of the best players, was caught out by A. Chisholm, the first ball; H. Davis was bowled out by the second ball, bowled by Richards; and Byer was caught out by A. Chisholm, on receiving the first ball. The rest of the innings calls for no particular remarks. The players were far too cautious, and lost several runs in consequence.

Goulburn then went in, and, after a splendid innings, retired with a score of 129; of which 5 only were byes, and 1 wide. As if to make amends for Faunce's mishap, C. Chisholm's stumps were lowered by the very first ball delivered by W. Davis. The backers of Goulburn, who were quite elate with their prospects of success, became somewhat depressed, though still confident. Roberts succeeded Chisholm, and after making a decent score of 9 retired before the bowling of W. Davis. A ball off the bat of Gillespie, the crack player of the Goulburn eleven, was caught after touching the ground, but so closely on its rise, that it was supposed to have been handled before it reached the ground, and Gillespie was alleged to be out. The umpire, however, decided otherwise, but this little contretemps made Gillespie play with less caution than before, and he was cleverly caught out by W. Davis the very next ball. Notwithstanding the speedy conclusion of his innings, we adhere to our opinion that, Gillespie is fit to play in any eleven that these colonies can produce. A. Chisholm then went in, and after seeing several of his colleagues out, retired with the magnificent score of 37. The rest of the innings calls for no particular comment. The fielding of the Queanbeyan players was particularly bad; not one of the Goulburn side being put out by the fielders, the only one, Gillespie, who was not bowled out, being caught out by W. Davis, one of the bowlers.

Luncheon now supervened, after which the Queanbeyanites went in, wanting 111 to tie. W. Campbell went in first, and was very nearly going out last, seeing nine of his colleagues yield. His score, 48, was the highest obtained on either side. S. Davis who first faced Campbell, was bowled out by Gillespie without securing a notch. He was succeeded by Massey, who made one splendid hit towards the creek, for which he got 6, but was soon caught out by I. Davis without further adding to the score. Faunce then went in, and the prettiest play throughout the match ensued, Campbell and Faunce for some time doing almost as they liked with the balls, and scoring rapidly. Faunce finally was bowled out by Richards, with 21 against his name. With the exception of one slogging hit by W. Davis, for which he got 5, the rest of the innings deserves no particular comment…Goulburn won in one innings. 2

The evening after the game the players adjourned to Woodward’s Hotel in Goulburn. The dinner comprised all the delicacies of the season, and was done ample justice to by those assembled; the usual dinner accompaniments of pledging and toasting growing more fast and furious as the generous juice of the grape spread its genial influence into the bosoms of the company. The usual festive decorations ornamented the room, and at one end was a banner with an appropriate cricketing motto emblazoned on it. 3

2 Ibid 3 Ibid After 8pm J. S. Futter, Esq., took the chair and proposed the usual loyal toasts of “the Queen,” “the Prince Consort, and the rest of the Royal family,” then the health of “the Governor-General,” particularly since Sir W. Denison had “shown himself ever since his arrival in this country a noble and zealous supporter of the old English game of cricket (cheers).” 4 The Chairman then alluded to the gallant soldiers and sailors fighting in the Crimea. But this time he went further than most such patriotic references. He specifically and pointedly referred to the cricketing prowess of the military. Mr Futter stated that:

“it was his firm opinion that there had been no greater patrons of the art of cricketing than the officers of the army and navy, and in every garrison town you would find cricketing extensively cultivated.” 5

The hypothesis explored here is that there was significance in the Chairman stating on this occasion and at this point in his speech “there had been no greater patrons of the art of cricketing than the officers of the army.” Indeed, as we shall see, in uttering these words Mr Futter could have been discreetly saying more about the origins of cricket in the Limestone Plains than coheres with the version of events as presented by some more contemporary local cricket historians. Seated no doubt in the audience before Chairman Futter, was nineteen year old Alured Dodsworth Faunce who had batted so well in the second innings. Three years earlier in 1856 this AD Faunce had returned to Queanbeyan from Kings School in Sydney to take over as head of the house after the sudden death of his father Captain Alured Tasker Faunce while playing cricket for the Queanbeyan club. AD Faunce already had become a regular in the Queanbeyan side. The year before he had opened the batting and top scored in the first innings of a return match for Queanbeyan against Goulburn, where W Davis in the same Queanbeyan side took three wickets.6 But lets return to the 1859 match celebrations. The Chairman then toasted "the Queanbeyan Eleven." He referred to Queanbeyan, even then in 1859 as “as the oldest regular cricketing club in the Southern district.” [emphasis added] He stated that the Queanbeyan players had arrived “in regular cricketing style and dress, and as every cricket club ought to do” and “had it not been for their having challenged us, we should have had no club at all.” He added that Queanbeyan had “set the example for

4 Ibid

5 Ibid 6 Queanbeyan Age 16 Jan 1858 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118248583 the formation of other clubs.”7 In concluding, Mr Futter stated that Mr William Davis “had been the leading man in the formation of the Queanbeyan club.” In response W Davis, after paying his respects, observed that “every available man had been brought from the Queanbeyan district, whereas Goulburn had several more, as good as the present eleven, whom they could bring to the field.” 8 Perhaps a garbled and confused story is what you’re likely to get when you set a publican to be Chairman and let him talk post-game to a bunch of cricketers after the grape juice has been flowing for some time. Indeed, some of these comments by Chairman Futter seem quite contrary to the traditional notions about the origins of cricket on the Limestone Plains. After all Mr Futter here claimed that Queanbeyan was “the oldest regular cricketing club in the Southern district” and had “set the example for the formation of other clubs.” Futter also claimed that William Davis “was the leading man in the formation of the Queanbeyan Cricket Club” Later, Don Selth in his Cricket on the Limestone Plains, took a very different view of the origins of cricket on the Limestone Plains. Selth’s opinion (based on research materials he does not cite) was that the Queanbeyan Cricket Club only came into existence when William Davis got his Ginninderra mob together and challenged Queanbeyan in September 1856 and that “soon afterwards clubs were formed at Goulburn, Yass and Braidwood.”9 This view appears to have become the orthodox position on the origins of cricket in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region.10 So, should we accept Selth’s view as correct and Mr Futter as incorrect in stating that the Queanbeyan cricket club in some form existed in the 1840s and early 1850s

7 “The services the Queanbeyan Club had rendered to us at Goulburn, by coming to play a match with us, were in estimable, and he doubted not, had it not been for their having challenged us, we should have had no club at all; he hoped that the remembrance of the Queanbeyan Club would survive in their memories, and that they would recollect it as the oldest regular cricketing club in the Southern district; although they had not been successful, they had encouraged others and led the way, and altogether deserved our best wishes. Although the Goulburn players had a strong eleven, he must certainly say, when he saw the Queanbeyanites arrive, he was rather doubtful as to the laurels of the Goulburn cricketers, as they had come down in regular cricketing style and dress, and as every cricket club ought to do.” Goulburn Herald 2 March 1859 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118243834?searchTerm=woodward%27s%20Hotel%20and%20Futter%20and%20Davis& searchLimits=l-title=364|||l-publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc 8 “In conclusion the Chairman made honourable mention of Mr. W. Davis, and said that as the Queanbeyan Club had set the example for the formation of other clubs, so he Mr. Davis had been the leading man in the formation of the Queanbeyan Club; he called upon him to respond. After enthusiastic cheering, at the conclusion of the CHAIRMAN's speech. Mr. W. DAVIS rose, and said, that the manly way in which he and his fellow cricketers had been received that day, was extremely gratifying. He He then thanked the company, for the kind reception the Queanbeyan players had met with, and begged to propose the health of the " Goulburn eleven." Song " For he's a jolly good fellow.” Goulburn Herald 2 March 1859 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118243834?searchTerm=woodward%27s%20Hotel%20and%20Futter%20and%20Davis& searchLimits=l-title=364|||l-publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc 9 “[b]y 1856 Davis was responsible for a [Queanbeyan] club being formed by challenging the town to a match.” Don Selth. Cricket on the Limestone Plains. Panther Priting and Publishing 1992. p2. 10 ‘Early Days of District Cricket’ Canberra Times Wednesday 18 Sept 1926 p5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1014106 (accessed 8 Feb 2014) before the formation of the Ginninderra club? Indeed was Futter correct in stating that the Queanbeyan Cricket Club was older that the Goulburn club and in fact the “oldest regular cricketing club in the Southern district?” In considering such issues it is necessary to keep in mind that the 1840’s and 1850s comprised an era where cricket clubs in the southern districts of NSW frequently came in and out of existence and were often created almost ad hoc from available players, as time off from work and funds arose to meet a particular challenge. In any event, the case to be explored here is that Mr Futter ‘s comments on that night of cricket enthusiasms in 1859 should not be dismissed as drunken ramblings. Rather it may be that this publican in fact was much more astute and sensitive an advocate on behalf of regional cricket than has previously been recognised.

William Davis and the Ginninderra Mob in the 1850’s

Lets first return to what may be termed the ‘traditional’ position on the origins of cricket on the Limestone Plains. An article in the Canberra Times in 1926 claimed that it was 1854 when the first cricket club in what was then known as the Federal Capital Territory, was formed by William Davis at Ginninderra. No primary source is given in this article for the date 1854. The Ginninderra team in this early period was said to comprise William Davis, W. Campbell, W. Bowyer, J. Shumack, R. Shumack, M. Southwell, D. Cameron, A. Cameron, W. Creswell, Mason and the aboriginals Bobby and Jimmy Taylor. The article states that in 1860 they won nine out of ten matches. According to that article, R. Shumack was the best batsman in the team.11 Uncritically repeating this position (of an 1854 Ginninderra origin with subsequent formation of cricket clubs such as Queanbeyan), is the article on ‘Australian Capital Territory Cricket’ in Pollard’s Australian Cricket. The Game and the Players.12 This also does not give a primary source for the 1854 date. Lyall Gillespie in his chapter on the Ginninderra Cricket Team (attractively titled “Knights of the Willow”) merely

11 ‘Early Days of District Cricket’ Canberra Times Wednesday 18 Sept 1926 p5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1014106 (accessed 8 Feb 2014) 12 Jack Pollard. Australian Cricket. The Game and the Players. Hodder and Stoughton. Sydney1982 p61. The same view is repeated in an article in the Canberra Times 12 Oct 1943 p6. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2374861?searchTerm=w%20davis,%20cricket%201854%20AND%20%22Queanbeyan%2 2&searchLimits=exactPhrase=Queanbeyan|||anyWords|||notWords|||l- textSearchScope=*ignore*|*ignore*|||fromdd|||frommm|||fromyyyy|||todd|||tomm|||toyyyy|||l-word=*ignore*|*ignore*|||sortby states that “by the mid 1850’s” an active club was operating, again without citing primary materials.13 William Davis (1821-1910) the founder of the Ginninderra cricket team, was born in Tiverton, Devonshire, England, the fourth of eleven children of William Davis and his wife Jane Elizabeth, née Weston. William Davis Jnr was educated at the Blue Coat School, London and arrived in Sydney on the Alfred on 31 December 1837 as a lad of sixteen. Within a couple of years of this arrival his father purchased Booroomba a run of 4480 acres on the Murrumbidgee River near what is now Tharwa village (a property subsequently acquired by McKeahnie and now owned by the Hyles family).14 In the early to late-1840s William Davis Jnr appears to have gone to work for the Commercial Bank in Sydney. I have discovered no newspaper record of him having played cricket in Sydney in this period (mid 1840’s). In the late 1840’s William Davis Jnr returned to the Limestone Plains area to work for Campbell at Duntroon. In 1849 William Davis Jnr began to manage the Ginninderra property for Mr Palmer. ‘Ginninderra is said to mean ‘sparkling, throwing out little rays of light’ in the local Ngunnawal language, and is possibly a description of the

Ginninderra Falls (‘Queanbeyan’ in the same language is said to mean ‘clear waters’). William Davis may have had an additional romantic incentive to manage these lands, for on 11 April 1850 he married Palmer’s daughter Susan Adriana at the Church of St John the Baptist, now in the suburb of Reid, Canberra. In 1854 Susan inherited her father’s estate and William Davis, as its trustee and manager, became known as 'the Squire of Ginninderra'. William Davis from 1854 onwards was now in a position to make his own decisions and dedicate such resources as he saw fit towards cricket, including to establish and support his own cricket team. Lyall Gillespie writes that Davis's greatest local fame sprang from his passion for cricket, a game he introduced to the district in the early 1850s. His almost unbeaten team included three Aborigines—Jimmy and Johnny Taylor and Bobby Hamilton—justly regarded as the star players. In 1864 the Ginninderra eleven played the combined Queanbeyan and Bungendore elevens and still won. Davis added to the excitement of the matches and public occasions with dinners, balls, brass bands and fireworks. 15

13 Lyall Gillespie. Ginninderra Forerunner to Canberra. The Wizard Canberra Local History Series. Nat. Capital Printing 1992. P35. 14 Queanbeyan Age 19 July 1910 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/31375773 15 Lyall Gillespie, 'Davis, William (1821–1910)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davis-william-12879/text23263, published in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 15 February 2014. With great moral courage and a keen eye for talent William Davis included aboriginal players in the Ginninderra cricket team. Bobby Deumonga (Bobby Hamilton), Jimmy (Jemmy) Taylor and young Johnny Taylor were their names. Bobby was the wicket- keeper and Johnny Taylor later developed into the ‘crack’ batsman of the Southern Districts. Johnny, when only what was referred to, in the unfortunate language of the time, as a “picaninny blackfellow” (that is, in his early teens) scored 21 for Ginninderra against Yass in January 1863 (a game where William Davis bowled ‘dead to the wicket” for 12 maiden overs).16 In one game for Ginninderra against Queanbeyan in 1869 Johnny scored 36 in the first innings and 81 in the second, this included three hits allowing nine runs and one of 8 runs. In the same year, in a game against Yass Johnny topped the score and took 6 wickets. Johnny moved to the Tumut district soon afterwards and continued his cricketing feats, including one hit of 165 yards. 17 William Davis’s integration of aboriginal players into the Ginninderra team was a remarkable, farsighted and idealistic piece of social integration; particularly given the neglect, discrimination and indifference the aboriginal population was generally experiencing from European settlers in the region. In this cricketers appeared to have been more enlightened and more willing to not only appreciate but revel in the prowess of the aboriginals that was the core of the Ginninderra team’s success. Only once was racial prejudice clearly expressed against the Ginninderra team on this account. Early in the 1860s some members of the Duntroon Cricket Team walked off the field when they found they were expected when playing against Ginninderra to compete with “common blackfellows.” One can imagine the ire that such comments would have produced in William Davis given the time, resources and effort he had spent not only in coaching the aboriginal cricketers, but supporting and promoting the game locally. In the face of disgust from their brethren the racial vilifiers hastily and insubstantially attempted to explain that their criticism related to the fact that William Davis was himself paying the subscriptions for the aboriginals. But the disgusted reaction of the other cricketers to this incident perhaps may be gauged from this report included in the match description.

16 Queanbeyan Age 8 Jan 1863 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/4274490?zoomLevel=3 17 Lyall L Gillespie. Gininderra Forerunner to Canberra. The Wizard Canberra Local History Series. Nat. Capital Printing 1992 p40. Previous to the commencement, of the game, some objections were made by Duntroon, to the Aborigines playing in the Gininderra team, and I regret to say that it was, not because any rule or observance in relation to the men had not been complied with, but simply because they were Aborigines. One member of the Duntroon Club carrying his ideas of outtraged dignity (!) so far, as to lead him to leave the field, rather than play with “common black fellows.” The objections raised upon this occasion will no doubt be differently appreciated by those who understand cricket differently[sic], but in the writer's experience of cricket he has never met a case where the colour of a man's skin has been taken at all into consideration, or has been a barrier to his playing with his white brethren; and the objection could hardly have been expected to hold, seeing that it was levelled against [aboriginal] men who (as cricketers) have been thought worthy of playing and dining with the first gentlemen of the Southern Districts, the very principle of cricket is against such objections, for one of the great beauties of the game is that no man is seen --- but the CRICKETER; and to the total absence of all class feeling, and the knowledge amongst players that on the field all are equal, may be traced that harmony, unanimity, and concord, which are the leading characteristics of The Game of the world. 18

The Duntroon cricket club should not be unjustly tarred with this one unfortunate prejudicial brush; nevertheless, it soon folded into relative oblivion.19 In the 1840’s there appear to have been between 400-500 aboriginals of the Ngarrugu and Ngunawal people living nomadically in the Queanbeyan district. By the 1870s this population had reduced to less than ten, probably due in large part to European- spread infectious diseases such as syphilis and measles.20 At the last big corroboree in Queanbeyan in 1862 all the tribesmen came from Braidwood, Yass and Boorowa regions and few if any were local. The last full-blood aboriginal was Nellie Hamilton, self-titled ‘Queen of Queanbeyan.’ Shumack reports this dialogue between a wealthy woman of Queanbeyan and Nellie. “You know Nellie, we make good laws. See that building over there, it is a gaol, and if people break our laws we put them in there.” “Yah, you have a lot of big rich men over here that should be in there. You come and take our land and kill our game and let us starve, and if we take a sheep or kill a calf, you shoot us or put us in gaol. You bring your disease and give it to us- we had nothing like that until you came and stole our land- you give us rotten blanket and bad rum.”21

When Nellie lay dying, she was placed in Queanbeyan hospital and cared for. As Lea- Scarlett puts it “There her visitors included old William Davis, formerly squire of Ginninderra, whose patronage of the cricket team had given the [Queanbeyan] aborigines their few moments of dignity” during the 1850’s and 1860’s.22

18 Queanbeyan Age 17 October 1861 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30631794?searchTerm=%20cricket%20W%20Davis%20Ginninderra&searchLimits=sortb y=dateAsc 19 Errol Lea-Scarlett. Queanbeyan District and People. Queanbeyan Municipal Council 1968 pp130-131 20 WK Hancock. Discovering Monaro. A Study of Man’s Impact on His Environment. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 1972 p69. 21 Samuel Shumack. An Autobiography or Tales and Legends of Canberra Pioneers. ANU Press Canberra 1967 p150 22 Errol Lea-Scarlett, Queanbeyan. Diustrict and People. Queanbeyan Municipal Council 1968. P 22. William Davis’ mixed-race Ginninderra cricket team undertook numerous tours to Cooma, Goulburn, Gundaroo, Braidwood and Tuggeranong, and to all the surrounding districts as clubs were formed. The last match to be played on the old Ginninderra ground was against Gundaroo in January, 1876. In 1877 the club moved to Hall and became the ‘One Tree Hill Club’.23 Samuel Shumack recounts how ready William Davis was to ensure that his enjoyment of cricket always supplanted his desire for wealth or property. One evening a man and woman, each carrying a heavy swag, called at our house and inquired the way to Ginninderra. The man was aged nineteen years and his wife twenty-nine. A thickly timbered ridge hid the Ginninderra homestead from view, and it was in this scrub about 400 yards from our house hat John Coppin and his wife Catherine- for such was their name- erected their tent. It was Friday evening. The next morning John Coppin went to the homestead and asked Davis for a job. “I am full up at the moment”, Davis said. Coppin expressed disappointment and said “Paddy said I was sure to get a job here.” “Oh, you are the man Paddy spoke about,” said Davis. “What part of England do you come from?” “Kent,” was the reply. “Can you play cricket?” asked Davis. “I played at home,” Coppin said “and was present when Kent beat All England.” “Come into the office,” said Davis. “I will engage you at 12s a week and rations. I have no house to give you, but you can draw your rations now.” Coppin did so. A few days later mother received an early morning call and a son was born to this worthy couple. They were my neighbours for years and were industrious members of the community.24

It reflects well on William Davis that Coppin, though he does not appear to have turned out quite the gun cricketer this interview might have presaged, stayed on at Ginninderra. William Davis not only was a morally enlightened, wealthy landowner who provided the region with an excellent cricket ground, but he gave his employees time off to play, coached his aboriginal champions and was active in advertising in the press for cricket challenges against other teams and promoting the game generally. William Davis saw cricket as character building and showed his own noble character in the extensive diversion of his abundant energy and resources towards that pastime. William Davis himself was a tough an accomplished cricketer. On 24 May 1862 he led a team of 13 Ginninderrans to glorious tie (51 runs each) in a one innings game against a team of 22 . The match report noted:

And it' was only by the most careful batting that W. Davis and T. Wood brought the thirteen through. W. Davis being at the wickets over an hour for 8 runs.

23 ‘Early Days of District Cricket’ Canberra Times Wednesday 18 Sept 1926 p5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1014106 (accessed 8 Feb 2014) 24 Samuel Shumack. An Autobiography or Tales and Legends of Canberra Pioneers. ANU Press Canberra 1967 p62. The post game dinner was at Patrick’s Inn. The President and Vice-Present for the evening were Dr Andrew Morton and Dr William Foxton Hayley from the Queanbeyan Cricket Club and they clearly supported Davis as having the preeminent role in championing cricket in those early days in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region. The toast of the evening was to their guest and friend, Mr. William Davis.

The Cricket season, he thought was very properly wound up by giving a complimentary dinner to that gentleman. His high merits are known to them all. He had long been before them as a country gentleman, and as a person desirous of promoting the interests of the district…Their friend, Mr. William Davis was known to be an enthusiastic cricketer. If it were not for him, the game would almost die out in the district.”

In response William Davis noted that

The present was called a progressive and scientific age ; but it must be admitted that it was also an age for scraping dollars, to such an extent that lawful pastimes were interfered with. A Cricket club had been formed in Queanbeyan more than once, but had always broke up after the first meeting, simply because the young men of the town had not time to practise. If their employers were only liberal enough to give them a part of the day, or only an hour, on Saturday for practice, it would not be thus. There was a fine recreation ground made over to the town ; but was spoiling through neglect. If the townspeople did not make a move to have it enclosed, cricketing in Queanbeyan must soon cease. The game was prospering in other places, at Ginninderra, Goulburn, and Gundaroo, where Mr. Styles was its mainstay. Some people said he (Mr. Davis) was cricket-mad; but he thought it as well to be cricket mad as dollar-mad. He saw no fun in scraping money together for money's sake. It was far greater wisdom to enjoy what little money one had, than to be scraping it together till old age came when there would be no capacity for enjoying it. As to cricket being a waste of time, people could waste their time at anything if they choose. Some people wasted their time in going to parliament, where little else was done than talk.

It was later said of William Davis, the captain of the Ginninderra club, that he was

“the soul of cricket in the district”.25 There can be little doubt about the veracity of this conclusion. William Davis had his flaws. Samuel Shumack expressed his view that William Davis at least initially opposed John Robertson’s Free Selection Act (though he later used it to free-select the estate of Gunghalin). Shumack also noted that William Davis was “for a time the laughing stock of the district” after being held up by Ben Hall despite boasting of his shooting prowess, went on a venture where 2,700 wallabies were shot, and unjustly dismissed a relative after that person’s misinformation led Davis to wrongly accuse a woman of cattle stealing. But Davis, according to Shumack, encouraged temperance and church-going and “treated the natives very well indeed.”26

25 The Golden Age 31 May 1862. P3. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30632550 26 Samuel Shumack. An Autobiography or Tales and Legends of Canberra Pioneers. ANU Press Canberra 1967 pp 151, 143-4, 138, 106, 94, 75-7, 62, 28-51.

Match Reports of Cricket in Queanbeyan-Canberra Region in the Late 1850’s So what can we learn about the origins of cricket on the Limestone Plains from the extant match reports? As we shall see, no match was reported in the newspapers as occurring in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region till January 1856. There however were matches so recorded in Yass and Goulburn in the 1840’s. In February 1843, for example, it was reported that two games of cricket had been played between teams from Yass and a team called ‘Murrumbidgee’ (on the 3rd and 17th January 1843). Strong rivalry between these clubs seemed to exist. Yass won the first game which was played on a flat in the rear of Mr. George Davis's Inn, sign of the "Jolly Sawyers," Gowngan [Gounyan?], a place between Yass and the Murrumbidgee [towards Murrumbateman]. After their loss the Yass boys boasted of gaining a couple of “ring-ins” from the Australian Club in the premier Sydney competition. But after Murrumbidgee won the second game “one of the Murrumbidgee players claimed the flag, and carried it triumphantly down the town at the head of his party.” Amongst the Yass players was one H Scaife.27 Amongst the Henry Neale Scaife papers held in the manuscripts room of the National Library of Australia is Scaife’s diary for 1843. That diary records his observations on what appears to be the first cricket game near present day Murrumbateman on Tuesday 3rd January 1843: All anxiety about the match tomorrow. Got up at sunrise and dressed for the full match Yass against Murrumbidgee. I went to [George] Davis at g [Gownyan] in a horse and gig lent by Middleton and got on the ground at the 10am and at half past all being arrived the game commenced in good earnest by our side [Yass] winning the toss and going in first. And after a well contested game we contrived to beat them by 17 so winning their money and getting their good dinner into the bargain.28

Advertisements soon began to appear in the newspapers directed to ‘country’ players in such matches. An example is from the Sydney Morning Herald in 1847. O CRICKETERS AND CLUB-KEEPERS. The undersigned has just opened a large and good supply of well seasoned cricket bats and wickets, comprising all the following celebrated makers in England Clapshaw's, Cobbett, Dark, Duke, Page, and Earle's ; algo, Duke's, Dark's, and Morgan's best match and practice balls, cricket gloves and leg guards. The undersigned respectfully calls the attention of country players and hard hitters to this supply of strong bats.29

27 Sydney Morning Herald Monday 6 Feb 1843 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12416631?searchTerm=yass%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc 28 HN Scaife Diary. MS 7869 3rd journal 1843 29 SMH 23 Oct 1847 p 3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12896366?searchTerm=queanbeyan%20cricket&searchLimits=l- textSearchScope=*ignore*|*ignore*|||exactPhrase|||l- word=*ignore*|*ignore*|||fromyyyy|||notWords|||anyWords|||tomm|||toyyyy|||todd|||frommm|||fromdd|||sortby=dateAsc In May 1849 a group known as the ‘Yass Cricketers’ sponsored a ball for the benefit of the Yass Hospital.30 In December 1849 it appears that a Goulburn Cricket Club and a club called ‘Pandora’ were already in existence and referred to probably ironically as “ancient antagonists.” Three members of each team at that time played a single wicket match, for 10s. a bat, at the Southern Green.31 In 1850, the Independent

Pandora Club (144 over 2 innings) beat the Goulburn Club (142 over two innings). 32 Yet once again, as with the Queanbeyan cricket club, we have to remember how often cricket clubs came into and out of existence in this period. On 16 February 1856, for instance, the Goulburn Herald reported a meeting of a dozen gentleman interested in

33 forming ‘The Goulburn Cricket Club’ at Mr. Gillard's, "Horse and Jockey Inn." The first newspaper reference to a cricket game in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region appears to be a record in the Goulburn Herald of 12 January 1856. This describes how on New Years day 1856 the Gundaroo Club (which included many players later recorded as playing for Queanbeyan sides (such as J Massey, and H Lintott who scored most of Gundaroo’s runs on that day) played a Ginninderra side which included William Davis at Ginninderra (SH Davis and Sandy Cameron scoring most of the runs in Ginninderra’s victory).34 In my opinion this date January 1856 (not 1854) should be recorded at that on which the Ginninderra club was first known to play on the Limestone Plains. On Saturday 5 April 1856, the Goulburn Herald recorded a cricket match between the married and the single members of the Queanbeyan cricket club on St. Patrick's Day; the bachelors were reported as the winners “by a very bare majority.”35 In the same section of the newspaper, Captain Alured Tasker Faunce was noted as chairing a meeting of electors for the Borough of Queanbeyan for the Legislative Assembly of NSW, being appointed a church warden and holding a ‘magisterial inquiry’ in the absence of the coroner into the death by drowning of a six year old boy who’d been fishing in the Queanbeyan River with his brother and was unable to be revived by Dr

30 Goulburn Herald Sat 12 May 1849 p 5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/101728227?searchTerm=&searchLimits=l- title=364|||l-publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc (accessed 10 Feb 2014) 31 Cricket Goulburn Herald Sat 22 Dec 1849 p4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/101730407?searchTerm=Queanbeyan%20and%20cricket%20and%20faunce&searchLimit s=sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) 32 Bell’s Life Sat 30 March 1850 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/59770395 (accessed 10 Feb 2014) 33 Goulburn Herald 16 Feb 1856 p4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118309046 34 Goulburn Herald 12 Jan 1856 p6 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118310488?searchTerm=&searchLimits=l-title=364|||l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc (accessed 10 Jan 2014) 35 Goulburn Herald Sat 5 April 1856 p6 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118313446?searchTerm=Queanbeyan%20and%20cricket%20and%20faunce&searchLimit s=sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) Morton. Alured Tasker’s close friends, Dr Andrew Morton and Dr William Foxton Hayley, were stalwarts in the early years of the Queanbeyan cricket team. Morton was a medical graduate of Edinburgh University and a classical scholar who combined being a master at Christ’s Church School Queanbeyan with his medical duties. Hayley was a medical graduate from London who initially resided at the Bachelors Quarters at Jerrabomberra. He married Elizabeth, one of William Davis Snr’s daughters and they lived at a stone house called “The Oaks.”36 26 April 1856 another cricket match was held between married and single men of Queanbeyan and District at the racecourse and “attendance of spectators was numerous.” It was on this occasion that tragedy struck. But it is in the description of that “melancholy occurrence” that we first may get a glimmer of a deeper history of cricket’s origins on the Limestone Plains. As the late afternoon shadows of the surrounding trees were spreading across the ground, Captain Alured Tasker Faunce ‘while stooping to stop a ball’ or “in the act of throwing the ball” collapsed onto the ground. His old cricket teammate Dr Andrew Morton was in attendance.37 Captain Faunce had been clutching at his heart for sometime previously that day and it appears he died from what we would today term a myocardial infarction (the lesson for contemporary veteran cricketers perhaps being that they should carry an aspirin). The Sydney Morning Herald noted that AT Faunce was “an old and much esteemed resident of the district whose unassuming philanthropy and kind demeanour had won for him the good feelings of all classes of society with whom he came in contact…by his death many a poor man will lose a steadfast friend and the community an honourable and upright member.” Dr William Foxton Hayley, referred to as “the Captain’s regular doctor” attended the funeral.38 The Goulburn Herald wrote of AT Faunce’s “urbane manner, mild, kind disposition, his exemplary conduct in every social relation of life…short as the notice was, we never before saw so many persons assembled together in the district; all seemed

36 Dr Marc Faunce. Address to Canberra Medical Society. Tuesday 17 May 1988. Hyatt Hotel Canberra. MS in possession of author. 37 The Empire Friday 2 May 1856 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/60247388?searchTerm=Queanbeyan%20and%20cricket%20and%20faunce&searchLimits =sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) 38 Sydney Morning Herald Friday 2 May 1856 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/28640185?searchTerm=Queanbeyan%20and%20cricket%20and%20faunce&searchLimits =sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) deeply affected on the sad occasion.”39 A memorial plaque exists in Christ Church Rutledge St Queanbeyan. The Sydney Morning Herald reported the event in terms of Captain Faunce having often organized and played cricket in the region previously. It stated that the Captain “on the morning in question actively exerted himself in making preparations for the game” and “both in the batting and bowling displayed even more than his usual skill” [emphasis added].40 After the death of Captain Faunce his eldest son 16 year old Alured Dodsworth returned home from Kings school to help his mother and the other children. Alured Tasker’s eldest daughter Charlotte soon after married Alexander Ryrie from Michelago on 5 July 1860 and their descendants still run that property and till recently played cricket for the local team. But keeping to our examination of cricket match reports, on 27 September 1856, five months after the death of Captain Faunce, the Goulburn Herald reported that Queanbeyan Cricket Club met at the Harp Inn at 7pm to discuss the challenge received from William Davis’ Ginninderra Club. It agreed that the Uniform of the Queanbeyan Club uniform should be white turned up with scarlet, the Ginninderra white with blue binding. This it appears according to Don Selth was the moment at which the Queanbeyan Cricket club was formed. Yet the record of this September 1856 meeting is not of a club being founded in response to the challenge. Indeed the report speaks of “adding” players and replacing a secretary who had “resigned.”41 It is apparent from elements of this report itself that the ‘Queanbeyan Cricket Club’ had existed prior to William Davis’ challenge recorded on 27 September in 1856. On 18th October 1856 the Ginninderra and Queanbeyan cricket clubs played their first contest. It was on the Ginninderra ground, residence of William Davis. The weather was “everything that could be desired, save that a very high westerly wind was blowing”. The “Queanbeyan-ites were described as “too confident, and evidently neglected practice”. There was a large crowd “among which a good sprinkling of the

39 Goulburn Herald and Argyle Advertiser 3 May 1856 p4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118312083 40 Sydney Morning Herald 3 May 1856 p 82 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12974144?searchTerm=Queanbeyan%20and%20cricket%20and%20faunce&searchLimits =sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) 41 “the following gentlemen's names were added to the club, viz., Messrs. A. S. Freestone, solicitor, P. C. Palmer, and C. E. Smith, C.P.S., the latter to act as secretary in the room of Mr. F. H. Barnett resigned.” ‘Cricket’ Goulburn Herald Saturday 27 Sept 1856 p4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118313943?searchTerm=Gininderra%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) fair sex”. A luncheon was provided on the ground, and a band in attendance. The Ginninderra club proved victorious by 97 ‘notches.’ Queanbeyan’s total for both innings was 87 (H Lintott 20 in second innings) SH Davis and W Davis took most of the wickets. Ginninderra scored 183 from both innings with SH Davis contributing 26 and 5, William Davis 28 and 23 and Fred J Davis 8 and 25, while Queanbeyan-ites Barnett and Lintott shared most of the wickets. Amongst the Queanbeyan players 42 were Dr A Morton and Dr WF Hayley. In his Canberra History and Legends John Gale describes walking from Weetangera to Queanbeyan to watch a cricket match between Queanbeyan and Ginninderra a few months later on Boxing Day 1856. The action and language are familiar to current players. An umpire holding an umbrella calls “over,” a ball hits the stumps and someone calls “he got a duck.” Bobby the aboriginal for Ginninderra “hit the ball a tremendous smack” and they run four, but is caught out soon after. Hopes are high that “Dick [Gale’s father’s nephew] is going to carry his bat” but he hits it high into the boreen and is out caught for 44.43 It should be noted that in a match the following season (October 1857) Mr William Davis now scored for Queanbeyan rather than playing for them. On that occasion S Davis, F Davis, HM Davis and Henry Davis were in the Queanbeyan team that played Goulburn on a paddock adjoining the Parsonage under sky of clearing clouds. The apparent highlight of the day was Mr. Gillespie's batting for Goulburn.44 In January 1858 the Queanbeyan District Club played the Goulburn Cricket club at Queanbeyan. The Faunce mentioned in this match report in young Alured Dodsworth Faunce lately returned to Queanbeyan after the fore-mentioned death of his father.

42 ‘Cricket Match’ Goulburn Herald Saturday 25 October 1856 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118313119?searchTerm=Gininderra%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) 43 Jon Gale. Canberra History and Legends. Fallick and Sons Queanbeyan 1927 pp100-101 44 Mr Gillespie’s batting “astonished even his warmest admirers. By some admirable play he ran up a score of 43, including one hit for 4, three for 3, ten for 2, and ten singles. At one time it was hoped that he would carry out his bat, but this was not fated, an excellent ball from Mr. Massey taking his stumps. On approaching the tent he was greeted with a hearty burst of cheering. The fielding of the Queanbeyan players was decidedly inferior to that of their opponents, and the arrangement of the players seemed to be defective. Mr. Massey, however, distinguished himself by his amazing agility, whilst, as a bowler, he threw in many teazers. The bowling of Mr. S. Davis was decidedly good, and Mr. Fox's style had very numerous admirers. The last player was not run out before a score of 129 had been run up. This included 18 byes - a very unusual number. A word of praise to Hanslow, the Goulburn backstop, is therefore not out of place. The company then adjourned to the refreshment tent, where the healths of the rival elevens were toasted in bumpers of champagne. After lunch the game was immediately resumed, but the Queanbeyan eleven only succeeded in bringing their grand total up to 52, Goulburn winning, in one innings, with 77 runs to spare. The play was kept up with unflagging spirit until after four o'clock, when the match, was decided in favour of the Goulburn club. The announcement of the final result was received with immense cheering, in which the Queanbeyan gentlemen heartily joined. Cricket Match Queanbeyan v Goulburn Sydney Morning Herald. Monday 19 Oct 1857 p 10 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/13001743?searchTerm&searchLimits=l-publictag%3DCricket (accessed 10 Feb 2014) The weather was very hot, and playing on such a day was indeed trying work. The ground is situated at the Cooma end of the town, a few hundred yards beyond Byrne's, and to the right of the road. The place where the wickets were pitched had been watered and rolled, but in such weather as we have lately had, it is not surprising that the turf, being hard and lumpy, was not in good condition for play. Several booths for the accommodation of the cricketers and scorers, and for refreshments had been erected.

Messrs. Faunce (11) and Barnett (10) “gained considerable credit by their skilful batting” and the Queanbeyan gentlemen “succeeded in running up a good score of 71, and were naturally elated. The Goulburn party then took their innings, and only obtained the total of 61. At the conclusion of the Goulburn innings, a large party adjourned to Byrne's Hotel for luncheon. Queanbeyan scored 28 runs in their second innings, leaving Goulburn 39 to go in and win. This was a matter of no difficulty, as the Queanbeyan backstop helped on defeat, by allowing our side to score no less than 12 byes in the course of half an hour.

That evening at Breen's Hotel, visitors from Goulburn were invited guests and about a hundred gentlemen were present and addressed by H. Hall, Esq. J.P., Chairman of the Queanbeyan District Club.45 In February 1859 William Davis and AD Faunce played together for Queanbeyan, against Braidwood, W Davis taking took nine wickets and AD Faunce taking two wickets and hitting 15 in one innings.46 On 23 March 1859 the Queanbeyan District Club was described as playing 11 players from Goulburn Cricket club. Mr William Davis and young Alured Dodsworth Faunce are again mentioned in the match report. William Davis was referred to as the captain of the Queanbeyan Club. Goulburn, batting first made 81.

The Queanbeyanites nothing daunted, commenced their work at the wickets. The batting of Messrs. Campbell, Lintott, Bryant and Massey, was superior to any thing I have seen in Queanbeyan before; Mr. AD Faunce unfortunately had at once to succumb to one of Richard's rippers, without a single notch. Mr. Campbell succeeded in scoring 66 runs, making a total score of 120 runs to the Queanbeyanites the first innings. They thus headed their antagonists by 39 runs.

The post-game entertainments were at the Harp Inn. Amongst those present were Mr Barber the Captain of the Yass Cricket Club, Mr T Richards Captain of The Goulburn Cricketers. The CHAIRMAN, in giving the above toast, alluded to the previous defeats, on three occasions, sustained by the Queanbeyanites in their matches with Goulburn. Mr. Simons proposed the health of the Queanbeyan Club, with their Captain, Mr. W. Davis, and the Yass Club, with their Captain, Mr . T. Barber. Mr. W. DAVIS returned thanks, saying, he had spent many happy days in playing these matches, and he trusted he should spend many more. As the season for cricket was fast closing, he urged them not to let their practice be given up, so that they might be prepared to meet their opponents on any future occasion. Mr. T. BARBER returned thanks on

45 Sat Goulburn Herald 16 Jan 1858 p3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118248583?searchTerm=queanbeyan%20cricket&searchLimits=l-title=364|||l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc 46 Bells Life 19 Feb 1859 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/59870158?searchTerm=Faunce%20cricket%20queanbeyan&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc behalf of the Yass Cricketers. Mr. MORTON proposed the health of N. S. Powell, Esq., J.P. of Bungendore, as he was using great exertions to establish a cricket club, at Bungendore.47

Indeed, in September 17 1859, the Goulburn Herald published a long note about cricket from Ginninderra dated two days earlier. Strangely, it does not refer to the Ginninderra Cricket Club but to the Queanbeyan District Club and its expenditure over the last season (1858-59). Dr Hayley is described as the treasurer.

“GININDERRA. (From a Correspondent.) THE cricketing season commenced last Saturday, the 10th instant, on which occasion the players and patrons of the much-admired game mustered in good force. Dr. Hayley, the treasurer of the Queanbeyan District Club, read a statement of the expenditure for last year, by which it appears that a small balance is still left to the credit of the coming season. Several new names were added to the present list of members, and judging from the spirit which characterised the proceedings throughout, the interest taken in cricket will not decrease during the forthcoming season. Although several matches are expected to come off in due course, no definite arrangements were decided upon. The match at present on the tapis and likely to come off first (as a prelude to the trials of skill between the Queanbeyan District and the clubs of Goulburn, Braidwood, and Yass,) will be a friendly game between the Queanbeyan District Club, and an eleven selected from the Albion and Bungendore cricketers' clubs.48

The September 17 1859 report also notes that games organised for the 1859-60 season were to be between Queanbeyan District Club and the combined [Queanbeyan] Albion and Bungendore clubs, with possible games against Goulburn, Braidwood and Yass. The report notes that a practise match was then arranged amongst the Queanbeyan players with sides selected by William Davis and F Davis. It is in the context of a home ground for the Queanbeyan District Club then that this report then describes Mr William Davis’ fine oval.

I cannot allow the present opportunity to pass without noticing the excellent piece of ground which Mr. Davis has set aside for the practice of cricket. The quality of the turf is excellent, and admirably adapted for this purpose, presenting the appearance of a fine velvet sward constantly rolled and kept in the best order. These natural attractions to the eye of every cricketer are greatly enhanced by the tasteful arrangement of some weeping willows, which have been planted in different parts, and form an additional ornament to the whole. In short the spirited proprietor of Gininderra has spared neither trouble nor expense in endeavouring to render cricket a popular and favorite [sic] amusement throughout the district. He has to a certain extent, thrown aside self interest by giving a weekly half-holiday to those in his employ, thus enabling them to avail themselves of a physical recreation which, in its place and proportion, has advantages so great and so manifest, that it would be idle to dwell on them.49

The report goes to regret how the half-holiday was taken away in Queanbeyan, to note the imminent “erection of a good school-house at the glebe, Gininderra,” how divine service would be held “according to the Church of England, and in connection with the church at Canberry” “in the school house when finished, upon alternate Sundays” and how during “the evenings of the week the school-room will be furnished as a

47 Goulburn Herald Sat 26 March 1859 p 2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118248385?searchTerm=queanbeyan%20cricket&searchLimits=l-title=364|||l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc 48 Goulburn Herald Sat 17 Sept 1859 p 3 49 Ibid. reading-room, and supplied with newspapers, periodicals, and works of an amusing and instructive character, for the use of those connected with the Gininderra estate.” It was also noted that Madame Stevenson, together with her husband and Mr. Richardson, had been favouring Ginninderra with a musical and dramatic entertainment.50 All of this points to a growing community awareness in Ginninderra. Yet, though William Davis in this 17 September 1859 note is linked with the Queanbeyan Cricket Club he was concomitantly focusing his apparently boundless energies on his Ginninderra cricket team. On 13 October 1860 the Queanbeyan Age carried this ad: The Queanbeyan District Cricket Club will not only be happy to talk to the Gundarooites about Cricket, but will be happy to play them a friendly match on the day after the Queanbeyan Races, viz., Thursday, the 18th instant. An early answer is requested.51

In April 1861 17 ‘All Comers’ played 11 from the Queanbeyan District Club which included W Davis who top scored with 21 and took 6 wickets.52 In January 1862 we hear of William Davis of Ginninderra agitating to have the touring All England Eleven brought up to Goulburn. Davis ‘guaranteed £160 for Queanbeyan.’53 In fact it appears from the match reports that William Davis played for Queanbeyan on numerous occasions during a period when he also played against Queanbeyan for Ginninderra. Clearly this was an era when clubs were indeed formed somewhat ad hoc depending on what challenges, people and resources were available to meet a particular challenge. There are likely to have been other practical reasons why players such as William Davis would join different clubs on different occasions. Research by Steve Bailey, former Queanbeyan cricketer, has shown that the mail coach timetables from the period indicate the travel time from Queanbeyan to Goulburn, via Bungendore took 12 hours (5 hours to Bungendore), to Micalago 6 hours, Cooma 15hours, Ginninderra 4 hours and Gundaroo 8 hours. Even allowing for rest stops and for a

50 The day was exceedingly fine and favourable for practice, so after the disposal of business, sides were respectively chosen by Messrs. William and F. J. Davis, when, after a spirited contest, victory declared in favour of the former by twelve runs --- the scores being --- Mr W. Davis's side, 94; Mr. F. J. Davis's, 82” Goulburn Herald Sat 17 Sept 1859 p 3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118244256?searchTerm=dr%20hayley%20and%20queanbeyan%20and%20cricket&search Limits=l-title=364|||l-publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc 51 Queanbeyan Age 13 Oct 1860 p3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30630672?searchTerm=canberra%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc 52 Queanbeyan Age 11 April 1861 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30631265?searchTerm=cricket%20%20w%20Davis%20AND%20%22queanbeyan%22%2 0AND%20%28gininderra%29&searchLimits=exactPhrase=queanbeyan|||anyWords=gininderra|||notWords|||l- textSearchScope=*ignore*|*ignore*|||fromdd|||frommm|||fromyyyy|||todd|||tomm|||toyyyy|||l-word=*ignore*|*ignore*|||sortby 53 ‘Goulburn and the All England XI’ Queanbeyan Age Thursday 30 Jan 1862 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30632178 (accessed 8 Feb 2014) change of horses en route, these times indicate that an afternoon or a full days travelling was involved either side of a game of cricket. Added to this was the need to pre-arrange accommodation and meals en route and match reports from the period indicate that teams were often hosted by a property owner rather than in hotels.54 Further, it appears that in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region in this period the average weekly wage for an artisan was in the order of 10-15 shillings so it’s reasonable to assume that the wages for unskilled workers and youths would have been about half this amount. The Queanbeyan Age, on January 26 1871, reported

‘The rates of wages for the different classes of labour in the district are as follows:- Farm labourers, with hut accommodation and rations 10s to 15s per week; shepherds ditto,30 to 40 pounds per annum; female general indoor general servants 7s to 8s per week; day labourers 4s to 5s per day”

As Steve Bailey notes, a combined fee of one pound in 1863 to play cricket could thus have represented about a month’s pay for lower paid workers. The formation of a Club to arrange matches and to assist through its fund raising efforts to make the game more accessible to the general populace was therefore essential for the development of the game in the region but there still remained the reality that many of the general population simply could not afford the time off to participate.55 One can only surmise that unless employed or sponsored by wealthy landowners such as William Davis, the average adult male worker could not possibly have participated in cricket. Because of the sheer logistics of travel and accommodation, there was no organised competition and matches were organised as challenges between nearby communities and to ensure that matches were competitive, it was quite common for teams such as Ginninderra to play against an opposition 22. Grounds were generally paddocks, wickets were prepared on ant beds, although concrete wickets were reported from the 1880s. There are occasional reports of teams seeking to keep stock off grounds because of the damage they caused but, to offset this, at least there would have been short outfields.56

54 Steve Bailey ‘Queanbeyan Cricket Club/ Queanbeyan District Cricket Club History of Notices, Meetings, Matches etc. to 1922,’ June 2013 MS in possession of the author 55 Ibid 56 Steve Bailey ‘Queanbeyan Cricket Club/ Queanbeyan District Cricket Club History of Notices, Meetings, Matches etc. to 1922,’ June 2013 MS in possession of the author. Things were to change in 1863. The Golden Age newspaper on Thursday 8 January 1863 provided the following report of a meeting at Mr Lee’s long room in Queanbeyan held on Friday 2 January 1863 to formally establish a Queanbeyan cricket club. It was Mr HM Davis who seems to have played a leading role. Subscription for playing members was set at at 10/- per annum in advance, and 10/- entrance. 57 This occasion has been justly marked as the official origin of the Queanbeyan District Cricket Club in the form it is known today. Yet, as we have seen, the Queanbeyan Cricket Club in numerous manifestations had existed for about two decades prior to this.

Alured Tasker Faunce and Early Cricket in the Queanbeyan-Canberra Region Apart from the match reports, what other evidence is there of cricket being played in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region in the 1840’s? One point at which we can pick up the thread of such a history is the previously mentioned comment in the Sydney Morning Herald upon his death playing cricket in 1856 that Captain AT Faunce had “both in the batting and bowling displayed even more than his usual skill”. So how far back does the exercise of this cricketing skill take us? To answer this question we need to know as little more about Captain Alured Tasker Faunce’s arrival in Australia, his commitment to the community of Queanbeyan and his passion for cricket. Alured Tasker Faunce (1808-1856) and his younger brother Thomas arrived in Sydney in October 1832 as officers in the 4th Foot Regiment then garrisoned in the Colony. Alured Tasker Faunce and his brother also immediately became involved in the early cricket matches in Hyde Park in Sydney. These games were very popular. In 1832 the following notice appeared in the Sydney Gazette. Hyde Park is now almost daily graced by the aspiring youth of Sydney practicing their favourite recreation, and respectable females looking on to enliven the scene. A new club has been

57 CRICKETING MEETING A GENERAL meeting of persons interested in the game of cricket was held in Mr. W. Lee's long room on Friday evening January 2nd. About 25 persons were present; and on the motion of Mr. H.M. Davis, seconded by Mr. DeLissa, J.J. Wright, Esq., was voted to the chair. Mr. H. M. Davis first addressed the meeting, explaining that their object was the establishment of a club in Queanbeyan, to pay yearly in advance, in order to prevent the breaking down, such as other clubs had, by the trouble of collecting monthly subscriptions. Mr. Davis then proposed, and Dr. Morton seconded, "That a club be formed and called the Queanbeyan Cricket Club". Carried. Other resolutions followed, and were unanimously adopted, fixing the subscription for playing members at 10/- per annum in advance, and 10/- entrance, and for honorary members 10/- per annum; Also the election of Mr. Wright to the office of president; Treasurer: Mr. WV Scrivener Secretary: Mr. S DeLissa Committee: Messrs. A Morton, J Kinsela, HM Davis, and M Doyle, the officers of the club being ex officio members. Subscribers' names were then taken down, and the secretary announced amidst cheers that the sum of £18 had been subscribed in the room; but next day the subscriptions had amounted to about £80, a very encouraging sum to commence with. After a vote of thanks to the chairman, who in replying promised to give the newly-formed club all the support in his power. Mr. Davis explained that as some gentlemen had given money towards the purchase of bats and balls for their match the sums had been deducted from those gentlemen's subscriptions, and the materials become the property of the club. The meeting then separated. formed in addition to the one before existing, and we expect that New South Wales will soon be able to boast players that might bear away the palm of victory even at Lord’s.58

Australian cricketers at this time probably picked up their basic coaching insights from books such as John Nyren’s 1833 text The Young Cricketers Tutor. Full Directions for Playing the Elegant and Manly Game. Nyren was the founder of the famous Hambledon club of England and his bowling and batting instructions seem as precise and relevant now as they no doubt were in 1833. Nyren’s basic principles for bowling, for example, were: In beginning to run start gently and increase your pace till the ball be delivered. Fix your eye on the spot where you wish the ball to pitch, keep your body upright, deliver your ball high, pitch a good length straight to the off stump.59

Nyren’s basic principles for batting were: The body and bat upright- the hands near to each other- the left elbow well turned up- and the legs not too much extended.60

Young Australian cricketers such as AT and AD Faunce and W Davis are likely also to have perused the text intriguingly titled Felix on the Bat in which the forward defensive stroke, off drive and cut are described much in the terms of today’s cricket along with use of a practice bowling machine called a catapulta. The most quirky illustration in this text is a depiction of the author himself, holding a cricket bat as he stands astride and airborne bat of the mammalian variety.61 In addition, English professional cricketers were soon coaching native-born Australians whom were commendably found to be- always willing to be shown a new stroke and quick to do their best to retrieve an error, never taking offence at having their faults pointed out, and never jealous of one another…As a rule, they learnt to do the forward cut with left leg advanced, much more quickly than the late cut…through binding themselves by hard-and-fast rules, they became somewhat automatic in their style of batting- a fault which no one could possibly charge them with in after-years. 62

Prepared in such manner and no doubt by diligent practice, AT Faunce and his brother competed in some of the initial games between the first two cricket clubs formed in Australia- the Military Club and the Australian Cricket Club. The opening contest

58 Pat Mullins and Philip Derriman (eds) Bat & Pad. Writings on Australian Cricket 1804-1984. Oxford Uni Press. Melbourne. 1984 p 7. 59 John Nyren The Young Cricketers Tutor. Full Directions for Playing the Elegant and Manly Game. Effingham Wilson London 1833 p20 https://archive.org/stream/hambledonmenbein00nyreiala#page/6/mode/2up 60 Ibid p28. 61 Nicholas Wanostrocht. Felix on the Bat London Bailey Bros. 1845. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9U8QAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepag e&q&f=false 62 Pat Mullins and Philip Derriman (eds) Bat & Pad. Writings on Australian Cricket 1804-1984. Oxford Uni Press. Melbourne. 1984 p 11. between these clubs had been at the ‘Racecourse’ in Hyde Park Sydney in February 1830. The Military fielded in tall black hats with spiked shoes and the Australian Cricket club in straw ‘cabbage tree’ hats encircled by a broad blue ribbon and in bare or ‘stockinged’ feet.63 By contrast, the Hobart Town Club (later the Derwent Club) was formed in 1832, the Melbourne Cricket Club was formed in 1838, by 1835 the Perth Club and by the 1840s the Adelaide Cricket Club, had been formed. By 1848 the Ipswich Cricket Club had been formed in Brisbane.64 This was a time of uncovered wickets and in 1834 William Still had become the first Australian player to go out to bat wearing pads and gloves. Not surprisingly, it was a low-scoring era, the first century not being achieved in Sydney cricket till John Tunks did so in 1845. Nevertheless, sledging in the form of “low slang and insulting remarks” was common and officially deprecated even at that time in Australia.65 Pollard in his Formative Years of Australian Cricket 1803-1893 in writing of these Hyde Park cricket games in Sydney in the 1830s, noted that: The 4th [Foot Regiment] also had an outstanding batsman in Lieutenant Alured Tasker Faunce, who arrived in Sydney with his regiment in 1831. Faunce played several fine knocks.66

Alured Tasker Faunce played in an 1834 cricket match between the 4th Regiment (105 and 6 wickets for 15) and the Australian Club (71 and 48) on the Hyde Park Racecourse, in the presence of one of the “largest and gayest” assemblages we have ever seen on such an occasion. His Excellency the Governor Major General Sir Richard Bourke KCB honoured the match with his presence. Bourke was reported as “pleased to express himself much pleased with the play on both sides.” On this occasion, Alured Tasker opened the batting with his brother Thomas in both innings. Alured Tasker top scored for the game with 23 runs in the first innings.67 It is interesting to wonder whether the favourable impression made upon the Governor by this innings, and probably meeting Alured Tasker afterwards, were factors in the latter being soon after appointed as police magistrate to Brisbane Water (Gosford). The Australian concluded its report of this match by stating: We cannot but here congratulate the youth of the Colony upon the footing which the manly game of cricket has acquired-few amusements are productive of better effects, corporally or

63 Jack Egan. The Story of Cricket in Australia MacmillanSydney 1987 p 12. 64 Ibid p15-26. 65 Ibid pp12-16 66 Jack Pollard. The Formative Years of Australian Cricket 1803-1893. Angus and Robertson Sydney p 10. 67 The australian Friday 7 Feb 1834 p 2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/42009154?searchTerm=Faunce%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc (accessed 10 Feb 2014) morally- few are so free from the contamination of those evils which infuse themselves into all public meetings. Gambling and intemperance can have little aliment from this active and uncertain game.68

In February 1834, Alured Tasker also played in a single wicket match at cricket match between three officers of the 4th, and three civilians.69 He then played in the third game in February 1834 between the 4th or King's Own Regiment and the Australian Club, which the military won by 18 runs and appears to have top-scored for the military with 29 in the first innings before being bowled by Flood (though he and his brother could have distinguished better in the score card).70 In April 1834 Alured Tasker also opened the batting for the ‘Europeans’ against the native born ‘Australians’ in two two-day cricket matches at the old racecourse Hyde Park in April 1834.7172 Alured Tasker’s final match in Sydney was a single wicket, five a side game at Hyde Park on May 17 1834 in which he scored 23. These appear to be the only match reports of games of cricket played in Sydney in 1834.73 On 27 January 1835, at Liverpool Sydney, Alured Tasker Faunce married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the commander of his regiment. This was Lieutenant-Colonel J. K. Mackenzie, 4th Regiment, who had settled in the Monaro district, near Braidwood. AT Faunce retired from the army in 1836 at 29 years of age. Shortly after his retirement, the Governor of the colony Sir Richard Bourke appointed him, effective from 1 Oct 1836 at an annual salary of £250, as the Police Magistrate at Brisbane Water near present day Gosford. Captain AT Faunce was instructed to break the power of the squatter landowners in that region who were behaving like feudal barons. They were accustomed to taking convicts to fellow landowner magistrates and getting 50 lashes handed out on little evidence. Captain AT Faunce on the other hand was committed to equality before the

68 Jas Scott, R Cashman and S Gibbs (eds). Early Cricket in Sydney NSW Cricket Association 1991 p 34. 69 The Australian Monday 17 Feb 1834 p 3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/42004729?searchTerm=Faunce%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc (accessed 10 Feb 2014) 70 The Australian 28 Feb 1834 p3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/42008145?searchTerm=Faunce%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc (accessed 10 Feb 2014) 71 The Sydney Gazette Sat 5 April 1834 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2215806?searchTerm=Faunce%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc (accessed 10 Feb 2014) 72 The Australian 4 April 1834 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/42006834?searchTerm=Faunce%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=l- publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc 73 Jas Scott, R Cashman and S Gibbs (eds). Early Cricket in Sydney NSW Cricket Association 1991 p 38 Alured Tasker’s brother Thomas played in a game where surnames beginning with F, H or S took on the those beginning with the rest of the alphabet in 1836 The Australian 18 Oct 1836 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/36853696?searchTerm=W%20Davis%20cricket%20sydney&searchLimits=l- textSearchScope=*ignore*|*ignore*|||exactPhrase|||l-category=Article|||l- word=*ignore*|*ignore*|||fromyyyy|||notWords|||anyWords|||tomm|||toyyyy|||todd|||frommm|||fromdd|||sortby=dateAsc law and has been described as “one of the most highly principled early magistrates ever to grace the Bench.” 74 He began to demand more detailed evidence and when it was not forthcoming, minimised the sentences to the extent that the squatters began to accuse his humanity as “neglect of duties.”75 As part of his official tasks he requested a constable at Mangrove Creek To stop the illicit hawking of spirits and harbouring of runaways, acting with the constable whom I have removed from the stockade near Wiseman’s [Ferry] to Mooney Mooney Crek, a shelter for bushrangers.76

Once in a case about the stealing of a cow called ‘Blindberry’, while AT Faunce was taking depositions from Richard Cape, his fellow magistrate Henry Donnison (who worked 70 convicts on his Erina Creek property) whispered that Faunce should disregard the testimony of Cape. When the Bench found against Cape, Cape rose and accused Donnison and another prominent district landowner Willoughby Bean of cattle stealing. After hearing Cape’s evidence Captain Faunce wrote to Governor Bourke and the Attorney General stating that he intended to commit Donnison and Bean for trial in Sydney on charges of perjury, cattle stealing, conspiracy and magisterial delinquency. He is said to have claimed with military firmness “if I cannot send them to Sydney in irons, they shall be forwarded in hand-cuffs.”77 The Attorney General decided to only proceed with the cattle stealing charge but Donnison and Bean were arrested, kept in a lockup for three weeks, then sent chained on the open deck of the sloop ‘Betsy’ to Sydney. Another landowner called Moore also was charged and kept in irons, but acquitted. But a jury found Donnison and Bean not guilty. 78 Faunce was required to pay damages and appealed to the Government for relief from these costs. Captain Faunce obviously had general community support in his approach to these rich landowners and his petition for the Government to defray his costs was supported by a Memorial “signed by all the Inhabitants of the District, with the exception of Ten or Twelve.”79 This was the incident that led to Alured Tasker acquiring the nick-name ‘ironman’ Faunce. The editor of the Sydney Gazette persistently attacked him over this and AT Faunce sued him for defamation. It was to give Alured Tasker a chance at a fresh start

74 NSW Magistrate Battled to Smash Squatters’ Power Daily Mirro Thurs Jul 2 1981 p32. 75 Ibid 76 Charles Swancott. Gosfrod and the Kendall Country. Brisbane Water Historicla Society. Woy Woy 1966 p29. 77 Bean v Faunce Supreme Court of NSW 4&5 July 1837. SMH 10 July 1837. 78 Ibid 79 C Swancott.The Brisbane Water Story. Part 4. Brisbane Water Historical Society. Booker bay, Woy, Woy 1955. Pp90-91. that Governor Bourke recommended appointed him police magistrate to the newly established town of Queanbeyan in November 1837. Queanbeyan in 1837, when Captain AT Faunce arrived there as a young man of twenty-nine years, was the only town on the Limestone Plains. It comprised a post office, 2 stores, and inn and 3 or 4 wooden houses.80 The population of the entire Queanbeyan-Canberra region at this time was 1,728, being 1,466 male (613 free and 853 convict) and 262 female (250 free and 12 convict) (in this census, one intriguing but sadly unknown person admitted to being a ‘pagan).’81 The Rev. Edward Smith wrote a letter with his impressions about the Queanbeyan-Canberra region in 1839 in which he stated “There being no schools, the children are growing up in ignorance and the men are for the most part hardened in iniquity.”82 There was no clergyman or church in the region for marriages, baptisms or funerals, let alone regular attendance for moral instruction and seeking forgiveness. It can be seen how critical cricket might have been viewed in these circumstances as a method of moral improvement. Yet Captain AT Faunce initially would probably have had his hands too full to arrange cricket matches amongst the sparse male population then in the environs. After three months of duty in Queanbeyan, Captain AT Faunce reported that “this district abounds with cattle stealers, runaways (whether runaway convicts or otherwise), those who harbour them, and keepers of illicit spirit shops.”83 At one point he himself had to chase bushrangers who had escaped from the lockup as far as Michelago before they were recaptured. Particularly in his first few years in Queanbeyan, Captain AT Faunce was under intense public scrutiny. The Sydney Gazette kept up its attacks on him for having taken on the vested interests in Brisbane Water. As the only law enforcement officer in the Limestone Plains district his conduct in the difficult conditions was appropriately a matter of public significance. Shortly after he commenced the job, the Sydney Gazette’s allegations resulted in a Commission of Inquiry into his conduct as Police Magistrate in Queanbeyan, the hearings taking place in May 1840, the same year in which his first son Alured Dodsworth Faunce was born. Commissioners Charles Windeyer and Samuel North subsequently found AT Faunce’s only

80 EJ Lea-Scarlett Social Interaction in Old Queanbeyan pp158-189 in P Selth (ed) Canberra Collection Colesten Pub. Kilmore 1976 81 FW Robinson. Canberra’s First Hundred Years WC Penfold. Sydney 1924 p12 82 Ibid p14. 83 Errol Lea-Scarlett. Queanbeyan District and People. Queanbeyan Municipal Council 1968 p29. professional fault was not personally supervising floggings and cleared him of every other ground of complaint. To celebrate this official vindication, Captain AT Faunce received a piece of silver plate and a signed letter by prominent Queanbeyan citizens expressing “the high opinion with which we have always entertained of your public character since your residence amongst us “and referring to “your urbane and gentlemanly conduct on the bench as Police Magistrate.”84 Alured Tasker resigned from being Police magistrate in 1842, it having been decided in any event in Sydney (much to the displeasure of the Queanbeyan residents who organized public meetings to oppose this) that the position of Queanbeyan Police Magistrate was unnecessary. On 20 May 1845 AT Faunce was appointed a Councillor for the District of Queanbeyan an office which he held until 1 May 1852. On 21 Sep 1849 he was appointed the district's Commissioner for Crown Lands and on 5 Dec 1851 was appointed a Commissioner of the Supreme Court for the taking of affidavits and bail, and examination of witnesses. There is much evidence of the extent to which Alured Tasker Faunce, after the Commission of Inquiry, became actively involved in the social and spiritual life of the Queanbeyan community. On 8 November 1842, for example, he called for tenders for the erection of a Church and Parsonage House at Queanbeyan, stating that the specifications could be seen at his Court House.85 In 1844 he took part in a debate about religious education in schools arguing that “religion should be incorporated with every action of our lives and every study.”86 Late in 1846 Murray presented a petition to the Legislative Council from Captain AT Faunce stating that since the abolition of the post of Police Magistrate in Queanbeyan “he had been compelled, for the despatch of public business, to perform much the same duties as heretofore, and praying that he might be compensated for those services.”87 In 1847 he took part in the establishment of a Benevolent Society in Queanbeyan.88 In 1848 AT Faunce agreed to be treasurer in the establishment of a Parochial Association in

84 Dr M DeL Faunce. Captain Alured Tasker Faunce and Rev Canon Alured Dodsworth Faunce. Canberra and District Historical Society 30 Nov 1961. 85 Sydney Morning Herald 8 November 1842 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12418588?searchTerm=faunce&searchLimits=l-title=35|||sortby=dateAsc 86 Sydney Morning Herald 27 Sept 1844 p3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/3859667?zoomLevel=3&searchTerm=faunce&searchLimits=l-title=35|||sortby=dateAsc 87 Sydney Morning Herald 25 Sept 1846 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12891259?searchTerm=faunce&searchLimits=l- title=35|||sortby=dateAsc 88 Sydney Morning Herald 22 October 1847 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12896437?searchTerm=faunce&searchLimits=l-title=35|||sortby=dateAsc Queanbeyan.89 Tragedies were common in his life. He and Elizabeth had lost their second born child, 8 month old daughter Anna Maria on 6 January 1839, this being it seems the oldest grave in Queanbeyan.90 In June 1852 the Faunce’s lost their eight year old daughter Elisa Elizabeth.91 And in July 1853 his mill was damaged in the Queanbeyan and Bungendore floods.92 It is certain that as a police magistrate Captain Alured Tasker Faunce himself would have supported the social value of cricket for all classes in a precarious period and perilous locality like Queanbeyan in the late 1830’s and early 1840’s when women were scarce and relaxing pastimes few, apart from drinking, cattle stealing and attending Church. In April 1839, for example, The Colonist newspaper reported that the “next morning after the cricket match, there was not a single case of confinement reported by the watch-house keeper to the Bench ; whereas, had spirits been indulged in freely as in times past, there would have been a certainty of some fray or disturbance taking place, which would furnish tenants to the watch-house, and business for the Police Magistrate to decide upon.93 Wilson, in his biography of Murray of Yarralumla, recorded that Alured Tasker Faunce was “fond of cricket and later organised matches that were played on the village green- the boreen- opposite the court house in that part of Queanbeyan known as Irish Town.”94 It is for organising these matches probably from the early-mid 1840s onwards that Alured Tasker Faunce probably has gained the reputation of the founder of cricket in the Limestone Plains region. Why from the early-mid 1840s? Well, Captain Faunce’s passion for cricket is documented, its role and his responsibility for social cohesion well established yet his official duties now less onerous. Further, by 1846 Queanbeyan had a population of 200 and scratch cricket teams on the boreen a feasible proposition.95 The cricket

89 Sydney Morning Herald 15 Jan 1848 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/28648688?searchTerm=faunce&searchLimits=l- title=35|||sortby=dateAsc 90 Enid Wheeler. The Lost Headstone. Canberra Times 10 December 1992. 91 Sydney Morning Herald 22 June 1852 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12937813?searchTerm=faunce&searchLimits=l- title=35|||sortby=dateAsc 92 Sydney Morning Herald 27 July 1853 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12947602?searchTerm=faunce&searchLimits=l- title=35|||sortby=dateAsc 93 The Colonist 27 April 1839 p 3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/31722978?searchTerm=queanbeyan%20cricket&searchLimits=l- textSearchScope=*ignore*|*ignore*|||exactPhrase|||l- word=*ignore*|*ignore*|||fromyyyy|||notWords|||anyWords|||tomm|||toyyyy|||todd|||frommm|||fromdd|||sortby= dateAsc 94 Wilson G. Murray of Yarralumla Oxford Uni Press Melb 1968 p 82. 95 EJ Lea-Scarlett Social Interaction in Old Queanbeyan pp158-189 in P Selth (ed) Canberra Collection Colesten Pub. Kilmore 1976 games and church would have been the only organisations promoting harmonious social interactions.96 Further by 1845, Captain AT Faunce’s first son would have been five years old and as those with a cricketing passion know, this is the initial age at which a father’s desire to pass on the skills of the game gets an opportunity for expression. It is in this context that we turn to the description of cricket in John Gale’s Canberra History and Legends. John Gale (1831-1929) arrived at Sydney on 24 May 1854 and between then and 1857 travelled throughout New South Wales and lived in places that included Queanbeyan. It is possible that he met Alured Tasker Faunce. Gale, of course, on 15 September 1860 started the Golden Age and General Advertiser newspaper and became a celebrated and knowledgeable historian of the early days of the Queanbeyan-Canberra region. Gale opens his section ‘Cricket at Gininderra and Queanbeyan in the Old Days’ in this way:

I believe the game of cricket was introduced in this district by Captain Faunce, Queanbeyan’s first police magistrate, and for a some time he was the captain of the Queanbeyan team. William Davis formed a club at Gininderra, and for some years there were no other cricket clubs nearer than Yass and Goulburn. Later on one was formed at Braidwood. The two clubs just mentioned were great rivals.97 [emphasis added]

So here we have a contradiction of the traditional story that cricket on the Limestone Plains began with the Ginninderra Cricket Club in 1854. Gale pointedly and directly states his opinion that Alured Tasker Faunce “introduced” cricket to the Queanbeyan- Canberra district. Further, Gale refers to Alured Tasker as ‘for some time’ prior to his April 1856 death having been Captain of the Queanbeyan cricket team. It is interesting that Gale’s listing of the Ginninderra cricket team is almost identical with that mentioned in the 1926 Canberra Times article on the origins of cricket in the Australian Capital Territory. Gale in the same book describes watching Queanbeyan play Ginninderra late in 1856.98 It is thus reasonable to assume that Gale’s claim that AT Faunce had been Queanbeyan cricket captain “for some time” would have drawn on direct knowledge from AT Faunce’s teammates and possibly the man himself. Gale in the above quote also points out that cricket clubs had been in existence in Yass and Goulburn

96 Ibid 167. 97 John Gale. Canberra History and Legends. Fallick & Sons Queanbeyan 1927. P 99. 98 Ibid pp99-100 contemporaneously with the earliest incarnations of the Queanbeyan and Ginninderra cricket clubs. One reasonable implication here is that Alured Tasker Faunce may have captained Queanbeyan cricket sides against teams from Yass and Goulburn in the early-mid 1840’s. The historian Lea Scarlett in his history of Queanbeyan also supports the role of Captain AT Faunce as the ‘founder’ of cricket on the Limestone Plains. He wrote: Organised sport in its first form, cricket, was viewed with suspicion by most of the townspeople. There was no sham about the genuine affection felt by all classes for Capt. Faunce, local founder of the game, and his own ability to mix with the townspeople was sincerely expressed. But after his death the Queanbeyan Cricket Club became less representative of the different classes until by 1859 every player belonged to the gentry, with a steadily rising storekeeper in the person of JJ Wright associating himself as a non-playing member…An opposition team, the Queanbeyan Albion Club, was formed in 1858 with a membership of townsmen and farm workers. It did not meet the district club. A compromise later emerged, following the near extinction of both teams.99[emphasis added]

Yet the records of cricket in Queanbeyan in the 1830’s and 1840’s are sparse. We know from a newspaper letter that a cricket bat and balls were in the possession of and offered for public play by the owner of what is referred to as the ‘Dog and Stile’ pub in Queanbeyan in 1841.100 Lea-Scarlett notes that this inn was situated at the corner of Macquoid and Molonglo streets Queanbeyan and the host was John Daffarn.101 As mentioned, Wilson in his biography of Murray of Yarralumla noted that Alured Tasker Faunce organised cricket matches on the village green- the boreen- opposite the court house.102 This position is supported by Mr Futter who in his initially remarks as Chairman after the 1859 Queanbeyan-Goulburn game, stated that it was the Queanbeyan club that had led the way in the Southern Districts in terms of cricket. Given that we know cricket games were played in the mid 1840’s in Yass and Goulburn, Mr Futter must have meant Queanbeyan had a cricket team just prior to and during that period. At the time of his death in 1856 Alured Tasker Faunce had 4 sons who were of cricketing age, Alured Dodsworth who was 16, Granville who was 11 and Thomas and Kenneth who each were nine. No doubt the boys and their father practiced together on the boreen and, like their father, had been taught the basic principles of

99 Errol Lea-Scarlett. Queanbeyan District and People. Queanbeyan Municipal Council 1968 p130. 100 “Mine host of the "Dog and Stile," Queanbeyan, proved he was not a bad caterer for the public on such occasions, as he was prepared with something substantial, also with real tack to wash it down. I observed him drawing a rather long face, when the Gemmen said "put that down to me;" it appears Boniface was determined to add to the day's sport, for he was provided with cricket bats, balls, and quoits, but it was "no go" at Molonglo” Letter Sydney Herald Tuesday 21 Sept 1841 p3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12871253?searchTerm=Queanbeyan%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) 101 Errol Lea-Scarlett. Queanbeyan District and People. Queanbeyan Municipal Council 1968 p33. 102 Wilson G. Murray of Yarralumla Oxford Uni Press Melb 1968 p 82. the game from books such as Nyren’s The Young Cricketers Tutor- Full Directions for Playing the Elegant and Manly Game and from Felix on the Bat. Indeed, one item of evidence for Alured Tasker Faunce introducing cricket to the Queanbeyan-Canberra region is the recognised skill at this ‘manly’ game of his son Alured Dodsworth (born at Queanbeyan on May 30th 1840). Alured Dodsworth is recorded as playing many games of cricket for the Queanbeyan club including the late 1850’s matches earlier mentioned. In an 1862 scratch match against Gininderra AD Faunce playing for Duntroon was bowled by W Davis.103 In a 1869 game against Bungendore (32 and 43) Alured Dodsworth achieved the third top score with 18 and took 2 for 16 and 5 for 26 in Queanbeyan’s (108) innings victory.104 Kenneth Faunce played for Queanbeyan against William Davis’ Ginninderra in 1868105 and 1870.106 Kenneth’s brother Thomas also played for Queanbeyan against Ginninderra in 1863.107 On 8 January 1863, after playing for Queanbeyan against Duntroon, AD Faunce toasted JJ Wright whom he said he had known “a very great many years” as a “staunch patriot of the cricket.”108 AD Faunce himself contributed widely to the game umpiring a match between Queanbeyan Public School and CED School Canberra in 1869 in which two of his relatives were playing.109 Alured Dodsworth had first came to Yass with Queanbeyan cricketers in March 1859 in a game where he scored 11 runs, with William Davis scoring 10 runs and taking 9 wickets.110 More importantly AD Faunce met there the daughter (Henrietta Charlotte Maunsel Blake) of the best player in the Yass team and she became his wife on 30 December 1863 after a service at Queanbeyan. AD Faunce was the Rector of St Clements Church in Yass for 25 years. He used to ride around his parish on a horse

103 Queanbeyan Age 19 April 1862 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30632447?searchTerm=Faunce%20cricket%20queanbeyan&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc 104 Queanbeyan Age Thurs 8 April 1869 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/4533366?zoomLevel=1 105 Queanbeyan Age 4 Jan 1868 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30577469?searchTerm=AD%20Faunce%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc 106 Queanbeyan Age 3 Feb 1870. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30580167?searchTerm=AD%20Faunce%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc 107 Queanbeyan Age 28 May 1863 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30633650?searchTerm=Faunce%20cricket%20queanbeyan&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc 108 Queanbeyan Age 8 Jan 1863 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/4274490?zoomLevel=3 109 Queanbeyan Age 29 April 1869 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30579106?searchTerm=Faunce%20cricket%20queanbeyan&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc 110 Goulburn Herald 26 March 1859 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/10144034?zoomLevel=1&searchTerm=Faunce%20cricket%20queanbeyan&searchLimits=s ortby=dateAsc called “Battleaxe” and sometimes was accompanied by his wife and children in a buggy, once getting caught in a severe hailstorm.111 His motto as recorded in the family bible was “set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” In October 1881 at a clerical meeting of the Diocese of Goulburn held at Bishopthorpe Goulburn, the Rev. AD Faunce delivered a paper of whether the concept of ‘everlasting punishment’ for those who commit evil and seek no forgiveness, is endorsed by scripture. He concluded, after citing and examining numerous biblical references, that indeed it was. He then added these sentiments that show the ‘do or die’ approach to serious morality that was undoubtedly reflected in the style with which he played cricket. Put alongside of these difficulties the tremendous earnestness of our Lord in endeavouring to bring about man’s redemption here (which surely would not have been manifested if a few years’ punishment or a mere delay of salvation were the only question), and I think we must conclude that He knew the state of the lost was final and irremediable. It may seem charitable, and we naturally indulge a hope that all, even the Devil and his angels will be saved at the last, and as someone has written, be received into the bosom of the Universal Parent; but scripture maintains an appalling silence on the subject, and therefore we dare not teach it.112

Today a marble memorial plaque to his time there sits on the wall to the right of the altar. He cared for his mother in her old age and she died in Yass in December 1902.113

Conclusion The Reverend Alured Dodsworth Faunce (the eldest son of Alured Tasker Faunce) died in 1910 within a few days of William Davis. By one of those peculiar coincidences by which the hand of some greater consciousness sometimes seems to ‘script’ events to eternal meaning, the obituaries of these two cricketing colleagues appeared on the same page of the Queanbeyan Age Tuesday 19 July 1910. Included in AD Faunce’s obituary was this paragraph The deceased gentleman first came to Yass about fifty-three years ago [1857-probably 1859] with a team of Queanbeyan cricketers, among whom we remember William Davis (whose death is also referred to in this issue), the late J. T. A. Styles, and Campbell, of Duntroon, whilst the Yass team included Geo. Allman, Thomas Barber, James Wood, John K. Hume and Joseph Quail, all having gone to the silent majority. Mr. Faunce was a very popular and brilliant

111 The Daylesford Mercury. 28 January 1871. 112 Rev. A.D. Faunce, incumbent of St Clement’s Church, Yass. ‘Everlasting Punishment’ in ‘Questions of the Day’ Clerical Conference Bishopthorpe 5-7 October 1881. Gibbs, Shallard & Co Sydney 1882 pp49-53. 113 Sydney Morning Herald 12 December 1902 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14505400?searchTerm=Faunce%20cricket%20queanbeyan&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc cricketer. At that time the most brilliant man on the Yass side was Mr. I. Blake; brother to Mrs. Faunce.114

In William Davis’ adjacent obituary it states Mr Davis was all his life time a leader of popular sports and pastimes in the Queanbeyan District. Under his captaincy the old, original and invincible Gininderra Cricket Club became the most famous in the Colony.115

Having now gone through some extant historical indications of how two upright and philanthropic men developed cricket in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region, it can now be seen much more clearly what Mr Futter was getting at in his post-game address to the Queanbeyan and Goulburn cricketers in 1859. His claim that William Davis had been the ‘leading man’ in the formation of the Queanbeyan club played necessary respect to the man who at the time was keeping the sport alive in the region by lobbying authorities and providing time off for his workers (indeed leading the way in the ‘half-day’ movement, though as Shumack notes William Davis gave his workers no other time off except for cricket116). William Davis also built an excellent cricket ground and financially supported the acquisition of necessary cricket equipment and refreshment. Yet in 1859, before giving the laurels to William Davis, Chairman Futter had first remarked that

“it was his firm opinion that there had been no greater patrons of the art of cricketing than the officers of the army.” 117

Mr Futter who in his own right officiated in and promoted regional cricket, was undoubtedly aware of young Alured Dodsworth Faunce, seated before him. Futter, would have known that this young man, whom that day had shown such cricketing prowess, had been coached by his father Captain Alured Tasker Faunce, an officer with his own notable cricketing deeds for the Military Club in Sydney and as Gale points out, Captain of the Queanbeyan cricket team for many years prior to 1856. Was this then Futter’s delicate way of acknowledging Captain AT Faunce’s role as early “patron” (as Futter put it) of the local game, whilst paying due respect to the critically

114 Queanbeyan Age Tuesday 19 July 1910 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/31375755 115 Queanbeyan Age July 19 1910 p2 116 “Willaim Davis of Ginninderra did not give his employees a Saturday afternoon off unless they were playing in a creicket match, and I have seen the toilers hard at work on the Ginninderra Estate on New Year’s Day-Sunday was the only day observed as a day of rest.” Samuel Shumack. An Autobiography or Tales and Legends of the Canberr pioneers. ANU Canberra 1977 p4. 117 Ibid important role in the continuance of the local game of the noble and energetic William Davis? Captain AT Faunce had come to Queanbeyan on the Limestone Plains in November 1837 as a 29 year old with an established record in Australia’s then premier cricket competition and holding a position of authority where his encouraging of cricket would have had great social value. William Davis, on the other hand had come to the Limestone Plains as an eighteen year old in about 1839, left to work in Sydney for some years, and only came to a position of authority allowing him to promote cricket when his wife inherited palmer’s Ginninderra property in 1854. This being the case, it is probably time to modify the historical record so that it reflects that cricket on the Limestone Plains was originally encouraged by Captain AT Faunce in Queanbeyan from the mid 1840’s and by William Davis at Ginninderra from the mid 1850’s. The foregoing analysis also shows that Don Selth and others are incorrect in stating that when William Davis came to own Ginninderra (through his wife’s inheritance) in 1854, he then established the oldest cricket club on the Limestone Plains and that his September 1856 challenge caused the creation of the Queanbeyan Cricket Club. As has been shown, the first recorded date on which Willam Davis’ Ginninderra club played was not 1854, but January 1856 against Gundaroo.118 When the Queanbeyan Cricket Club met in September 1856 to discuss the challenge from William Davis’ Ginninderra team, the newspaper report of the meeting noted the Queanbeyan cricket administrators were “adding” players and replacing a secretary who had “resigned.”119 This confirms that the Queanbeyan Cricket Club had a secretary in 1855 a year before there is any formal record of a Ginninderra cricket team so officially organized being in existence. As we have seen, two men (Mr Gale and Mr Futter) who would have known the leading men in the respective clubs directly, gave the Queanbeyan Cricket Club historical priority over its Ginninderra rival in terms of the origins of cricket on the Limestone Plains. Gale, for example, stated that Captain Faunce who arrived in Queanbeyan in 1837 had “for some time” been the captain of the Queanbeyan team prior to his death in April 1856. Futter likewise maintained in 1859 that Queanbeyan

118 Goulburn Herald 12 Jan 1856 p6 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118310488?searchTerm=&searchLimits=l- title=364|||l-publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc (accessed 10 Jan 2014) 119 “the following gentlemen's names were added to the club, viz., Messrs. A. S. Freestone, solicitor, P. C. Palmer, and C. E. Smith, C.P.S., the latter to act as secretary in the room of Mr. F. H. Barnett resigned.” ‘Cricket’ Goulburn Herald Saturday 27 Sept 1856 p4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118313943?searchTerm=Gininderra%20and%20cricket&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc (accessed 8 Feb 2014) was “the oldest regular cricketing club in the Southern district” and had “set the example for the formation of other clubs.”120 In summary, Captain AT Faunce of Queanbeyan, his son the Rev. AD Faunce of St Clements in Yass and William Davis, the Squire of Ginninderra, were men who, in their conduct on the Limestone Plains, manifested those virtues the game of cricket has traditionally been extolled as promoting. They each at differing times held positions of responsibility from which they could and did support what in the language of the time was termed an ‘elegant and manly’ game of cricket for the simply joy of so competing as well as for its capacity to assist character development. Their embodiment of the spirit if cricket will remain a valuable example as long as cricket is played on the Limestone Plains.

120 Goulburn Herald 2 March 1859 p2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/118243834?searchTerm=woodward%27s%20Hotel%20and%20Futter%20and%20Davis& searchLimits=l-title=364|||l-publictag=Cricket|||sortby=dateAsc