aluredtaskerfaunceandwilliamdavis:the ......an interesting place to begin an investigation of the...
TRANSCRIPT
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%22&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=sortby=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
forming ‘The Goulburn Cricket Club’ at Mr. Gillard's, "Horse and Jockey Inn."33
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&searchLimits=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&searchLimits=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
were Dr A Morton and Dr WF Hayley. 42
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&searchLimits=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%20AND%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=onepage&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=sortby=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