[Editor: These items are extracts from the “Out among the People” section, published in The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), 16 May 1935.]
Out among the People
By Vox
The death in England of Mr. Arthur Lungley at the age of 88 reminded Mr. Albert Cope to tell me yesterday that his father, Mr. Sid Cope, of Mount Barker, was a member of the cricket team, of which Mr. Lungley was captain, who played the first international match in Adelaide in 1874 against Dr. W. G. Grace’s team.
Mr. Cope and Mr. Alexander Crooks, of Brighton, are the sole survivors of that team of 22 who included also T. Cole, J. E. Gooden, L. Giles, E. Davenport, W. G. P. Joyner. R. J. Egerton-Warburton, B. Featherstone, A. P. Robinson, S. Morcom, E. G. Millard, F. King, Dr. Gosse, H. Lynn, C. H. Gibbs, H. J. Southwell, J. James, J. D. Crichton, A. Scott, and H. Stanes.
England scored 108 and three for 38, and South Australia 63 and 82, and thus Dr. Grace’s team won by seven wickets.
Dr. Grace’s famous objection
Mr. Clarence Moody recorded this famous incident in the game:—
“Grace was disposed of in the first innings for six by a wonderful catch. The batsman made a mighty hit, and Alexander Crooks, leaning back against the chain which surrounded the ground, caught it with one hand. What a cheer he must have got from 5,000 spectators. “Grace strenuously objected to go out, because he said the ball had been caught beyond the boundary, but the umpire ruled against him, probably much to the regret of the onlookers, who would have liked to see the great man give an exhibition of his wondrous skill.
“Lungley it was who, helped by Crooks, secured W.G.’s wicket in the first innings, but in the second Scott covered himself with glory by clean bowling the champion of champions. Lungley got four for 36 on the first innings, and two for 22 in the second.”
Good bag of foxes
How is this for a bag of foxes? This question is asked by Mr. Norman Hiles Pearse, of the Gums station. Florieton:—
“Messrs. J. L. Hawke (manager National Bank, Robertstown), F. Neindorf, and two companions, with a car without a windscreen, shotguns, and a powerful spotlight as detector, shot in two nights 28 and 31 foxes. Very few of those put up escaped,” he tells me. “The animals were all shot on what we call our Grassville property, which is all open grass flats. Of course this sport calls for good driving, as there are numerous rabbit burrows, drains, and banks. Driving straight through this country at night, one would perhaps not see a fox, but search round the dams and sheep camps, and a very different tale is revealed.”
Ryan’s Well
J. A. Ryan, of Virginia, is very perturbed about the changing of the name of Ryan’s Well, out from Alice Springs.
“Ned Ryan, the Government well-sinking boss, after whom the well was named by the bushmen of the time, was a bonzer, and broke a long stage.” he writes. “It was one of a series of wells put down by this pioneering party from the Cecilia well, a few miles south of Oodnadatta, to Ryan’s Well and Paddy’s Hole, now Arltunga, in 1885 to 1890. I was with the party for four years, and left when Ryan’s well was completed in September, 1889.
“A few lines about Uncle Ned’s career. He went to the Northern Territory with G. W. Goyder, the first party after Stuart went through, and spent 10 years there on Government service, surveying and opening up the country. He came home, and put several years in different jobs, still in the Government, and always out in the bush. After completing the overland well job he was sent out to Musgrave Ranges to report on that country, but took ill on the road back, and died at Coward Springs. The Government would not even bury him. The publican, Mr. Frayne, completed the job, and I settled the account with him. Fancy a Government treating an old servant after an honorable career in that way!”
Old Denmark residents
Harry Vandepeer, of Lameroo, sends me details, asked for by Mrs. J. P. Miller, of Poochera, about early days at Denmark, W.A.
“I went there in March, 1897, and left in October, 1899,” he writes. “Mr. Harry Smith was the manager while I was there, Mr. Parlor store manager, Mr. West butcher, Mr. O’Dwyer timekeeper, and Mr. Hume engineer; the last-named afterwards became Engineer-in-Chief of the Western Australian Railways. There were also two young men in the office at that time, Angus Weardun and Palmer, both natives of this State. Palmer was killed soon after I left there. He had gone out, as was his duty, to measure up logs, and on returning, the truck he was riding on jumped the rails, and capsized on the top of him. The fish referred to were in abundance. Mr. White, who afterwards became harbormaster at Port Lincoln, was manager for the Albany Fishing Company at the time.”
Source:
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), 16 May 1935, p. 11
Editor’s notes:
Alexander Crooks = Alexander Crooks (1847-1943), bank manager, cricketer, and white-collar criminal; he was born in Leith (Scotland) in 1847, and died in Brighton (SA) in 1943
See: Greg McCarthy and Margaret Phillips, “Crooks, Alexander (1847–1943)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
bonzer = (slang) excellent (can also be spelt as “bonza”)
Denmark = a town located on the south-east coast of Western Australia
See: “Denmark, Western Australia”, Wikipedia
Messrs. = an abbreviation of “messieurs” (French), being the plural of “monsieur”; used in English as the plural of “Mister” (which is abbreviated as “Mr.”); the title is used in English prior to the names of two or more men (often used regarding a company, e.g. “the firm of Messrs. Bagot, Shakes, & Lewis”, “the firm of Messrs. Hogue, Davidson, & Co.”)
Virginia = a town located north of Adelaide (SA); there is also a suburb named Virginia, located north of Brisbane (Qld.)
See: “Virginia, South Australia”, Wikipedia
W.A. = an abbreviation of Western Australia (a colony in Australia from 1829, then a state in 1901; previously known as the Swan River Colony)
W. G. Grace = William Gilbert Grace (1848-1915), a medical doctor and a leading English cricketer
See: “W. G. Grace”, Wikipedia
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