RL1908.com - ARL Australian Kangaroos Rugby League

The 1929 Kangaroos Pack For Home

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Kangaroos packing for home - UK newspaper January 1930

It was mid January, winter, and the 1929-30 Australian Kangaroos were preparing to leave their base in the north of England.

After five months of calling Ilkley's Marlborough House Hydro ‘home', it was taking them quite some effort to make themselves ready for train journey to London and the long sea voyage home.

The tourists were looking forward to arriving back in Sydney from where they would disperse to suburbs and towns across NSW and Queensland.

As team manager Harry Sunderland put it "Here boys - on March 3rd we shall be sailing up Sydney Harbour preparing for the welcome of the town that does things in a large way."

Even Harry, ever the one for the overstatement, had no idea of the welcome Sydney had in ready for them. The harbour they sailed out of on July 25 was gone. In its place the returning tourists would see the familiar endless view to the west, broken by two huge giant metal ‘monsters' reaching toward each other from either side of the harbour.

The giant arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, not even begun when the Kangaroos left through the Heads, was almost complete when they returned in the first days of March 1930. But that ‘surprise' was still in the future.

It had been a tough English winter, marked by "rain, rain, and more rain". One period was so dark, the local press described it at as being "darker than the pit"- for the locals to say it was blacker than the bottom of a coal mine spoke volumes. Many pedestrians and drivers became lost in the void between street lights.

The Australians had also seen snow, many for the first time in their lives. For these boys an ‘initiation' ceremony was held. It was recorded in the newspapers as a jovial event, but one "best not described any further."

The team was captained by Queensland's centre Tom Gorman. An inspiring leader, Gorman had a quiet and unaggressive way about him that proved popular with his team. He was able to keep the team in good spirits throughout the tour. Their slogan was "when we move, we move in a body."

The Kangaroos were a popular group, and they held great interest for the spectators of the north of England. They enjoyed much attention in the press, and the tour generated an impressive financial return - comparable to the preceding tour of 1921. More impressively, it had been achieved with the added burden of much lower admission prices necessitated by the economic decline.

The players saw first hand the full effects of The Great Depression on the trade-based working class communities of the towns they visited and lived in. At Rochdale the Kangaroos assented to the unemployed entering the ground for half price - as Sunderland put it, "we couldn't let them down".

The Colonials (as the Aussies were often called) had completed their three test matches against England and proven themselves to be formidable opponents. Both teams won a test each, with the third test a drawn result. Unfortunately, this meant that the Ashes were to stay again with England.

The Kangaroos had won against three of the four county sides, and defeated the leading clubs including Wigan, holders of the Northern Union Cup, and Huddersfield, winners of the Northern League Championship.

The final itinerary of the tour would see the Australians pack up and leave Ilkley and travel by train to the south of England. They were to leave a week before their boat was due to sail for Sydney from Tilbury, near London. This early arrival would allow them to play one more match - against Wales at Wembley Stadium.

Joe "Chimpy Busch

The plans though were wrecked by an English touch judge and his decision in the dying moments of the third Test, which had been held on the weekend before. The Ashes-deciding Test of the series had ended in a controversial 0-0 draw, when Australia's Joe ‘Chimpy' Busch suffered his famous ‘no-try' call.

One of the local press wrote in a newspaper column "if the final test of a cricket series could be played until there was a winner, why can't rugby league tests - why must we settle for a draw?" The demand of the public for an unprecedented fourth Test, to decide the Ashes, saw rapid negotiations between the Tourists and the English authorities take place.

It was decided that the fourth Test would be played in Rochdale on the Wednesday, the same day the Australians were to journey to London. No change in travel arrangements were to be made.

The scene at the team hotel on the Tuesday was one of utter confusion. It was hardly the best preparation for a deciding Test match. The Tourists spent all of the Tuesday making their preparations for departure. Huge trunks were being dragged down the stairs by Australians in various stages of undress.

The corridors outside the bedrooms were filled with trunks, porters, and were littered with newspapers and scraps of waste paper. All of the team had accumulated various souvenirs, scrapbooks and gifts and to remember their tour by. One player in particular had a real surprise for those back home.

Team manager Harry Sunderland was busy tying strong cord around one of his trunks. He had no time or inclination to be thinking about the Test match tomorrow. Sunderland up-ended his trunk and pushed it over with force. "I just want to see if the locks would stand it" he said. They didn't hold. "Dear. dear," said Mr Sunderland (or words to that effect).

He then turned his attention to two new footballs which had just arrived. They had been sent to be autographed by the Kangaroos so that the balls could then be sold for charity. Sunderland bemoaned to the other men in the room how "I have to have those balls autographed and I can't do that until I get all the boys together - and that won't be until they're on the boat. So I shall have to let the balls down and send them from the boat."

As he spoke Sunderland attempted to cut the laces with a pocket knife, but either the knife was not sharp enough, or the laces were too tough. "Stick the knife into the interior," someone suggested after five minutes of cutting. "I can't do that," said Sunderland, "it would slash the bladder." He struggled for a further five minutes before the knife went into the interior of the bladder. As the air escaped Sunderland's anxious expression disappeared and his usual happy smile came back.

"Look at all these things," he continued, indicating a pile of autograph albums, "all to be signed and returned. Some people beat me. We do our best, of course, but really some people take the biscuit. Look at this, I have had this very nice parcel sent to me, with the request that I deliver it to Mrs Somebody‘s relations in Australia."

Shouting could be heard from a room upstairs, and Sunderland went to look in. "Have you seen my pants?" said one of the Kangaroos. This from a man who on the field had thrilled thousands of Rugby League fans with his clever play and skill. He leaned over a trunk and his face showed grave concern.

Next to him a player was struggling to close his trunk. The player looked up to see one of his team mates enter the room bearing a quantity of clothing. "If you bring another confounded article to put in with my stuff, I'll hit you with the business end of a mallet." The team mate left. Even though he had shouted at his team mate, he managed to offer some explanation of his actions: "He is the only sensible man amongst us. He got his packing done early, and the things he couldn't get in he is asking the other fellows to put in with theirs."

Someone was walking around interrupting the players with an apology followed by a rapid-fire request. He asked each Kangaroo to append a signature to his album containing the photographs of the Tourists. He wanted it as a souvenir. Meanwhile back downstairs, Sunderland had begun to tie up his collection of newspaper cuttings of the tour. Like most of the players and officials, he would compile a scrapbook of the tour on the trip home or afterwards. "We'll be back in Sydney soon boys!" Those around him cheered - it had been a long tour.

On the Wednesday morning the Australians arrived at the Ilkely Station for the 9.15 train for Rochdale. There were many farewell handshakes from well-wishers. A special saloon (carriage) had been attached to the train. When it steamed up to No.4 platform, more than a few tears were shed.

The Kangaroos had made many friends in Ilkley, especially amongst the fair sex, and they were all there to wish them luck and goodbye. A song was raised, but in justice to its composer the newspaper reporter decided "it shall remain nameless, as a number of the players uttered ear-splitting shrieks."

Kangaroos farewell their friends at the Ilkley Railway Station

At thirteen minutes past nine the station officials became anxious, as the Tourists showed no signs of ending their embraces. The reporter noted that "their disregard of the fact that there was no mistletoe was very noticeable." A final whistle from the guard, a hurried rush for the saloon, and to the waving of handkerchiefs and many renewed shouts of farewell, the "visitors from the Commonwealth" said good-bye to Ilkley.

The fourth Test was again a close encounter. Held at the Athletic Grounds, the scores were again locked at 0-0 until a late try to the English winger sunk the Aussies. After the match the Kangaroos moved on to Rochdale station for the ride to London.

While waiting for the train, team member Jack Holmes - a 25 year old half-back of Newtown and New South Wales - said to the astonishment of all: "Boys meet my wife!" The press reported that his team mates were "apparently all delighted." "He's got a fine souvenir," said one and another added, "She's a wonderful little girl," and they all agreed it was "a real romance".

It was soon revealed that Jack Holmes had married the Ilkley girl near the end of the Kangaroos stay in the town. His bride was Miss Mary Shore, an amateur actress and "assistant in a well-known ladies outfitters' establishment in the town." They had decided to keep their wedding quiet, and were married at a registry.

"I am not allowed to go out to Australia with the team," Mrs Holmes said, "but I hope to follow him before the end of the year. In the meantime I hope to stay on in business in Ilkley."

On arrival in London the Kangaroos were received by the Prime Minister at 10, Downing Street. The players were each in turn introduced. As Sunderland presented Jack Holmes to the P.M. he declared: "This one has married a charming little English lady." "Ah, you thief," said Prime Minister MacDonald with a smile, "You boys really mustn't take all our nice girls."

After defeating Wales at Wembley, the Australians sailed for home on the S.S. Hobson's Bay. The steamer only afforded ‘third-class' travelling standard, but would arrive in Sydney three weeks sooner than any other available boat. As it was, the players were still six weeks away from Sydney and yet more functions.

Some of the Toowoomba based Queenslanders didn't reach their front door until the second week of March - almost two months after they boarded the train out of Ilkley for home.