This week in the History of Gordon Cricket – September 30, 1905
Gordon District Cricket Club | September 30, 2024
The Gordon District Cricket Club was officially formed on 12 January 1905 at a public meeting in Willoughby Town Hall. The Mayor of Willoughby Council, (Alderman FC Petrie) was the Chairman and several representatives of the NSW Cricket Association were present. The new club took over the Willoughby District Cricket Club who had operated at Chatswood since 1900 playing in noncompetitive matches within the City and Suburban Cricket Association. This started the ball rolling on preparations for their first match later that year. Eighty seven names were handed in to form the membership list. While many today may still think the club got its name from the suburb of Gordon, the grade cricket competition at that time was based on electoral districts and the area just north of North Sydney was the Gordon Electoral District which centered around Chatswood and hence why Chatswood has always been the home of the club. Gordon’s boundaries in its first season, were described as ‘the Parish of Gordon and the
Municipalities of Willoughby and Lane Cove.’
Tom Hartigan in 1905
An interim committee was formed and met first on 11 April 1905 at Chatswood Oval and read out a letter from the Council saying a request for a lease to play on Chatswood Oval had been rejected. A sub-committee was formed and told to do whatever was necessary to obtain a satisfactory arrangement with Willoughby Council. Eventually a lease for three years was approved much to the relief of the club. The club colours of red, green and silver were also approved.
The first Annual General Meeting was held in June 1905 and the Hon. Reg Black (Snr) was appointed President and Tom Hartigan the Hon. Secretary. Most matters in those days were to the attention of the Secretary and Tom was no doubt the leading hand in setting up the club. The role of course of The Hon Reg Black M.L.A. could not be underestimated as he remained in that position for 23 years and suffered the tragedy of losing his son Reg Jnr. in World War 1.
The committee met many times a month till the start of the season and made many momentous decisions such as:
· The ordering and laying of twelve tons of Bulli soil at a cost of £6/12/5
· The building of a fence around the Oval at a cost of £13
· The appointment of a caretaker to prepare the wickets at a salary of £2/2 per week
· The purchase of a horse to pull the roller and mower
· The discovery and payment of a debt of £40 to the Council held by the Willoughby District Cricket Club
· To carry out restoration work on the original Pavilion and surrounding areas at the south-western corner of the Oval.
· Secure entry directly into the First Grade competition which was an unusual first step and likely happened due to the inclusion of several existing first grade players and two NSW representatives.
· To start with 3 teams when only 9 of the existing 15 clubs fielded 3 teams
The Gordon District Cricket Club’s entry into grade cricket commenced on Saturday 30 September 1905 when the First Grade team played Waverley at Chatswood Oval. Second Grade played Central Cumberland at Parramatta, and the Third Grade team played Middle Harbour at Chatswood Park. The two day matches concluded on Monday 2 October which was known as ‘Eight Hour Day” and the match started at 2pm.
Visitors to Sydney could either visit the Zoological Gardens in Moore Park, collect their mail from the ‘Poste restante’ counter at the General Post Office, enjoy afternoon tea at the fashionable Hotel Australia, take in a matinee session of the comic play, The Orchid, at Her Majesty’s Theatre or travel to Chatswood Oval for an historic event. The entrance fee to Chatswood Oval for the match was 6 pence for men and 3 pence for women. What a bargain!
The First Grade team in batting order was Robert Hickson, T Alcock, Charlie Macartney, F McMullen, Pat Johnston, AB Clarke, A Carroll, Tom Hartigan, Gother Clarke, George Pitt, G Fitzgerald.
Two team members had played for NSW, Gother Clarke a left arm slow bowler and Robert Hickson an opening batsman, while a nineteen year old Charlie Macartney would start his first class career later that season. The Sydney Morning herald also reported that “the work of Macartney will be closely watched for his performances last season gave promise of something quite out of the way.” How right they were.
The three had been recruited from North Sydney and in addition, Test Batsman Frank Iredale and NSW player Gordon Black who both started later in the season also came from Norths who had won the First Grade Premiership the season before. Several second and third grade players also came over from Norths. The bears have never forgiven us.
Robert Hickson
Other than these five, Pat Johnston and Tom Hartigan, who both played until the start of the war, most of the others in the team had short careers for the club and were replaced by more experienced players including fast bowler Keith McPhillamy.
It was a fine day at Chatswood and Waverley batted first and Charlie Macartney, even though he was a slow to slow-medium paced left arm spinner, bowled the first over.
The caretaker must have been pleased as his brand new wicket held up and Waverley scored 198, with leg spinner George Pitt taking 4-28 and Charlie Macartney 1 for 48.
Hopes were high when Robert Hickson faced the first ball of the Gordon innings however other than his top score of 24, the others were not able to make an impression and Gordon was bowled out for 84. The second innings was a better performance with Charlie Macartney holding up one end to score 60 and allow the team to fend off an outright defeat with a second innings of 7 for 143. One record, however, was set with A.B. Clarke scoring a ‘pair’ to be forever labelled as the first for the club.
So began the history of cricket played by the Gordon District Cricket Club, a period that has now spanned 119 years, surviving two world wars, a depression and a failed attempt for the NSW cricket to remove the club from the competition in 1999. What a travesty that would have been!
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