‘The Cheering Was Loud and Long’: Practical Feminism and the England Women’s Hockey Tour of Australia in 1927

Abstract

Australian women’s hockey was the first women’s team sport to establish itself nationally in Australia and the first to play an international match – 1914 against England. In 1925, the All Australia Women’s Hockey Association (AAWHA) invited England to send a team to tour Australia. On October 26, 1926, Mysie Davy, the AAWHA’s international secretary, announced England’s acceptance to tour in 1927 to Sydney’s field hockey community at a fête at the Sydney Town Hall. After Davy’s announcement, it was reported that ‘the cheering was loud and long’. The 1927 English team toured Australia for nine weeks and played 19 matches, including three Test matches against Australia. In studying this tour, there is engagement with the concept of practical feminism introduced by feminist sport scholar Jean Williams in her analysis of the experiences of England’s national women’s field hockey touring teams during the inter-war years. Further, building upon Williams’ work by expanding the practical feminism analysis to cover the opportunities experienced by the English team and a cross-section of Australian women’s field hockey participants, the concept’s application to all levels of field hockey is broadened.

Keywords:

• Field hockey
• women
• practical feminism
• Australia
• England

The 1927 England Women’s Hockey Tour was the first of its kind to Australia in the interwar era and played a significant role in boosting the game’s profile. In the long term, Australia toured Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, South Africa, and Rhodesia in 1930, and Canada and the United States of America (USA) in 1936. The 1927 tour also preceded those by an English cricket team in 1934–35 and New Zealand’s netball team in 1938, thus positioning hockey as Australia’s leading women’s team sport internationally during the interwar years.¹ By addressing the background of the tour, the composition of the English and Australian teams, and the tour itself (including matches played, hospitality provided, and press coverage), it is possible to identify practical feminism opportunities for the English team, their opponents across Australia, hockey enthusiasts, and the Australian tour organizers.

As noted by Barbara Keys ‘the world of international sport before World War II was overwhelmingly a male domain’, not unlike the situation in Australian sport.² However, hockey was different in two ways from most other sports. First, separate men’s and women’s associations were formed nationally, especially in Great Britain, British empire countries, Ireland and the USA; and second, two international organizations were formed in the 1920s – the Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) in January 1924 and the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations (IFWHA) in January 1927.³ The All Australia Women’s Hockey Association (AAWHA) was a founding member of the IFWHA, together with six other national associations, and its membership in IFWHA signalled the start of the AAWHA’s long involvement in international women’s hockey.⁴

The New South Wales (NSW), Victorian, South Australian, and Tasmanian state associations formed the AAWHA in 1910. Established as a women-only organization, the AAWHA continued that way until 1996, when Jim Quaite represented Queensland as a Council delegate.⁵ From 1910 through to 2000, the organization maintained its path of self-determination to advance the sport for women and girls nationwide and internationally. An annual interstate tournament was the organization’s only program until 1914 when the All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) accepted the AAWHA’s invitation for the English touring team to stop in Sydney before travelling on to New Zealand for a three-month tour of that country.⁶

During England’s two-week stay in Sydney in 1914, it participated in the Interstate Tournament, playing seven games against the four state teams and concluding with a match against Australia. This game was Australia’s first international match, which they lost to England before an enthusiastic and supportive crowd of approximately 1,500.⁷ The 11-3 score speaks to the gap in terms of the standard of play between the English and Australian teams. Australia’s match against England was the first international competition for an Australian women’s team sport.

World War One (WWI) and the 1919 influenza epidemic interrupted the activities of the AAWHA, and the organization did not resume operations until 1920. Almost immediately international competition was back on the AAWHA’s agenda when it recommenced activities after WWI, although there were several false starts before such competition would become a reality. Proposed visits by New Zealand in 1921 and 1924 did not eventuate, nor did the 1925 Inter-Empire Games slated for South Africa.⁸ Undeterred, in 1925 the AAWHA extended an invitation to the AEWHA to tour Australia in 1927. On October 25, 1926, Mysie Davy, the AAWHA’s international secretary, received a cable indicating England ‘gladly accepts [the] invitation from All-Australian Women’s Hockey Association to visit Australia’ in 1927.⁹ Davy replied, ‘[y]our cable arrived at a most opportune time for me. I was able to announce the good news at a Hockey Fête in the Sydney Town Hall. The cheering was loud and long’.¹⁰ The AAWHA now had the challenge of organizing a nine-week tour for the English team.

Practical Feminism

Jean Williams utilized English women’s hockey as a case study to explore ‘different types of imperialism’ connected to the 12 tours undertaken by English touring teams representing the AEWHA during the 1920s and 1930s within the British Empire and the USA.¹¹ Beyond imperialism lay a second agenda: Williams noted these tours were part of the AEWHA administrators’ plan to provide the hockey players involved ‘with new opportunities of a personal and professional kind’, and she called this ‘practical feminism’.¹² Williams’ concept of practical feminism is akin to Keys’s observation that ‘international contact in sport’ in the 1930s ‘became highways for the exchange of ideas and expertise’.¹³

Before Williams, Kathleen McCrone and Catriona Parratt had underscored the links between women’s sport, including hockey, and feminist principles and aspirations. McCrone argues ‘to call women’s hockey a feminist activity would be to distort the truth … hockey nevertheless had a powerful feminist dimension’.¹⁴ Similarly, Parratt argues that English sporting women were ‘advancing the feminist cause’, and their actions were ‘a constitutive element’ of the societal and cultural changes underway.¹⁵ Additionally, Jennifer Hargreaves notes that ‘[s]portswomen as a whole have not been enthusiastic feminists’.¹⁶ More recently, English hockey historian Joanne Halpin’s in-depth research of English women’s hockey reports that some of the AEWHA’s key early leaders were active in the feminist movement, including Frances Heron-Maxwell (née Cockburn), the AEWHA’s second president, who was ‘an active campaigner for women’s suffrage’.¹⁷

In outlining the growth of educational opportunities for women during the Victorian era in England and the associated ‘Hockey Craze’, Williams concludes that ‘hockey and other games became another arena for liberation for women’ and in doing so provided ‘[d]iverse possibilities for female empowerment’.¹⁸ Rafaelle Nicholson’s recent examination of women’s cricket in England helps to extend and focus the notion of practical feminism. In particular, Nicholson cites the ‘empowering experience for many of the women who have participated’ in sport as a critical attribute of feminism.¹⁹ In such a context, empowerment is a key component of practical feminism.

While the concept of practical feminism introduced by Williams provides a valuable lens through which to examine the experiences players encounter whilst playing on a national team, it can also apply to other aspects of hockey. Accordingly, in this work, the scope of the practical feminism analysis of England’s 1927 tour of Australia has been expanded to cover opportunities that facilitate and improve participants’ experiences throughout the hockey continuum. Thus, in addition to analyzing the experiences of the English players through a practical feminist lens, the experiences of a cross-section of Australian players, administrators, and supporters are similarly scrutinized.

England’s 1927 Tour of Australia

England’s 1927 tour was the AAWHA’s first major undertaking of this kind and was daunting from a financial and organizational perspective. However, it demonstrated the confidence of the association’s leaders in their ability, and that of each member state, to organize and fund such a significant national tour. The English team visited every state during its nine-week, 6,000-kilometre tour, with the itinerary book-ended by games in Western Australia and Queensland, the two newest AAWHA members.²⁰ The tour started in Perth and was followed by visits to Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart via Launceston, Launceston, Sydney via Melbourne, Tenterfield, and Brisbane (see Figure 1). Travel was mostly by train, however travel between Melbourne and Launceston was by ship and travel within Tasmania by car. For the 2,700-kilometre Perth to Adelaide journey, the team travelled in first class; indeed, Edith Thompson, the English manager, considered the train accommodation throughout the tour to be ‘excellent’ and the hotel accommodation to be ‘very friendly and comfortable’.²¹

Figure 1. The England team’s journey across Australia in 1927.

The English contingent comprised 15 players and manager Edith Thompson (see Appendix 1). Though stronger than the 1914 touring team, this team was still primarily composed of county-level players. Only Miss F.I. Bryan, the team captain, and Miss J. Mason were England players, while Miss V. Fowler had been an England reserve.²² Figure 2 shows the English players, flanked by Mary Fox and Edith Thompson, and reflects an aura of youthfulness, confidence, joie de vivre, and a team enjoying its tour of Australia.

Figure 2. England’s 1927 Touring Team and Mary Fox (far left). Left to right: Mary Fox (England’s Australian manager), Marjorie Cussons, Phyllis Bryant, J. Ashdown, M. Pickard, Grace Haskett-Smith, N. Stacy, J. Warwick, F.I. Bryan (captain), C. Nye, V. Fowler, E. Macfie, Muriel Burman, J. Mason, H. Caruthers, and Edith Thompson (manager). Missing is goalkeeper Winifred Brown. Photographic image held as part of the ‘NSWWHA records, 1908–2009’ collection, State Library of NSW, box 63X.

The English players’ average age was 25, and none were married.²³ The fact that all the players were unmarried is not surprising, as at that time, few women continued playing hockey after marriage (if they chose to marry), and if they did, few continued to play representative hockey. Additionally, the trip required a commitment of five months away, an undertaking no married player chose to make. Vida Wilson (née Sams) was the only married woman among the 21 players chosen to represent Australia (see Appendix 2). The five-month time commitment and estimated individual cost of £140 meant that the selection of the English team was not based on merit alone but rather on a player’s capacity to pay and take time off from other commitments. These factors, plus the English players being ‘mostly professional women’, with teaching being their most common employment, meant the English players were from either the middle or upper-middle classes.²⁴ From the limited information available about the Australian players, they too, were from either the middle or upper-middle classes.

The right to vote was an entitlement that separated the lives of the Australian players from most of the English players. White Australian women had had the right to vote federally on the same terms as men since 1902.²⁵ Of the 21 Australian players, all but Barbara Thomas and perhaps one other, were old enough to vote. Conversely, in 1927, only British women aged 30 and above ‘who met a property qualification’ could vote.²⁶ Accordingly, less than 50% of the English players had the right to vote, and the remaining players did not receive that privilege until 1928.²⁷

Fundraising

England accepted the invitation conditional upon the AAWHA covering all costs in Australia. The AAWHA transferred most of these costs to the states; consequently, the financial burden on each state association was significant. Not only did each state have to share England’s travel costs, the costs related to the three Test matches, and the Australian team’s costs, but they also had to cover their state’s hosting expenses, including England’s hotel accommodation. This research identified the amounts the AAWHA and South Australian Women’s Hockey Association (SAWHA) expended. Based on the travel levy paid by the SAWHA to the AAWHA, England’s travel costs within Australia were approximately £950 ($86,425 in 2022 terms).²⁸ The costs associated with the three Test matches were £305.18.7, including travel expenses for Australian players of £242.2.7.²⁹ The Test matches also garnered net proceeds of £342.15 ($31,180 in 2022 terms). South Australia incurred national travel and hosting levies of £133.1.6 and £55.16.0, respectively, plus £69.14.9 for hosting England in Adelaide.³⁰ They earned £109.19.7 from the state match against England, for an overall net hosting cost to the SAWHA of £148.12.8 ($13,520 in 2022 terms).³¹

Fundraising by each state association was crucial to the tour’s success, and these activities varied from state to state. NSW’s events included a fete at the Sydney Town Hall, jumble sales at Paddy’s Market, a gymkhana, an American tea, a dance, and a treasure hunt; South Australia held a ‘queen’ competition, a fete, and a dance, while Launceston had a bridge and mah-jong evening.³² Gate receipts were also substantial for some states. NSW garnered more than £150 from its England versus NSW match, while Queensland earned £200 for its match against England.³³ Queensland was likely the only state that broke even on its overall hosting costs, paying approximately £125.0.0 in levies to the AAWHA and having hosting costs comparable to South Australia’s.

Hockey Matches Played

No details were found indicating the type of training undertaken by the English players during the journey to Australia; however, the team played a match in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which ‘afford[ed] a diversion from the travellers’ shipboard practice’.³⁴ Manager Thompson reported that ‘everyone liked the deck games and dancing’, and the team decided to make every effort to enjoy all parts of the journey, particularly in port.³⁵ Thompson also commented on the tour’s practical feminist nature, noting it was ‘a great adventure and a wonderful way of seeing the world’.³⁶

England won each of the tour’s 19 matches, mostly by large margins (see Table 1). The closest game was that against Tasmania in Melbourne during the Interstate Tournament. This 4-2 close call prompted England’s captain, Miss F.I. Bryan, to reflect that ‘we underestimated the Tasmanian team – have decided not to play all reserves in a game again’.³⁷ This observation reveals that winning, and winning by a significant margin, was paramount to this team that was seeking to uphold England’s reputation as the world’s leading hockey nation. Their 227 goals scored, with the concession of only nine goals, demonstrated England’s strength, even though it was not England’s best team. England scored 32 goals in the three Test matches to Australia’s three.

Table 1. England’s playing record for the 1927 tour of Australia.

Date	Opposition	Location	Venue	Result
May 28	Western Australia – 1st XI	Perth	Subiaco Oval	Won 13 to 1
May 30	Western Australia – 2nd XI	Perth	Subiaco Oval	Won 19 to 0
June 4	South Australia	Adelaide	Jubilee Oval	Won 9 to 0
June 6	AUSTRALIA	Adelaide	Jubilee Oval	Won 13 to 1
June 11	Victoria	Melbourne	Albert Ground	Won 14 to 0
June 13	Tasmania	Melbourne	South Melbourne Cricket Ground	Won 4 to 2
June 15	New South Wales	Melbourne	South Melbourne Cricket Ground	Won 7 to 0
June 18	AUSTRALIA	Melbourne	Albert Ground	Won 8 to 2
June 20	Queensland	Melbourne	South Melbourne Cricket Ground	Won 22 to 0
June 21	South Australia	Melbourne	South Melbourne Cricket Ground	Won 10 to 0
June 23	Western Australia	Melbourne	South Melbourne Cricket Ground	Won 7 to 0
June 24	Victoria	Melbourne	South Melbourne Cricket Ground	Won 7 to 1
June 27	Southern Tasmania	Hobart	North Hobart Football Ground	Won 17 to 0
July 2	Northern Tasmania	Launceston	York Park	Won 19 to 0
July 8	New South Wales	Sydney	Sydney Sports Ground	Won 9 to 0
July 13	Barmedman	Sydney	Sydney Sports Ground	Won 15 to 0
July 16	AUSTRALIA	Sydney	Sydney Sports Ground	Won 11 to 0
July 19	Tenterfield	Tenterfield	Tenterfield Show Ground	Won 8 to 0
July 23	Queensland	Brisbane	Brisbane Exhibition Ground	Won 15 to 2

As noted previously, 21 players represented Australia in the three Test matches. Australia selected its Second Test team on merit, based on play from the first five days of the Interstate Tournament in Melbourne, and this team achieved Australia’s best result, an 8-2 loss (see Figure 3). The Australian selectors only retained five players from the First Test team for the Second Test team (see Appendix 2). England’s captain Bryan observed in her diary that the Australian team was ‘nervous throughout 1st half’ of this match, but noted that they ‘altered tactics in 2nd half and used through pass[es]. Therefore, made our [England] defence run and we were uncertain’.³⁸ England won the match 8-2, however Bryan noted that the score was ‘2 all in 2nd half!’ and Australia was ‘very pleased’ with the result.³⁹

Figure 3. Australia’s Second Test Team. Left to right – Vida Wilson (captain), Meredith Sutton, Barbara Thomas, Helen Taylor, Tory Wicks, Connie Charlesworth, Edna Davidson, Girlie Hodges, Stella Redman, Marjorie Cowley, and Nora Brown. Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team, (AAWHA) September 1927, 13. Image in possession of the author.

Figure 3 shows Australia’s Second Test team wearing gold-coloured box-pleated above-knee tunics, white long-sleeved blouses, myrtle green ties, belts of the same material and colour as the tunics, and brown stockings.⁴⁰ A ‘myrtle green badge with a spray of golden wattle’ was displayed on the left shoulder of the tunic.⁴¹ In contrast, in 1914, in a bold and pragmatic decision, Australia wore black knee-length tunics for its first international match, while England wore its traditional cardinal long skirts.⁴² However, in 1927, England had transitioned to more practical cardinal-coloured box-pleated above-knee tunics, collarless white long-sleeved blouses sans ties, and black stockings (see Figure 4).⁴³ Since 1927, Australia has maintained gold as its first choice of uniform colour.

Figure 4. England’s Test Team in playing uniform. Left to right – Winifred Brown, N. Stacy, C. Nye, H. Carruthers, Elizabeth Macfie, V. Fowler F.I. Bryan (captain), Phyllis Bryant, J. Mason, Molly Pickard, and Muriel Burman. Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team, (AAWHA) September 1927, 13. The author holds this document. Image in possession of the author.

The first and last tour matches were each played as the ‘curtain raiser’ to a men’s football game. The crowd at the Perth Australian Rules football game was described as ‘good’, while the English captain noted that the Brisbane match against Queensland was ‘played as a curtain raiser to QLD vs NSW rugger match’, and England ‘had the unique experience of playing before a crowd of forty-three thousand!’.⁴⁴ Crowds were good for many other matches; for example, the game against NSW in Sydney attracted 4,000 spectators, and that against Barmedman drew about 1,200. The Second Test attracted an estimated 3,000 spectators and the third 5,000; both were attendance records for Victoria and NSW, respectively.⁴⁵ Education authorities in Hobart gave public schoolchildren a half-day holiday, and these young people comprised most of the 2,000 spectators for the 27 June match against Southern Tasmania.⁴⁶

Umpiring was an underdeveloped aspect of Australian women’s hockey until the mid-1930s. During England’s 1914 tour, men umpired most games, with Professor Frederick Alldis Eastaugh and Mr L. Redgrave umpiring the Test match between Australia and England.⁴⁷ The situation had changed little by 1927. However, Kate Ogilvie, the AAWHA’s president, and Miss J. Ashdown, an English player, umpired the three Test matches.⁴⁸ Ogilvie and Ashdown also umpired the 8 July match between NSW and England, while the English players Ashdown, Bryant, Warwick, and male umpires officiated the remaining matches.⁴⁹ Allowing male umpires to officiate matches was a concession by England as the AEWHA had followed the governance principle that ‘no man holds executive office in any association affiliated to the All England Women’s Hockey Association’ since 1895.⁵⁰

Australia’s Hospitality

Five weeks after England departed for Australia and two days out from Fremantle, the team received two radio messages – ‘West Australia welcomes you’ and ‘Welcome to Australia – All Australian Association’.⁵¹ These two messages foreshadowed the wealth of hospitality awaiting the English contingent. The governors of Tasmania, NSW, and Queensland each received the English team during the tour, the mayor/lady mayoress, in all but one of the major cities visited, held civic receptions, and the Victoria League included England at a reception for the Governor-General held in Sydney. This high-level entertainment was in line with that accorded England during its 1914 tour of New Zealand, where historian Geoff Watson observed that the hosts granted England ‘the same rites, rituals and venues as visiting men’s teams’.⁵² Civic receptions were a part of the social aspect of hockey’s Interstate Tournaments; however, receptions involving a state governor or the Governor-General were not, thus affirming the importance of the English tour and a broader acceptance of women’s sport. Table 2 outlines the number and range of social activities provided.

Table 2. Social activities undertaken by the 1927 English touring team.

State	Reception			Dinner	Parliament Visit	Motor Tour	Dance or Ball	Party	Theatre or Pictures	Farm Visit
	Mayor(ess)	Governor	Other
WA	x			x	x	xx	x
SA	x			x		x			x
Victoria	x		xxx	x		xx	x	x	x
Tasmania	xx	x		x		xxxx	x	x
NSW	x	x	xxxx	x		xxx	x	xx	x	x
Queensland	x	x		x		xx
Total	7	3	7	6	1	14	4	4	3	1

Note: Each ‘x’ indicates an activity undertaken in a particular state.

The example below of England’s busy playing, social, and travel schedule during its time in Tasmania demonstrates how occupied the players and their manager were during their visit to that state, without a day to themselves over the nine days and having two government receptions on 28 June (see Table 3).

Table 3. The England team’s social engagements and matches while in Tasmania.

Sunday, June 26 – Arrival at King’s Wharf, Launceston and entertained at The Lounge. Departed for Hobart by car. Guest of Mrs. W. Von Bibra, ‘Beaufront’, Ross, for lunch.

Monday, June 27 – Hobart. Morning – Tennis and tea at ‘Alverstoke’, residence of Mrs. A.G. Ogilvie. 3.00 pm – England versus Southern Tasmania. Evening – Dance hosted by the Old Hobartian Association at the Imperial.

Tuesday, June 28 – Morning – Motor trip to Mount Wellington. 3.30pm – Reception at Government House. 8.00 pm – Mayoral reception at Town Hall.

Wednesday, June 29 – Depart Hobart for St Helens.

Thursday, June 30 – Depart from St Helens for Launceston. Visit St Columba Falls, Pyengana, then lunch at the Columbia Falls Hotel, as guests of Mrs. J.F. Johnston. Afternoon tea at Scottsdale Masonic Hall.

Friday, July 1 – Launceston. 2.00 pm – Motor trip to Coora Lynn for afternoon tea. 7.00 pm – Dinner at Launceston Hotel, followed by supper at The Lounge.

Saturday, July 2 – England v. Northern Tasmania. 8.00 pm – Social evening at King’s Hall.

Sunday, July 3 – Motor trip in afternoon to Gravelly Beach, entertained at Mrs. F. French’s cottage.

Monday, July 4 – Morning – Mayoral reception, Cataract Gorge. 8.00 pm – Depart Launceston for Melbourne.

Author Notes: Relevant information compiled from the Daily Telegraph (Launceston), June 27, 1927, July 4 and 6, 1927, 2; Daily Examiner (Launceston), June 27, 1927, 7; North-Eastern Advertiser (Scottsdale), July 1, 1927, 2; Mercury (Hobart), July 1, 1927, 11. Mrs. J.F. Johnston was British by birth and anecdotally reported to have played hockey in England before her marriage to an Australian. Johnson and Mary Fox began hockey in Launceston in 1906.

Press Coverage

Thompson and her team received considerable press coverage throughout the tour, including coverage of all 19 matches and a radio call of the Third Test in Sydney.⁵³ The radio call was a significant development for women’s sport, as in 1923 2FC was Australia’s first licensed radio station, and the media coverage of women’s sport was miniscule.⁵⁴

Thompson was a part-time journalist and the team’s spokesperson and received much personal coverage. The reporting mainly focussed on Thompson’s war work with Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps for which she received a CBE in 1920, and her involvement with the settlement of British women overseas.⁵⁵ During her interactions with the press or at hockey functions, Thompson took every opportunity to promote the AEWHA as England’s premier women’s sport organization, the AEWHA’s leadership role in founding IFWHA, and the strong and growing relationship between the AEWHA and the AAWHA.⁵⁶

Miss Bryan, the English captain, and several other players were comfortable speaking with the press, with Thompson noting that ‘no touring team should be without [them]’.⁵⁷ Included amongst these players was England’s goalkeeper, Winifred Brown, who was a licenced pilot and had qualified for her acrobatic certificate just before leaving England.⁵⁸ Brown flew in Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney, and her flights ‘proved to be excellent copy’ each time she took to the air.⁵⁹ During the tour, Brown was accompanied by her mother and fiancé. They mostly stayed in a different hotel than the rest of the team and Brown often missed team activities, such as the Ilparran visit discussed later. This undoubtedly created issues for Thompson, the team’s manager, during the tour and may account for Brown not being in the team photograph (see Figure 1).

Throughout the tour, the press lauded the English players’ qualifications but provided few details about those of the Australian players. When the English team arrived in Sydney, the Sydney Morning Herald proclaimed, ‘feminists will be enthusiastic about the English women’s hockey team … for it demonstrates brilliantly how far woman has developed her interest and activity in life and work’.⁶⁰ The press made much of Miss Bryan and Molly Pickard being Cambridge graduates and hockey captains, of Miss Fowler being an Oxford graduate and hockey captain, and of Miss Macfie being a Dartford Physical Training College lecturer.⁶¹ Similarly, the fact that Marjorie Cussons’s father owned a substantial soap and perfume business near Manchester and that she organized four hockey teams for his female employees often appeared in press articles.⁶² Overlooked by the press were six Australian players who were equally, if not more, qualified academically than the English players. Lyndall Morris, Australia’s captain for the First Test, graduated from the University of Adelaide and was a teacher.⁶³ Vida Wilson and Helen Taylor were doctors; Wilson, who captained the Second and Third Test matches, also chaired the National Council of Women’s Child Welfare Committee.⁶⁴ Additionally, Sybil Taggart was an architect; Girlie Hodges a medical student at the University of Melbourne; and Barbara Thomas a science student at the University of Sydney.⁶⁵

The Queenslander’s reporter, ‘Fileuse’, also directly associated hockey and feminism. She linked the AEWHA’s decision to tour Australia with society’s progress towards acceptance of women playing sport in a male-dominated society, noting it was ‘another indication of how large a part sport plays in the life of the girls today’.⁶⁶ Brisbane’s mayor expressed a similar opinion at his reception for the English players, proclaiming hockey was ‘a healthy sport and one which should be encouraged’.⁶⁷ Mayor Jolly also observed that travel broadened the mind and ‘was the best and most pleasant form of education’, thus speaking indirectly to the influence of practical feminism in sport.⁶⁸

Speakers at official receptions and newspaper articles often referenced notions of friendship, sportsmanship, and empire links. For example, Freda Bage, President of the Queensland Women’s Hockey Association, hoped that the English team’s visit to Brisbane ‘promote[d] friendship and good sportsmanship between the girls of the two countries’ and ‘created a stronger bond of kinship’, while Mr Hinkford, President of the Royal Society of St George, observed ‘that the visit of the team was a further bond between Australia and England’.⁶⁹ Further, Launceston’s Examiner advised readers that England’s visit was ‘a notable event, and ha[d] a significance that extend[ed] far beyond the sphere of sport’, explaining that:

We welcome [the team], firstly because they are English, of our own kin; secondly, because they are good sports and hearty players; and thirdly, because they are a merry band of bright and vigorous women, whose outlook on life is keen and healthy, and whose personalities will bring them friends everywhere.⁷⁰

Finally, Thompson assured the hockey community in Melbourne ‘that they would have a hearty welcome whenever they could come to England’.⁷¹

Press reporting included comprehensive coverage of the major matches in a style more typically utilized for major men’s sport, including in-depth articles with detailed analysis of play. The press described the play of the English as professional. It praised the English players’ superior experience, anticipation, stickwork, passing, tackling, speed, and goal-scoring ability, and identified England’s consummate teamwork as the significant difference between them and their opponents. The press was also mindful that England far outclassed the home players and always acknowledged the hard work and good play of local teams.

Generally, the press coverage was extremely positive, whether discussing the players’ skills, academic achievements, employment, or the daring of England’s Winifred Brown as an aviator. Of course, there was some negative press, but it was minimal, given the coverage received. The relative lack of negative press may indicate that organizers were professional in their public relations dealing. Alternatively, there may have been increased media acceptance and appreciation of women’s participation in sport, particularly given the English team’s standard of play. Overall, the reporting presented a nuanced picture of the English players as accomplished modern women who were appropriate role models for young Australian women.

Applying Practical Feminism to the 1927 Tour

Many aspects of England’s 1927 tour of Australia represent Jean Williams’ notion of practical feminism. Indeed, at the end of the tour, Thompson observed that the English players ‘realise to the full what a fine opportunity it has been and are grateful for being given the chance of a lifetime’ and that ‘the whole tour has been a wonderful experience and one which we shall never forget’.⁷² The new opportunities provided to the English players, their Australian opposition, and their hosts represented significant legacies from England’s tour.

Hosts in each city organized motor trips to show off major attractions to the English team. The locations visited included the Adelaide Hills, Mount Dandenong, Mount Wellington, Palm Beach, and Mount Coot-tha. The two-day trip between Hobart and Launceston allowed the visitors to experience the spectacular scenery of Tasmania’s east coast, while the NSW hosts arranged ‘a thrilling two-day expedition to the Jenolan Caves’ during the stay in Sydney.⁷³ In Adelaide, the visitors also had the opportunity to try throwing a boomerang, and much to the surprise of one player, her throw was successful, and the boomerang came back and hit her in the chin.⁷⁴

Leaders in each state drew on management and logistical skills from their professional lives to organize England’s stay in their state. The Victorian Women’s Hockey Association’s president, Dr Gwynneth Buchanan, a Zoology professor at the University of Melbourne, used her leadership skills to oversee England’s two-week stay in Melbourne during the Interstate Tournament. Similarly, Freda Bage, principal of the University of Queensland’s Women’s College and president of the Queensland Women’s Hockey Association, oversaw England’s stay in Brisbane.⁷⁵ Both Buchanan and Bage fostered the development of female university students, were active members and held leadership positions in numerous women’s organizations within the university milieu and broader society.⁷⁶

Mary Fox took nine-weeks leave from her position as principal of Launceston Ladies’ College and paid her own expenses to serve as the Australian manager of the England team. Fox met the team in Fremantle and managed their travel throughout the tour. England’s manager Edith Thompson noted, ‘[f]rom the time she [Fox] took us in hand we never had a moment’s uneasiness; she managed us for own good with a velvet glove, and we were usually quite unaware of it’.⁷⁷ Fox, Buchanan, and Bage were outstanding women in the educational field who volunteered their many talents to benefit women’s hockey. For these three women, the English tour also had a personal empowering component as each demonstrated that they could successfully transfer their considerable leadership and organizational skills to international sport. Their leadership within hockey, efforts to create spaces and opportunities for women, placing women at the centre of their endeavours, and involvement with other women’s groups, brought feminist influences to bear on Australian women’s hockey.⁷⁸

From a practical feminism perspective, approximately 140 players from national, state, city, and club levels had the opportunity to play against England and experience first-hand the visitors’ skill, tactical play, and teamwork. Victoria and NSW each conducted their Country Week tournament during England’s visit to Melbourne and Sydney, thus providing many players with the opportunity to observe, and in some cases play against, the English team.⁷⁹ Eight players from Western Australian country teams participated in the two Western Australian teams that played England in Perth. Three of the eight, all from Katanning, were members of the state team that participated in the Interstate Tournament in Melbourne.⁸⁰ Thus, these three Katanning players had the opportunity to play England a second time, watch the Second Test match, visit Melbourne, and enjoy the social activities associated with the Interstate Tournament.

The young Barmedman team, ‘girls mostly in their teens’, were thrilled to play England at the Sydney Sports Ground before a crowd of approximately 1,200.⁸¹ Barmedman was, and still is, a small farming community in central western NSW. Its women’s representative hockey team had placed second to Tenterfield at the NSW Country Week, and since England was to play Tenterfield on its way to Brisbane, the NSW Women’s Hockey Association granted Barmedman the honour of playing England in Sydney. Margaret Ryan (née Mulhearne) remembers her mother, Mabel Mulhearne (née Garlick), telling her about playing the English as part of the Barmedman team that competed at the NSW Country Week. Mulhearne was a teenager in 1927, and Ryan recalls her mother saying, ‘We didn’t care what the result was; we just enjoyed the opportunity to play them’.⁸² One can imagine this attitude was similar for most of the Australian women who had the opportunity to play against the English team, an opportunity players from other team sports had yet had the chance to experience since, as previously noted, cricket’s first international visit was not until 1934 and netball’s not until 1938.

The train trip to Brisbane from Sydney was broken up by a one-day visit to Ilparran near Glen Innes, followed by a match against Tenterfield. Ilparran was the sheep property owned by Douglas Ogilvie, the eldest brother of the AAWHA’s chairwoman Kate Ogilvie.⁸³ Those players who were accomplished riders took station horses and ‘rode far and wide over the run [property]’ while the remaining team members were driven:

… as far up the valley as cars could take them, [and] set out on foot to explore the pretty wooded canyon, in which water clear as crystal sparkled in the sunshine, and miniature cascades murmured. For several miles they penetrated deeper’ and deeper into the mountains, until a pretty waterfall arrested their progress. The climb up the precipitous cliffside proved the girls to be in good training and, after a refreshing rest on top, the return trip to the waiting cars was made across country.⁸⁴

Then lunch was ‘served on the grass in approved bush fashion. There was billy tea too, and tin “pints” – the real outback touch; the novelty of which appealed tremendously’.⁸⁵ In manager Thompson’s opinion, the day at Ilparran was ‘the most characteristic day’ the team had experienced ‘since arriv[ing] in Australia’ as they had explored a 7,772-acre sheep property, seen native fauna and flora including kangaroos, and experienced a bush luncheon.⁸⁶

As noted previously, the Tenterfield team were the NSW country champions and the English team’s visit was clearly a significant event for the town’s residents as a crowd of approximately 2,500 watched the match, about 75% of the town’s population.⁸⁷ Visits by international sporting teams, men or women, were very rare occurrences in Australian towns during the 1920s; indeed Launceston was the only other non-state capital city that hosted the English women’s hockey team, and it had a population of approximately 25,000.⁸⁸ The match between England and Tenterfield was followed by a ‘civic reception’ and ‘a grand ball’.⁸⁹ Manager Thompson noted that the ‘team were made much of [in Tenterfield] … making us feel public characters’.⁹⁰

The opportunity afforded the Barmedman and Tenterfield teams epitomizes the notion of practical feminism. Their participation in Country Week opened the door to a new and unique opportunity – to play a match against an international team. However, it was much more than that. The players got to visit their state’s capital city, explore the sights of Sydney, shop, and play against and socialize with other young hockey players, experiences not available to other young women in their hometowns or other country towns across Australia.

One aim of the tour was to improve the standard of Australian women’s hockey. To that end, Edith Thompson and selected English players gave hockey lectures in each major city they visited. Players and hockey enthusiasts attended these lectures with keenness as they were intent on increasing their knowledge of hockey and improving their skills, tactics, and teamwork. Additionally, the AAWHA’s post-tour magazine, Hockey in Australia – Visit of the English Team, included two technical articles to educate readers. In the introduction to ‘Notes on the International Games’, Kate Ogilvie, the AAWHA president, prefaced her observations with:

Having invited a team to travel 25,000 miles to teach us how to play hockey, we should do well to study their game carefully and to follow their example; for the benefit of players who were unable to see the English game, I shall try to set down some of its outstanding features.⁹¹

Ogilvie’s astute and detailed observations focused on many aspects of the game, and she concluded her article by encouraging players to benefit from the experience of the English tour by practising the new skills and tactics so that Australia did not lose ‘a golden opportunity to advance one stage towards a place among skilled hockey players’.⁹² Ogilvie’s article was complemented by another written by Phyllis Bryant, one of the English players; Bryant’s article focused on teamwork in defence, a significant shortcoming of the Australian game.⁹³

The most important legacy of the tour, however, was the coaching provided after the tour. Four English players accepted the AAWHA’s invitation to stay in Australia to coach. Phyllis Bryant coached in NSW, Grace Haskett-Smith in South Australia, Marjorie Cussons in Queensland, and Muriel Burman in Western Australia.⁹⁴ Western Australia took full advantage of Burman’s expertise; she coached extensively in Perth and visited 10 country centres. Phyllis Bryant so impressed Winifred West, the principal of Frensham, that she returned to Australia in 1931 to be the school’s Games’ Mistress until 1934. Bryant returned to England but rejoined the Frensham staff in 1936, after which the Frensham governors selected her to replace West as principal in 1938. Bryant served in that leadership position until her retirement in 1965.⁹⁵ It is difficult to imagine that Bryant could have anticipated these professional opportunities unfolding because of her membership of England’s 1927 touring team to Australia.

Legacy of England’s 1927 Tour

The AAWHA made two key decisions in the mid-1920s that would influence many of the organization’s actions over the rest of the twentieth century. First was the decision to join the IFWHA, and second was the agreement to host England for a tour of Australia in 1927. These choices were ground-breaking for Australian women’s hockey as they gave new context to the story of hockey in Australia and to the historiography of women’s sport in Australia.

England’s 1927 tour benefited the AAWHA, its member state associations, and hockey players across Australia organizationally, financially, socially, and technically, as well as strengthening bonds first established between the AAWHA and AEWHA during England’s brief visit to Sydney in 1914. After the 1927 tour, Mary Collingridge declared the AAWHA had come of age, noting, ‘the AAWHA has this year blossomed into its full maturity at the nice, sensible age of eighteen years!’.⁹⁶ In striving to expand the sport and improve the standard of hockey played in Australia, the AAWHA and member state associations created unique opportunities for their players and administrators by hosting an English team in 1927.

Specifically, England’s tour provided hockey players from across Australia with unique opportunities to play against an international team. These matches offered players opportunities to learn about technical skills, team play and tactics. Additionally, England’s visit provided those involved with chances to learn about another culture through social activities. Further, the tour allowed administrators in each state to draw on management and logistical skills from their professional lives to organize the visitors’ stay. Overall, these opportunities afforded to hockey women were not available to most other Australian sportswomen.

Finally, during the AAWHA’s 1927 general meeting in Melbourne, Edith Thompson presented the AAWHA with a letter from the AEWHA, inviting Australia to visit Great Britain in 1930.⁹⁷ This invitation created ‘an atmosphere of space hitherto absent from All Australia meetings, and small matters such as constitutions … seemed to fade into insignificance’, such that discussion of the invitation dominated proceedings, unlike any other topic at an AAWHA meeting.⁹⁸ Most importantly, the invitation offered the AAWHA its next significant project – an international overseas tour in 1930 – setting the stage for Australia to become an important country within the international women’s hockey community.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janet Beverley

Janet Beverley is a Physical and Health Education graduate from Sydney Teachers’ College and holds a Master of Science in Physical Education from the University of North Dakota. In 2022, she received her PhD from the University of Queensland. The subject of her thesis was: ‘More than a Game: Australian Women’s Hockey, 1896 to 2000 – Feminism, Practical Feminism, and Communitas’. Janet is an independent scholar whose main sport history interest is hockey, particularly women’s hockey. She is also an Executive Committee member of the Australian Society for Sports History.

Notes

1 Richard Cashman and Amanda Weaver, Wicket Women: Cricket and Women in Australia (Kensington, NSW: New South Wales University Press, 1991), 215; ‘History of Netball’, http://netball.com.au/about-netball-australia/history-of-netball/ (accessed February 1, 2017).

2 Barbara J. Keys, Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 12.

3 John McBryde, ‘The Bipartite Development of Men’s and Women’s Field Hockey in Canada in the Context of Separate International Hockey Federations’ (Master of Education diss., University of British Columbia, 1986), 37; Janet Petrilla Shaner, ‘The History and Development of the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations’ (Master of Science diss., Smith College, 1975), 7. The Australian Hockey Association (AHA), the men’s association, formed in 1925 and joined the FIH the same year. However, the AHA were not engaged globally until 1956.

4 Shaner, ‘The History and Development of the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations’, 7.

5 Women’s Hockey Australia 1996 Annual Report, 4.

6 AEWHA Council Meeting Minutes, February 6, 1914, AEWHA (1895–1997) Collection, A/1/5, University of Bath Archives, England.

7 Daily Telegraph (Sydney), July 25, 1914, 22.

8 AAWHA Committee Meeting Minutes, August 6, 1920; AAWHA General Meeting Minutes, August 16, 1923; AAWHA Special Meeting Minutes, November 28–29, 1924.

9 Sydney Morning Herald (hereafter SMH), October 26, 1926, 12.

10 ‘From the AEWHA’, Hockey Field and Lacrosse, December 18, 1926, 4.

11 Jean Williams, A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport, Part One: Sporting Women, 1850–1960 (New York: Routledge, 2014), 155.

12 Ibid., 158.

13 Keys, Globalizing Sport, 3.

14 Kathleen E. McCrone, Playing the Game: Sport and the Physical Emancipation of English Women, 1870–1914 (London: Routledge, 1988), 137.

15 Catriona M. Parratt, ‘Athletic “Womanhood”: Exploring Sources for Female Sport in Victorian and Edwardian England’, Journal of Sport History 16, no. 2 (Summer, 1989): 156.

16 Jennifer Hargreaves, Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women’s Sports (London: Routledge, 1994), 36.

17 Joanne Halpin, ‘“Will You Walk into Our Parlour?”: The Rise of Leagues and Their Impact On the Governance of Women’s Hockey in England 1895–1939’ (PhD diss., University of Wolverhampton, 2019), 87.

18 Williams, A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport, 47, 56, 63.

19 Rafaelle Nicholson, Ladies and Lords: A History of Women’s Cricket in Britain (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019), 15.

20 Western Australia joined the AAWHA in 1921, followed by Queensland in 1925.

21 Table Talk (Melbourne), June 16, 1927, 16; Miss F.I. Bryan, ‘The English Touring Team in Australia’, Hockey Field and Lacrosse, October 8, 1927, 7.

22 News (Adelaide), June 4, 1927, 2.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 ‘Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902’, https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-88.html (accessed January 2, 2024).

26 ‘Women Get the Vote’, https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/thevote/Womengetthevote (accessed January 23, 2019).

27 Ibid.

28 ‘Statement of Receipts and Expenditure of the SAWHA from 16 Feb. 1927 to 16th Feb. 1928’, South Australian Women’s Hockey Association Collection, Society Record Group (SRG) 487, Cash books, 5, State Library of South Australia. Converted using the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator.

29 AAWHA Cashbook, ‘Statement of Income and Expenditures in Connection with the Visit of All England Team’, 3.

30 ‘Statement of Receipts and Expenditure of the SAWHA from 16 Feb. 1927 to 16th Feb. 1928’.

31 Ibid. Converted using the RBA’s Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator.

32 SMH, October 26, 1926, 12; SMH, April 6, 1927, 21; Sun (Sydney), March 6, 1927, 26; Sun (Sydney), March 29, 1927, 4; Sun (Sydney), April 24, 1927, 25; Sun (Sydney), May 15, 1927, 26; Daily Telegraph (Sydney), June 5, 1927, 11; News (Adelaide), May 13, 1927, 10; News (Adelaide), May 26, 1927, 8; Daily Telegraph (Launceston), March 30, 1927, 2.

33 Erica Fielding’s diary, July 19, 1927, ‘Erica Fielding Diaries, 1911-1925’ (MLMSS 7676/4), State Library of New South Wales; Daily Standard (Brisbane), July 22, 1927, 7; Daily Standard (Brisbane), July 22, 1927, 9.

34 Edith Thompson, ‘With the Touring Team in Australia’, Hockey Field and Lacrosse, October 15, 1927, 8. The English team arrived in Fremantle on 25 May aboard the SS Chitral.

35 Ibid., 5.

36 Ibid., October 22, 1927, 5.

37 Diary of Miss F.I. Bryan, June 13, 1927, AEWHA (1895–1997) Collection, D/1/28, University of Bath Archives, England.

38 Ibid., June 18, 1927.

39 Ibid.

40 AAWHA Board of Control Minutes, December 15, 1926, 5.

41 Ibid.

42 Janet Beverley, ‘More than a Game: Australian Women’s Hockey, 1896 to 2000 – Feminism, Practical Feminism, and Communitas’ (PhD diss., University of Queensland, 2022), 68; Daily Telegraph (Sydney), July 25, 1914, 22.

43 ‘English Test Team’, Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team, (AAWHA) September 1927, 13. The English team: Left to right – Winifred Brown, N. Stacey. C. Nye, H. Carruthers, Elizabeth Macfie, V. Fowler, I. Bryan (Captain), Phyllis Bryant, J. Mason, Molly Pickard, and Muriel Burman.

44 Sunday Times (Perth), May 29, 1927, 1; Diary of Miss F.I. Bryan, June 13, 1927. Miss F.I. Bryan, ‘The English Touring Team in Australia’, Hockey Field and Lacrosse, October 8, 1927, 7.

45 Sun (Sydney), July 10, 1927, 13; Evening News (Sydney), July 13, 1927, 13; Argus (Melbourne), June 20, 1927, 19; Evening News (Sydney), July 16, 1927, 5.

46 Diary of Miss F.I. Bryan, June 27, 1927; Mercury (Hobart), June 28, 1927, 8.

47 ‘Frederick Alldis Eastaugh – “Uncle Ted”’, https://glebehockey.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Frederick-Eastaugh.pdf (accessed January 3, 2024).

48 Advertiser (Adelaide), June 7, 1927, 13; Argus (Melbourne), June 20, 1927, 19; SMH, July 18, 1927, 12.

49 Truth (Sydney), July 10, 1927, 4; Argus (Melbourne), June 13, 1927, 9; Advertiser (Adelaide), June 7, 1927, 13; Sunday Mail (Brisbane), July 24, 1927, 7.

50 Nancy Tomkins, The Century Makers: A History of the All England Women’s Hockey Association 1895–1995 (Shrewsbury, England: All England Women’s Hockey Association, 1995), 9.

51 Thompson, ‘With the Touring Team in Australia’, 8.

52 Geoff Watson, ‘“See These Brilliant Exponents of the Game”: The English Women’s Hockey Team Tour of Australia and New Zealand, 1914’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 33, no. 17 (2016): 2112.

53 SMH, July 8, 1927, 8.

54 ‘The History of Australian Radio’, https://media.adelaide.edu.au/radio/intro/history_OZ-radio.pdf (accessed January 9, 2024).

55 ‘Edith Thompson (1877-1961) Hockey Collection’, https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/62b24523-1e01-36b4-9de9-4087e2fb9b17 (accessed January 4, 2024); Brisbane Courier, July 21, 1927, 19. CBE is a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

56 News (Adelaide), June 4, 1927, 2; Examiner (Launceston), June 28, 1927, 7; Brisbane Courier, July 21, 1927, 19; and several other newspapers.

57 Thompson, ‘With the Touring Team in Australia’, October 15, 1927, 9.

58 Herald (Melbourne), June 10, 1927, 2. Brown won England’s prestigious King’s Cup air race in 1930.

59 Daily News (Perth), May 28, 1927, 5; Herald (Melbourne), June 10, 1927, 2; Sun (Sydney), July 10, 1927, 1; Thompson, ‘With the Touring Team in Australia’, October 15, 1927, 9.

60 SMH, July 7, 1927, 10.

61 Ibid.; Herald (Melbourne), June 9, 1927, 3; Brisbane Courier, July 21, 1927, 6; and numerous other newspapers.

62 Herald (Melbourne), June 9, 1927, 3.

63 ‘Lyndall Erica Morris, BA 1924, Hockey and Tennis Blue, AUA 1929–1924’, University Archives, https://archives.adelaide.edu.au/#details=ecatalogue.152988 (accessed February 15, 2020).

64 Lena Hodges, A History of the New South Wales Women’s Hockey Association [NSWWHA] 1908–1983 (Sydney: NSWWHA, 1984), 20; SMH, July 4, 1926, 4.

65 Observer (Adelaide), November 19, 1927, 60; Age (Melbourne), August 17, 1927, 14; SMH, March 29, 1927, 4.

66 Queenslander (Brisbane), July 21, 1927, 45. ‘Fileuse’ was Stella Bruce-Nicol. She was a member of the Queenslander’s editorial staff.

67 Brisbane Courier, July 22, 1927, 6.

68 Ibid.

69 Daily Standard (Brisbane), July 22, 1927, 2; Brisbane Courier, July 22, 1927, 6; Australasian (Melbourne), June 18, 1927, 61.

70 Examiner (Launceston), June 21, 1927, 7.

71 Argus (Melbourne), June 13, 1927, 9.

72 Herald (Melbourne), August 1, 1927, 10; Thompson ‘With the Touring Team in Australia’, October 22, 1927, 5.

73 Edith Thompson, ‘Across Australia with a Hockey Team’, Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team, (AAWHA) September 1927, 5.

74 Advertiser (Adelaide), June 9, 1927, 9.

75 Cecily Close, ‘Buchanan, Gwynneth Vaughan (1886–1945)’, http://adb.edu.au/biography/buchanan-gwynneth-vaughan-5413 (accessed January 1, 2017); Jacqueline Bell, ‘Bage, Anna Frederika (Freda) (1883-1970)’, http://adb.edu.au/biography/bage-anna-frederika-freda-5090 (accessed December 1, 2017).

76 Ibid.; Close, ‘Buchanan, Gwynneth Vaughan’.

77 Thompson, ‘With the Touring Team in Australia’, 8.

78 Rafaelle Nicholson, Ladies and Lords: A History of Women’s Cricket in Britain (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019), 89, 103, 231.

79 Country teams from Albury, Horsham, Warrnambool, Ballarat, and Kerrang were in Melbourne for Country Week when England participated in the Interstate Tournament, while teams from Hasting River, Bathurst, Young, Lithgow, Barmedman and Tenterfield were in Sydney during England’s visit. The Goulburn team played in the ‘curtain-raiser’ match prior to the Third Test in Sydney.

80 Great Southern Herald (Katanning), May 18, 1927, 3.

81 Hodges, A History of the NSWWHA, 21.

82 Email from Margaret Ryan (née Mulhearne), April 14, 2019. Hockey continued to play an important part in Mabel Mulhearne’s life, including a significant involvement with Sydney’s hosting of the 1956 IFWHA Conference and Tournament. Her daughters, Marjorie and Margaret, played hockey for NSW in the 1950s, and Margaret managed the 1984 Olympic Women’s Hockey Team.

83 Glen Innes Examiner (NSW), July 19, 1927, 4.

84 Ibid.

85 Ibid.

86 Ibid.

87 Glen Innes Examiner (NSW), July 21, 1927, 4.

88 The 1921 census indicated that Tenterfield had a population of 3,303 and Launceston had a population of 24,305. Census of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1921 ‘Volume I – Part X NEW SOUTH WALES population of Local Government Areas’, 549 and 557; Ibid., ‘Volume I – Part XV TASMANIA population of Local Government Areas’, https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/DetailsPage/2111.01921 (accessed June 13, 2023).

89 Glen Innes Examiner (NSW), July 21, 1927, 4.

90 Thompson, ‘Across Australia with a Hockey Team’, 5.

91 Ibid., F.K.O., ‘Notes on the International Games’, Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team (AAWHA), September 1927, 8.

92 Ibid., 11.

93 Ibid.; P.M. Bryant, ‘Combination in Defence Play’, Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team (AAWHA), September 1927, 18.

94 Daily News (Perth), August 10, 1927, 10.

95 Sydney Mail, December 8, 1937, 58; SMH, February 22, 2014, https://www.smh.com.au/national/cynthia-parker-frensham-headmistress-who-lived-by-her-beliefs-20140221-337j8.html (accessed June 17, 2023).

96 M.E.C., ‘The AA Australian W.H.A. Comes of Age’, Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team (AAWHA), September 1927, 6. M.E.C. was Mary Elizabeth Collingridge, President of the NSWWHA.

97 ‘Editorial’, Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team (AAWHA), September 1927, 3.

98 Ibid.

Appendix 1

Table A1. Members of the 1927 English Women’s Touring Team.

Surname	Given Name/Initial(s)	County
Ashdown	J.	Suffolk
Brown	Winifred	Lancashire
Bryan (captain)	F.I.	Middlesex
Bryant	Phyllis	Northamptonshire
Burman	Muriel	Warwickshire
Carruthers	H.	Kent
Cussons	Marjorie	Lancashire
Fowler	V.	Gloucestershire
Haskett-Smith	Grace	Lancashire
Macfie (vice-captain)	Elizabeth	Kent
Mason	J.	Somerset
Nye	C.	Essex
Pickard	Molly	Cambridgeshire
Stacey	N.	Sussex
Warwick	Joan	Huntingdonshire

Source: ‘The English Team’, Hockey in Australia: Visit of the English Team, (AAWHA) September 1927, 11.

Appendix 2

Table A2. Australian players in 1927 test matches against England.

Surname	Given name	State	1st test	2nd test	3rd test
Axford	Kathleen	VIC			X
Beattie	Mamie	TAS	X
Brown	Nora	WA		X
Cashmore	Mabel	SA	X
Charlesworth	Connie	TAS		X
Clarke	Annabelle	QLD	X
Cowley	Marjorie	SA	X	X
Davidson	Edna	SA		X	X
Delaine	Aileen	SA	X
Gault	Freda	SA			X
Hodges	Girlie	VIC		X	X
Morris	Lyndall	SA	X - Captain
Redman	Stella	TAS		X	X
Rudd	Leslie	VIC	X	X
Sutton	Meredith	VIC	X
Taggart	Sybil	VIC	X		X
Taylor	Helen	NSW		X	X
Thomas	Barbara	NSW	X	X	X
Wicks	Tory	NSW	X	X - Vice Captain	X - Vice Captain
Wicks	Nancie	NSW			X
Wilson	Vida	NSW	X - Vice Captain	X - Captain	X - Captain

Source: The women’s national team database is available on the Hockey Australia website at https://hockey.org.au/governance/history/history-of-the-hockeyroos/