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Sporting heroes

Australians who have excelled at sport have come from all walks of life. Because of this, information on individual sporting heroes may be located within many series of records. These include school admission registers, government employment records, publican licences, bankruptcy records, court records, inquests and coronial records, and deceased estate files.

Select a sporting hero below or view all images as a SlideShow

Latest addition - Bernard Bede (aka Barney) Kieran

His swimming career spanned just two years; his achievements were extraordinary and it is not surprising that he was memorialised as the ‘Champion Swimmer of the World’, following his untimely death in December 1905. Barney Kieran’s story was all the more remarkable because he was a former Sobraon boy – the nautical training ship Sobraon was an industrial school and reformatory.

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Les Darcy

Born James Leslie Darcy on 31 October 1895 at Stradbroke near Maitland he was a champion boxer and a folk hero. Les first made money as a boxer at 14 years of age. By September 1916 he had won 22 consecutive fights.

During 1916 Darcy was put under pressure to enlist in the army as an example for other young men to follow. Darcy was in an awkward position as a result of his Irish Catholic background. He sailed for America on 27 October 1916 (in breach of the War Precautions Act, which meant no passports were issued to young men of military age). The press had a field day, denouncing him as a shirker. On 5 April 1917 Les became a citizen of the United States.

On 27 April 1917, Darcy was admitted to hospital with septicaemia and endocarditis. While in hospital he developed pneumonia and died on 24 May 1917. Darcy's body was brought back to Australia and he received a huge funeral procession in Sydney before he was buried at East Maitland. Les stands out as one of Australia's greatest boxers, losing only four professional fights and never being knocked out.

  • Les Darcy[Les Darcy]
  • Deceased Estate File for Les Darcy[Deceased Estate]
  • Deceased Estate File for Les Darcy[Deceased Estate]
  • Deceased Estate File for Les Darcy[Deceased Estate]
  • Probate Packet for Les Darcy[Probate Packet]
  • Probate Packet for Les Darcy[Probate Packet]

Fanny Durack

Fanny Durack was a pioneering swimmer, an Olympian and the winner of the first female gold medal in swimming at the Olympic Games.

Sarah (Fanny) Durack was born on the 27 October, 1889 in Sydney, NSW and learned to swim at Wylie’s Pool in Coogee under the champion swimmer Henry Wylie. Fanny trained with Wylie’s daughter Wilhemina (Mina) and the two swimmers would become life-long friends competing at many major championships together.

Fanny was a pioneer of both technique and swimwear during her competitive career. She was one of the first to adopt the one piece swimsuit, and also one of the first to adopt the Richmond Cavill technique of swimming freestyle. Fanny’s successes with this style during her competitive career lead directly to the style being called the Australian Crawl.

In 1912, the Olympic movement decided to open events to female competitors for the first time. Fanny was not selected for the Olympic team because NSW Ladies Amateur Swimming Association rules stated that women could not compete at any event where men were present. Leading feminists of the day were concerned for women’s safety if men were allowed to spectate at female events. Despite this opposition Fanny gathered enough supporters through her swimming successes that a campaign to change the rule was successfully mounted by the swimming clubs and her supporter Hugh Macintosh gathered enough funds so that Fanny could compete.

At the Stockholm Olympics of 1912 Fanny excelled, winning the 100m freestyle in a world record of 1 minute 19.8 seconds with her good friend Mina Wylie finishing second and Jennie Fletcher, of Great Britain, finishing in third place. Fanny and Mina were welcomed back to Australia by large crowds who admired their success and Fanny’s pioneering efforts to win rights for female swimmers to participate in mixed events.

Fanny Durack was the leading female swimmer in the world from her victory in 1912 until 1918. In that time she broke 12 world records including every distance of freestyle available to her from 100m to 1600m. The First World War led to the cancellation of the 1916 Berlin Olympics and appendicitis ruled Fanny out of the Antwerp Olympics of 1920.

In 1921 Fanny retired from swimming. She married Bernard Gately on 22 January 1921 at St Mary's Cathedral. She died of cancer on 20 March 1956, aged 66. She was buried at Waverley Cemetery.

Fanny Durack/Gately was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1967 in recognition of her pioneering role in the development of women’s swimming.

At the time of her death, according to her probate, she owned one item of jewellery labelled ‘gold medal’, value 10 pounds. The medal was later donated to the National Library of Australia by her brother Frank.

  • Fanny Durack[Fanny Durack]
  • Deceased Estate File for Fanny Durack[Deceased Estate]
  • Deceased Estate File for Fanny Durack[Deceased Estate]
  • NRS 13660 (4/446070) Probate packet for Sarah Gately including this copy a her will.[Probate Packet/Will]

References

Marjorie Jackson

  • Marjorie Jackson - school magazine[School Magazine]
  • Marjorie Jackson - school magazine[School Magazine]
  • Marjorie Jackson - school magazine[School Magazine]
  • Marjorie Jackson - school magazine[School Magazine]

Victor Trumper

Born Victor Thomas Trumper probably on the 2 November 1877 in Sydney he is one of the greatest cricketers Australia has ever produced. Victor excelled at batting, bowling and fielding.

He worked as a clerk in the Treasury and resigned from the public service in 1904 while a clerk for the Probate and Intestate Office. Victor married Sarah Briggs on 7 June 1904 in Melbourne. He opened his first sports store in 1904 and another in 1909. Trumper played his testimonial match in 1913.

Trumper's first class batting figures are: 255 matches, 16939 runs with an average of 44.58. Trumper's highest score was 300 not out. Victor died of kidney disease in June 1915 and was buried at Waverley.

  • Public Service Lists, Victor Trumper[Public Service]
  • Public Service Lists, Victor Trumper[Public Service]