Orange’s first taste of Olympic gold: the Wallabies tour of 1908-09

With the games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris in a week’s time, Orange City life is taking a look back to the 1908 summer games in London, England where three Orange athletes brought home Olympic gold for the very first time.

The 1908 Olympic Games were originally to have been held in Rome, but after the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, funds were diverted to aid the reconstruction, and London, which had bid to hold the games, was selected for the first time.

The London Games were held in conjunction with the Franco-British Exhibition, a large fair-like event celebrating the Entente Cordiale agreement between France and Britain and one considered a greater deal at the time.

The games featured a number of unusual sports, like tug-of-war and the Icelandic folk wrestling Glima, but by far the strangest was pistol duelling. The event involved two competitors in protective jackets and masks firing at each other with duelling pistols loaded with wax bullets!

But it was the inclusion of rugby that saw three athletes from Orange bring home gold.

While Australian athletes had competed in all three previous modern Olympics, the 1908 games were only the second since we became a nation in 1901 and also the first for New Zealand athletes who joined Australia under a combined “Australasian“ team banner. Australia and New Zealand would do so again in 1912, but have competed separately ever since.

The 1908 “Australasian” Olympic rugby team however were all Australian. In fact, it was the very first time the Australian national team had toured the British Isles and it was also the tour on which “The Wallabies” name was adopted by the Australian side. The British press had initially nicknamed them “The Rabbits” but this didn’t sit well with the players.

Six players from the Orange region had been selected for the tour, but one, Lancelot Machattie Smith, had to withdraw due to an injury that proved to be the end of his career.

“Mac” Smith, as he was known, had been born in Bathurst and played five years with the Waratahs club in Orange alongside his cousin Francis Bede Smith. The two had also played together on the National side in a test against New Zealand in 1905.

Bede was part of the 1908 Wallabies tour, along with Cudal-born prop Ken Gavin, Eddie McIntyre, Charles McMurtrie and Chris McKivitt. 

McIntyre played only five games on the tour and was given a hard time by English critics and selectors. But Charles McMurtrie was particularly vocal in his defence of his teammate and criticism of how he had been treated on the tour.

McMurtrie was considered an all-round athlete and was also a noted amateur wrestler.

When the Olympic match took place on October 26, 1908, the “Australasian” Wallabies were one of only two sides contesting the gold medal; the other was Cornwell, who, as they had been country champions that year, represented Great Britain.

Scotland and Ireland had declined to compete in the Olympic competition and the previous champions France withdrew.

The match was held at the newly built White City Stadium, alongside the pool used for the swimming events. Mattresses had to be placed along the pool's edge in case of injury to players and the ball had to be fished out of the water on at least one occasion.

Due to the injuries to captain Dr Moran and vice-captain Fred Wood, Chris McKivitt captained the team. McKivett was born in Cumnock and educated by the Patrician Brothers in Orange. Prior to the tour, he had been playing for Glebe in Sydney. On the field with him were Bede Smith and Charles McMurtrie, Ken Gavin not having been chosen for the occasion.

The Wallabies scored six tries over their Cornish opponents and won the match 32–6, with the three Orange players and their teammates presented with a gold medal at the conclusion

Chris McKivat, Bede Smith and Charles McMurtrie were all to defect to rugby league shortly after returning to Australia.