The things one might find in those boxes and cupboards at your mother’s house!
In 2022, Netball Victoria received correspondence from Steve May, the grandson of Edna Furlonger, who had captained the first Victorian Night Team. It turns out that he had found veritable treasure at his mother’s house in Clunes.
What he initially discovered was a broken and rusty trophy. But further inspection piqued Steve’s interest as he realised that this item was an important artefact. The inscription on the trophy was difficult to read in its battered state, but Steve was just able to make out the following words:
Interstate Tournament
Trophy
Presented by
VWNBBA
Winners
1939 – Victoria
1940 – Victoria
The 1939-1940 Interstate Tournament Trophy, before restoration (Courtesy of Steve May).
Along with the damaged trophy, Steve also found a framed photograph, labelled as the “Victorian Night Interstate Team 1939”. The names of the women in the team (all wearing distinctive ties and corded belts with tassels) were listed, and front and centre was his grandmother, Edna Furlonger, who captained the team.
The Victorian Night Interstate Team, 1939
Back row (left to right): N. Illman, E. Nixon, V. Melotte, D. Percy, R. Wilson.
Front row (left to right): M. Taylor, M. Richardson, E. Furlonger (captain), D. Stredwick (vice captain), E. Nolan (Courtesy of Steve May).
This was a particularly important find, as this trophy and team photograph is connected to a historic event in netball history. As “The Sport”, an Adelaide newspaper, declared on September 8, 1939, it was “the first time in the history of women’s basketball a representative Victorian team of indoor basketballers … [were] playing a series of matches against a State indoor team”.
According to reports, Ann Henderson, “well known to basketballers throughout Australia”, and later to become a Victorian netball Hall of Fame inductee (and recently honoured with a statue at the State Netball Centre), was the manager of the team that travelled to South Australia to play in the first “electric light basket-ball carnival”. The Victorians were victorious in matches against Port Adelaide District (38-20) and Moores (21-19) and went on to win the tournament.
Afterwards, the team commemorated their historic tournament in South Australia by having a group photograph taken at Adelaide Zoo.
The Victorian Night Team, wearing their monogrammed blazers at Adelaide Zoo, and standing behind a statue of a seal balancing a ball on its nose, September 1939. Edna Furlonger is at the far right (Courtesy of Steve May).
The Victorian team, once again led by Furlonger, were able to return to South Australia in 1940, successfully defending their title. However, the growing uncertainty and strictures of World War II inevitably stalled this exciting development for netball. The tournament that saw a Victorian indoor team travel interstate on two occasions inevitably went into hiatus.
As the war continued, the trophy must have stayed in the safe hands of the team’s captain, who was unable to return the precious item back to the headquarters of netball in Victoria during wartime.
Edna Furlonger, proudly wearing her Victorian accessories, undated (Courtesy of Steve May).
Now, many years later, grandson Steve, has graciously donated several important artefacts back to Netball Victoria.
Steve also took the time and effort to send the cup to a company that specializes in repairing and polishing trophies. As obvious by the image below, the artefact has now regained its former glory, with the trophy handles repaired and the object looking pristine.
The coda to the story is that during the course of research on this artefact, it was discovered that Netball Victoria had a photograph of the victorious 1940 Night Team, with the trophy engraved with the years 1939 and 1940, in the Edith Hull Collection. It seems that a bright light is now shining on these long-lost items.
The Victorian Night Interstate Team, 1940
Left to right: E. Furlonger (captain), P. Cerrity (vice captain), I. Hewitt, E. Nixon, V. Melotte, D. Percy, R. Wilson, N. Illman, A. Cosgriff (Courtesy of Netball Victoria). Note the trophy at bottom left.
Netball Victoria is very grateful to Steve May and his family’s donation and efforts to help preserve the history of netball in Victoria. Without his discovery, the story surrounding the early development of the Victorian Night Interstate Team might still remain unknown.
Artefacts associated with the Victorian Night Interstate Team, 1939-1940 (Courtesy of Netball Victoria).
Curatorial Notes:
The restored trophy and the original framed photograph of the 1940 Night Team are currently on display at the State Netball Centre, Melbourne. Anyone with information or memories to share related to the Victorian Night Interstate Team should contact Netball Victoria at communications@netballvic.com.au.
