There are several items in Netball Victoria’s Edith Hull Collection related to the Australian squad that toured the United Kingdom for the first time in 1956. The above photograph was published in the All England Netball Association programme for the match scheduled at Harringay Arena, North London, on May 12, 1956.
The eight-page programme featured a large silhouette of a kangaroo on the cover, and enclosed were full details of the afternoon’s activities, the highlight of which was the first ever game between Australia and England. Pat McCarthy (née Doherty) and Jan Macdonald were the two Victorians in the team, and the president of the Victorian Women’s Basketball Association, Lorna McConchie (not pictured), was the Coach/Manager. Anne Clark, an umpire from New South Wales, was also part of the entourage.
While players were supplied with coats by Dunlop and the Fletcher Jones company provided skirts for the team, each member of the squad was expected to pay £350 (approximately one year’s wages) to cover tour expenses.
In McConchie’s hand-written memoir of the tour ("1956: A Year to Remember!"), she explains that the team travelled to England on the P&O steamer, Iberia. The trip was four weeks in duration, but was broken up by a stopover in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where a game was played against the national team in Colombo. Seven players made their international debut for Australia, including Doherty and Macdonald, with the tourists fine-tuning their adjustments to the English rules of netball and winning the match.
The Iberia docked in England on February 26, 1956, and the Australians embarked on a lengthy 12 week tour, travelling from county to county and enjoying the kindness and hospitality of their hosts. This arrangement sometimes involved players being billeted in the homes of English families, where long-lasting friendships were formed. McConchie also relays how the Australians were welcomed by all age groups, and at one primary school, a beautiful cake was presented to the team. It featured a court marked out in icing, with a koala bear in one shooting circle, and a kangaroo in the other.
Crowds flocked to their training sessions and games, as the diminutive Doherty led her team to a string of victories, culminating in England’s first ever international defeat, 14 to 11, in front of an estimated 8,000 spectators. In her report, McConchie attributed the success of her team to its fast, low passing, with well-timed runs to receive the ball, in contrast to the slower, more aerial style of their opponents.
In summary, the Australians won 64 out of a total of 67 matches, a feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that two players in the squad of 10 women were incapacitated for much of the tour by injury and/or illness. Along the way, the team generated tremendous publicity and good will for the sport, as evident in the collage of English newspaper cuttings held in the Edith Hull Collection.
Check out a couple of short interviews conducted by Netball Australia with Pat McCarthy (née Doherty), where she reflects on the 1956 tour:
