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Remembering Jimmy Melbourne, a Nyoongar pioneer supplied by David Collard 25 September 2015
D
uring many wars, Australian Rules football matches have been played overseas in places like northern Africa, Vietnam, and Iraq as a celebration of Australian culture and as a bonding exercise between soldiers. The modern-day tradition began in 1995 and is played every year between traditional AFL rivals Collingwood and Essendon at the MCG. This annual match is often considered the biggest of the AFL season outside of the finals, sometimes drawing bigger crowds than all but the Grand Final, and often selling out in advance. A record crowd of 94,825 people attended the inaugural match in 1995. The Anzac Medal is awarded to the player in the match who best exemplifies the Anzac spirit – skill, courage, self-sacrifice, teamwork and fair play. Collingwood hold the advantage 11 wins to 8 with one draw (in the inaugural year, 1995). In 2013, St Kilda and the Sydney Swans played an Anzac Day game in Wellington, New Zealand, the first AFL game played for premiership points outside of Australia. The winning team, Sydney, were presented with the inaugural Simpson-Henderson Trophy by the Prime Minister of New Zealand. The trophy was named after two notable Anzac soldiers: John Simpson Kirkpatrick and Richard Alexander Henderson In 2015 ANZAC Day will commemorate 100 years since the first ANZACs landed at Gallipoli and several hundreds of Aboriginal soldiers who have fought for this country will be recognised, one
such soldier is James “Jimmy” Melbourne. James ‘Jimmy’ Melbourne was born in the York area of Western Australia in 1876, the son of an
Aboriginal woman called Sarah, and Charles Melbourne, a labourer at the York Hospital who died at the Mt Eliza Poor House in Perth 1886. In the early 1880’s Jimmy was
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placed in the Native and Half Caste Mission in Perth where he remained for several years prior to returning to York where he was employed by a well-known businessman. From the mid-1890’s, Jimmy gained prominence in a number of sports including horseracing (obtaining his jockey’s license in 1896), Australian Rules football, athletics, boxing and cricket. From the mid 1890’s onwards Jimmy came to the attention of the wider public in two vastly different fields, firstly as an athlete, boxer, cricketer, footballer and jockey and secondly as a petty offender, appearing before the court a number of times through to March 1911. Most notably, Jimmy was the first Aboriginal person to play Australian Rules football at a state level, representing West Perth from June 1900 through to the end of the following season when he was a member of their premiership side. He was recruited by South Fremantle in 1902 and then
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Subiaco, participating in the 1903 and 1904 seasons. Jimmy continued to play football and box until 1908 where he competed in both sports in the Bunbury region. By the end of the decade he was once again living in Perth with his wife, Florence Jones, a widow, who he married in October 1908. On the 21 March 1915, Jimmy enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in Melbourne,
stating that he was a ‘groom’ by profession. Along with other recruits he travelled by train to the Seymour Camp, 90 kms north of the capital where he was appointed to the Australian Light Horse Regiment. On the 13th July Jimmy joined the 7th Reinforcements of the 5th Battalion, and three days later embarked on the HMAT Demosthenes A64 from Melbourne, arriving at the port of Suez on the
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14th August. On arrival the troops were subject to fumigation to kill any parasites that they may have acquired on board. Following a six-hour journey to Cairo, Egypt, the contingent marched on to nearby Abbassia where they were involved in further training. During the second week in September Jimmy travelled on to
Alexandria with the other members of the Battalion to board the RMS Lonian for Gallipoli. Prior to reaching his intended destination Jimmy was admitted to the 24th Casualty Clearing Station on the Greek Island of Lemnos with a sprained hand. On recovering he returned to his unit and remained with them until 29th November
when he was transferred to the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Cairo with a fractured hand. Whilst in hospital Jimmy informed the staff that he had been previously wounded on two other occasions but had not reported the incidents. On the 30th December 1915, Jimmy returned to active duty at the Overseas Base at Ghezereh, Egypt, where he remained until early March 1916. He was then admitted to the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital in Ismailia with influenza and tuberculosis. Jimmy was subsequently transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital in Cairo where he was found to have developed a chronic cough. In May, suffering from severe deafness and asthma, Jimmy was discharged to return to Australia on the HMAT Armadale A26 and arrived in Melbourne on the 26th July 1917. Jimmy was discharged from the AIF on the 9th September 1917, and granted a war pension of $3
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pounds per fortnight, while his wife received half that amount. In December 1917 the payments were reduced to 20s and 10s per fortnight respectively. Little information on Jimmy exists for the next 15 years. IN October of 1924 he lost his wife to cancer and twelve years late he married Mary Edith McDonald, who earlier in life had aspirations of becoming an actress and who claimed to have been an ex-army nurse. Following the event, Jimmy was employed on the wharves and worked for sustenance. His neighbours described him as a quiet, well-spoken man. On 13th December 1937, Jimmy Melbourne was murdered at his home in Tope Street, South Melbourne where he lived with his wife. Jimmy’s landlord was convicted of his manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison. The viciousness of the attack and subsequent trial made front page news across the nation. Of all the newspapers, Perth’s Mirror was the most forthcoming, reflecting upon Jimmy’s athleticism, (His) ‘amazing swiftness as a great rover’ in Australian Rules football and his success as a jockey. These sentiments were also echoed by the York Chronicle as a mark of respect to one of their former noteworthy residents. Jimmy Melbourne is buried in an unmarked grave at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery in Melbourne. He was the only Aboriginal person from Perth’s Native and Half Caste Mission to have served at Gallipoli. In 2007 the Western Australian Football League paid tribute to Jimmy’s legacy and his contribution to football history of the State by creating the Jimmy Melbourne Cup. Each year the Cup is awarded to the winner of the South Fremantle
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and Claremont football game that is played during the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observation Committee (NAIDOC) Week. Private James Melbourne was awarded the 1914-15 Star in 1920, the British War Medal 1914-20 and the Victory Medal for his military service. In 2009 the WAFC started to complete a list of all the Aboriginal footballers that played in the WAFL and this process identified Jimmy Melbourne as the first Aboriginal player to have played in the WAFL in 1900. In compiling this list of players the WAFL worked in conjunction with Mark Chambers from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs (Department) family history research unit. To acknowledge and recognise the contribution of the Aboriginal soldiers in all the wars the Department started to compile a list of ANZAC’s who fought in the First World War at Gallipoli and in France. A book was printed by the Department in 2014/15 to recognise their sacrifice but to acknowledge their contribution to the Australian Imperial Forces. In this book thirteen Nyoongar soldiers served at Gallipoli and Jimmy Melbourne was one of the lucky soldiers to return home. (“They Served With Honour” is on the DAA website) During this process of writing the book and commemorating the feats of the thirteen soldiers it was noticed that Jimmy Melbourne was buried in an unmarked grave in Springvale Botanical Cemetery, in Melbourne. The Department together with the WAFC decided to sponsor the Honouring Indigenous War Graves (HIWG) group to place a headstone upon the unmarked grave for Jimmy Melbourne. The HIWG manager Mr
John Schnaars has accepted this challenge and will be coordinating the production of the headstone in Perth but will also transport it across to Melbourne where a special ceremony to honour James ‘Jimmy’ Melbourne at the Springvale Cemetery. This event will be conducted on the Friday 18 September 2015 and will be coordinated by the HIWG group and other members of the Aboriginal community supported by the WAFC and the Department. The importance of recognising Jimmy’s feats as the first Aboriginal to play in the WAFL but also to be one of the thirteen Nyoongar men who fought at Gallipoli requires financial support too and this information is provided to generate your support to sponsor this worthy cause. If you and your club support this event then please make your contribution to the HIWG through Mr John Schnaars who is managing the production and transportation of the Headstone for Jimmy Melbourne. On the 14th September it was proposed to farewell the headstone as the HIWG group set off for Melbourne but prior to their departure they recognised and thanked the sponsors with a small gathering at the Aboriginal Advancement Council building in the Kuditj Café at 201 Beaufort Street East Perth. It also provided an opportunity to invite media to the event to identify and thank the WAFL clubs, Department and WAFC for their major contribution in remembering Jimmy Melbourne. Photo opportunities for all clubs was part of the ceremony and also with past and present Aboriginal players in portraying a positive story of Australian Rules football.