ON THE WALLABY: AUSTRALIA’S RUGBY STATUES TRAIL –

It is somewhat surprising to learn that there are perhaps more rugby union related statues in Australia than what one may presume—and in one spectacular instance—an accidental monument that serves as the ultimate historical irony.

Story written & researched by Sean Fagan ©

I am humping my bluey far out on the land,
And the prints of my bluchers sink deep in the sand:
I am out on the wallaby humping my drum,
And I came by the tracks where the sundowners come.

— excerpt from ‘Freedom on the Wallaby’ by Henry Lawson, first published in ‘The Worker’ newspaper in Brisbane, 16 May 1891

To find the soul of amateur-era rugby cast in metal, one must look to Moore Park in Sydney. On the forecourt outside the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) are found the Wallabies trio of Trevor Allan, Dally Messenger and Ken Catchpole. They are part of The SCG Sports Sculptures series.

At Brisbane’s Lang Park the Southern Plaza is home to the statue of John Eales. On the Northern Plaza there is a statue of Wally Lewis, a member of the undefeated 1977 Australian Schoolboys Rugby Union team. These are included in the Statues of Legends collection.

Though not for his rugby deeds, there are statues of Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop in the Kings Domain in Melbourne, the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and the Benalla Botanical Gardens.

Outside of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is the famous 2001 sculpture depicting a scene from the rugby game played in August 1858 between the schoolboys of Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. Overseeing the lads scrapping for possession of a rugby football is Rugby School ‘old boy’, Tom Wills.

In Rugby School tradition the match was played in large numbers (40-a-side) and over three afternoons to produce a result (best of three goals). The descriptive plate below the statue states it is of “The first recorded game of Australian rules football”—an impossibility given the rules of the Melbourne FC were not devised until May 1859.

Ironically, the MCG sculpture celebrates one of the earliest recorded rugby games in Australia, frozen in bronze and time right at the birthplace of Aussie rules.