As the population grew along the rivers and more leisure time was afforded to the settlers, social games and picnics became more frequent. Cricket was considered a spectator sport, suitable for young ladies to attend, and no doubt, a means of meeting new beaus and developing relationships. Showing off their physical prowess on the field increased the young men’s attractiveness to the ladies. The first games around the mid-Richmond began in the late 1850s with bats hewn from a piece of wood and a rag ball.
The four Yabsley boys, William, Henry (Harry), Charles and Thomas were all keen cricketers along with the other young apprentices from the ship-building yard. Rival teams appeared from other small settlements but it was not until the mid 1860s that more formal games were organised with umpires and recorded scores. Cricket Clubs formed teams, implemented fees and rules and proposed match dates. Henry Williams, who had a reputation as a leading bowler, brought his talent from the Clarence River when he settled at Swan Bay and joined the Coraki club. By the 1870s there were a dozen “town” teams stretching from Ballina to Lismore and Casino, as well as sundry teams like the crew from the s.s. Platypus and a group from the sawmill. At one time there was even a Married vs Single competition. In 1878 the Richmond River Club was formed with 16 members. Challenges came from further afield – from the Tweed River in the north and the Clarence River down south.
After one such game when the Richmond boys had travelled to the Clarence to play a match in the blazing heat of February, young Harry Yabsley was struck down with sunstroke and died three weeks later. This came as a huge blow to all the members of the cricketing fraternity as Harry was a very popular young man and at just 32 years of age, was still an eligible bachelor.
Courtesy of Trove Land 27 July 1938
Tom Yabsley was in the game for 50 years, and reckoned he was then as good a man as he ever was. In his young days he was considered one of the best all-rounders on the river. At that time, when the Richmond played the Clarence, or one town played another, the teams assembled on the ground about 10 a.m. in their ordinary holiday dress. Then they took their coats and vests and boots off, tucked their trousers up to their knees, and went at it like true sports. A player, who did not take his boots off was considered a tenderfoot, and also a drag on the bare-footers, who could run faster— providing they did not strike any prickles or burrs between wickets.
Playing in a match at Gundurimba, Tom Yabsley hit a ball into a parrot’s nest in a hollow of a tree —and killed the parrot. As the ball stuck there, an aborigine, after much argument, was engaged as tree-climber. When he threw the ball down a fieldsman caught it, and appealed to the umpire, who said “Out!”
During the other team’s innings a ball was hit into the river, and Yabsley, who was fielding on the boundary, gave a boy half a crown to swim for it. There was more argument about rules, and eventually the boy was appointed swimmer for both sides.
Near the end of the game a ball crashed through the hotel window, and the publican yelled across the field, “Now you’ll have to appoint a bloomin’ glazier for both sides.”
The Richmond River Herald, headed by Louis F. Benaud, was launched in Coraki in the mid 1880s. Thereafter, with Mr Benaud having a keen interest in the sport, the cricket matches were well reported in his newspaper, with many column inches devoted to the description of the games. Townsfolk were admonished for lack of spectators and support, while players were encouraged to practice more and committee officials prompted to improve their grounds.
It became part of the public school sport curriculum and as the next generation of local-born lads grew up, the sport flourished.
As a testament to social inclusion, the new settlers from New Italy formed a team in the late 1890s. Not a sport many Italians would have been familiar with, they were nonetheless successfully integrated into the local competition.
Like most sports, enthusiasm ebbed and flowed, with the stalwart of the community being Tom Yabsley. He built a fine practice pitch at Bungawalbyn Station and often hosted visiting teams at his large home called Glencoe. He was keenly involved at committee level, often serving as Secretary and President of Coraki club. He was still playing into his 70s.
Among the team members that Thomas Yabsley employed and supported were two aboriginal players Alex James and Sam Anderson. Sam, who had grown up on a Mission in Queensland, “burst forth like a comet on the cricket scene” in the Northern Rivers after honing his skills with the Ipswich team for the previous ten years. He was an educated man who straddled the social divide at the height of racial tensions in the early part of the century. Tom Yabsley provided all the cricketing kit and Sam was always proudly decked out in his “whites” before a game. Local competitions were suspended during WWI but social games continued with Alex and Sam earning a respectable reputation as star players. “These two dusky wielders of the willow have been getting amongst the centuries this season and are a terror to bowlers everywhere.”
Sam and Alex always opened the batting for Bungawalbyn and often times there was no reason for the other team members to pad up. Sam rarely left the crease without a century but was also a superb bowler and exemplary wicket keeper. For the next two decades the pair played for various teams with Sam having a few seasons in the Sydney competition.
His peak was waning in 1928 when he faced the NSW Eleven in Lismore. A huge crowd was drawn from miles around to witness top-class sportsmanship but in a rare event, Sam Anderson was out for a duck! The crowd was mollified when their local hero Sam, as wicket-keeper, caught the rising star of Australian cricket Donald Bradman first ball for a duck.
When I was a youngster at Coraki I used to go to watch the Bungawalbyn team play. It was captained by Bruce Yabsley and included two champion aboriginal cricketers – Alec James, a very good wristy left-hand batsman and left-arm bowler and Sam Anderson, a right-hand batsman, a very good off-spinner or pace bowler, a very good fielder and wicketkeeper. They opened the batting and often passed the opposition score without loss. The team later on became Mid Richmond in the North Coast Inter District Cricket Competition. Over ten years later when I played in the Casino Inter District team we played Mid Richmond at Casino and there they were – Alec and Sam, playing against me. That was Alec’s last season, I think, but Sam went on for many years.
In my opinion Sam was good enough to play for Australia.
Lou Benaud – The Kid From Coraki
Two more excellent sources for the history of cricket on the Richmond River are How it Seamed by Graham Smith and Dusky Legend – biography of Sam Anderson Aboriginal cricketer by Maurice Ryan.
