GOLDEN GIRLS

Chapter One - Bless The Little Dears

In 1906, a young Western Australian girl named Loyal Forward (pictured, at left) became the first female athletics state champion in Australia.  

Her high standard running, during this first championships event for women was the first of many, many fine track and field performances achieved by Australia's 'Golden Girls' over the last century.

At the start of the 1900s, athletics was a very popular sport in Australia, with large crowds attending major amateur and professional events held around the country.  Australia's reputation as a strong sporting nation had been enhanced by the successes of amateur athletes such as Edwin Flack, Stan Rowley and Nigel Barker in recent years, while in pedestrian events, Arthur Postle had broken a number of world professional records.

In Australia, as in most countries around the world at the time, there were no serious competitions conducted for women athletes.  Female participation in athletics was generally restricted to school sports and, in Australia, worker's picnic sports days were the only opportunity for women to compete in athletics events after finishing their schooling.

In this era, grown women were expected to participate in 'respectable' sports rather than more strenuous activities which might detract from their femininity or their ability to bear children.  Thus, if women had to compete in sports at all, they were generally encouraged to practise more gentile pastimes such as tennis, archery or swimming.

Even so, female participation in sports was retarded because of many social standards of the time.  Mobility was sacrificed in many sports due to the expectation that women should cover their bare legs and arms in long, heavy cumbersome skirts and shirts.  In swimming, men were mostly banned from attending women's competitions and discouraged from coaching female competitors.  

But, in Australia, as around the world, there were moves to promote women's rights.  Australia had given women the right to vote much earlier than many other countries and the egalitarian lifestyle around the country helped a number of pioneer women in their quest to participate in a number of fields, including sporting events.

In 1906, the successful promoter Rufe Naylor had arranged a series of challenge races between professional sprint champions Arthur Postle (Australia) and Beauchamp Day (Great Britain) to be held around Australia.  To support these races, he scheduled a range of additional events in conjunction with local promoters.

In Western Australia, a novel event for women was scheduled for the carnival to be held at the gold-fields town of Kalgoorlie.  A 50 yards sprint was conducted for women and girls, with a large number of competitors nominating for the event.

Eventually 55 women started in the event and heats and semi-finals were required to decide the finalists.  Through all the rounds, a fourteen year old Fremantle girl named Loyal Forward, born in Broken Hill and the daughter of a former pro runner, was the fastest competitor.  In the final, she was unchallenged, winning comfortably in a fast time of 6.6 seconds. 

Though the race was held during a professional meeting, Richard Coombes (president of the Australian Amateur Association) writing in the sports weekly ‘The Referee' noted that prizes awarded to Forward, which included a bangle and a muff, complied with amateur regulations.

Loyal Forward was a revelation to the sports writers of the time. After her fast 50y victory, a 100y race was organised, to see if she could approach the best on record (13.0) held by the American runner Fannie James. The Fremantle girl obliged with a 12.5 win and was accorded an ovation by the 8,000 strong crowd. Her time was never likely to make it into the history books. There was no world body for women and the Kalgoorlie track was known to be slightly downhill, but her talent was acknowledged by the national sporting press.

Loyal Forward, through her father, then issued a challenge across Australia to all other women interested in racing her for the national title.  She received no replies and the novelty of women's athletics seemed to have run its' course.

A year afterwards, a similar challenge was issued in Melbourne in 1908, which also served to promote women's athletics. Tasmanian Isabel Newman (who ran as 'Madame Isa Bell') invited all-comers to race for the title of Australia's champion lady runner.  Responses came from reputed NSW and SA champions as well as a group of Victorians. This initial match led to a series of women's races, mostly run as part of the popular professional men’s meetings.

Ivy Evans (Victoria 1908), Flora Drennan (New South Wales 1910) and Miss Newbrook (SA 1911) were all crowned as the champions of their respective states. A move to match Ivy Evans and Loyal Forward in an Australian Championships series in 1908 did not come to fruition but was afforded a great deal of press coverage.

Although Mrs. Drennan had competed in races at professional meetings (there were few other opportunities for women runners at the time) she always claimed to be an amateur.  In 1913 she made attempts to form an amateur women’s athletics association in Sydney, and on 27th August 1913 she achieved this, assuming the position of Honorary Secretary. The Sydney weekly ‘Sportsman’ reported "The ladies, bless the little dears when in athletic or bathing costume, have formed a ladies amateur club and officers will be appointed tonight." 

A number of amateur women’s clubs began to spring up in NSW including Waratah Ladies (Newcastle), Newtown Ladies AAC and Cumberland Ladies all under the auspices of the Amateur Ladies Association.  They adopted the NSW men's amateur rules, with little alteration, and officiating was provided by the men's body at most events.  On 18th October, 1913 the first amateur competition for women was conducted.

The formation of these clubs and the NSW state association preceded movements in most other countries. On 14th March 1914 the first NSW women’s amateur championships were conducted with the support of the men’s association. 15 year old Holly Mace won this race and in December 1914 won an ‘Australian Championship’ in Sydney taking out the 50y, 75y and 100y races. Only a couple of years earlier a press report had stated "women demonstrated that track walking was outside their sphere", but May White won the 880y Walk event regardless.

Holly Mace and Muriel Eacott were the first stars of the NSW association. Muriel Eacott had fine all-round talent, dominating the earliest competitions in sprint, hurdles and jumping events.  However, in June 1914 the sixteen year old Mace had equalled the world amateur best for 100y (12.0 held by two Americans) running in a handicap event at Manly. Though Mace was averse to training she dominated amateur sprint events in NSW until 1918. Despite the promising start to the women’s association, in-fighting between clubs was evident. The Pioneer Ladies ruled by Mrs. Eacott, mother of Muriel, withdrew from the amateur association in 1914 and went on to stage successful meetings in association with the NSW men’s professional league.

This league unearthed formidable talent such as Hazell Meers and Bessie Grandemange. In 1916 Grandemange beat Meers by six inches over 100y at Mudgee running a phenomenal time of 11.4 which shattered all known world standards. Grandemange, from a very successful family of amateur male athletes, remained unbeaten in scratch events from 50y to 220y as well as in hurdles and jumping events during her professional career. She set professional world best marks for 100y and 220y (29.8) and was also an accomplished horsewoman and expert rifle shot.

Victorian Ruby Baddock became that state’s professional champion in 1919 and took over Bessie Grandemange’s title as the best woman runner in the country in the twenties. In 1923 she defeated a man in a special match race over 75y.  Around the rest of Australia, women's competition was much less regular and still considered a novelty event.

Despite Mrs. Drennan's pioneering efforts in Sydney, the NSW amateur movement faded after she retired from secretarial duties in 1918.  For the next few years, other than schools championships and picnic races, and the occasional professional race, few events in women's athletics were conducted around Australia.

Girls with considerable athletic potential competed in the schools events, but most had little chance of competing after schooling had been completed. Events such as the 440y, 880y and Shot Putt were contested in some Sydney schools from the early 1920s - long before they became regular additions to the programmes of amateur women’s state championships.

It is worth remembering that some times and marks in school competitions cannot be considered as reliable as performances achieved in organised amateur or professional competitions. Some fast times credited to school athletes may have been recorded by inexperienced officials and many times would have been taken on one watch only. High Jump competitions occasionally featured rope instead of a bar.

University Championships were also conducted in various Australian states but were often held irregularly. Muriel Adams, who had been a Geelong school sports champion, became the Melbourne University Championship at 100y, 220y and Long Jump in 1919.

Queensland began to conduct amateur women’s championships (held with the men’s titles) from 1924 and showed that the women from the north were also capable and talented athletes. Clarice Thompson from Warwick and the Glassop sisters from Brisbane all recorded world class times and distances in sprint and jumping events.

Professional races continued to be held around Australia during the 1920s and 1930s but, as amateur women athletes gained the right to compete in the Olympic Games and other international events, the popularity of these competitions declined.

A number of early Australian amateur champion athletes such as Chrissie Dahm - the first Australian National 100y champion in 1930 - and Decima Norman (our first Empire Games champion and official world record holder) all gained their start in professional leagues before competing with success in the newly formed amateur associations.

No matter whether these women identified as professionals or amateurs these pioneers established themselves as sporting stars of their era. They paved the way for the well- known ‘Golden Girls’ of athletics who have followed in their footsteps. The pioneer women athletes of Australia should not be forgotten.

Go To Chapter Two