Fighting Hen of Cooks River” and her appearances in court were always reported with great delight in the sporting paper, Bell’s Life in Sydney. It was no wonder that the curate of St Peter’s, Rev. James Hassall, later wrote: I must say, I never have had since a worse class of people to deal with than some of the old fishermen at Botany, and the charcoal-burners between Cooks and Georges Rivers (although I was a gaol chaplain for fifteen years). The district was as wild and godless a place as I have ever known, although so near Sydney. In 1847, Bill Sparkes was sent to London to fight the English champion, Nat Langham, who was sponsored by the “ Rising Sun” tavern. He fought bravely, and returned
a hero, having fought on gamely for five more rounds after breaking his arm in the sixty-second round. His brotherin-law, George Dent, built an inn in Canterbury called the “ Rising Sun” in 1848, and the licence was taken over by the youngest of the Parkes Brothers, Thomas, “ The Sprig of Myrtle” when he gave up his successful boxing career in 1850. It was this generation who founded the first schools and churches south of the river, and who, although barely literate themselves, brought a permanent settled society to Parkes Camp.
Boxers training under the supervision of one of the Parkes family, Cooks River. (Courtesy Bob Parkes).
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