SPORT ON AN ISOLATED ISLAND
By Ruth Gooch
L
ittle known, even by those mainlanders who live closest to it, French Island is the largest of the Western Port islands comprising some 16,350 hectares. Surrounded by mud flats at ebb tide, it appears remote, mysterious even. There are vague tales of buried treasure, long-ago escaped convicts from Tasmania, and an island 'spook' which has been pursued at full gallop on horseback. One old map has the name 'Bushranger Point' marked on the south coast, but how the name originated, of course, is not now known.
The island is 'unincorporated territory', meaning it does not form part of any municipality, its inhabitants do not pay rates, and the island is administered directly by the Victorian Government's Ministry of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure, in consultation with an island committee. The population has never consisted of more than a few hundred, the comparative isolation and difficult terrain defeating most of those who attempted to settle there. However, a handful of families did succeed and descendants of 1890s settlers are among the current resident population of about 100 people. Cricket This has always been the main game, although it has had a chequered history. The first club was formed about 1898 with selector George Harrop as captain, and another selector, Rowland Peck as president. Peck loaned a piece of his land so that the club could have a ground to play mainland teams, although early matches were amateurish. The Westernport Times reported a
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game between the island and Bass played at the Corinella ground on 22 December 1899, although most of the 'French Island' team came from either Corinella or Bass, because the island did not have enough men to make up the numbers. The game bordered on a debacle with 'French Island' scoring 24 runs and Bass 31. The top score was 8. The lack of runs was explained by the 'exceptional roughness of the pitch'. The island wag, Fred Bond, who was working at Corinella in 1899, had earlier written a poem and sent it back to the island in order to try and inspire island men. After some verses of admonition, he continued: So stick on your hats and pick up your bats On the ground that was lent you by Peck And if money is short and tools must be bought Just ask some kind gent for a cheque So clap on your pads and at it my lads, To say you're not able is 'rich', Not heeding the bumps just stand to the stumps, And slog the old ball round the pitch... Apparently the cricket lapsed, for in 1909, Fred was recording that he and islander Frank Broderick were 'always getting up some new craze in amusements. At one time it was bezique [a card game for two, played with a double pack of 64 cards], then high jumping, now it is draughts, they are fair dotty on draughts'. An impetus was given to cricket when a Mornington businessman who had an allotment at Fairhaven on the island's west coast donated a piece of his ground to be used as a recreation ground.