History
The day we played 'The Don'
By Lance Hodgins
I
n 1940 the school year had almost finished when the students of Frankston High were informed that their school First XI would be playing a team from the local Army Camp. The Army team would contain two Test cricketers - none other than the legendary Don Bradman and the spin bowler “Chuck” Fleetwood-Smith. Both were officers at the Army School of Physical Training in Frankston. Earlier that year the Army had taken over the Church of England Boys’ Society camp in Overton Road, near Frankston’s Mile Bridge. Their PT School was based on the British Army School at Aldershot, where different sports were played in daylight hours followed by studies of anatomy, physiology and hygiene in the evening.
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November 2018
Conducting the various activities were officers with incredible sporting credentials. The Superintendant was Captain “Slip” Carr, a former Rugby International and champion athlete, who had been the first to carry the Australian flag at an Olympic Games - Rome in 1924. Amongst the staff officers were several League footballers, international rugby players, professional wrestlers and boxers, and champion cyclists. The school children of Frankston were well acquainted with this array of sporting talent. In July 1940 hundreds of them were spectators when the Army School gave a display of physical training drills and athletic contests in Frankston Park. Frankston was abuzz when news broke in October that “The Don” – Lieutenant Donald Bradman – would be joining the PT staff of the Army School. Bradman had joined the RAAF who dithered for