History
The Statue At The End Of The Street By Lance Hodgins
A
t the bottom of High Street, Hastings – opposite the library and Hastings Hall – is a four metre high statue of the town’s favourite son – champion Essendon footballer John Coleman. It shows Coleman taking one of his famous high marks. Coleman had played for Essendon, and later coached them to two premierships. He was later named full forward in the AFL team of the century and also chosen as one of the 10 greats in the AFL Hall of Fame. His name lives on in the Coleman medal, which is awarded to the top goalkicker each year in the AFL. The $100,000 bronze sculpture was a ten year project – a decade full of dedication, determination and frustration. How did it all begin? We need to go back to October 1952 when Peter McCullough, a wide-eyed 12 year old football fanatic from Rushworth, was taken by his father to see a charity football match at Rochester against a visiting team from Hastings. It was to be a special occasion as both teams were sprinkled with League stars – Rochester with Footscray and Geelong players and Hastings with Essendon players. A youthful Ted Whitten (“Mister Football”) was among the Rochester players, but the young boy’s eyes were firmly fixed on his hero – Essendon’s John Coleman. It was a day he would never forget. Fast forward forty years to 1993. After a career with the Country Roads Board, Peter found himself running the Hastings Newsagency with his son Cameron. It was not long before the conversation with the locals turned to football and “their lad”, John Coleman. Coleman was actually born in Port Fairy but had come to Hastings with his family in his mid teens. In 1947 he first played football with Hastings and as an 18 year old full forward kicked 137 goals, followed by 160 goals in 1948, including 23 in one game against Sorrento. The Blues won premierships in both those years. He went into the VFL in 1949 and kicked 12 goals for Essendon on debut against Hawthorn. Many Hastings folk would “desert” their town each Saturday to join the band of fans who would change ends each quarter just to be behind the goals that Coleman was peppering. From that time forward, the names Coleman and Hastings became synonymous. continued next page...
September 2021
E ssence | 45
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