International SPEEDWAY
International SPEEDWAY
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INTERNATIONALS - AUSTRALIA
Australia v England - 1936-37 to 1938-39
| 1936-37 | This season saw the staging of the normal five-match Official series at Sydney and Melbourne, together |
| with an unofficial match at Bathurst featuring the same touring team. | |
| In addition a second, "unofficial" England team took part in another five-match series in Western | |
| Australia. Results of this series, which were also advertised as "Test Matches", have been unearthed by | |
| Ross Garrigan and Barry Forsyth. |
| 1936-37 | Australia won series 3-2 | Attendance | ||||
| OFFICIAL | 12.12 : Sydney Royale | Australia | 29 | England | 25 | 50,000 |
| 02.01 : Melbourne (Olympic Park) | Australia | 33 | England | 21 | ||
| 18.01* : Sydney Royale | Australia | 25 | England | 28 | 30,000 | |
| 30.01 : Sydney Royale | Australia | 26 | England | 28 | 30,000 | |
| 06.02 : Sydney Royale | Australia | 31 | England | 22 | 40,000 | |
| * Postponed from 16.01 due to rain | ||||||
| Complete heat details for this series are available here | ||||||
| Australia | Total | England | Total | |||||||||||||
| Wally Little | 9 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 36 | Jack Parker | 4© | 7© | 6© | 6© | 7© | 30 | |||
| Bluey Wilkinson | 5 | - | 9© | 9© | 6© | 29 | Norman Parker | 5 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 25 | |||
| Vic Huxley | 6© | 4© | 7 | 3 | 8 | 28 | Tommy Croombs | 5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 21 | |||
| Clem Mitchell | 8 | 9 | - | 2 | 3 | 22 | Les Wotton | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 17 | |||
| Vic Duggan | - | - | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 | Wal Phillips | 3 | 6 | 3 | 5 | - | 17 | |||
| Dick Case | 0 | - | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | Cliff Parkinson | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 14 | |||
| Bill Rogers | - | 6 | - | - | - | 6 | Eric Gregory | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bert Spencer | - | 3 | - | - | - | 3 | ||||||||||
| Jack Bibby | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | ||||||||||
| Art Fenn | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | ||||||||||
| Billy Lamont | - | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | ||||||||||
| Steve Langton | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
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| 1936-37 | 01.02 : Bathurst | Australia | 22 | England | 13 | |
| UNOFFICIAL | Vic Huxley | 9 | Norman Parker | 5 | ||
| Vic Duggan | 6 | Jack Parker | 3 | |||
| Bluey Wilkinson | 6 | Tommy Croombs | 2 | |||
| Art Fenn | 1 | Cliff Parkinson (res) | 2 | |||
| Heat Details | Les Wotton | 1 | ||||
| Ht.1 : Wilkinson, Croombs, Duggan | Ht.3 : Duggan, N Parker | Ht.5 : Wilkinson, N Parker, J Parker |
| Ht.2 : Huxley, Parkinson, N Parker | Ht.4 : Huxley, J Parker, Fenn | Ht.6 : Huxley, Duggan, Wotton |
| 1936-37 | England won series 3-2 | |||||
| UNOFFICIAL | 19.12 : Perth (Claremont) | Australia | 26 | England | 26 | |
| All details of | 09.01 : Perth (Claremont) | Australia | 27 | England | 27 | |
| this series from | 23.01 : Perth (Claremont)* | Australia | 28 | England | 29 | |
| Ross Garrigan | 06.02 : Perth (Claremont) | Australia | 25 | England | 28 | |
| and Barry | 20.02 : Perth (Claremont) | Australia | 33 | England | 21 | |
| Forsyth | Complete heat details for this series are available here | |||||
| This series was arranged by British (Plymouth) promoter Jack Colebatch, who took over the Claremont track for the season and organised the English touring team. | ||||||
| * Impotant notes regarding the 3rd match can be found in the heat details | ||||||
| Australia | Total | England | Total | |||||||||||||
| Jack Sharp | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 42 | Wal Morton | 8 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 44 | |||
| Mick Murphy | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 40 | Ted Bravery | 5 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 26 | |||
| Tiger Lewis | 4 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 27 | Don Hemingway* | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 26 | |||
| Cecil Walker | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 11 | Charlie Lish | 3 | 1 | 8 | 2 | - | 14 | |||
| Neil Schiller | 1 | - | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | Ron Clarke | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | |||
| Jack Clementson | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | 7 | Jock Sweet | 3 | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||||
| Les Fredericks | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | John Preston* | - | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Arthur Hopkins | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | Lou Murphy* | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | ||||
| * guest | ||||||||||||||||
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| Programme from the controversial 3rd match in the Perth 1936-37 series | ||||||||||||||||
| 1937-38 | Australia won series 4-1 | Complete heat details of this series here | Attendance | |||
| OFFICIAL | 11.12 : Sydney Sports Ground | Australia | 26 | England | 28 | 30,000 |
| All details of | 27.12 : Sydney Royale | Australia | 31 | England | 23 | 30,000 |
| this series | 08.01 : Sydney Sports Ground | Australia | 27 | England | 26 | 32,000 |
| from Ross | 29.01 : Sydney Royale | Australia | 30 | England | 24 | 20,000 |
| Garrigan | 12.02 : Sydney Royale | Australia | 29 | England | 25 | |
| Australia | Total | England | Total | |||||||||||||
| Bluey Wilkinson | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 45 | Les Wotton | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 26 | |||
| Clem Mitchell | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 41 | Jack Parker | 5 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 24 | |||
| Lionel van Praag | 6 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 27 | Joe Abbott | 6 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 0† | 23 | |||
| Vic Duggan | - | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 10 | Bill Kitchen | 5 | 6 | - | 4 | 7 | 22 | |||
| Charlie Spinks | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | Cliff Parkinson | - | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 13 | |||
| Ron Johnson | 0 | 2 | - | 2 | 3 | 7 | Harold Stevenson | - | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | |||
| Bill Rogers | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | 3 | Jack Ormston | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | 5 | |||
| Wally Little | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | Arthur Atkinson | 2 | - | 0 | - | - | 2 | |||
| Kirkman | - | - | - | 0 | - | 0 | Wally Lloyd | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | |||
| † 1 uncompleted ride (fell after clash with van Praag; non-starter in re-run due to injury) | ||||||||||||||||
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| 1937-38 | 11.12 : Perth (Claremont) | The Australians | 20 | The Englishmen | 16 | |
| UNOFFICIAL | Heat Details | Details of this match from Ross Garrigan | ||||
| Heat No. | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | Total | ||
| Mick Murphy | 2 | 3 | 5 | The attempts of Perth promoter | |||||
| Neil Schiller | 1' | 2' | 3 + 2 | Colebatch to repeat the previous | |||||
| Don Hemingway | 3 | (0) | 3 | seasons' unofficial Test series | |||||
| Bert Spencer | (0) | 3 | 3 | were foiled on two counts. First, | |||||
| Tiger Lewis | 2 | 1' | 3 + 1 | the Australian authorities now | |||||
| Arthur Hopkins | 1' | 2 | 3 + 1 | required that permission be | |||||
| AUSTRALIANS | 3 | 6 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 20 | obtained, and fees paid, for such a | |
| ENGLISHMEN | 3 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 16 | series, so the team names had to | |
| Ted Bravery | 3 | 2 | 5 | be changed. Secondly, the Perth | |||||
| Jock Sweet | (0) | 1' | 1 + 1 | season was ultimately to last just | |||||
| Les Gregory | 2 | 1 | 3 | two meetings, at the second of | |||||
| Charlie Lish | 1' | (0) | 1 + 1 | which (on Dec.18) promising | |||||
| Ted Bateman | 3 | 3 | 6 | young Australian rider Neil | |||||
| Jack Parsons | (0) | (0) | 0 | Schiller was sadly killed. |
| 1938-39 | Australia won series 3-2 | Attendance | ||||
| OFFICIAL | 07.01 : Sydney Sports Ground | Australia | 22 | England | 32 | 25,000 |
| 21.01 : Sydney Sports Ground | Australia | 32 | England | 22 | 25,000 | |
| 28.01 : Sydney Sports Ground | Australia | 23 | England | 31 | 20,000 | |
| 11.02 : Sydney Sports Ground | Australia | 28 | England | 24 | 30,000 | |
| 18.02 : Sydney Sports Ground | Australia | 35 | England | 18 | 35,000 |
| Australia | Total | England | Total | |||||||||||||
| Bluey Wilkinson* | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 44 | Jack Parker | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 28 | |||
| Lionel van Praag | 4 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 33 | Arthur Atkinson | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 28 | |||
| Bill Longley | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 29 | Alec Statham | 7 | 7 | 8 | 2 | - | 24 | |||
| Aub Lawson | 0 | - | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | Geoff Pymar | 7 | 3 | 6 | 2 | - | 18 | |||
| Clem Mitchell | 1 | 5 | 1 | - | - | 7 | Wally Lloyd | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 14 | |||
| Charlie Spinks | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | 3 | 6 | Norman Parker | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 14 | |||
| Ray Taylor | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | 5 | Bob Harrison | - | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Andy Menzies | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 4 | * Bluey Wilkinson was undefeated by an England | |||||||||
| Vic Huxley | - | 4 | - | - | - | 4 | rider during the series. | |||||||||
| 4th Match at Sydney 11.02.39 | ||||||||||
| Australia 28 | England 24 | 1: Wilkinson, Atkinson,
Pymar, Dolan 3-3 3-3 2: J Parker, Longley, Harrison f, Menzies f 2-3 5-6 3: van Praag, Statham, N Parker, Lawson 3-3 8-9 4: Atkinson, Longley, Pymar, Menzies 2-4 10-13 5: Wilkinson, J Parker, Harrison, Taylor 3-3 13-16 6: Longley, N Parker, Menzies f, Statham f 3-2 16-18 7: van Praag, Atkinson, Lawson, Pymar 4-2 20-20 8: Wilkinson, Taylor, Lloyd, N Parker 5-1 25-21 9: J Parker, Lawson, van Praag, Harrison 3-3 28-24 |
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| Bluey Wilkinson © | 3 3 3 | 9 | Arthur Atkinson | 2 3 2 | 7 | |||||
| Frank Dolan | 0 - - | 0 | Geoff Pymar | 1' 1 0 | 2+1 | |||||
| Bill Longley | 2 2 3 | 7 | Jack Parker © | 3 2 3 | 8 | |||||
| Andy Menzies | f 0 f | 0 | Bob Harrison | f 1' 0 | 1+1 | |||||
| Lionel van Praag | 3 3 1' | 7+1 | Alec Statham | 2 f - | 2 | |||||
| Aub Lawson | 0 1 2 | 3 | Norman Parker | 1' 2 0 | 3+1 | |||||
| res. Ray Taylor | 0 2' | 2+1 | res. Wally Lloyd | 1 | 1 | |||||
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A RARE collection - all 5 programmes from the 1938-39 series at the Sydney Sports Ground |
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The series was resumed after the war in 1947-48
| Contributors : Ross Garrigan, Barry Forsyth, Phil Smith, Roger Stevens, Tom Marriott |