Penshurst Football
The first 30 years
The earliest game of football of any description played at Penshurst was probably the Aboriginal game Marn Grook. This game was basically kick to kick with the objective to stop the ball from hitting the ground. The ball was made of possum skill filled with crushed charcoal and bound with kangaroo sinews.
In 1858, Marcus Sievwright (eldest son of Charles Sievwright, Protector at Mount Rouse Aboriginal Protectorate) told a legislative council inquiry that he had witnessed members of different tribes playing a variety of athletic sports and games when they were assembled at Mount Rouse in 1842.
One of the games was most likely Marn Grook. This featured high marking and long kicking, which some believe influenced the early promoters of the game of Australian rules, including Thomas Wentworth Wills who grew up at Lexington near Moyston.
In South West Victoria, football (Aussie rules) was played in Hamilton, Warrnambool and Port Fairy in the early 1860s before dying out. It was reborn in the late 1860s with one match between Port Fairy and Warrnambool in 1868 lasting over five an half hours.
In 1868 an old colonist wrote to the Hamilton Spectator describing the opening of the new Kolor homestead: up to 200 guests partaking of good cheer between foot races, jumping matches and football, with not the least sign of intoxication. This is possibly the first record of Aussie Rules played in Penshurst.
In the early 1870s the push was on to promote football in the Western District and around this time quite a few new clubs were formed, including Penshurst. They played their first match on the 1st August, 1874 against Hawkesdale. The game commenced at 2pm and went until 5.30 pm, with neither side scoring a goal (behinds were not counted in those days). Messrs Ford, Longdon, Considine, Maloney and Shider were named as Penshurst best while Davidson, Martin and Smith stood out for Hawkesdale. We even know the umpires names. Messrs Flint and Collins were goal umpires and Mr. D. Urquhart central umpire.
For the next ten years Penshurst played arranged matches against neighboring towns including Hamilton in 1879 and Western rovers in 1881. By 1884, with the war in Sudan raging, the Western Agriculturalist Newspaper reported that rifle shooting was very popular with the young men of Penshurst and football had become extinct.
Meanwhile other local clubs were playing for the Henty Challenge Cup including Hamilton, Karabeal, Byaduk, Wickliffe, Glenthompson and Dunkeld (who forfeited their first game to Karabeal).
In 1885 the Penshurst Rifle Club was formed into a mounted rifle troop and football was still on the back burner.
Football was revived in 1886 with a game against Caramut with the Red and Blacks winning by two goals. A Mount Rouse and District team lost to Hamilton in 1888. In 1890 behinds were being counted when Penshurst defeated Dunkeld scoring 2-5-17 to 1-3-9. The following year Penshurst played and defeated Macarthur.
In 1897 Penshurst joined the Hamilton Association which had been formed the previous year. The Association consisted of Penshurst, Hamilton, south Hamilton and combined schools. The red and blacks won the flag that year defeating south Hamilton 5-9-39 to 1-2-8. The association failed to get going in 1898 and no games were recorded in Hamilton so the young men of Penshurst once again took up the horse and rifle training for the Boer war.
In1903 Penshurst joined the Sheldrick and co. trophy competition consisting of Hamilton, Imperials, Coleraine and Dunkeld who were premiers in 1903 and 1904.
Over the long period of time that Penshurst has been playing, many clubs have disappeared including Academy, south Hamilton, St George, north Hamilton, Caledonians, Western Rovers, Mailors flat, Yambuk, Bessiebelle, Tower Hill, Quarry Hill (Kirkstall), Federals, Forestors, Dairymen (south Kolor), Croxton, Minhamite, Hexham, Merino Digby, Tarrington, and Ararat United. In that time quite a few others have merged, while quite a few others are still going strong like Tatyoon and Caramut.
It is a source of pride for many people that Penshurst have retained its name, colours and ground for 135 years. The only alteration has been its nickname changing from the red and blacks to the bombers.
Phillip Doherty