First Sports Day
17th March 1893

The Goldfields has always been famous for its sports men and women and the sporting events held there

This is a bit of the story of the first Sports Day held on Fly Flat in Coolgardie at Easter 1893 which was only about 6 months after Bayley & Ford found the first gold there.

The population at the time was about 250 people so there was a great turn out of almost everyone in the district.  50 pounds had been fund raised to run the events with the main event on the programme being the Sheffield Handicap with prize money of 20 pounds.

There were a lot of entries and some nominations were put in just for fun for some of the men nominating were more likely to run in an “Old Buffers Race” rather a Speed Classic

There was only one man in the whole lot who had running togs and looked like a runner and that was Arthur Williams ( who was the bridegroom in the 1st Wedding held in Coolgardie the following year) The handicapper must have thought Arthur looked like a runner as well as he put him well back in the field.

Most of the starters had only socks on their feet, others were barefoot. Men were tough in those days and so feet had to be as hard as donkeys, one man was known to turn the Johnny Cakes on the fire over with his toes that’s how tough his were !

A couple of the runners had what was called “Prince Alberts” better known as toe rags but they soon came to grief and Dr Max Schneider’s running clobber consisted of a pair of tight underpants with one button and a short singlet.

Now Fly Flat was not a flat graded area or soft and sandy but a rough rock strewn patch with scrubby bushes. When the gun went off they all got a good start but the Doc took off and got in the lead and the crowd started to yell “ Don’t stop Max ! Never Mind the Women !” and he didn’t – he went straight through the tape and never stopped running until he got to the tree where he had left his clothes.  There were two women at the finish Line Mrs Smith & Mrs Jacoletti and their presence was the reason Doc Max didn’t stop for congratulations

The last event on the programme was a tug-of-war. Benstead & Dan Colreavy each got a team together. Bob Penny was the anchor man in the Colreavy team and in the Benstead team were three burly Afghans. After a lot of geering and shouting from the crowd and heaving and hauling from the teams – the Colreavy team won the pull.
A Good Day Was Had By All