Edward Trickett
Encyclopedia
Edward "Ned" Trickett was an Australian rower. He was the first Australian to be recognised as a world champion in any sport, after winning the World Sculling Championship in 1876, a title he held until 1880, when he was beaten by Canadian Ned Hanlan
.
Trickett was born at Greenwich
, on the Lane Cove River
in Sydney. His father was a former convict
and a bootmaker and his mother was Irish
. The young Ned learned to scull
on Sydney Harbour in New South Wales
, Australia.
Records show that rowing matches between crews of visiting ships had been taking place on the harbour from as early as 1805. The Sydney Gazette newspaper recorded "The first Australian Regatta" in 1827 with a rowing race for 20 Spanish dollars and both rowing and sailing were established sports by 1837 when the first Anniversary Regatta was held in Sydney
.
title also at the Anniversary Day Regatta. He went on to defeat most of the State's professional scullers to become Australian Professional Sculling Champion.
His occupation was noted as a quarryman and he met his wife, the daughter of a lighthouse
keeper, whilst delivering stone for the construction of a new lighthouse at South Head
. He was an extremely tall person for his time, being 6 feet 3½ inches (1.917m) tall and would have stood out in any crowd.
By 1874 Trickett was gaining a reputation as a rower and in the Balmain
Regatta of that year, he won the outrigger race and was in the winning whaleboat crew. Later that same year he placed second to Michael Rush in the Clarence River
Champion Outrigger Race. At the Anniversary Regatta of 1875 he won the light skiff
s race and was now the best sculler in the colony of NSW.
Joseph Sadler
, for the World Sculling Championship, starting a Golden Age for Australian professional sculling. The World Title was held by seven Australians for twenty two of the thirty one years between 1876 and 1907.
The course for the race was the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake on the Thames, a distance of nearly four and a quarter miles. A very large crowd was on hand, both on the banks and in boats, to witness the race. Trickett used a boat named “Young Australia” and his weight was given as 11st.4 lbs. The race commenced just after 5.30pm and Sadler dipped his oars first to gain a slight advantage. This advantage was soon lost as Trickett came up and passed Sadler. At Craven Point the challenger was a good length ahead and at the Crab Tree he had increased this to two lengths. Hammersmith Bridge was reached in 9m.35s and his lead was up to three and a half lengths. Shortly afterwards Sadler quickened and reduced the deficit to only about one length but could not make sufficient gain to pass Trickett who sculled strongly to cross the finish line some four lengths to the good. The time was 24m.36 s. Trickett thus became the first Australian World Champion in any sport. Additionally, he collected £400 in stake money. Upon his return to Sydney, 25,000 people greeted him and he was wined and dined all around the state.
challenged Trickett for the World Championship. The scullers had raced before for the New South Wales Championship but the race was unequal because Trickett used the new sliding seat and Rush continued to use a fixed seat. The stake for the World Title was £400 a side. Rush had not learned his lesson and again used the fixed seat while Trickett used a sliding seat which gave him a huge advantage notwithstanding claims to the contrary by Rush’s backers. The course was on the Parramatta River, Sydney, over a distance of about three and a half miles. After an even start Rush went ahead and by Uhr’s Point was a clear length ahead. However by the mile and a half point Trickett had overtaken the leader and from then on the race was a procession and he crossed the line twenty-two seconds ahead. The total time was 23m.26.3s. Alan May wrote in Sydney Rows magazine that it was "a race that was said to have excited more interest than any other event that has ever happened in the sporting world of Australia." Some fifty thousand people were said to have witnessed the race.
Trickett won several non-title races over the next couple of years and earned enough money to buy a hotel
. He became licensee
of Trickett's Hotel and later became the proprietor of the International Hotel which was located on the corner of Pitt and King Streets in Sydney. However in June 1878, he was involved in an accident when a rolling keg of beer crushed his hand and several fingers had to be amputated. This was to affect the balance of his stroke in future races and was possibly the cause of the downturn in Edward Trickett's rowing.
, also of Australia, on the 29 August 1879. Laycock was without doubt one of Australia's finest scullers but he never managed to become World Champion. The esteem in which he was held can be estimated by the fact that he was still asked to pose in a photograph of key Australian scullers at a Lord Mayoral reception in 1903 with the likes of Stanbury, Pearce, Peter Kemp (rower)
, Bill Beach
, Rush, Trickett and the Towns brothers.
The Title Race had an unusual extra dimension in that the winner was to be chosen to represent New South Wales
against Ned Hanlan
who was champion of Great Britain and the United States. The course was again on the Parramatta River but this time the distance was about three and three-quarter miles. Laycock had previously beaten Trickett so his backers had high hopes of taking the Championship which was for £200 a side. The water was smooth and the weather splendid and the tide was just on the turn as the men started. Laycock took an early lead but by four hundred yards Trickett had passed him and was never tested for the rest of the race, winning “as he liked” by some fifteen to eighteen lengths. The time was 22m.38s which was the second best time ever recorded in Australia. Trickett had used the then new invention of swivel rowlocks.
Canada over the Thames Championship Course which ran between Putney and Mortlake. Both men and their supporters had travelled to England for the match. There was heavy betting on the race. Harry Kelley piloted the Australian, and Bright performed the same office for Hanlan, but the race seemed to be over before they reached Hammersmith Bridge
. Trickett lost the race to the Canadian in a time of 26 minutes-12 seconds and three lengths behind, and thus he lost his World Title. The Stake was £400.
Trickett returned to Australia and in 1884 he moved to the Oxford Arms Hotel in Rockhampton
, Queensland
. It is rumoured an admirer had apparently given him the hotel.
In 1888 he raced his old foe Edward Hanlan on the Fitzroy River
. Some 10,000 spectators watched Ned Trickett, then aged 36–37, be beaten and lose his money on this race.
Trickett seemingly found religion after having been duck shooting on the Sabbath. It is reputed that he changed his ways and became a teetotaller. Or he found religion whilst wandering the streets of Sydney which gave him the strength to continue and then through Salvation Army
contacts; he obtained employment in the Customs
Services.
He lived and worked at Moama
on the Murray River
in New South Wales for some time and his family remained in Sydney. His work then reverted to Sydney. He remained a committed Salvation Army envoy throughout the rest of his life and became a good speaker for their cause.
Nearing his retirement, Ned visited his son Fred at Uralla in New South Wales. Fred ran the General Store and was mining gold as a hobby. Trickett helped Fred work the shaft until tragedy struck when the walls of the gold mine shaft collapsed. Trickett survived the initial injuries but died at his son's home at the age of 65, on 28 November 1916, of injuries he had received.
He is buried in the Uralla cemetery.
A memorial to him was erected by the public subscription at Uralla in 1918.
At Surfers Paradise, Qld, is a street named after Trickett. Trickett Street is nearby those named after other rowers, vis Beach Road, Hanlan Street, and Laycock Street.
Ned Hanlan
Edward "Ned" Hanlan was a World Champion professional sculler, hotelier, and alderman from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Early life:...
.
Trickett was born at Greenwich
Greenwich, New South Wales
Greenwich is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Greenwich is located 7 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Lane Cove.The suburb occupies a peninsula on the northern...
, on the Lane Cove River
Lane Cove River
The Lane Cove River is a tributary of the Parramatta River, Sydney, Australia. Its lower reaches form an arm of Sydney Harbour.-Description:...
in Sydney. His father was a former convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
and a bootmaker and his mother was Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
. The young Ned learned to scull
Sculling
Sculling generally refers to a method of using oars to propel watercraft in which the oar or oars touch the water on both the port and starboard sides of the craft, or over the stern...
on Sydney Harbour in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia.
Records show that rowing matches between crews of visiting ships had been taking place on the harbour from as early as 1805. The Sydney Gazette newspaper recorded "The first Australian Regatta" in 1827 with a rowing race for 20 Spanish dollars and both rowing and sailing were established sports by 1837 when the first Anniversary Regatta was held in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
Early rowing career
Trickett's took part in his first race at the age of ten. It was the Anniversary Day Regatta and he finished second in the under 16 maiden sculls. At the age of fourteen he won the 12-foot dinghyDinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed for use as a ship's boat by a larger vessel. It is a loanword from either Bengali or Urdu. The term can also refer to small racing yachts or recreational open sailing boats. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor,...
title also at the Anniversary Day Regatta. He went on to defeat most of the State's professional scullers to become Australian Professional Sculling Champion.
His occupation was noted as a quarryman and he met his wife, the daughter of a lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
keeper, whilst delivering stone for the construction of a new lighthouse at South Head
Sydney Heads
Sydney Heads , is the entrance to Port Jackson in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north, South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south. Middle Head, Georges Head and Chowder Head are to the west and within the bay...
. He was an extremely tall person for his time, being 6 feet 3½ inches (1.917m) tall and would have stood out in any crowd.
By 1874 Trickett was gaining a reputation as a rower and in the Balmain
Balmain, New South Wales
Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....
Regatta of that year, he won the outrigger race and was in the winning whaleboat crew. Later that same year he placed second to Michael Rush in the Clarence River
Clarence River (New South Wales)
The Clarence River is situated in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. The river originates on the watershed that marks the Queensland border. After flowing south and northeast for 394 km it then empties into the Pacific Ocean at Iluka/Yamba. On its journey it passes through the towns of...
Champion Outrigger Race. At the Anniversary Regatta of 1875 he won the light skiff
Skiff
The term skiff is used for a number of essentially unrelated styles of small boat. The word is related to ship and has a complicated etymology: "skiff" comes from the Middle English skif, which derives from the Old French esquif, which in turn derives from the Old Italian schifo, which is itself of...
s race and was now the best sculler in the colony of NSW.
Champion of the World
In May 1876 the Sydney innkeeper, James Punch, who was a former sculler, took Trickett to England. He went on to win Australia's first world sporting title on 27 June 1876 by defeating the two-times champion, EnglishmanEnglishman
Englishman may refer to:*English people*Grey Partridge*Jason Englishman, Canadian rock music singer and guitarist*Jenny-Bea Englishman, real name of the Canadien singer Esthero*Erald Briscoe, reggae musician who records under the name Englishman...
Joseph Sadler
Joseph Sadler
Joseph Henry Sadler was a British professional rower who twice won the World Sculling Championship. Before 1876, the English Sculling Championship was considered to be the premier event in professional sculling...
, for the World Sculling Championship, starting a Golden Age for Australian professional sculling. The World Title was held by seven Australians for twenty two of the thirty one years between 1876 and 1907.
The course for the race was the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake on the Thames, a distance of nearly four and a quarter miles. A very large crowd was on hand, both on the banks and in boats, to witness the race. Trickett used a boat named “Young Australia” and his weight was given as 11st.4 lbs. The race commenced just after 5.30pm and Sadler dipped his oars first to gain a slight advantage. This advantage was soon lost as Trickett came up and passed Sadler. At Craven Point the challenger was a good length ahead and at the Crab Tree he had increased this to two lengths. Hammersmith Bridge was reached in 9m.35s and his lead was up to three and a half lengths. Shortly afterwards Sadler quickened and reduced the deficit to only about one length but could not make sufficient gain to pass Trickett who sculled strongly to cross the finish line some four lengths to the good. The time was 24m.36 s. Trickett thus became the first Australian World Champion in any sport. Additionally, he collected £400 in stake money. Upon his return to Sydney, 25,000 people greeted him and he was wined and dined all around the state.
First Defence
In June the following year fellow Australian Michael Rush (rower)Michael Rush (rower)
Michael Rush was an Irish Australian sculler noted for his one-on-one competitions against champion opponents, which drew vast crowds of spectators.-Youth and Early Times:...
challenged Trickett for the World Championship. The scullers had raced before for the New South Wales Championship but the race was unequal because Trickett used the new sliding seat and Rush continued to use a fixed seat. The stake for the World Title was £400 a side. Rush had not learned his lesson and again used the fixed seat while Trickett used a sliding seat which gave him a huge advantage notwithstanding claims to the contrary by Rush’s backers. The course was on the Parramatta River, Sydney, over a distance of about three and a half miles. After an even start Rush went ahead and by Uhr’s Point was a clear length ahead. However by the mile and a half point Trickett had overtaken the leader and from then on the race was a procession and he crossed the line twenty-two seconds ahead. The total time was 23m.26.3s. Alan May wrote in Sydney Rows magazine that it was "a race that was said to have excited more interest than any other event that has ever happened in the sporting world of Australia." Some fifty thousand people were said to have witnessed the race.
Trickett won several non-title races over the next couple of years and earned enough money to buy a hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
. He became licensee
Licensee
A licensee is someone who has been granted a licence.- Tort law :The term is used in the USA law of torts to describe a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the licensee to enter...
of Trickett's Hotel and later became the proprietor of the International Hotel which was located on the corner of Pitt and King Streets in Sydney. However in June 1878, he was involved in an accident when a rolling keg of beer crushed his hand and several fingers had to be amputated. This was to affect the balance of his stroke in future races and was possibly the cause of the downturn in Edward Trickett's rowing.
Second Defence
Trickett’s next came from Elias C. LaycockElias C. Laycock
Elias Connell Laycock was an Australian competitive rower who three times tried to become the World Sculling Champion..-Early life:...
, also of Australia, on the 29 August 1879. Laycock was without doubt one of Australia's finest scullers but he never managed to become World Champion. The esteem in which he was held can be estimated by the fact that he was still asked to pose in a photograph of key Australian scullers at a Lord Mayoral reception in 1903 with the likes of Stanbury, Pearce, Peter Kemp (rower)
Peter Kemp (rower)
Peter Kemp was one of seven Australians who each won the World Sculling Championship between 1876 and 1907.He was born on the banks of the Hawkesbury River near Windsor, New South Wales, on 15 November 1853. As a boy growing up he taught himself to row...
, Bill Beach
Bill Beach
William Beach was a professional Australian sculler. He was unbeaten as World Sculling Champion from 1884 to 1887.Born on 6 September 1850 at Chertsey, Surrey, England, to Alexander Beach, blacksmith, and his wife Mary, née Gibbons...
, Rush, Trickett and the Towns brothers.
The Title Race had an unusual extra dimension in that the winner was to be chosen to represent New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
against Ned Hanlan
Ned Hanlan
Edward "Ned" Hanlan was a World Champion professional sculler, hotelier, and alderman from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Early life:...
who was champion of Great Britain and the United States. The course was again on the Parramatta River but this time the distance was about three and three-quarter miles. Laycock had previously beaten Trickett so his backers had high hopes of taking the Championship which was for £200 a side. The water was smooth and the weather splendid and the tide was just on the turn as the men started. Laycock took an early lead but by four hundred yards Trickett had passed him and was never tested for the rest of the race, winning “as he liked” by some fifteen to eighteen lengths. The time was 22m.38s which was the second best time ever recorded in Australia. Trickett had used the then new invention of swivel rowlocks.
Third Defence
On the 15 November 1880 on a decidedly raw and cold day with a drizzling rain that fell at intervals; Trickett, weighing and tall, aged 29 years rowed against the tall Edward ‘Ned’ Hanlan weighing aged 25 years of TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
Canada over the Thames Championship Course which ran between Putney and Mortlake. Both men and their supporters had travelled to England for the match. There was heavy betting on the race. Harry Kelley piloted the Australian, and Bright performed the same office for Hanlan, but the race seemed to be over before they reached Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge is a crossing of the River Thames in west London, just south of the Hammersmith town centre area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on the north side of the river. It allows road traffic and pedestrians to cross to Barnes on the south side of the river...
. Trickett lost the race to the Canadian in a time of 26 minutes-12 seconds and three lengths behind, and thus he lost his World Title. The Stake was £400.
Final Title Race
Hanlan disposed of two more challengers before accepting a further challenge from Trickett. This race took place on the 1 May 1882, again on the Championship Course on the Thames. Trickett used a new boat weighing only twenty-nine pounds. The stake was £500 a side. However, the race was very one sided and Hanlan won so far ahead that he then turned around and rowed back to Trickett, turned around again and beat him a second time to the finish line. Hanlan was well known for these sorts of pranks which often humiliated his opponents, although he was one of the greatest rowers of his age.Trickett returned to Australia and in 1884 he moved to the Oxford Arms Hotel in Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. It is rumoured an admirer had apparently given him the hotel.
In 1888 he raced his old foe Edward Hanlan on the Fitzroy River
Fitzroy River (Queensland)
The Fitzroy River lies in Queensland, Australia. Its catchment covers an area of 142,665 square kilometres, making it the largest river catchment flowing to the eastern coast of Australia. The river is formed by the joining of the Mackenzie and Dawson rivers at Duaringa. The catchment stretches...
. Some 10,000 spectators watched Ned Trickett, then aged 36–37, be beaten and lose his money on this race.
Life after rowing
The economic downturn in the early 1890s caused Ned to lose his hotel. He returned to Sydney to find employment but was deeply depressed - to the point of being suicidal.Trickett seemingly found religion after having been duck shooting on the Sabbath. It is reputed that he changed his ways and became a teetotaller. Or he found religion whilst wandering the streets of Sydney which gave him the strength to continue and then through Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
contacts; he obtained employment in the Customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
Services.
He lived and worked at Moama
Echuca, Victoria
Echuca is a town located on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe river in Victoria, Australia. The Border town Moama is on the northern side of the Murray river in New South Wales. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Shire of Campaspe...
on the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
in New South Wales for some time and his family remained in Sydney. His work then reverted to Sydney. He remained a committed Salvation Army envoy throughout the rest of his life and became a good speaker for their cause.
Nearing his retirement, Ned visited his son Fred at Uralla in New South Wales. Fred ran the General Store and was mining gold as a hobby. Trickett helped Fred work the shaft until tragedy struck when the walls of the gold mine shaft collapsed. Trickett survived the initial injuries but died at his son's home at the age of 65, on 28 November 1916, of injuries he had received.
He is buried in the Uralla cemetery.
A memorial to him was erected by the public subscription at Uralla in 1918.
At Surfers Paradise, Qld, is a street named after Trickett. Trickett Street is nearby those named after other rowers, vis Beach Road, Hanlan Street, and Laycock Street.