Herbert Moran
Encyclopedia
Herbert Michael "Paddy" Moran (29 April 1885 – 20 November 1945) was an Australia
n rugby union
player, a state and national representative flanker who captained the Wallabies' on their first overseas tour in 1908-09.
but he finished his senior schooling boarding at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. In his book Viewless Winds, Moran wrote that he played no more than two games of rugby football for his college in his time there.
in 1904 as a prop in second grade and from 1905 to 1907 he earned University Blues in the senior grade, captaining the club in 1907. He made state representative appearances for New South Wales
in 1906 and 1907.
After completing his under-graduate studies he had a year in residence at Newcastle
Hospital where he captained a Newcastle club side who toured to Sydney and beat a strong Metropolitan (Sydney) side. This again brought him to the attention of selectors and he represented again that year for the state.
Howell points out that of the eight Australian players who had captained either the national, New South Wales
or Queensland
sides in the previous two years, two were at the end of their careers (Wickham and Richards), another two were out of form and not picked (Skeet Ahearn and Allen Oxlade
), leaving four experienced captains in Wood
, Burge
, James Hughes and Cecil Murin. Howell suggests that the selectors may have favoured Moran with his medical degree and education above the other "more working class" candidates. In Viewless Winds however Moran speaks of a skill he possessed that may have impressed the selectors - a strategic understanding he brought to his captaincy (in terms of adapting play tactics for conditions and opposition weaknesses) which he says was not widely deployed by captains of the day.
On the long voyage Moran introduced the practice of team meetings that were part lecture and part brain-storming with players encouraged to voice their ideas on improving team performance. Moran stood at a blackboard and while his lecturing style was initially derided by the players he managed to instil a sense of cleverness and skill in players, creating thoughts of rugby as similar to a game of chess.
Moran captained Australia in the first eight games of the tour only one of which - against Llanelli RFC
- was lost. Howell writes that Moran applied himself diligently and displayed courage and leadership. He dislocated his shoulder late in the first half of the eighth tour game against London but played out the match gamely. He missed the next match against Cambridge University; the Olympic gold-medal match against Cornwall at the 1908 Summer Olympics
(where Australia was captained by Chris McKivat
) and the subsequent matches against Oxford University, Yorkshire and Lancashire. He played against Somerset and then made his Test début against Wales
at Cardiff Arms Park
on 12 December 1908 at number eight - a match lost by Australia 6-9.
He figured in the Welsh tour matches against Newport, Abertillery, Swansea and Cardiff but then disaster struck on New Year's Eve 1909 when he slipped on ice while walking and sprained his ankle. He withdrew from the team on the morning of the Test against England
. After the last Test but with two further tour matches to be played, Moran left the tour to further his medical studies at Edinburgh University. Unfathomable by later and current standards, the tour captain therefore did not accompany the team on the next leg of the tour to the USA and Canada.
All told Moran captained Australia on sixteen occasions, all on this tour - one of these was a Test appearance.
In 1911 and 1912 Moran was President of Sydney's Balmain Rugby Club.
The "Rabbits" was instantaneously rejected and soon after the team adopted the moniker of "The Wallabies" which for many years was used to describe the Australia national rugby union team
when touring to Britain. These days the national side are the Wallabies whether playing at home or anywhere abroad.
Moran also describes as "an affliction" the war-cry which the parent Union in Australia had suggested the team should use for its "box-office value". Moran wrote "The memory of that war cry provokes anger in me even after all these years.... We were expected to leap up in the air and make foolish gestures which somebody thought Australian natives might have used in similar circumstances and we were give meaningless words which we were to utter savagely during the pantomime.... I refused to lead the wretched caricature of a native corroboree and regularly hid myself among the team, a conscientious objector."
and was made a Lieutenant
in the Royal Army Medical Corps
. He was sent to Gallipoli
where he contracted amoebic dysentery
, was sent to Mesopotamia
where he became ill again. He was repatriated to Australia via India.
As an author Paddy Moran published three books: Viewless Winds - the recollections and digressions of an Australian surgeon (London, P Davies 1939); Beyond the hill lies China - scenes from a medical life in Australia (London, P Davies 1945); In my fashion - an autobiography of the last ten years (Sydney, Dymocks 1946).
After the end of World War I he became interested in cancer and went to Paris to study the use of radium
. He did further research in the United States and was the first in his profession to use radium needles or radium tubes in the treatment of cancer in Australia. In France in 1926 he did work at the Cancer Clinic of Villejuif
. He retired from medical practice in 1935 aged 50 and spent time roaming through Europe. He spent some considerable time in Italy, became proficient in Italian and had four audiences with Benito Mussolini
. After the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, he went there as a freelance doctor in 1936. He subsequently spent a year in Germany learning the language before World War II
broke out.
Again at the beginning of World War II he went to England to volunteer his services in the British Forces and was enlisted as a Lieutenant. He was transferred to the Australian Military Forces
and served as a Lieutenant Colonel
, He was diagnosed with cancer in February 1945 and released from the Army on 14 April 1945. He died in November 1945 at a nursing home in Cambridge
. The 1947-48 Wallabies
visited his grave.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player, a state and national representative flanker who captained the Wallabies' on their first overseas tour in 1908-09.
Early years
Moran was born to Irish Catholic parents though his mother died in childbirth when he was five. His father had emigrated to Sydney in 1876 and laboured until he had sufficient savings to buy a bakery business in inner-city Chippendale. He struggled after his partner disappeared leaving Moran senior well in debt but found later prosperity. Young Paddy was first schooled in inner-Sydney at Darlington Superior School, then St Aloysius' Surry HillsSurry Hills, New South Wales
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is located immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
but he finished his senior schooling boarding at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. In his book Viewless Winds, Moran wrote that he played no more than two games of rugby football for his college in his time there.
University & club rugby
He commenced his medical studies at Sydney University still aged 15 in 1901 and in 1903 started playing senior rugby with the Rose Bay club. He first turned out for the Sydney University Football ClubSydney University Football Club
Sydney University Football Club, founded in 1863 , is the oldest club now playing rugby union in Australia, and as such is nicknamed "The Birthplace of Australian Rugby" or simply "The Birthplace".The club are the current NSWRU Premiers.The club was a member of the inaugural Sydney club competition...
in 1904 as a prop in second grade and from 1905 to 1907 he earned University Blues in the senior grade, captaining the club in 1907. He made state representative appearances for New South Wales
New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
in 1906 and 1907.
After completing his under-graduate studies he had a year in residence at Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
Hospital where he captained a Newcastle club side who toured to Sydney and beat a strong Metropolitan (Sydney) side. This again brought him to the attention of selectors and he represented again that year for the state.
Australian representative
Perhaps surprisingly given his overall lack of captaincy experience Moran was selected as tour captain for Australia's first Wallabies on the 1908-09 tour of the British Isles and North America.New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
or Queensland
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
sides in the previous two years, two were at the end of their careers (Wickham and Richards), another two were out of form and not picked (Skeet Ahearn and Allen Oxlade
Allen Oxlade
Allen Martindale Oxlade was an Australian rugby union player a state and national representative hooker who captained the Wallabies in 1907.-Early life and club rugby:...
), leaving four experienced captains in Wood
Fred Wood
Frederick Wood was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative half-back. He was vice-captain of the Wallabies on their first overseas tour in 1908-09 and later captained the side in Test matches in 1910 and 1914...
, Burge
Peter Burge (rugby)
Peter Harold Boyne Burge was an Australian rugby footballer and coach. He represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union...
, James Hughes and Cecil Murin. Howell suggests that the selectors may have favoured Moran with his medical degree and education above the other "more working class" candidates. In Viewless Winds however Moran speaks of a skill he possessed that may have impressed the selectors - a strategic understanding he brought to his captaincy (in terms of adapting play tactics for conditions and opposition weaknesses) which he says was not widely deployed by captains of the day.
On the long voyage Moran introduced the practice of team meetings that were part lecture and part brain-storming with players encouraged to voice their ideas on improving team performance. Moran stood at a blackboard and while his lecturing style was initially derided by the players he managed to instil a sense of cleverness and skill in players, creating thoughts of rugby as similar to a game of chess.
Llanelli RFC
Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded in 1875 and its senior team is one of the leading club sides in Wales. The club began the 2008-09 season at their historic home ground of Stradey Park in Llanelli, but moved in November 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent...
- was lost. Howell writes that Moran applied himself diligently and displayed courage and leadership. He dislocated his shoulder late in the first half of the eighth tour game against London but played out the match gamely. He missed the next match against Cambridge University; the Olympic gold-medal match against Cornwall at the 1908 Summer Olympics
1908 Summer Olympics
The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, England, United Kingdom. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the time they were the fifth modern Olympic games...
(where Australia was captained by Chris McKivat
Chris McKivat
Christopher Hobart McKivat was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests and tour matches from 1907 to 1909 and the Kangaroos in 5 Tests from 1910 to 1912...
) and the subsequent matches against Oxford University, Yorkshire and Lancashire. He played against Somerset and then made his Test début against Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
at Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
on 12 December 1908 at number eight - a match lost by Australia 6-9.
He figured in the Welsh tour matches against Newport, Abertillery, Swansea and Cardiff but then disaster struck on New Year's Eve 1909 when he slipped on ice while walking and sprained his ankle. He withdrew from the team on the morning of the Test against England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
. After the last Test but with two further tour matches to be played, Moran left the tour to further his medical studies at Edinburgh University. Unfathomable by later and current standards, the tour captain therefore did not accompany the team on the next leg of the tour to the USA and Canada.
All told Moran captained Australia on sixteen occasions, all on this tour - one of these was a Test appearance.
In 1911 and 1912 Moran was President of Sydney's Balmain Rugby Club.
Wallabies and war cries
Moran writes in Viewless Winds that when the touring squad first arrived at Plymouth a pack of journalists were there who were anxious to give the team some distinctive name.Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
when touring to Britain. These days the national side are the Wallabies whether playing at home or anywhere abroad.
Moran also describes as "an affliction" the war-cry which the parent Union in Australia had suggested the team should use for its "box-office value". Moran wrote "The memory of that war cry provokes anger in me even after all these years.... We were expected to leap up in the air and make foolish gestures which somebody thought Australian natives might have used in similar circumstances and we were give meaningless words which we were to utter savagely during the pantomime.... I refused to lead the wretched caricature of a native corroboree and regularly hid myself among the team, a conscientious objector."
War service and medical career
He volunteered his services in England at the beginning of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and was made a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
. He was sent to Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
where he contracted amoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...
, was sent to Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
where he became ill again. He was repatriated to Australia via India.
As an author Paddy Moran published three books: Viewless Winds - the recollections and digressions of an Australian surgeon (London, P Davies 1939); Beyond the hill lies China - scenes from a medical life in Australia (London, P Davies 1945); In my fashion - an autobiography of the last ten years (Sydney, Dymocks 1946).
After the end of World War I he became interested in cancer and went to Paris to study the use of radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
. He did further research in the United States and was the first in his profession to use radium needles or radium tubes in the treatment of cancer in Australia. In France in 1926 he did work at the Cancer Clinic of Villejuif
Villejuif
Villejuif is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.-Name:The name Villejuif was recorded for the first time in a papal bull of 1119 as Villa Judea, the meaning of which is still debated...
. He retired from medical practice in 1935 aged 50 and spent time roaming through Europe. He spent some considerable time in Italy, became proficient in Italian and had four audiences with Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
. After the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, he went there as a freelance doctor in 1936. He subsequently spent a year in Germany learning the language before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out.
Again at the beginning of World War II he went to England to volunteer his services in the British Forces and was enlisted as a Lieutenant. He was transferred to the Australian Military Forces
Australian Military Forces
The Australian Military Forces was the official name of the Army of Australia from 1916 to 1980. This encompassed both the "regular army", and the forces, variously known during this period as the Militia, the Citizen Military Forces and the Australian Citizen Military Force .Initially this...
and served as a Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, He was diagnosed with cancer in February 1945 and released from the Army on 14 April 1945. He died in November 1945 at a nursing home in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. The 1947-48 Wallabies
1947-48 Australia rugby union tour of the British Isles, Ireland, France and North America
Between July 1947 and March 1948 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, France and the United States on which they played five Tests and thirty-six minor tour matches...
visited his grave.
Accolades
In 2011 he was honoured in the seventh set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.Sources
- Collection (1995) Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby, Harper Collins Publishers Sydney
- Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead - Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
- Moran, Herbert (1939) Viewless Winds - the recollections and digressions of an Australian surgeon P Davies, London
- Zavos, Spiro (2000) The Golden Wallabies, Penguin, Victoria