RMS Orford carries leading sports stars
“Crowded tourist ship will carry Test and Davis Cup teams” – The Age
Orient Liner RMS Orford departs from Station Pier, Port Melbourne. The Orford carried the Test cricket team, Davis Cup team and Australian Open winner Joan Hartigan to England. The press radioed through daily reports on their activities:
- Test cricket batsman Len Darling spent four days in his cabin after straining his groin when he slipped over playing ball tennis – in his slippers
- Batsman Bill Brown danced the fox-trot, displaying footwork similar to the grace he showed at the wicket
- Alluding to the seasickness of Don Bradman and Stan McCabe, how they were making up for meals lost on The Great (very choppy) Australian Bight
- Joan Hartigan discarded her bright blue shorts for brighter blue bathers and was first to sample the pool
- Spin bowler Bill “Tiger” O’Reilly was tripped by a passenger on the deck and spent the voyage with bandaged wrists
- Wicket keeper Ben Barnett’s conjuring tricks and constantly whirring movie camera.
On arrival at Southampton, awaiting lowering of the gangway, Bradman entertained the team at the piano, playing popular tunes while the cricketers sang. Just a few years later, the Orford was requisitioned for Australian Government Service, transporting the first Australian troops to Egypt in 1940. On 1 June that same year, she was bombed and set on fire at Marseilles by German aircraft with 14 crew killed and 25 wounded.
MCK001 Inkjet print by John Gollings on Canson Platine Fibre Rag
Published: The Age 21 March 1934
Featured in "Newsworthy: Melbourne in photographs 1933-1936" exhibition at East Melbourne Library, October to December 2023. Exhibition caption by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer.