James Rodgers remembers the unfortunate end of one of the Club’s early First Graders….
HEBER HUGH MACMAHON….Fell to his death
Late on Saturday evening 15 September 1900, a young 1st Grade cricketer fell to his death from a railway bridge onto the road below just near Chatswood Oval.
He had missed the last tram from Milsons Point Arcade and had boarded the north-bound train, intending to alight at Chatswood Station. He was on his way to his family’s home in Penshurst St Willoughby. But, falling asleep on the train, he missed his stop and was carried on to Roseville, when, by now awake but with clouded judgement, he decided to walk back south along the railway track. He had reached the bridge just south of Chatswood Station, over Albert Avenue, when he slipped and fell 22 feet onto the road, fracturing his skull and breaking his left leg. By the time he was found, he was dead. The coroner, sitting at Willoughby on the Monday after the death, handed down a finding of ‘accidental death’.
Heber Hugh MacMahon had played two seasons in 1st Grade with Sydney University (1895-96 and 1896-97) and then another two seasons (1898-99, 1899-00) for North Sydney.
Tragedy had already visited his large family. The youngest of his three sisters, Mary, had died aged 4 in 1876, just after Heber was born. The third of his five brothers, John Stephen, aged 24, had drowned in 1887 at Braidwood, 85 kilometres south of Goulburn.
Their father, Patrick MacMahon (1831-1910) had arrived in Sydney from Ireland in 1854 and was employed by W Dean & Co Auctioneers, before branching out with an associated company, Macquarie Bond. He married Dora Macdonagh (1835-1908) in 1857 and within eighteen years they were to have nine children. The youngest, Heber, was named after the Irish Bishop, Heber MacMahon (1600-1650) who was martyred and executed by hanging at Enniskillen in Derry.
Patrick made a considerable success of his life in Sydney. He established a large family home in Hurstville where Dora St and MacMahon St still exist as memories of the family influence. He was an Alderman on the Sydney Council and a pillar of the Catholic Church.
St ignatius’ College, Riverview, opened in 1880. From January 1885 until December 1886, Heber was a student there. For some reason lost in the mists of time, he transferred to Sydney Grammar School and completed his schooling there early in 1895. In the co-curricular life there, he prospered. He held his position as wicket keeper in the 1st XI for five seasons (“easily the best in the position that the school has ever had”, commented The Sydneian of October 1900); played in the 1st XV of 1893 and 1894; won a Gold Medal for Athletics in 1894; was an expert rifle shot; and performed with distinction in the College musical concerts (viola, cornet, singing).
But, did he neglect his studies?
Nevertheless, he joined the Sydney University Cricket Club for the 1895-96 season (1st Grade cap no42). He does not, however, appear to have ever been a student at the University. Four of his Sydney Grammar contemporaries were playing there, HC Delohery, PS Jones, William Harris, NF Stephen. They may have persuaded him to join them and to strengthen the side with his wicket keeping? Eligibility rules for the Cricket Club were rather loose and liable to be interpreted liberally. Veterans played with other graduates of long standing. Graduates of other universities played. Some callow undergraduates were there as were others with only vague connections with the University. Team success was elusive (1st Grade won only four games in Heber’s two seasons) although Heber’s runs down the order were valuable (160 @12.3 in his two seasons) and he kept wickets competently. The Club’s continued existence, under circumstances where it won only the occasional game, was precarious. Under intense pressure, the Club decided to withdraw from the Electorate Competition for 1897-98 and was only allowed back in 1898-99 on humbling terms, restricted to undergraduates only and permitted to play the 1st XI in the 2nd Grade competition only. The Club did exist in a sort of ‘twilight season’ in 1897-98 when University played non-electorate clubs and Heber continued to play against such disparate sides as IZingari, Maitland Albion, Illawarra. Sydney University (bolstered by some Melbourne University players) did play in January 1898 against Stoddart’s touring English XI. Heber was named in the ‘Universities’ thirteen for the game but didn’t bat or bowl or take any catches.
University’s continued exclusion from the top grade forced him to North Sydney Cricket Club (1st grade cap no48), for whom he was residentially qualified as his residence at Willoughby was within Norths’ boundaries. He played in 1898-99 and four games in 1899-1900.
What did he do outside the cricket fields?
He continued to live at home.
He continued his musical interests. Indeed, that talent passed through the generations. A nephew, Patrick Moore MacMahon, who also went to Riverview (1911-13), became a noted musician in Sydney.
And, he joined the military volunteer force, the NSW Irish Rifles, formed in 1895, and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1898.
Heber was easy to like: “Comely in appearance, bright-eyed, companionable, able to sing a good song.”
His Requiem Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, was celebrated by the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran, and his body was carried on a gun carriage to Rookwood Cemetery where he was buried with full military honours. Representatives from most parts of his short life paid their respects. St Ignatius’ College was represented as was Sydney Grammar School. The Irish Rifles, North Sydney Cricket Club were in attendance. Wreaths were placed from Balmain and Leichardt Cricket Clubs.
But, apparently, no one from the University Cricket Club.
The Club was experiencing its own difficulties, banished to 2nd Grade. Its administration had suffered from a passing parade of officials. There were five Honorary Secretaries from 1894 until 1900. Monty Faithfull stayed on as President from 1891 until 1909 but he was the only one of the venerable graduates who stayed to guide the Club through stormy seas.
And, within a twelve month period, the Club was to suffer deeper sorrows brought about by young deaths.
Seven months before Heber’s death, Dr Erskine Hugh Robison, a medical student when he scored the Club’s first century in Electorate Cricket, 113 not out vs East Sydney in 1893, died in a tuberculosis sanitorium in Nordrach, Black Forest, Germany where he was working aged 28, leaving a widow, Ethel, who was to survive him by 58 years.
And less than four months after Heber’s death, in February 1900, Robert Martin Gibson, an Arts I student in 1900, resident at St Andrew’s College, aged just 21, was drowned in a river in Queensland. He had played twice in the Club’s 1st XI in 1899-00 and once in 1900-01.
This still doesn’t explain adequately why the Club did not apparently acknowledge one of its own. Tragically, accidentally, dead at 25.
James Rodgers