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Oldest Tasmanian Representative Football Jumper
The Tasmanian jumper was in the collection of William Leitch. William is known as the ‘GRAND OLD MAN’ of Tasmanian football. William was a player, umpire and Administrator for around 50 years. This jumper has been passed down through the Leitch family over the years. We believe the jumper ages back to around the early 1900’s somewhere between 1908 – 1915. William was the Manager of the Tasmanian team that participated in the 1914 National Carnival in Sydney so the jumper is possibly a spare jumper that William had as the teams manager in that year. The jumper was in the possession of William’s son Allan Leitch (former Carlton VFL player, 1929 Wilson Bailey Medal (TFL Best & Fairest) for a number of years and was passed down to Allan’s sons and the jumper had been worn quite a few times as the holes have been darned back up. It is amazing that a jumper of this age still exists.
The jumper has seen better days but the jumper shows that it matches the 1908 TFL Minutes book to a tee.
Donated by
Leitch Family1914 Tasmanian Carnival Player Cap – Ivor S Margetts
This 1914 Tasmanian state cap belonged to Lefroy ruckman Ivor Stephen Margetts. His hand-written nametag is stitched into the inner lining. It was presented to Margetts on the eve of the third Australian National Football Carnival, staged in Sydney in early August 1914.
Tasmania was outplayed at the carnival, beating only lowly Queensland. Margetts was named among the best players in the rout by the dominant Victoria but he was more concerned about returning home to enlist. Barely two years later he lost his life on the battlefields of the Western Front.
For more than 100 years the cap lay among the stored family belongings of Major Charles Simmons VD, Margetts’ military mentor in the Derwent Regiment in Tasmania and the one-time superintendent of the Hobart jail in Campbell Street.
Margetts was on the staff of the Hutchins school in 1914, having been drawn south from his home in Launceston two years earlier for work and for the opportunity to play with Lefroy Football Club. He had played his first game of senior football with the Launceston Football Club while still at school and made an instant impression. Tall and athletic, he was a natural star.
In his five-year senior career Margetts also played for both the North and the South in the annual games against each other, and for representative teams against touring clubs from Melbourne. Lefroy won the Southern premiership in 1912 with Ivor among the team’s best players, then beat North Launceston for the first official state premiership.
When not in residence at Hutchins, Margetts boarded with the Simmons family in the jail superintendent’s house at the bottom of Melville Street. Charles, his wife Amy and daughters Jean and May, treated the cheery and popular Margetts as their adopted son and brother.
War was declared the day the Tasmanian team arrived in Sydney for the 1914 carnival. Margetts left all his belongings with the Simmons family. He received a commission in the 12th Battalion and sailed with the first convoy to depart Australia in October 1914. The 12th was among the first Anzacs to land at Gallipoli on 25th April the following year and Ivor was conspicuous with his bravery on that extraordinary day.
Margetts survived Gallipoli, being the only Allied officer to spend the entire nine months of the campaign on the peninsula. However, in July 1916 he was killed by shrapnel on the first day of fighting at Pozieres on the Somme. His death was felt across the state, given his reputation as a footballer and his popularity with the troops.
Charles Simmons kept Margetts’ state cap with the many letters Margetts wrote back to Hobart from the front. When Charles died suddenly in 1930, his family kept the cap and it eventually passed to Charles’ grandson Robin Jones. When Robin died in Melbourne in 2017, the cap was rediscovered and donated to the Tasmanian football history collection in 2023.
Donated by
Hugh Jones1926 Tasmanian Government Insurance Office Medal
1926 TGIO Tasmanian Triangular Football Contest won by the TFL
Medal awarded to Jack Charlesworth
Donated by
David Charlesworth1890 Holebrook Football Team – STFA & State Premiers
1890 Holebrook Football Team – Premiers of North and South
Back Row: G Morley, F Hudson, H Thompson, C Barlow, W Shea, A Stuart, C Gibson, J Donnellan, W C Howe, J K. Reid (Hon. Sec.)
Middle Row: T Munro, P Tabart, A Cook, W Gosman, C J Eady (Captain), F Reynolds, J S. Howe
Front Row: H Green, R Dawes, P Willing, J McKenzie, P Lovett, W Jeffrey
Scores: Holebrook v Railway – STFA Final
STFA Premiership Game – 6th September 1890 – (Wet Day – Heavy Rain)
Holebrook 1.5 1.8 1.8 3.11 (29)
Railway .4 .5 2.7 2.7 (19)Best Holebrook: R Dawes, F Hudson, E Stephens, P Willing, C J Eady
Railway: W Gregg (B.O.G), F Langford, E Collins, T Hehir, R LangworthyGoals Holebrook: P Lovett, P Willing, C J Eady (Drop Kick)
Railway: W Gregg, J DunlopVenue: Risdon Ground – Attendance: Large
Umpire: T Bagley Goal Umpires: C McAllan, J K ReidTeam Lists:
Holebrook: C J Eady (Captain), S Howe, C Barlow, A Cook, R Dawes, C Gibson, W Gosman, H Henri, W Howe, F Hudson, W Jeffrey, P Lovett, J McKenzie, T Munro, F Reynolds, W Shea, E Stephens, A Stuart, H Thompson, P Willing
Railway: D Jolly, R Langworthy, J Sibley, C Richards, W Gregg, J Briggs, S Dunlop, F Langford, T Hehir, A Nicholson (Captain), Lloyd, C Cherry, W Markham, E Collins, W Moore, J Agree, W Cooper, E Jolly, J Carney, J Gallagher
Donated by
Adrian Collins1939 – 1945 Lefroy Football Club Memorial Trophy
1939 – 1945 Lefroy Football Club Memorial Trophy – Presented to TANFL IN MEMORY OF MEMBERS MAKING THE SUPREME SACRIFICE – WORLD WAR II
This trophy was presented to the senior TFL team that finished on top of the ladder after the Home & Away season.
The trophy was awarded between 1945 to 1983 to the respective club who finished on top of the ladder.
Winners of the trophy were:
- 1945 North Hobart District
- 1946 New Town District
- 1947 Hobart District
- 1948 New Town District
- 1949 Hobart District
- 1950 Hobart District
- 1951 New Town District
- 1952 Hobart District
- 1953 Hobart District
- 1954 Hobart District
- 1955 Hobart District
- 1956 North Hobart District
- 1957 Glenorchy District
- 1958 New Norfolk District
- 1959 North Hobart District
- 1960 Clarence District
- 1961 North Hobart
- 1962 North Hobart
- 1963 Sandy Bay
- 1964 New Norfolk
- 1965 Glenorchy
- 1966 New Norfolk
- 1967 Glenorchy
- 1968 New Norfolk
- 1969 Nort Hobart
- 1970 Sandy Bay
- 1971 Clarence
- 1972 Sandy Bay
- 1973 Sandy Bay
- 1974 Glenorchy
- 1975 Clarence
- 1976 Sandy Bay
- 1977 Sandy Bay
- 1978 Sandy Bay
- 1980 Glenorchy
- 1981 Clarence
- 1982 New Norfolk
- 1983 Glenorchy
Donated by
TFL1927 Tasmanian Carnival Team
1927 Tasmanian Carnival Team – Melbourne
Donated by
Wayne Flanagan1951 A W Orchard Trophy – Terry Cashion
1951 A W Orchard Trophy – Terry Cashion
Best Player for the NTFA in Intrastate Matches
Donated by
Robert Shaw & Damien DillonCommonwealth Jubilee Perpetual Trophy – Intra-State Competition (1951 – 1979)
The Commonwealth Jubilee Perpetual Trophy was first awarded in 1951. The trophy was donated by the Commonwealth Jubilee Sporting Committee and the committee was represented by the Chairman Mr E W (Bill) Barwick who presented the perpetual trophy to the TFL League President Mr Merv A S McNeair. The trophy is for perpetual intra-state competition among the senior football bodies of the State (NTFA, NWFU & TFL).
The trophy was not awarded for the years of 1957, 1922 and 1974.
The trophy is a historical piece of Tasmania’s football history as the trophy has been in the hands of players and coaches like Jack Rough, Roy Cazaly, GB ‘Paddy’ Martin, Darrel Baldock, Gordon Bowman, John Devine, Trevor Leo, John Leedham and many more legends of Tasmanian Football. There were some fierce battles between the TFL, NTFA & NWFU through the golden era of Tasmania football in the 50’s, 60’s.
Donated by
Tasmanian Football League1913 Tasmanian Football League Premiership Medal – State Premiers
1913 Tasmania Football Leage – State Premiers Medal
Player unknown
______________________________________
TFL Premiership Match – 16th August 1913 – TCA Ground
Cananore 4.3 7.4 7.6 10.13 (73)
Lefroy 2.3 2.5 3.9 4.12 (36)Best Players
Cananore: R Featherstone, Bryan, C Badenach, E Randall, K Bailey, K Goddard, L Bennison, B Carter, A Westwood, Davey, HuxtableLefroy: I Margetts, J Pennicott, Burton, N Winzenberg, T Carroll, Townley, V Geard, Morrison, F Green, Allison, J Barnett, McEnulty
Goals:
Cananore: A Westwood (2), R Featherstone (2), E Randall (2), K Goddard E Absolom, C BadenachLefroy: V Geard (2), W Graves, L Sullivan
No state premiership game was played as Launceston refused to play under umpire C Dwyer.
Donated by
Anonymous Donor1927 Tasmanian Football League – Premiership Medal (Jack Charlesworth)
Cananore Football Club won the 1927 TFL Premiership and were also State Premiers in 1927. Jack Charlesworth was Captain of the Cananore Football Club from 1924 to 1928. Cananore developed into one of the most powerful teams Tasmania has ever seen, claiming a total of 10 TFL and State Premierships between 1921 and 1927. This included a hat trick of TFL/State Doubles from 1925 to 1927. Charlesworth was one of the first picked players for not only TFL combined teams (featuring more than 20 times) but also for Tasmania, with Charlesworth representing his state on more than a dozen occasions including two National Carnivals in 1924 and 1927, the latter as Captain.
However, arguably his greatest representative success came in one of Tasmanian football’s greatest victories against South Australia in Adelaide in 1923. Given no chance against the home side the TFL Representative team recorded a famous 32 point victory, with Charlesworth kicking two goals and completely blanketing Sturt champion and future test cricketer – Victor Richardson, regarded by many at the time to be the best centreman in the country. These sorts of outstanding performances saw Charlesworth regularly approached about crossing to Victoria to play VFL football, however as was the case with many of his teammates – Charlesworth resisted all offers, content to simply ply his trade in Tasmania.
Donated by
David Charlesworth1920’s Horrie Gorringe portrait
Late 1920’s Horrie Gorringe portrait which hung in the hallway of the grandstand at North Hobart oval with other notable players from the early 1900’s. This portrait has seen better days but a photo of the original was sent to us by the family of Albert Collier.
Also see photo above of the photo with Horrie’s grandson Tim and great grandsons.
Unfortunately the item has got wet over the years and some of the portrait has faded and smudged.
Donated by
TFL1924 Australian National Football Carnival Print – Hobart
1924 Australian National Football Council – state team photo montage
Donated by
TFL
Our Collection
The Tasmanian Australian Rules History and Heritage Museum Inc. (TARHHM) shall collect, conserve, research and exhibit our footballing history and heritage to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the game and the impact it has had on the state of Tasmania. The objective shall be to promote Australian Rules Football as a valuable cultural and sporting force within the community.
The primary emphasis of the collection will be on Australian Rules Football as played in the State of Tasmania at the highest level in and/or by Tasmanians but it will also reflect the game played at all levels including at the community and social level.
Our group will undertake research into the collection and energetically disseminate the results through its exhibitions, publications, public programs and website for the benefit of the Tasmanian and Australian community. A high standard of integrity and management of the collection is paramount to this objective.
View collectionWhat’s On
In 2024 our group will be displaying items from our ever-growing collection in Libraries Tasmania locations around the state.
2023 saw us show off some of our collection items in displays in Ulverstone (July), Devonport (September) and Hobart (September/October/November).
November 2022 was our first display as a group at the Hobart library which had good support from the public.
Below are some of the photos from these displays.
Keep watching this page for dates and times of our next displays around the state.
See what's onAbout Us
The Tasmanian Australian Rules History and Heritage Museum group promotes, celebrates, and educates about the long and storied history of football in Tasmania, Australia.
We started our group during Covid19 to keep people connected and it has grown into a group who are now looking to share their treasures and preserve our rich Tasmanian history and heritage.
OUR DREAM
In partnership with the Tasmanian Government the AFL and Libraries Tasmania, and we will continue our strong relationships with Tasmanian football communities, AFL Tasmania and the Tasmania Football Club. Our goal is to have our museum housed in the stadium or within the Macquarie Point Precinct. We are a passionate group and we aim to have one of the best Australian football museums in the country.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
John Klug (Co-Chair)
Ross Latham (Co-Chair)
Robert Shaw (Deputy Chair)
David Charlesworth (Public Officer)
PROJECT MANAGER/HISTORIAN (SOUTH - EAST COAST)
Damien Dillon
PROJECT OFFICER/HISTORIAN (NORTH - NORTH-WEST)
Matt Hillier
GENERAL COMMITTEE
David Langmaid
Steve Old
Helen Lethborg
Mark Colegrave
Donate
We’re always grateful to people who donate their own treasured objects to our collection. Many important items have been kindly donated by the friends and family of past and present generations of Tasmanian footballers, officials and families.
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