Neither home nor away

Abstract

This article critiques the symbolism of the journey as a team of Australian cricketers voyaged to India in 1935 embarking on the first Australia cricket tour to the subcontinent. Travel and tourism theories explicate the reactions of the cricketers to the ambivalence of being neither home nor away. This article asks: what did the Australians learn about themselves, their home and their destination whilst in transit? The theme of transition, both physical and emotional, is the central focus of this study. The journey on the ship signifies the team’s last immersion (for the duration of the tour) within exclusively English structures and customs. The cricketers’ insecurity when faced with the looming unknown upon descending the gangplank into India is extrapolated from available sources. The influence of Frank Tarrant as leader and educator intensified in the artificial hermetic vacuum of the ship’s environment. The unceremonious departure scenes in Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle are described and contrasted with the formality of the arrival in Bombay; such contrasts epitomize and underpin the cultural differences encountered throughout the tour.

Notes

1. The team travelled from Melbourne to Ceylon on the SS Mongolia and then travelled on the SS Chitral to Bombay.

2. The ABC stipulated that they were not to be referred to as the Australian team however colloquially they were.

3. The article is undated however it is most likely referring to the English tour of Australia in 1907/08.

4. The cricketers from Queensland and New South Wales had previously boarded the Mongolia in their home states and had been stationed in Melbourne for a few days.

5. In a letter dated December 4, 1935, Jack Ryder mentions to his wife that he has sent two dozen Christmas cards to Australia including one to Canon Hughes, which suggests he was either a friend or someone who Ryder felt it was politically important to acknowledge for Christmas.

6. Collingwood and Richmond are inner city Melbourne suburbs. In the early twentieth century they were both working class areas with an intense sporting rivalry.

7. The reputation of India being oppressively hot was, at times, accurate however the tour took place during the Indian winter and the players equally complained about the cold weather.

8. The leg before wicket rule was constantly being revised resulting in public condemnation and player uncertainty.