Reunited: Rick Charles (left) return the Moama 1914 premiership photo to Moama Football Netball Club president Matt Lake. Photos: Aidan Briggs
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
When Rick Charles came across a framed photograph following the passing of his father, he had no idea about the mystery he would uncover.
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The picture in question, still in its original wooden frame, depicted a team of footballers wearing a dark uniform featuring a sash, with “Moama 1914 premiers” scrawled across the top of the frame.
“I can’t ever remember seeing it as a kid,” Rick said.
“But when my father passed away it was found, well, whether it was found or we just never saw it as a kid, it had ‘L. Charles — Captain, 1914 Moama Football Premiers’.”
“L. Charles”, presumed to be the man holding the football, bore a strong familial resemblance to Rick, who assumed it was his grandfather and decided to look into his family history to unearth the origins of the photo.
“When I first met with Matt (Lake, Moama Football Netball Club president), we believed it was my grandfather,” Rick said.
“We have now discovered it was most likely my great-uncle, my grandfather’s oldest brother.
“I’ve been in touch with one of my cousins this morning who’s been doing a little bit of the family history, because I wasn’t 100 per cent sure that it was my grandfather, so I did a little bit more digging.
“So, we now believe it was Louis Paul, and my cousin said he was a grocer and had the grocery shop in Moama.”
History: The original 1914 Moama premiership photo has been returned to Moama Football Netball Club.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
Rick, who lives in Griffith, was enamoured by the family history the piece held. But after mulling things over, he ultimately decided the photograph should be returned to its rightful place.
“I was speaking with my cousin this morning about that (photo) being with us, and being of much more historical importance for the club,” he said.
“My cousin and I both thought that it actually belonged down at the club instead of in our hands, basically.”
But the quest to return the photo revealed a staggering lack of evidence about Moama’s 1914 triumph.
A deep dive on Google yielded no results — Moama Football Club’s Wikipedia page lists 10 premierships, yet there is a glaring omission between the 1907 and 1930 flags, and there are seemingly no other mentions of the mysterious flag.
Contacting the club muddied the waters even further.
A fire had torn through the clubrooms in the mid to late 1950s, destroying much of the club’s history, with no solid evidence to back up the photo’s claim that Moama was the premier in 1914.
But a trawl through the original Riverine Herald pages finally provided some background to the image.
Premiers crowned: The original Riverine Herald report from August 20, 1914, on the B Grade association grand final.
A single paragraph from Thursday, August 20, 1914, shed light on the mystery, with the headline reading “B Grade Competition. Moama Premiers”.
The article states Moama played off against Echuca East for the B-grade premiership at Park Oval, with Moama’s weight and skill proving far too good for East, winning 8.12 (60) to 2.3 (15).
Going back even further, however, brought some quite interesting facts to light.
A letter to the editor from August 4, 1914, revealed the B-grade association had been formed that year, comprising Moama, Echuca East, Echuca and Koyuga, before the Koyuga side withdrew.
After Echuca was eliminated from the competition, several players applied for permits to join Echuca East to play in the grand final, with two granted — to the Echuca captain and vice-captain.
So it is that a slice of club history has been returned to Moama, and an intriguing background revealed, all thanks to Rick’s curiosity.
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