Sport and Colonialism in 19th Century Australasia - LA84 Foundation

They were also, now, much coveted ideals. As one ardent
Queenslander remarked: "We are not all cut out for distinguished
men of Letters, poets, philosophers, scientists, or actors.
It is therefore a commendable ambition to become a celebrated
athlete. The fittest survive in every walk of life, and those who
distinguish themselves as cricketers or footballers are worthy
of our esteem and admiration". 84
While they found it increasingly easier to justify their
concern for the healthy body in an emerging nationalistic sense
on moral grounds and in Darwinian terms, Victorian Australians
also based their exercise prescriptions on other social problems.
Failings in the country's state schools' programmes and
problems of physical and moral degeneration in the country's
cities were common topics of debate among interested groups of
reformers. When offering solutions, these people turned to
theories and ideals which promoted a healthy individualism
among the general population and which emphasised, again, a
reliance on the social and physical dimensions of evolutionary
thought. In this regard, the work of Herbert Spencer was
widely quoted and applied.
In his essay on 'Evolution and Educational Theory in the
Nineteenth-Century', Walter Humes has argued that Spencer's
Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical, published in 1861, must
feature prominently in any attempt to trace the impact of evolutionary
ideas in the field of education. 85 Historians interested
in sport and physical education in the Victorian world
have found Spencer's ideas to be extremely influential, 86 and
Victorian intellectuals themselves would have agreed too, for
to be active in the field of debate it was necessary to master
Spencer's work. 87
Articles which appeared in Australian periodicals,
such as The Melbourne Review, The Victorian Review and the
Sydney Quarterly Magazine, grappled with topics on mental hygiene,
sociological theory and educational issues from a Spencerian
standpoint. 88
Those who were impressed with his advice on 'the
preservation of health' and 'physical morality' were committed
to seeing these ideas brought to practical fruition. At a
basic Level the well-worn adage, 'the first requisite to success
in Life is to be a good animal' provided a simplistic rationale
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