Sport and Colonialism in 19th Century Australasia - LA84 Foundation

ut failed in his finals. He subsequently qualified as a licentiate
in Edinburgh and Glasgow in Britain to gain working experience
in the health field. 97
His ideas however, were also
based on additional experiences. He was extremely fond of the
outdoor life and counted hunting and boxing among his hobbies.
He had also been schooled at Sutherland's Carlton College. His
thoughts on instruction of school hygiene were not unlike those
of his former headmaster; it would "increase educational efficiency
and... raise the physical and mental standard of the
race... for the struggle of modern competition". 98
The 'stamina'
of the nation, he opined, depended largely "upon the healthy
or unhealthy condition of the children" in the schools. 99
He
developed a comprehensive philosophy and programme of health
education which relied on developments in Britain and North
America, and which covered aspects of ventilation, sanitary
accommodation, hygiene curriculum, nutrition, clothing and a
system of checking children's physical state which became a
model throughout Australia after 1900 during his service as
Tasmania's chief health officer, and later as Queensland's Commissioner
of public health. 100
Although the impact of Elkington's crusade for health
education affected the Edwardian Australian world, its basis
was decidedly Victorian in tone and outlook. 101
The movement
was partly prompted and supported by an amalgam of prevailing
ideas, very similar to the diverse strands of thought which had
a profound influence on the ideological structure of Australian
sport and society; the muscular Christian sentiments of Hughes
and Kingsley, and the physical dimensions of the social theories
of Spencer and Darwin. The blend of these ideas was complex
and, of course, not always, consistent. But it was an enduring
feature of Victorians' attitudes towards athletic exercises and
physical development. In 1900, for example, W.B. Carmichael
and H.C. Perry published their book, Athletic Queensland, an apt
title and a sign of the times. Rowing was cited as a healthy
and beneficial activity. It developed a 'true manly spirit'
and 'endurance'. It inculcated 'the old indomitable spirit of
pluck and determination' through the 'fierce struggle of the
race'. 102
Gymnastics, meanwhile brought about 'a superior
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