Sport and Colonialism in 19th Century Australasia - LA84 Foundation

PREFACE
As part of A.S.S.H. 's services to members it has been decided
to produce occasional Studies in Sports History focussing on
particular topics or themes. Suggestions for future compilations,
which may include reprints of articles already published,
are welcome.
This first issue stems from the fact that much nineteenth
century Australasian sport came as migrant baggage. It served
as a reminder of home in an unfamiliar environment, but it also
Led to charges of cultural imperialism in that sport became a
channel for the imposition of British values on colonial society.
The essays printed here examine aspects of this transfer
of British sporting traditions to the Australasian colonies.
John O'Hara presents a way of analysing colonial sports history,
in particular those sports associated with gambling, by reference
to the contemporary British experience. Dave Brown examines how
the bonds with Britain were reinforced by sporting and social
ideology, especially muscular Christianity and athleticism. The
Latter also features in Ray Crawford's case study of the transfer
of English public school ideals to a Victorian situation.
Finally Scott Crawford moves across the Tasman to consider how
Britain's sporting heritage fared in a New Zealand environment.
Several issues are raised by these essays which hopefully
other researchers will take up: perhaps honours students looking
for dissertation topics could be pointed in this direction.
To what extent were British ideas adapted to Australasian conditions
rather than merely adopted lock, stock and barrel? Was
there a significant diminution in the flow of British sporting
innovation after political independence was achieved? Moreover
British sport did not remain unchanged and the chronology of its
developments need to be assessed against that of their transfer
to Australasia, not merely in terms of their first appearance
but as to when they became generally pursued. In other instan-
ces, however, Australasia was ahead of the mother country and
this reverse flow of ideas needs to be analysed. When did
Australasian sportspersons begin to concern themselves with
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