Sport and Colonialism in 19th Century Australasia - LA84 Foundation

Henley's words were aptly prophetic. The hour had struck, the
world was in arms and England, 'this breeder of Nations', was
about to attempt to keep its seas. 65
In the College History published in 1921 Adamson took on
the task of writing the chapter, "The School and the War". He
was deeply affected by the long list of "his boys" who had lost
their lives, and if Adamson still believed the war had been "the
Great Adventure", and raised Australian troops "to an equality
with our race's heroes", the murderous events at Gaba Tepe, Cape
Helles, Lone Pine, Glencorse Wood, Pozieres and a hundred other
places, had left an indelible mark upon him. His own words show
something of the personal agony within him as he tried to recall
the face of a boy and visualise the place of his death:
"There are times when I can almost visualise the scene, having
tried so many times in five years, and coming back to it again
and again". 66
And perhaps more than anything he would have
found it particularly hard to move around the school and glance
at the seried rows of photographs showing Wesley's great sporting
championship teams and count out the boys who had given
their Lives. While the point may be argued, the profound influence
of the Great War marked the end of an era in Adamson's
own spectacular career. In the final decade and more of his
headship the voice of Adamson in the educational affairs of
Victoria, and in sport, was muted, and the period offers little
in terms of comparison with the force of his convictions and
efforts between 1902 and 1914.
To what extent then can Darling's accusations against
Adamson hold up? Should he be held largely responsible for an
athleticism that was seen to be exerting an exorbitant influence
in the public schools of Victoria in 1930? Perhaps it
should be admitted almost at once that Adamson set the pace and
the fashion of the games cult early in the twentieth century
and place his somewhat Lofty and romantic idealism in the vanguard
of a resurgent athleticism. His penchant for the trappings
and rituals of sport, his sense of sporting theatre, were
major contributions in an enlarged importance of the games
field and the river. However, Adamson's motivations and his
actions should be judged against the background of the thoughts
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