On Australia Day weekend in 1885, some of the greatest athletes in Australia raced at the North Ipswich Reserve. I told a version of this story live on Ipswich’s West Bremer Radio.
On the afternoon of Saturday the 24th of January 1885, a large number of people assembled at the Recreation Ground in North Ipswich, Queensland, to witness two footraces.
The first was between Charley Linden and J. P. Leon for a £5 prize, the distance 50 yards, and Leon receiving a five-yard start. The handicap was too much for Linden, and Leon won by about four feet.
The second was between Linden and John Barlow, for £5, over 150 yards, and Barlow getting a fifteen-yard start. This time Linden overhauled his opponent a short distance from the end and won by two feet.
This was pedestrianism or professional running, back when the sport, and the betting, boomed. Leon and Linden each won £5 that day which was the equivalent of two weeks wages or more than $5,000 in today’s money, and they were among the best athletes in Australian history.
The Linden-Barlow match race was a rematch from the previous weekend at Peak Mountain when Linden had easily beaten Barlow who was off just five yards on that occasion.
Barlow was a local favourite, winning events such as the Harrisville Amateur Handicap over 150 yards. Barlow became licensee of the Commercial Hotels in Ipswich and Rosewood and a horse stud owner.
Ipswich’s Linden was much more famous. His older brother became the New Zealand champion. Linden remained in Ipswich and became a champion in his own right.
He was the favourite in almost every race he entered. He was the backmarker for the Laidley Sheffield Handicap. He won Ipswich’s big All Comers Jubilee Cup after starting off scratch.
Linden was among the favourites and the best of the Queenslanders at the rich Botany Handicap in Sydney in 1888. Prizemoney totalled £800, with a life-changing £500 going to the winner. He couldn’t overcome his handicap, but the winner that year was Ipswich’s Australian champion Jim McGarrigal.
Back to those Ipswich match races in 1885, Linden won his second race, but it’s the man who beat him in the first J.P. Leon was perhaps the greatest all-round athlete in Australian history.
J.P. Leon wasn’t his real name. Aliases were common in professional running back then because of the betting and amateur status rules. He was a well-known Brisbane footballer and cricketer who ran under the assumed name whenever he went to Ipswich.
But no one here was ever going to reveal his true identity because he was one of their own who recently moved to the capital. His real name was more than likely Ernest Hutton, a handsome, six-feet-two fellow, weighing about thirteen and a half stone in peak condition, with a charming personality. He was the most noted amateur athlete of his day.
He attended Ipswich Grammar School where he cleaned up the sports competitions. He went to the Sydney University and was the best athlete there. He then went to Melbourne University and won the athletic championship there.
Hutton was the champion tennis player of both Queensland and Victoria, represented both Queensland and New South Wales at rugby, also played Australian Rules football and was named in the Queensland team of the 19th century.
Hutton played first class cricket for both Queensland and Victoria. When called on as a substitute against England, the English captain W.G. Grace objected to Hutton being on the field as a substitute, because he considered Hutton the best outfield he’d ever seen.
Contemporaries considered him the greatest all-round athlete that Australia would ever produce. Ernest Hutton was from Ipswich, and he was one of those superstar athletes who ran on the North Ipswich Reserve over the Australia Day weekend 141 years ago.
Wouldn’t it have been great to have been there for a brilliant celebration of our national day!
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY ON WEST BREMER RADIO
Photo credits:
Representation of the 1885 North Ipswich match races – CoPilot image.
Jim McGarrigal professional runner Sydney, New South Wales c1885 – Bruce Howard Collection, National Library of Australia.
Ernest Hutton, footballer – Boomerang, Brisbane, 6th October 1888, page 14.
History Out There 