It has been 105 years since that fateful day that the Australian Imperial Force landed at Gallipoli Cove in what was then the Ottoman Empire. Cricket in the ACT has had a strong link with the armed forces. In 1916 it was reported that seven members and the scorer of the former Ainslie club had enlisted and either were serving at Gallipoli or in training camps.
ACT Cricketers have served in conflicts starting back to the Boer War through to Vietnam. Two players who later went on to play for the ACT served in the Boer War while another 29 served in World War I. 117 ACT Cricketers served in World War II, four served in Korea, one in Peace Keeping Forces and seven served in Vietnam.
A larger number of ACT 1st Grade cricketers also served in all conflicts including a significant number who played for the Royal Military College while they were part of the ACT 1st Grade competition.
Five ACT Cricketers paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving their nation. Four during World War II and one during the peacekeeping mission in Pakistan.
Mel Crombie
Melville Mahon Crombie was one of the first Canberrans to enlist in the Second World War. He was a qualified accountant who joined the Department of the Interior after gaining first-class honours in mathematics in his leaving certificate.
He was well known in Canberra cricket circles being both the secretary of the Northbourne Cricket Club and the assistant secretary of the ACT Cricket Association. He made his ACT debut in 1936/37 and played six times for the Territory including being a member of the 1938/39 Country Week squad.
On active service he was a member of the 2/19 Battalion after serving as a member of the 3rd Battalion Militia in Australia. After he escaped capture after the fall of Singapore but was later captured in Java. He was made a prisoner of war in Burma and passed away working on the Burma Railway in 1943.
William Worthy
William John Worthy made his ACT debut at the age of just 18 in 1934/35. Born in Yass in 1916, he played for Hall and Ainslie up until the suspension of the grade competition in 1939/40.
He was a bus driver in Canberra and enlisted in the Army in August 1940. He fought on the Kokoda Track with his battalion and rose to the rank of Corporal. Serving in the 3rd Australian Infantry Battalion in Papua New Guinea, he was killed on active service on 26 November 1942 when the Australian force attacked the Japanese stronghold of Gona in Papua.
He is buried in the Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery. His twin brother, Leslie Charles Worthy had also died on active service in Papua New Guinea in March of 1942.
Edward Jones
Flight Sargent Edward Lloyd Jones died while flying a RAAF Boomerang operating out of the Strathpine airfield in southern Queensland. He crashed into the sea east of Caloundra on 10 November 1943. He was buried at the Lutwyche Cemetery in Brisbane.
Born in 1917, he played for the ACT in 1940/41 in the final match before representative matches were suspended for the rest of the war. He played for the Ainslie club in the grade competition.
He was formerly a member of the Parliamentary Hansard Staff in the Federal Parliament before moving to Hobart and was formerly a journalist with the Canberra Times and Wagga Advertiser.
Wally “Faf” Hall
Born in Footscray in 1917, Wally “Faf” Hall came to Canberra at the age of 10 when he moved to the capital in 1927 with his parents. His father was part of the Public Service Board on it’s relocation from Melbourne. He attended Telopea Park High School and was a gifted athlete while at and just after leaving school. On several occasions he ran 100 yards in just over 11 seconds at Manuka Oval and also represented the ACT National Football side in Melbourne on one occasion. He played cricket for the St Andrew’s Cricket Club in the sub-district side and from there was selected to play for the ACT on a single occasion in 1934 against Cooma in Cooma.
After he left school he joined the Commonwealth Bank and served in Canberra, Queanbeyan and Darwin. After which he enlisted in the Army in 1940 after being a member of the militia in Canberra after leaving school. He served in the 2/2 Australian Infantry Battalion embarking for the Middle East in 1941. He moved with the AIF to Papua where he saw action on the Owen Stanley Ranges on the Kokoda Track. He was killed during combat on 18 November 1942 and he is now buried in the Kokoda War Cemetery.
Robert Nimmo
Robert Harold Nimmo was a member of the first ACT (then Federal Territory) side that played Cooma on Australia Day in 1923. He played for Duntroon in the initial grade competition.
He entered the Royal Military College at Duntroon in 1912 in the second intake. He was awarded the sword of honour as the top student in his intake. He landed on Gallipoli as a troop commander in May 1915 and was evacuated due to illness in August. He served throughout the Palestine campaign in a variety of command appointments.
He returned to Duntroon in 1920 was an instructor at the RMC. He also served in various command positions as a Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel and Brigadier in New Guinea. He was promoted to Major General after the War and appointed a CBE in 1950.
Nimmo died in his sleep of a heart attack in 1966 at Rawalpindi, Pakistan while he was acting as the Chief Military Observer to the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. He had served in this role from 1950 until his death. He was buried in the ANZAC section of Mount Gravatt cemetery in Brisbane with full military and UN honours.
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