St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future

JY002

Waratahs/Wallabies jersey circa 1904. Light blue. Waratah flower embroidered on breast. White square with black '6' on back.

Jersey

CIC

Swansea RFC

1904

This jersey can be accurately dated as from the 1904 British Isles tour to Australia and New Zealand. The jersey is in the colours of the New South Wales Waratahs. This kit was also emulated by Australia (Wallabies) teams who toured or played under the auspices of the New South Wales Union. Likewise they adopted the colours of the Queensland Union when playing under their jurisdiction and combined colours when playing under both. As the jersey does not display "AUSTRALIA" beneath the Waratah flower this tells us that it dates from 1904 or 1910, when the Wallabies teams wore such a jersey without the added text. As we know that Swansea's Fred Jowett were both on the 1904 tour and that only Bevan presented memorabilia to Swansea RFC (Jowett went 'north' to Hull Kingston Rovers in 1905 taking any memorabilia with him); we can say that this jersey was presented to the club by Sid Bevan on his return from the 1904 tour. Bevan played three times against the Waratahs and in all three tests against the Wallabies on the Australian leg of the tour. This jersey was was swapped on one of these matches, either against the New South Wales Waratahs or against the Australian national team. The early designs varied slightly from year to year and so, the jersey can be quite accurately dated. The first Australian rugby tourists to Britain in 1908 wore a similar jersey but with 'Australia' beneath the Waratah emblem. These are the colours that the Australian team wore when they were defeated by Swansea on Boxing Day 1908 at St Helen’s.

jersey, waratahs, australia, 1908