OBJECT TITLE / NAME

Football Memorial, Court House c.2003

DATE2003

MEDIAImage

COLLECTIONMornington and District Historical Society

REG NO.1466

HISTORY

On the night of May 21st 1892 fifteen members of the Mornington Football Club were drowned whilst on their way home from a match at Mordialloc. There were no survivors and only four bodies were recovered. The 15 young men had elected to sail to Mordialloc on the boat Process owned and skippered by Charles Hooper. The remainder of the team travelled by train. Process was fishing vessel, built in 1887. She was 28 feet long, by 8 feet beam. Mr Hooper had rigged the boat with racing sails which he used when racing in regattas. After the drawn match, Process set off for home, expecting to arrive between 8 and 9pm. The alarm was raised by Mr Short, the manager of the Commercial Bank in Main Street, a member of the team who had travelled home by train. He went to see Joseph Grover whose seventeen year old son, and 25 year old brother both named William were on board. Joseph set off in his buggy to Mordialloc, to see if the team had left. Meantime, Mr Short and Mr Hutchins went to the pier to keep watch, when Joseph Grover returned saying the boat had sailed ass expected. They went to Reverent Caldwell’s house to inform him. He had 3 sons who had sailed on the boat that day.
The following morning two fishing boats found the partially submerged Process. No one can be certain of what happened, but it is thought a sudden squall occurred close to Pelican Reef and had upset the boat. The large yacht Wanderer helped bring Process to the surface. The body of Alfred Lawrence was in the boat, trapped by a rope twisted around his thigh. 3 more bodies were found over the following two weeks. James Firth and John Kenna were found on the beach at Mt Eliza and Charles Hooper Jnr was found at Rosebud. All but John Kenna were buried in the Mornington Cemetery. Hardly a family in the area was unaffected. The Rev. Caldwell lost 3 sons. Seventy five pounds were set aside for a memorial.

DESCRIPTION

This photo shows the Football Memorial from the Beach side, with the Court House in the background. It is a stone obelisk, and has a small square garden around it, with a wrought iron fence painted white.

SUBJECTS

Boats, Disasters, Trains

KEYWORDS

Allchin, Charles, Boats, Caldwell, Hugh, Caldwell, James R, Caldwell, William L, Coles, William H, Commercial Bank, Disasters, Firth, James, Football Disaster, Grover, Joseph Dale, Grover, William, Hooper, Charles, Hooper, Charles F, John, Comber, Kenna, John, Lawrence, Alfred, Milne, George C M, Mornington, Mornington Football Club, Trains, Williams, Charles