March 02, 2010
Ben Chifley and the Bathurst Football Club
A recent addition to our collection is this photo, taken in 1911, of the Bathurst Football Club rugby union team, including future prime minister of Australia J. B. Chifley. Chifley appears in the middle row at right of picture. The photo was recently scanned from the family collection of Lynne Pearson for the museum, by a family member aware of our particular interest in prime ministers. Sam Malloy, Coordinator of the Chifley Home at Bathurst, has commented that it is the best he has yet seen of Chifley in his rugby days.
Born in Bathurst on 22 September, 1885, Chifley was 26 when this photo was taken. He attended Patrician Brothers’ High…