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Tom Wills, the insubordinate life of an Australian sporting legend, Greg De Moore

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

individual biography

portraitsfacsimilesillustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

Tom Wills

bibliography

Greg De Moore

the insubordinate life of an Australian sporting legend

This is the story of Tom Wills, flawed genius, sporting libertine, fearless leader and agitator, Australia's first great cricketer the man most often credited with creating the game we now know as Australian Rules football. Sent to the strict Rugby School in England at fourteen, Tom returned as a worldly young man whose cricket prowess quickly captured the hearts of the colony. But away from the adoring crowds, in the desolation of the Queensland outback, he experienced firsthand the devastating effects of racial tension when his father was murdered in the biggest massacre of Europeans by First Nations people. Yet, five years later, Tom coached the first Aboriginal cricket team. Tom Wills lived hard and fast, challenging authority on and off the field. But when his physical talents began to fade, the psychological demons that alcohol and adrenaline had kept at bay surged to the fore, driving him to the most brutal of suicides. He was fortyfour and destitute. Greg de Moore has carefully pieced together Tom's life, giving us an extraordinary portrait of the life and times of one of Australia's first sporting heroes, a man who lived by his own rules and whose contribution to Australian history has endured for more than 150 years. This updated edition includes new research and addresses the most troubling of questions surrounding his spectacular yet tragic life

adult