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Did Don Bradman break his leg or not?

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

It seemed that everything possible had been written about the greatest cricketer the world had ever seen so how would a lady in Rockhampton know something the museum didn’t know?

The young Don Bradman in 1930.

One of Central Queensland’s oldest cricketing fans Stella Newton was about to jog the memory of the great Sir Donald Bradman whose only visit to the area ended in complete disaster.

In the summer of 1930 sports mad Queenslanders flocked to Rockhampton in trains and buses watch a country eleven take on the visiting New South Wales team.

The visit would see Bradman sidelined for three months and the fans return home unfulfilled.

Bradman’s Bowral museum didn’t know about it but 93-year-old old Stella Newton was about to spring a surprise.

Back in 1930, she was aged 27.

An excited crowd of children met the “cricket train” bringing the New South Wales team.

Girls wanted to dance with The Don.

Prior to the match a dinner-dance in honour of the visitors was staged in Rockhampton. Bradman attended and local girls would have given anything to dance with the hero who was not only light on his feet but also recognized for his singing talents.

That made him a true all-rounder.

The day of the match brought an air of expectancy with the country side electing to bat first.

Stella selected a location on the fence at Rockhampton showground, just metres from where Bradman stood in the outfield.

She could almost reach out and touch him. Just 15 minutes into the match the Don dived for a ball to prevent a certain boundary and remained sprawled on the turf. He was apparently writhing in severe pain with a broken ankle.

Women screamed, the crowd was shocked.

The hero that many had hoped to see just once in their lifetime was helped off the field and hospitalised for two weeks. The rest of the match was an anticlimax by comparison.

Ivy Newton is aged 102 and lives in Rockhampton’s Benevolent Home.

Not mentioned in his books.

His broken ankle was not mentioned in any of the Bradman books or albums and Stella’s recollection even came as a surprise to the Bradman Museum.

The Don turned 88 when Stella reminded him of the incident back in 1996. Bradman described it as a “nasty break which forced me to use a walking stick for a couple of months.”

“protected” from local girls.

Local girls tried to visit Bradman to speed his recovery but he was quarantined supposedly for his peace of mind. Stella’s brother Gilbert Newton was doing electrical work at the hospital and had a perfect opportunity to cheer him up. He recalls nurses shooing him away. It seems they kept the cricketer to themselves.

Stella decided not to try and visit the Don. She had never chased a guy and she wasn’t going to start now. When interviewed, at the age of 93, she was still single and with a sharp memory and was still a mad keen follower of cricket.

Stella’s knowledge of blokes.

Stella began an office career in 1918 with local merchants Walter Reid and Co. Young chaps subjected her to the hijinks of stealing her ribbons and running away with them.

That was as bad as office harassment got back then.

“I quickly worked out that they would bring back my ribbons and still talk to me if I didn’t chase them.” she recalled.

She always enjoyed the company of males “without needing to run after them,” and The Don wasn’t an exception.

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