Tales Of The Past: Eddie Broad

Cover photo: My Axeman downing Lord Sambeau (brown jacket) in the 1983 Doomben 10,000

By Ross Stanley

The Southport School's ethos of “We Champion Good Men” was embodied by its 1938 graduate Edmund Broad.

The item in The Brisbane Courier (July 27, 1928) about the children’s fancy dress dance at Cook's Picture Pavilion at Sherwood listed prize winners that included Eddie, aged seven, as a Native American and his elder brother Jack as the cowboy movie star Tom Mix. 

On a similar occasion three months later, Eddie went as a wicket keeper. This choice was a sign of things to come for the lad who was born on January 3, 1921.

The home he shared with his parents Herbert (Bert) William, Nellie (née Reeve) and Jack (officially Herbert John) was adjacent to Brisbane’s Corinda railway station at 3 Ruthven Street.

The property, named Roto Iti after a New Zealand lake, was blessed with a tennis court, an asset appreciated by Nellie whose long existence covered the period from January 15, 1886 to July 26, 1972. 

Her work included teaching at Taringa and Toowong State Schools plus clerical duties at the Lands Department.

Bert’s forte was golf. He was an A Grade performer as well as a multiple times captain and president of Brisbane Golf Club in the 1930s. Furthermore, he was the patron of the Graceville Bowling Club.

W.H. Broad was community spirited. During a lifetime that spanned from May 26, 1885 to July 11, 1963, he served as Rotary’s District Governor of Brisbane and was the vice-president of the Society for Crippled Children for his last two decades.

The Essex-born Broad paid for the first refrigerator for the organisation’s Montrose Home that had been established a few minutes’ drive away from his residence. He had collected the requisite £75 in shilling pieces from his fellow rail commuters during his trips to his city job at 41 Edward Street. There he managed a merchant business for his London-born uncle, Edmund Fenton Broad.

The specialities mentioned in Pugh’s 1915 Almanac for E.F. Broad’s enterprise included requisites for butchers, bakers, brewers, cordial makers and manufacturers of confectionery as well as disinfectants, sheep and cattle dips and fruit tree washes.

Early on, Edmund Fenton Broad (1859-1927) was a joiner.  He was shown as a carpenter’s mate when he emigrated to Australia on the Lusitania in 1885. The 26-year-old kicked off in Queensland before shifting to Auckland and then to Sydney.

In New Zealand, he managed the Kauri Timber Company. In Australia in 1905 he linked up with George Brown, a Brisbane timber merchant whose foundation subscription to Royal Queensland Golf Club was a form of life membership. Brown was also a member of the Brisbane Golf Club.

The pair also set up Newstead Homes and the Queensland Box Company. Edmund and his wife, Catherine, were childless. Both Jack and Eddie had stints at the helm of the Edward Street operation.

YOUTHFUL UNIFORMS

Eddie was a pupil at Sherwood State School from 1927 to 1933. In his last year there, he played cricket for Queensland in the State Primary Schools interstate carnival. The 12-year-old also represented his state in football.

Next up, the teenager’s attainments at The Southport School were par excellence. He was head prefect in 1937 and 1938 and Dux in his senior year. The boarder and captain of Delpratt House was exceptionally versatile. 

He was awarded the Chelmsford Cup-Edgar Walker Prize for the Best All Rounder in 1937 and 1938. Colours came his way for cricket, tennis, rowing, athletics and rugby union when his team were undefeated in his senior year.

Eddie’s senior subjects comprised maths A, maths B, Latin, English, French, geography and modern history. 

His first year subjects for his Arts-Law degree in 1939 at the University of Queensland in George Street consisted of English, Latin, constitutional history, political science and jurisprudence.

Broad’s sporting pursuits powered on in Varsity’s first grade cricket XI, earning a Blue in 1941. He also donned the Queensland jersey in the 1939 inter-University rugby series.

JACKETS, PARACHUTES, MAE WESTS

Wartime put Eddie’s formal education on hold. After enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force on March 2, 1941, the qualified airman became part of a large, young contingent that sailed to England in 1942 to fly with the Royal Air Force.

His countless hours of training were delivered in Tiger Moths, Ansons, Oxfords, Wellingtons, Stirlings and Lancasters.

After the frustration of being used as an instructor, Broad was delighted to be a Lancaster bomber pilot with the 467 Squadron at Waddingham in Lincolnshire from August 1944 to May 1945. 

Overall, the whole Squadron made 3833 sorties that dropped 17,578 tons of bombs. One hundred and eighteen aircraft were lost. Seven hundred and sixty of its manpower, including 284 Australians, were killed.

After the physical, emotional and mental ordeal of handling danger and destruction mainly in Northern Europe, Squadron Leader Broad had the pleasant satisfaction of transporting former prisoners of war back to Britain. 

His superb efforts were recognised with the bestowal of the Distinguished Flying Cross, 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star and the Defence Medal. 

During hostilities, Eddie played for the RAAF’s cricket side. At Lord’s in June 1943, he was at the crease with Keith Miller, the future Australian Test star who was also an English-based wartime pilot. In the opposition line up for Sir Pelham Warner’s XI were Alec Bedser, Trevor Bailey and George “Gubby” Allen, a trio fated to be notable English Test representatives.

Keith Noud in Courses for Horses relayed the story that Edmund Broad’s peacetime application to his adjutant for 10 gallons of petrol to drive from Waddington to Newmarket to attend the 1945 English Derby was refused.

The problem solver decided on an alternative, namely a 'training flight’ in a Lancaster. The crew watched Dante, the horse they were tipped, salute. The mission used 200 gallons of expensive high octane.

CIVVIES AND CAP 358

After returning post-war to Brisbane, Broad was demobilised on December 7, 1945.

Soon after, on January 12, 1946, the 25-year-old wed Elaine Moira O’Mara. The couple had maintained their romance by correspondence during the war. More travel for a different purpose lay ahead for the groom.

Eddie’s sporting focus was now rugby. GPS was his Brisbane club. He debuted for Queensland against New Zealand in 1947 and was on the reserve bench for both Tests against the trans-Tasman visitors.

As fly-half, he took part in the Wallabies’ extensive tours of Ceylon, Britain, France, Ireland and North America (July 1947–March 1948) and New Zealand (1949). He is Wallaby Number 358, having played a Test match in Sydney in 1949 against the New Zealand Māori team.

The high in 1949 was that Eddie was Queensland’s Rugby captain. The low was a knee injury that was a factor in his retirement.

During a comeback in the autumn of 1951, he went over for two tries.

After he did hang up the boots, a focal interest was being an avid spectator of the pace and stamina displayed by four legged athletes. 

In 1948, he had been elected for a place on the BATC Committee that was led by his father-in-law, Dan O’Mara. The football paddock was replaced by the saddling paddock.

During this chapter, Broad was employed in his family’s merchant business.

WIGS AND GOWNS

With financial assistance from his father, Eddie resumed his tertiary venture at the hallowed cloisters at St Lucia in 1953. The following year he was president of the Student’s Union and completed the Arts degree. At the end of 1954, LLB (Bachelor of Law) was added to his name.

His initial objective was to hang out his shingle as a solicitor. It turned out that an error had been made and he was not articled to Dan O’Mara. He successfully followed a suggestion that he should aim at being a barrister.

After his admittance to the Bar on December 15, 1955, Broad began private practice in chambers with Walter Campbell and Charles Sheahan. He was junior counsel to Dan Casey and Harry Gibbs. 

Elements of his legal career are as follows : Examiner for the Solicitors’ Board and editor of Queensland Reports (1964-68), District Court Judge (1968-1991), Licensing Court of Queensland Judge (1974–91), chairman of the Mental Health Review Tribunal (1975–85) and, in a presiding role he very much valued, the Patient Review Tribunals (1985–91) that supervised the detention and treatment of mentally ill persons. He was also a member Courts-Martial Appeal Tribunal (1976–85) and the Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal (1985–91).

SUITED TO THE TURF 

The aforementioned Daniel James O’Mara (1882-1954) was an amateur jockey in his youth. In 1923 he was a foundation member of the Brisbane Amateur Turf Club and a committeeman when the inaugural race meeting was conducted at Doomben on May 20, 1933.

O’Mara was the club’s chairman from 1945 until his death in July 1954. He had lived just long enough to know that the BATC had progressed from leasing to acquiring Doomben.

Dan grew up in Stanthorpe. His father, Michael, a racing devotee, operated the O’Mara Hotel on the same site as an earlier pub, The Sportsman’s Arms.

While Eddie shone in the high jump, long jump and hurdles, Dan was an Oakleigh Plater on the flat, claiming the 100 yards title in 1898-99 at Nudgee College and the 1900 All Schools Sprint Championship.

O’Mara was known as “The Student” when he picked up prizes in the professional events under the gaslights at South Brisbane. “Dash for cash” athletics was prominent in that era with Arthur Postle (The Crimson Flash) setting world records for five different distances between 1902 and 1913.

Dan was a solicitor. His partner was Alan Robinson, a fellow athlete with a penchant for the mile trip.

Edmund Broad was elected to fill a spot on the BATC Committee in 1948.

D.J. O’Mara was behind an inspiring, novel, bold and logical innovation when he successfully argued about a massive purse for the 1946 T.M. Ahern Memorial.

He was around when £3000 was up for grabs for the 1933 Newmarket at Doomben, an amount that  eclipsed the offering for the VRC Newmarket.

His point 13 years later was that it was better to boost the prize money and heighten the contest’s status than pay around £50,000 in tax.

Bernborough’s amazing triumph provided a fairy tale touch.

The administrator of Irish descent did lose out when he tried to hold on to Doomben’s straight six course during the post-war reopening process. £20,000 did not dissuade the Federal Government. A couple of furlongs were replaced by aerodrome expansion.

From 1954 to 1974, Eddie Broad continued with Committee work throughout Sir Clive Uhr’s tenure as the race club’s chief. A major initiative was the introduction of Saturday night trotting at Albion Park in 1968. They were halcyon days.

Broad was around the board table when other promotional projects were introduced. Examples include Gunsynd’s retirement party in 1973,the International Jockeys Series, the May Day Invitational races that showcased the top interstate riders and the racedays timed to be part of the end of season celebrations for clubs from the various football codes.

Another pivotal change after Broad took up the chairman’s reins in 1974 was the granting of full membership rights to women in September 1979. 

First to be admitted was the lawyer Alayne Peterson. Her horse, Lord Sambeau, was destined to down all bar My Axeman in the first Doomben 10,000 staged in front of the new public grandstand in 1983.

A key financial boon was generated through the acceptance of sponsorships. A catalyst was Sir Nicholas Shehadie, the director of the Sydney Turf Club who happened to be Wallaby Number 352 and a tour mate of Eddie’s.

Shehadie discerned the Federal Government’s ban on cigarette advertising could attract slices of the bulging budget to the racing industry.

He suggested the possibility to John Scott, the appropriate official at Rothmans who had managed an Australian tour by Lester Piggott that seemingly charged a $10,000 fee for riding at each raceday.

Scott met Broad at Albion Park. The upshot was that the 1980 Doomben 10,000 became the first of 10 editions of the Rothmans 100,000.

That 1980 card, by distributed $200,000 in total, was a pioneering presentation in Queensland.

Moreover, the 1980 two-day Doomben carnival was telecast by Channel 10. One of Broad’s missions was to introduce horse-racing to those who had never graced a racetrack.

Sponsorship was here to stay.

Another milestone was the sale of Albion Park in 1981. The then Racing Minister, Russ Hinze was eager to make the venue into the nation’s pacing capital. The $8 million of the payment was directed to Doomben improvements that embraced a totally new public grandstand. One million dollars was earmarked for Deagon.

The BATC’s priority for keeping faith with industry participants was demonstrated when the 1983 Stefan Sprint was washed out and the 1984 Rothmans 100,000 was hit with a workers’ strike.

Both programs were switched to midweek dates. On both occasions, the stakes were not reduced. The BATC had to take considerable losses on the chin.

The approach to the crucial issue of funding for the Deagon training facility was definitively of the dam buster and not the filibuster type.

The Courier Mail (September 27, 1985) reported the BATC chairman Judge Edmund Broad issued an ultimatum at the club’s annual meeting.

“The BATC will begin closing its Deagon training centre and reduce Doomben prize money by $1000 a race from November 2 if the Treasury or the TAB does not guarantee annual maintenance for the centre.

“Judge Broad told members that maintenance losses borne by the club pushed BATC annual figures to a $393,000 deficit.”

The BATC was not asking for any money for Doomben. The beef was that it was the only club that provided workout facilities at a second racecourse.

A six had been struck. The cover was quickly forthcoming from the Totalisator Administration Board of Queensland at the requested rate of $150,000 annually.

HIS HORSES

When it came to owning bloodstock, Headlong was not a headline act for Broad. However, the turf enthusiast derived ultimate pleasure through partnerships with the entrepreneur and BATC committeman Jim Kennedy and the federal Defence Minister Jim Killen.

Before Australian females were allowed jockey licences, the successful Kiwi flag bearer Linda Jones rode against the males at Doomben in May 1979.

After the speedy hot favourite, the Kennedy-Killen owned Going Strong, went weakly for her in the straight on the Saturday, Jones received a boost by cheering for the Maori Rugby side at Ballymore that night. The 18 all draw with Queensland was the ideal “each way” result.

Jones was given a firm “no whip” directive by trainer Jim Atkins when she partnered the long shot Pay The Purple in the Labour Day Cup on the Monday. 

The plan panned out perfectly. The In The Purple gelding raced by Kennedy, Killen and Broad scored by a short head from punters’ pick Our Cavalier with a nose to Char Boheme.

This was an historic breakthrough for the ladies. During the year, the Australian women were granted their opportunity against the men.

Doomben was a happy hunting ground. The Kiwi jockeys Dianne Moseley on Double You Em and Maree Lyndon (Mr Trick) picked up the 1982 and 1985 Doomben Cups respectively.

The next enjoyable outing for the triad came courtesy of a galloper named after Kennedy’s East Brisbane address. Wellington Road (NZ), a son of the multiple stakes-winning Summertime mare Urupukapuka (NZ), did not race until he was four.

After showing promise, the Amalgam (USA) gelding was placed in the Moonee Valley Cup, AJC Metropolitan Handicap and the STC Stayers’ Cup (3200m). In spite of respiratory issues, he was also a sound sixth in the 1982 Melbourne Cup for Graham Cook and prevailed in the 1984 Toowoomba Cup.

The three mates plus Wattle Brae stud identity Ray Turkington collected the 1987 STC Silver Slipper Stakes with Ballook, their nifty Captain Piper juvenile that was prepared by Norm Stephens and bred by Ray.

OTHER HATS 

Eddie Broad was the head of Queensland’s Olympic Council when the national 1952 Helsinki Olympic Appeal required the states to raise funds. He then stepped up to a place on the Executive of the Organising Committee for the 1956 Games in Melbourne.

These Olympics were in the purely amateur era. The initial taste of professionalism emerged in 1992 when the USA fielded The Dream Machine in the basketball competition.

From 1981 to 1985 Broad chaired the Brisbane Visitors and Convention Bureau. 

Eddie developed into a skilled and keen bridge player. So much so the Queensland Bridge Association instituted the Judge Eddie Broad trophy for the state open pairs competition.

Omar Sharif, the stellar Egyptian actor with notable credits for the movies Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl, was an international force in the card game. In his late 30s, he formed the Omar Sharif Bridge Circus and toured widely.

The dyed-in-the-wool racing aficionado used to have a regular tipping column in a Parisian racing magazine. Apparently the inveterate gambler once said: "Every time I lost, I went out and made another film."

The familiar face at Deauville and Longchamp owned his fair share of French stakes-winners tracing from Dedinin in the 1960s to Don Bosco in the 2010s. In the late 1970s, Sharif was Broad’s guest at an Albion Park fixture.

MULTIFACETED  DESCENDANTS

Edmund and Moira’s second child William died hours after his premature birth in May 1951. Susan Broad, their eldest, was an international Flight Attendant for Qantas. Catherine (Cass) George was an educator for the early childhood cohort and for speech and drama. Barbara Black was also an early childhood educator and a home economics teacher. Daniel Broad pursued Civil Engineering. 

Michael, the youngest, was a physical education teacher. After following in his father’s boot steps into the world of Rugby Union, he has chalked up more than half-a-century of involvements.

As a player, he represented his country in the Under 21 side in 1980 and Queensland in Under 18, Under 19, Under 21, Queensland B and Queensland President’s XV teams.

Currently Michael is the principal of Next Gen Rugby Coaching. His extensive and varied international roles include work in New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Andorra and Spain. 

For Australia, he was assistant coach for the Schoolboys and the All States squads (Under 19, Under 21).

At a state level, he had associations with the NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds and the Western Force. Club roles were at Souths (Brisbane) and Southern Districts (Sydney).

The Rugby Australia Level 4 Coach was Director of Sport at St. Joseph’s College at Gregory Terrace from 1981 to 2011 

Cass and Ian George’s daughter, Susannah, is the only grandchild who has been a member of an administrative body for thoroughbred racing. The founding director of the nationwide digital lifestyle platform The Urban List served on the Racing Queensland Board for a term commencing in 2016.

Eddie and Elaine’s other grandchildren have also tackled diverse fields such as violinist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, cinematography, occupational therapy, film editing, real estate, teaching, creating Putt Putt courses, coffee coaching, diesel mechanics, fashion, and one plays rugby.

Following a divorce in 1978, Edmund married Jill Anderson (née Rodgers) on January 22, 1979. 

Having reached the compulsory judicial retirement age of 70, Judge Broad completed duties on January 3, 1991. He passed away after a long illness on December 30, 1993. Subsequently, the Members Stand was named in his honour.

Aspects of two press reports about cricket encapsulate some of Edmund George Broad’s trademarks.

The Telegraph (October 16, 1939) indicated that, in scoring “85 in 127 minutes, left-handed Broad showed a lot of promise during this innings. He curbed any tendency for reckless aggression, but pasted the hittable ball with right good will.”

He was batting for university, a side captained by a future principal of Corinda State High School in Vic Honour.

The Courier Mail (January 31, 1939) stated that “Broad kept wickets splendidly for University, catching two, stumping one, and allowing only one sundry. He is a former Southport-All Schools' representative. He is only 18 years, and is a definite acquisition to A grade cricket.”

So the kid’s costume at a school ball did become the real thing! Judge Broad certainly delivered in a wonderful range of endeavours. The timing, decisiveness and the sharp eye that sport demands was also in play in courtrooms, racing venues, offices, aircraft, committee rooms and around card tables.

Like any fine gloveman, Eddie was loathe to let a chance go by.