Henry C. Harrison
Encyclopedia
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
player and administrator.
Early life and professional work
Harrison was born at 'Jarvisfield', near Picton, New South WalesPicton, New South Wales
Picton is a small town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Wollondilly Shire. The town is located 80 kilometres South-west of Sydney, close to Camden and Campbelltown. It is also the administrative centre of Wollondilly Shire....
, the son of John Harrison, a sea captain who had become a grazier, and his wife Jane, née Howe. In about 1837, the family moved to the Port Phillip District
Port Phillip District
The Port Phillip District was an historical administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales, existing from September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria....
, and took up land on the Plenty River
Plenty River
The Plenty River is a tributary of the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia. Originating in the forested slopes of Mount Disappointment, the Plenty River is the source of Melbourne's first major water supply in the form of the Yan Yean Reservoir....
about 20 miles (32 km) from Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. Some years later, they moved to the present site of St Arnaud.
In 1850, Harrison's father, being broken in health, moved to Melbourne. Henry had already been sent at the beginning of the year to the Diocesan Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, located in South Yarra and Caulfield, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
(the forerunner of Melbourne Grammar). After leaving school, he spent a short time in the Victorian goldfields
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
, H. C. A. Harrison entered formal employment at the Victorian Customs Department at the end of 1853. He married his cousin, Emily Wills, in 1864 and they had four daughters.
Harrison remained with Customs for 35 years, before transferring to the Titles Office in 1888. He eventually became Registrar of Titles, before retiring in 1900. His autobiography, The Story of an Athlete, was published in 1923. Harrison died at Kew
Kew, Victoria
Kew is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Kew had a population of 22,516....
, in Melbourne, on 2 September 1929, at age of 92.
Athlete
Harrison did not discover he was a good runner until he was 22 years of age, but soon afterwards he became the finest amateur runner of his period, and his matches against L. L. Mount of Ballarat caused much public interest. For nine years he was Victorian champion 'pedestrian', defeating all comers in sprints and over hurdles and steeples. He recorded a time of 50¼ seconds over 440 yards (400 m), on a grass track.Football and cricket
Harrison's cousin Tom WillsTom Wills
Thomas Wentworth "Tom" Wills was an Australian all-round sportsman, umpire, coach and administrator who is credited with being a catalyst towards the invention of Australian rules football....
began to codify Australian rules football in Melbourne, in 1858. Wills' game eventually became the most popular kind of football of in Victoria, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
and Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. Some sources state that Harrison was involved and/or that he took part in the drafting of the first set rules, by the Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
(1859); Wills and Harrison were later recognised as the "Fathers" of Australian rules. However, there is no hard evidence that Harrison was involved in the development of Australian rules during the 1850s.
By 1866, Harrison was involved in drafting a revised set of rules, which were adopted at a meeting of delegates from Melbourne football clubs, on 8 May. A major development in these revised rules was Rule 8, which read: "[T]he ball may be taken in hand at any time, but not carried further than is necessary for a kick, and no player shall run with the ball unless he strikes it against the ground every five or six yards." Harrison was successively captain of the Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
, Melbourne and Geelong
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
clubs, and then of Melbourne again.
Harrison was elected a member of the committee of the Melbourne Cricket Club
Melbourne Cricket Club
The Melbourne Cricket Club is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is regarded as the oldest sporting club in Australia....
in 1871, and was a vice-president from 1892 until his death.
Harrison retired from football in 1872 at the age of 36. He once stated that he considered that the reason of his being able to stay so long was that he did not begin his athletic career until he was over 20. When the Victorian Football Association was formed in 1877, Harrison was elected vice-president, and in 1905 he was chairman of the first Australian Football Council, and was officially granted life membership to the council.
Following his retirement, Harrison was president of the Melbourne Football Club from 1897 to 1906.
A building, "Harrison House" in Spring Street, Melbourne
Spring Street, Melbourne
Spring Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly north-south, and is the easternmost street in the Hoddle Grid. The street travels from Flinders Street in the south, to La Trobe Street and the Carlton Gardens in the north...
, was named after him. It was purchased by the VFL in the 1920s to become their new headquarters, but later sold and demolished in the 1980s despite appeals from various heritage organisations of its historical significance.
(The Harrison Medal, which is awarded to the best player in Division 2 at the AFL U18 National Championships is often mistakenly thought to be named in his honour. It is, however, named after longtime NTFL
Northern Territory Football League
The Northern Territory Football League is an 8 team Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory.The premier grade is the largest Australian rules football league in the Northern Territory...
administrator Hunter C. Harrison.)