Secondary School (years 8-11) - State Library of South Australia

The Bradman Collection
Notes for teacher s
These pages can be used as a springboard for discussion after
a tour of the Bradman Collection or as activity sheets in class.
By following the career of Sir Donald Bradman, students can
examine an aspect of Australian life from the depression years
to the Second World War, exploring Australia’s national identity
and how it is reflected in the sporting arena.
“Sir Donald Bradman
is regarded by many as
the greatest batsman
in the history of cricket
and was one of Australia’s most revered
sporting personalities”
Although these learning pages
reflect the SACSA framework
for Years 10-11 Society and
Environment and English
and cover the Essential
Learning areas of
Identity, Thinking and
Communication, they can
be adapted to suit lower
secondary learning outcomes.
Bradman: The Early Years 1908 – 1930
The Bradman Collection
Read the brief biography of Sir Donald Bradman on the Bradman
Digital Library (www.slsa.sa.gov.au/bradman/thomasbio.htm ) to
answer the following:
1. What activity did the young Donald do that might have contributed to his batting technique?
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2. Where did Bradman make his first century? How old was he?
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3. When did Don Bradman first become captain the Australian
cricket team?
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Bradman: The Early Years 1908 – 1930
The Bradman Collection
The Sheffield Shield matches marked Bradman’s debut in first class
cricket and where his outstanding talents as a batsman were first acknowledged. The match between NSW and QLD saw Bradman smash
the previous record held by Bill Ponsford of 437. Bradman scored an
amazing 452 in just 415 minutes of play. Altogether he made a total
of 1000 runs for the season and was thereafter referred to as “the run
making machine.”
4. Read the newspaper report of the Sheffield Shield match between
NSW and QLD from the Sydney Morning Herald January 6, 1930.
5. Rewrite in your own words how Bradman played and took the NSW
team to victory. Note the language used by journalists to describe
Bradman’s achievements on the oval and what words are used to convey emotion and excitement. Write your article in a similar manner to
capture the feeling of the day, but in a style modern day readers would
respond to.
Sir Donald Bradman travelled to England with the Australian cricket
team when Australia challenged England for the Ashes in 1930.
6. What are the Ashes?
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7. How often do England and Australia play for the Ashes?
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The Bradman Collection
Bradman: The Early Years 1908 – 1930
The Bradman Collection
8. Using these weblinks and other resources in your library, research the
story behind the Ashes tradition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashes
http://www.334notout.com/ashes/reports/report6.htm
9. How many times has Australia won the Ashes?
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The Bradman Collection
The 1933 Test series, England versus Australia, became known as the
Bodyline Series. The captain of the English team, Douglas Jardine
used a particular tactic designed to unseat Bradman’s spectacular
record.
1. What tactic did the captain of the English team use? Describe
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2. Was it successful? Why?
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The Bodyline Series
3. What was the reaction of the Australian spectators?
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The Bradman Collection
Jardine and the English bowlers continued their strategy in Adelaide
during the summer of 1933 and caused a sensation in the cricketing
world. Commenting on what was happening on the oval, the captain of
the Australian team, Bill Woodfall, remarked:
“There are two teams out there. One of them is playing cricket and the
other is making no attempt to do so.”
4. What do you think was meant by that remark?
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Australia in the 1930s was looking for a national hero.
Times were bleak, the world was in the grip of the great
The Bodyline Series
Depression and Bradman raised the spirits and the
hopes of a nation. Donald Bradman, the boy from
Bowral, rose from obscurity to widespread acclaim.
Douglas Jardine on the other hand was the son of well to
do parents who paraded himself on the oval and flamboyantly went
into bat wearing a harlequin cap and a silk choker. His manner stood
in sharp contrast to that of the Australian team who were by and large
sons of working class men. The game was shaping up to be more than
just a sporting match between the two countries. Jardine saw himself
as defender of the British Empire against a renegade colony trying
to beat England at its own game. So, when Douglas Jardine devised
his plan to bring Bradman down, Australians saw it as an attack on
themselves.
The Bradman Collection
The headline for the Advertiser January – 1931 read “Bradman versus
England”
5. What does that headline say to you about Australia’s relationship with
England at that time?
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6. You are a spectator at Adelaide Oval and witnessed the bodyline
match. Describe your reaction to the events on the oval and the reaction
of the crowd in a letter to the Advertiser.
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The Bodyline Series
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7. Sir Don tells young cricketers to play for the love of the game. Given
that Sir Donald played during cricket’s most controversial years, what
does this say about his attitude towards the sport?
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Sir Donald Bradman and the Invincibles
The Bradman Collection
In 1948 the Australian cricket team, with Bradman as their captain,
sailed to England to play for the Ashes. They won every match they
played and returned to Australia in triumph. They have gone down in
history as being the greatest sporting team in Australia. At age 40, it
was Bradman’s last tour and a fitting end to his career.
8. What records were made during that tour that earned the Australian
team their name?
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The Bradman Collection
Like most heroes, Sir Donald Bradman has been immortalized in song.
Jack O’Hagan penned ‘Our Don Bradman” in 1930 when the Bradman
phenomenon first took off. John Williamson wrote and sang “Sir Don”
for Bradman’s funeral in 2001. The name Bradman has become synonymous with cricket and Sir Donald Bradman has become an Australian icon. His batting record remains unsurpassed to this day and he is
renowned as the world’s greatest cricketer.
Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly in his song ‘Bradman” describes Bradman as “more than just a batsman, he was something like the tide”.
9. In the light of what you have learned about Sir Donald Bradman and
his life and times, write down your thoughts on whether or not you think
the words of Paul Kelly’s song describe Bradman’s cricketing career.
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Bradman the Legend
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The Bradman Collection
Follow these links for further information on Sir Donald Bradman’s
Further information on Sir Donald
career.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Bradman
- http://www.abc.net.au/btn/australians/bradman.htm
- http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/donbradman/
For further information on Sir Donald Bradman refer to:
- Our Don Bradman. Edited by Philip Derriman, Sydney,ABC Books
2001
- Farewell to Bradman: selected writings on the life and times of the
world’s greatest cricketer. Edited by Peter Allen, Sydney, Pan Macmillian, 2001
- Bodyline (DVD)
- The Invincibles (Videorecording)
- The Bradman Digital Library, State Library of South Australia :
http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/bradman/