WHN Admin.
Today, Enid Hilda McMullan would have been 102.
She was a woman who, while aspiring to become a school teacher, assisted on her parents’ farm and her first aspiration evolved into utmost kindness to her future school teacher daughter-in-law. Aspiration was never far from Enid’s life while she worked in a traditional way, as helpmeet to a dedicated trade unionist and Australian Labor Party (ALP) stalwart; voluntary worker for the ALP, particularly at election time, including facilitating interstate voting in Perth; and mother to three boys. They found various career paths of note, including Labor Member of Parliament. All of this work is worthy of recognition and in some of these capacities she won some publicity: becoming a Life Member of the ALP and acknowledgement as a star at devising brilliant trivia questions for Labor fundraisers.
However, she also had a major public role in the world of cricket. Women cricketers are now coming into their own, with the T20 being televised in 2016 – and being so popular that coverage was extended by Channel 10. However, Enid’s contribution to cricket began far earlier, in a less publicised role, and one that was not seen traditionally as ‘women’s work’.
Enid McMullan was the first and certainly the only[1], Australian woman scorer of first class cricket matches and Tests played in Western Australia in the early 1970s. The first Test Cricket match she scored was in December 1970, between Australia and England. This was the first Test to be held at the WACA (Western Australian Cricket Association). By that time she had spent twenty-two years scoring at the Midland-Guilford matches and over ten seasons at the WACA Ground covering first class matches. A newspaper report at the time notes:
Anyone who thinks that keeping the dozens of statistical records associated with a Test match is easy …Every ball has to be watched, every run recorded and each umpire’s signal acknowledged -her attention cannot waver.[2]
Enid’s role at the matches did not stop there. She provided information to the press on innings times and bowling statistics.
Speaking of statistics – Enid recorded Barry Richard’s 300 runs at the WACA in 1970. She referred to the South African star as ‘the best she’d ever seen’. [3] And, went on to say he ‘certainly kept me busy that day’.[4] Another demanding job keeping score that she recalled was the 25 –over match between the Australian team and The Rest of The World team, saying:
More than 500 runs were scored in 50 overs – the pencil sharpener was working overtime.[5]
Photo: John Campbell
[1] It is most likely that she was the first, as no information about others was received when her story was written up in the Western Australian newspaper in 1970. In addition, she was possibly the only woman Test scorer in the world at the time.
[2] West Australian, 1970 newspaper clipping, ‘Mrs Mac Knows The Test Score’, story by Robbie Burns,
[3] Burns.
[4] Burns.
[5] Burns.
