Personalities > Edward Trickett

Edward Trickett

Edward Trickett (1851 – 1916), oarsman, was the first Australian world champion in any sport, from 1876 to 1880. Immensely tall and powerful, he worked first as a quarryman in Pyrmont: he met his wife while delivering stone for a lighthouse at South Head.

At age 10 he came second in a race for boys under 16. In 1876 James Punch took him to England where he won Australia’s first world title, the World Sculling Championship, which he defended several times.

The depression of the 1890s ruined him financially. Returning to Sydney he found religion, became a teetotaller, and supported the Salvation Army. Visiting Uralla, he was killed when a mine shaft collapsed.

Related Items

• Quarries

Sources

• J.L. Stewart, ‘Trickett, Edward (1851–1916)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography

• Wikipedia: Edward Trickett