“MISS JOAN HARTIGAN, the well known New South Wales tennis player, who intends to play at Wimbledon this year. A photograph taken on board R.M.S. Orford before she sailed yesterday.” - The Age Photographer notations on slide: "B19" Published: Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Wednesday 21 March 1934, page 13 Published title: MISS JOAN HARTIGAN Published caption: MISS JOAN HARTIGAN the well-known New South Wales tennis player, who intends to play at Wimbledon this year. A photograph taken on board R.M.S. Orford before she sailed yesterday. Trove article identifier: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203827087 Description: On the deck of a ship, a smiling young woman wearing a white hat, printed fabric dress with brooch and holding a black clutch bag stands next to a middle aged man wearing a dark three piece suit and necktie with cornflower buttonhole and lapel pin and a newspaper under his arm. Research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer: Twenty-one year old Australian Championships, (now known as the Australian Open) winner Miss Joan Hartigan and Mr Harley Malcolm, Lawn Tennis Association of Australia (LTAA) Honorary Secretary and referee, embark on the R.M.S. Orford at Station Pier, Port Melbourne on their way to Wimbledon. The Australian Test cricket and Davis Cup teams were also on the same voyage. Joan Marcia Hartigan (Bathurst) 1912-2000 from Sydney, won the Australian Championships three times in 1933, 1934, 1936 and was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 1934, 1935. A tall, stylish presence in visor and pleated dress, Joan was renowned for her power game and her “upside down backhand” i.e. striking the shot with the same face of the racquet that she hit her forehand. Joan’s world ranking was No.8 in 1934. Unfortunately, her career was interrupted by the outbreak of WW11 with international matches suspended for five years. Joan enlisted in the Australian Military Forces during WW11 and in 1947 she married Hugh Bathurst, private secretary to Senator James Fraser, Prime Minister Ben Chifley’s Health Minister. They had a daughter Mary and a son Thomas who became Chief Justice of NSW. Joan died in Sydney in 2000. In October 1933, Mr Harley Malcolm, declared “I consider shorts not regulation costume and would stop both men and women, particularly women, wearing them. I think women’s desire to strut in such a costume is unreasonable.” However, Harley was on the wrong side of history. In Europe and USA, many women tennis players were swapping their long skirts and stockings for bare legs, short skirts and shorts and men their long flannels for tailored shorts. In 1933, Henry “Bunny” Austin stunned the Wimbledon crowd when he wore shorts onto Centre Court - the first top male player to do so. He found it too hot to play in long trousers so he asked his tailor to run up some prototype shorts. At the 1933 Wimbledon Women’s Final, in front of the King and Queen, English champion Dorothy Round wore her trademark sleeveless dress with a divided skirt and her American competitor Helen Jacobs wore white, tailored shorts with a black stripe on each side, described as “mannish, though businesslike.” In November 1933, the Victorian Lawn Tennis Association officially allowed shorts as regulation dress at Kooyong for both sexes. In 1935, Dorothy wore her shorts while competing in Melbourne at the Australian Championships, Kooyong and there was hardly a murmur of dissent. Mr Harley Malcolm was involved with Australian tennis for 57 years, first as a player, then as a referee and administrator. He always wore a cornflower buttonhole on his lapel as he said the blue in that flower was his favourite colour. Cornflowers are sometimes referred to as “bachelor’s button” due to the old practice of men wearing cornflower buttonholes to indicate they are either in love or ready for courting. The Bleuet de France is the French flower of remembrance. References: WOMEN CITIZENS' MOVEMENT. (1934, March 21). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 13. Retrieved March 20, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203827087 'Joan Hartigan', Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Hartigan Leading Tennis Referee Condemns Wearing of Shorts (1933, October 5). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved March 6, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243193607 REMEMBERING 57 YEARS OF TENNIS (1947, December 10). Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved April 1, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article171166922Photographer notations on slide: "B19".tennis, 1930-1939, ships, sport, clothing and dress