Historical information

Ironmonger and Blackie

BERT “DAINTY” IRONMONGER (1882-1971) and DON “ROCK” BLACKIE (1882-1955), the legendary off-spin bowlers, were “spin twins” in real life, born just two days apart. Dainty and Rock had an “average” age of 51 years and 273 days when photographed outside the Melbourne Cricket Club on the eve of their joint Testimonial Match on 16 November 1933.

Blackie, a PMG linesman by trade, was nicknamed “Rock” because that’s what he’d call people when he inevitably forgot their names. Ironmonger, employed for over 30 years by St Kilda Council as a gardener, was nicknamed “Dainty” because he wasn’t!
These men were famous for making their Test Cricket debuts when they were 46 years, 237 days old (Dainty) and 46 years, 252 days old (Rock). Whilst they only played one Test together, they were selected 24 times in the same Victorian team. It is no coincidence that the golden era of Victorian cricket coincided with their tenure. They played with St Kilda Cricket Club for nine seasons and the grandstand at Junction Oval bears the “Blackie-Ironmonger” name to this day. When on interstate tours, they shared a hotel room, where they plotted the downfall of their batting opponents.

Their joint Testimonial Match was played over four days and featured all-star line-ups from three states. The opposing teams were captained by Bill “Wormkiller” Woodfull (memorial statue at Melbourne High School) and Vic “The Guardsman” Richardson (memorial gates at Adelaide Oval). The serious first class game attracted over 40,000 spectators and raised £908 for each man, around $45,000 in today’s money.

In a game featuring la crème de la crème of contemporary batsmen – Bill “Ponny” Ponsford, Don “The Don” Bradman, Stan “Napper” McCabe et al – and all time doyens of the art of spin bowling – Clarrie “The Gnome” Grimmett, Bill “Tiger” O’Reilly and “Chuck” Fleetwood Smith – “Rock” topped his side of the bowling scorecard, picking up the best bowling figures of 3 for 69! Unhappily, Dainty’s old knee injury reoccurred and he had to sit out the last two days of play.

Featured in "Newsworthy: Melbourne in photographs 1933-1936" exhibition at East Melbourne Library, October to December 2023. Exhibition caption by project volunteer, Ernie Ward.

Physical description

Glass plate negative

Inscriptions & markings

Photographer notations on slide: "Testimonial Cricket at MCC 1933 Blackie Ironmonger B9"