Wrestling Heritage

By Graeme Cameron

A British History of Australian Wrestling
By Graeme Cameron

Part 13:
Two Aces and Four Kings

The year 1936 saw the arrival of two very familiar names to Heritage readers, Douglas Clark and Mitchell Gill. Ron Historyo has already covered their Australian tours in some detail in his “On the Trail” series (including their match records). These articles are highly recommended. The tours of Clark and Gill overlapped, so this part of the series will examine those tours from a different perspective, looking at similarities, differences and significant matches.

Douglas Clark arrived in Australia in February 1936, a fact which caused great interest and was widely reported due to his previous exploits as a Rugby League player.  He toured until late September, departing to New Zealand, then returning in May 1937 for further a further three months before finally leaving for the UK in late August of that year.

 Mitchell Gill, on the other hand, slipped quietly into the country in July 1936, remaining until Christmas week 1937. He did not, as far as is known, tour New Zealand. Gill was rebranded as an Irishman, “Irish” Mike McGill. This may possibly have been to capitalise on the popularity of Irish-American wrestler Pat McGill, who had toured a few years earlier. Alternatively, it could have been because Clark and Gill didn’t want people to know about their connection, or it could simply be part of the trend that decade of wrestlers adopting an Irish persona. The real answer to that is unknown. 

The first record for Clark is an advertised match at Brisbane’s Bohemia Stadium on February 29 against American Johnny Woods, however, there’s no evidence that this match ever took place.  A touted match for Clark against the masked American, ‘The Mysterious Ghost,” also didn’t happen. By the time Clark arrived, “The Ghost” had disappeared (literally, there are no further records for this name after this tour). Both Clark and Gill coincidentally made their Australian debut against the same wrestler (Tom Lurich) at the same venue (Leichhardt Stadium, Sydney). In March, Clark drew with Lurich, one fall apiece. Gill’s match in July was also one fall apiece, but Lurich was awarded the decision on points.

Despite both men being in the country at the same time for two periods of a few months, they never wrestled each other, nor did they ever appear on the same card. They did once wrestle on the same night in different cities. On August 29, 1936, Clark drew with “Tiger” Jack Higgins at the City Baths, Adelaide. On that same night, Gill also drew, with Lurich at Leichhardt Stadium. 

Mitchell Gill certainly saw a lot more of Australia than Douglas Clark. Apart from two matches in Broken Hill, one in Newcastle and one at Sydney’s Carlton Stadium, all of Clark matches were in the main stadiums of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Gill, on the other hand, was more adventurous, appearing in regional centres Glenelg (South Australia) Geelong, Ballarat and Mildura (Victoria), Broken Hill (NSW) and Launceston (Tasmania). He also made six appearances in Sydney’s suburban stadiums, four at Carlton and one each at North Sydney and Auburn Stadiums. 

Both men appeared at Brisbane and Bohemia Stadiums (Brisbane), Leichhardt and Carlton Stadiums (Sydney), Fitzroy Stadium (Melbourne) and the Crystal Theatre (Broken Hill). Gill never appeared at the City Baths in Adelaide, where Clark made five appearances nor did Clark ever appear in Rushcutters’ Bay Stadium (the old name for Sydney Stadium) where Gill made nine appearances.  Clark made the most appearances at Leichhardt Stadium (7), while Gill made the most appearances at Fitzroy Stadium (10). Clark also had an exhibition match at Leichhardt Stadium against middleweight champion Dick Cameron in a charity show that the stadium held each year to raise money to buy toys to be given to underprivileged children at Christmas. 

It was inevitable that these two British aces would face off with the “Four Kings” of Australian wresting in that period (Tom Lurich, George Pencheff, Fred Atkins and Billy Meeske) but that didn’t quite happen. Clark did indeed meet all four, defeating Pencheff by disqualification in his second outing at Leichardt Stadium in March 1936. A few weeks later, Pencheff departed for a 7-month long tour of North America, returning in November. When Gill arrived in Australia,  Pencheff was in the midst of that tour. Pencheff spent most of 1936 and 1937 touring overseas, returning for three months from November 1936 to January 1937, before departing again. There was a brief period when a McGill- Pencheff match would have been possible, but it was not to be.

Clark met Tom Lurich seven times, four times on the first leg of his tour and three after returning from New Zealand, winning three, losing two and drawing two. One of those losses to Lurich at Leichhardt Stadium in May 1936 was billed as being for Clark’s British Empire title but Clark went home with the belt (Lurich never defended it). Incredibly, 26 of Gill’s 50 recorded matches were against Lurich. They clashed multiple times in venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as in Broken Hill, Launceston and Geelong. Gill didn’t come out of this particularly well, winning only two, losing 9, drawing 10 and there are five matches with an unknown result. 

Against Fred Atkins, Clark lost once and drew twice, while Gill had one win, one loss and one draw. Billy Meeske proved to be a puzzle neither man could solve, with Gill losing once and the result of their other match being unknown, while Clark lost three times and drew twice, with two results unknown. At the City Baths in Adelaide, in a bad-tempered match in which both wrestlers fouled each other repeatedly, Clark lost 2-3 in his challenge to Meeske’s Australian version of the British Empire title. 

Clark and Gill had three other opponents in common. Clark defeated Rocky Britton in all three of their matches while Gill opposed Britton 9 times for one win, 3 losses 4 draws, with 2 results unknown. Both men met American Tony Lamaro, with Clark winning their only match by disqualification and Gill defeating Lamaro twice on points. Against New Zealand’s King Elliot, Gill had a win and a draw. The result of Clark’s only match against Elliot is unknown. 

As mentioned, Clark spent several months in New Zealand. Only two results could be found, both from December 1936. Both were losses, against Canada’s Earl McCready and New Zealand legend George Walker, a Canadian immigrant who would become an influential figure in New Zealand pro wrestling. Clark’s last match before departing to New Zealand was a draw against Billy Meeske in Adelaide. On his return, his first match was also against Billy Meeske in Adelaide with the same result.

Apart from the bouts mentioned above, Clark defeated Greek Con Grivas, China’s Wong Buck Cheong, Hori Tiki and another New Zealander, Ted Pickring. He also drew with Tiki, as well as “Tiger” Jack Higgins and India’s Harbans Singh. On August 21, 1937, his final match in Australia, he lost to German Edmund Von Kraemer in Brisbane, his only loss other than to the “Four Kings”. 

Mitchell Gill defeated Brisbane’s George O’Brien and Hungarian American Lou Szabo, lost to Americans Glen Wade and Leon Labriola and drew with another American, Alex Lundyn. The result of a second match with Lundyn is unknown as is the result of the battle of the faux Irishmen Mike McGill v Pat Gallagher. 

Mitchell Gill’s time in Australia finished on a sour note. In his final match, Gill defeated King Elliot at Carlton Stadium on December 23, 1937, but this was not supposed to be his final match. He was scheduled to meet Lou Szabo at the same venue a week later but did not appear. He had received a lucrative offer to go to India which was apparently contingent on him leaving immediately. By the time of the next Carlton card, Gill was on a ship to India. Suffice it to say this did not go down well with the Carlton fans and promoter. 

With the coming of war, Gill’s appearance at Carlton was the last in Australia of a British wrestler currently active on the British circuit for 14 years. The next time this would happen would be January 1951.

Next Time: The Forties: RAAF Wrestling 

Page added 23/03/2025

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