History of the Austral: A great 'deal' of money

The year was 1901, and a quite sensational Austral Wheelrace was conducted at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Austral was by now the established major annual event drawing enormous crowds, swelling the gate money and consequently the prizemoney.

It might have been presumed that the regular payment of prizemoney, contracts, expenses, profit and the like would be routine procedure.

It was the appearance of the name Bill Martin on the entry list that was to completely upset the financial balance.

He was born in Dublin, Ireland, but made a great living in the United States of America in the penny-farthing era, including one race worth $1000 in gold.

Having heard about the rich racing in Australia he came with his sights set on the Austral Wheelrace.

In the penny-farthing era in the United States of America, Bill Martin won an individual six-day race netting $1000 in gold which decided his future was in cycling. Meeting with officials was often due to his aggressive nature which also caused delays in reaching the 1901 Austral.

With his aggressive racing, he became a successful and popular rider earning the nickname 'Plugger' due to his determination to plug on when others had given up.

However, it was this aggressive attitude that led to delays before ever reaching the 1901 Austral.

After a rider supposedly chopped Plugger Bill, he accosted the rider and was given a two-month suspension during the period of the 1896 Austral.

On another occasion, he jumped the fence to catch and beat a spectator who had repeatedly heckled him.

In 1897, he suffered a loss of interest, and for not performing to the expectations of officials he received a one-year suspension and missed yet another Austral.

When one official upset him he slapped him rather forcefully and that went from a cycling matter to a civil matter, which cost him two weeks in gaol. It was time for a break of 12 months back home in America.

Upon his return to Melbourne, he found the racing was still booming, the prizemoney still enticing, and he still had his loyal following.

The 1901 Austral was now beckoning Martin although he was now 42 years of age and had been placed on scratch.

By race day, many rumours had spread that a notorious gangster type had laid a bet with the bookies to win £7000 and that Plugger Bill would be the race winner.

The gamblers and obviously many others followed the rumour and also backed Plugger Bill.

It was found out later that the winner had been determined before the race even started and so with no real surprise, Plugger Bill Martin did win the Austral.

He took £445 prizemoney for the win but undoubtedly a lot more from his side bets.

It was six years later that a trainer confirmed the truth of the race fix.

Leading up to the race final, most of the riders had been summoned by Martin, who had a gun on his table, and who proceeded to pay money directly to the riders.

One rider was said to have received £600, thought to be Frank Beauchamp, who expertly took Martin up to the bell then withdrew. He was later suspended for 12 months for pacing in Martin's interest.

The Austral Honour Roll simply lists the 1901 winner as Bill Martin. It doesn't reveal that the bookies lost £30,000 nor that another great deal of money was distributed in a most doubtful manner.

Feature picture: With little surprise, Plugger Bill Martin takes the 1901 Austral Wheelrace riding from scratch. Second is A.C. Middleton (160 yards) and third Don Walker (40 yards). For the win he took £445 in official prizemoney but years later it was confirmed that enormous sums of money changed hands in this race.