ABSTRACT
Dr Marie Hamilton (1891-1955) of the New South Wales Women’s Hockey Association (NSWWHA) presided over a dinner party at the Hotel Carlton to mark Edith Thompson’s second visit to Sydney in 1933. Australian hockey administrators from other regions also attended, as did Lady Elsie Helena Walder (née Blunt, 1885-1971) and representatives of the Amateur Sports Council. Marie Hamilton was by profession a pathologist, the only daughter of an Australian judge and his English wife.3 She had been educated at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Croydon, excelling as an academic and sporting all-rounder; serving as treasurer of the NSWWHA between 1914 and 1916. During the First World War, her fi ancé was killed at Lone Pine, Gallipoli. In 1918 Marie Hamilton entered the faculty of medicine at the University of Sydney, captaining the university hockey team from 1920 onwards. She then became President of the NSWWHA for twenty-one consecutive terms (1928-1948), so it was with some authority that she thanked her friend for the hospitality enjoyed by the Australian team when it had visited England in 1930. Thompson replied that the triangular round of games between Australia, England and South Africa had strengthened friendly feeling between the women’s hockey associations of those countries. The occasion at the Hotel Carlton therefore memorialised previous international connections and maintained links that would form the basis of future sport and social tours.
