__FORCETOC__ The 1953 Australia rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia was a series of 27 rugby union matches played by "

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

" in 1953, between June and October. The test series was won by the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

with three test wins to one.

Touring party

Of the team of 30 players, 25 were from Sydney; 1 from Newcastle –

Cyril Burke Cyril Thomas Burke BEM (7 November 1925 – 18 January 2010)Cyril Burke's obituary

; and 4 from Queensland – Tom Sweeney, Garth Jones,

Gavan Horsley Gavan Rex Horsley (born c. 1933) was a rugby union player who represented Australia. Horsley, a wing, was born in Coorparoo, Queensland and claimed 1 international rugby cap for Australia. He was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School ...

and Colin Forbes. The touring party consisted of: * Manager: John 'Wylie' Breckenbridge * Assistant Manager-Coach: A.C. 'Johnnie' Wallace * Captain: John Solomon * Vice-captain: Nick Shehadie Playing squad: * Full-backs: Ray Colbert, Tom Sweeney (Qld) * Wingers:

Eddie Stapleton Edgar Thomas (Eddie) Stapleton, (21 November 1930 – 13 November 2005) was an outstanding Australian Rugby union winger who made his mark with the Wallabies and the St George Rugby Club in Sydney in the 1950s. He was a curiosity in that he p ...

, Garth Jones (Qld), John Phipps,

(Qld) * Centres:

Herb Barker Herbert Samuel Barker (23 June 1929 – 17 May 2006) was an all-around athlete who represented Australia in the hammer throw at the Empire Games and in rugby union as a Wallaby, and played for New South Wales in Basketball. Early life Bark ...

, Jack Blomley, John Solomon, Saxon White * Fly-halves: Spencer Brown, Murray Tate * Half-backs:

Cyril Burke Cyril Thomas Burke BEM (7 November 1925 – 18 January 2010)Cyril Burke's obituary

(Newcastle), John Bosler * Locks: Brian Johnson, Norman 'Mac' Hughes * Breakaways: Keith Cross,

Bob Outterside Robert Outterside (6 March 1932 – 8 August 2022) was an Australian rugby union player. Outterside, a number 8, was born in Sydney and played two international rugby matches for Australia. Away from football, Outterside was also a successful ...

, Colin Windon,

David Brockhoff John David "Brock" Brockhoff (8 July 1928 – 17 June 2011) was an Australian rugby union identity, a state and national representative who played eight Tests as flanker between 1949 and 1951. He was later coach of the national team from 1974 ...

* Second Row: Nick Shehadie, Ned Morey, Alan Cameron, Tony Miller, Colin Forbes (Qld), * Front Row: Bob Davidson, Jack Carroll, Max Elliott * Hookers: Jim Walsh, John Bain.

Matches

''Scores and results list Australia's points tally first.''

Bibliography

* All found o
http://trove.nla.gov.au

Townsville Daily Bulletin, Monday 11 May 1953 p 3

The Canberra Times, Monday 11 May 1953 p 3

Queensland Times (Ipswich), Tuesday 9 June 1953 p 3 {{DEFAULTSORT:1953 Australia Rugby Union Tour Of South Africa and Rhodesia Australia national rugby union team tours Rugby union tours of South Africa

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

1953 in South African rugby union