Walter Mussing (1916-1990) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s.

Background

Walter Mussing was the son of Vanuatu born father who was a share-farmer from

Murwillumbah, New South Wales Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River (New South Wales), Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwill ...

and was one of eight children. Walter Mussing was an elder brother of the noted Australian civil rights activist

Faith Bandler Faith Bandler (27 September 1918 13 February 2015; née Ida Lessing Faith Mussing) was an Australian civil rights activist of South Sea Islander and Scottish-Indian heritage. A campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians and South Sea ...

. He started his rugby league career in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and often played with the Queensland 'All Blacks' teams of the era with another Ex

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

player Walter Slockie.

Career

Mussing came to

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

via the local

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

rugby league club in 1945. He made an immediate impact at the

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

as a blockbusting try scorer. He was the club's top try scorer in his debut year, and was immensely popular with the fans. The following year, Mussing was one of the major contributors to the club's fantastic season, although he missed the 1946 Grand Final after suffering a broken collar-bone in the second last club game of the year. His place in the team was ultimately given to the young local junior Chick Donnelley. Mussing stayed with the club for the 1947 season, before returning to Queensland in 1948 to play for the Fingal All Blacks.

Death

He died on 27 January 1990 aged 73.Sydney Morning Herald: Death Notice, 29 January 1990.

References

1916 births 1990 deaths St. George Dragons players Australian rugby league players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Rugby league locks Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Murwillumbah {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1910s-stub