Page 81 - History of Parkside Football Club (1897-2017) Editied Version Completed_optimized

Parkside Football Club 1897/2017

Richmond lost to Essendon by 53 points in the actual VFL grand final back in Melbourne in 1942, but
lot 278, a 30cm-wide handwritten Changi plaque is an insight into the resilience of Australian diggers
at the notorious Japanese-run prisoner-of-war camp, which initially housed 15,000 Australians in
1942. Two years later, just 5000 remained there.

It comes with details of the match and players.

The plaque reads:

RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB, PREMIERS, 1942, Australian Rules Association, P. O. W. CAMP CHANGI,
Coach: Horgan D., Trainer: G. Brown, Pres: A. Bush, Capt: P. MacKinlay, Vice Capt: R. Small,
Secretary: B. C. Wootten, Treasurer: H. Hollioak, Presented to P. J. Campbell as a member of the
above Club., President Changi League.

Bobby Small came from Donald, Victoria and enlisted in the AIF’s Australian medical corps at the
Melbourne Town Hall on 28 July, 1941. He landed in Singapore on 15 September and became a
prisoner of War after the fall of Singapore in February 1942.

Small was “Richmond’s” vice captain in the grand final, played at 7pm on 17 October 1942. The
match report says “Small was master of the centre” and “gathered the crumbs” so that “Richmond’s
forwards got most of their opportunities”.

Small died of dysentery on 15 December, 1943, having been dispatched by the Japanese to be one of
the forced labour crews working on the Burma-Siam railway.

He is buried at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in Thailand along with too many of his mates.”

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/theres-an-extraordinary-afl-premiers-plaque-from-changi-
prison-during-wwii-up-for-auction-2015-7

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/the-connoisseur39s-spring-collection-
including-the-private-collection-of-colin-lennox-and-tom-gillies-john-stephens-and-the-late-john-
klinger-au0723/lot.202.html

Once a Parksider, Always a Parksider