As celebrations for the centenary of the annual sporting event Astley Cup, between Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange High Schools begin in June, we look back at a family who has participated over four decades from the late 1930s to the 60s, 70s and 80s. Astley Cup was donated by Dubbo businessman and keen sportsman Laurence Astley in 1923 and to this day is a highly competitive sports event on the school calendar.
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The year is 1937 and the event, Astley Cup, OHS versus BHS at Bathurst.
The OHS Headmaster, is much-revered Mr Armstrong and the other important dignitary was the Inspector of Schools.
OHS had just defeated Bathurst in the hockey and were victorious in winning Astley Cup.
In his speech on the eve of this OHS victory, the Inspector of Schools remarked that it was a forgone conclusion that OHS would win the hockey so convincingly as they had the trump cards "the Left Bower, the Right Bower and the Joker!".
He was referring to the three Bauer sisters.
The Left Bauer was Rita who played left inner, the Right Bauer was Ida who played right wing and the Joker was Doris who played centre half.
The three sisters grew up on a dairy farm with ample space to run and hone their hockey skills and they developed an invincible strategy - the Joker directed play from the centre passing the ball straight to Left Bauer who immediately fed the ball across to Right Bauer on the wing who skilfully sprinted the length of the field dribbling the ball, dodging the opposition and centring it back to Left Bauer who scored the goals!
The Left Bauer was Rita who played left inner, the Right Bauer was Ida who played right wing and the Joker was Doris who played centre half.
It seems a standard hockey strategy but the three sisters with their intimate understanding of each other's play, carried it out to perfection game after game.
The three sisters played together in the Astley Cup hockey team in 1937 and 1938.
Moving forward to the 1960s.
Rita West (junior) daughter of Rita Bauer (married name West), Roger and Fran Bilton children of Ida Bauer (married name Bilton) attended OHS and participated in Astley Cup.
Rita played in the Astley Cup hockey sides in 1963 to 1965, captaining the side in '65 which resulted in an overall Astley Cup win that year.
Rita was awarded the Charles Cutler Award for Outstanding Sportsmanship in her final year at school and lead her team to victory against both Dubbo 3-0 and Bathurst 2-0.
Included in her team on the right wing, was her younger cousin Fran Bilton who started playing in her first year at OHS.
Rita, who was a school prefect, provided a watchful and supporting role to Fran in her early Astley Cup matches.
Roger Bilton second son of Ida and Dr John Bilton commenced high school in 1962 his athletic prowess was evident at an early age and in 1963 was selected as prop forward in the NSW 7-7 rugby league team who played a test match against Queensland.
Roger made his Astley Cup football debut in 1965 at age 15, not only did the football team defeat both Dubbo and Bathurst they won Astley Cup after a drought of 10 years.
A further honour bestowed on Roger in 1966 was to lead his school as School Captain.
Under his leadership Astley Cup remained with Orange and the footy side defeated Dubbo 39-4 and Bathurst 50-0.
1967 was Roger's final year at school, his cohort being the first to complete 6 years at high school under the Wyndham Scheme.
Roger remained School Captain and again were victorious in Astley Cup for a third year in a row defeating Bathurst 43-5 and Dubbo 16-0.
Another triumph for Roger in 1967 was captaining the meritorious University Shield team that defeated Newcastle High 16-8 in the Grand Final in August of that year.
Younger sister Fran Bilton, an outstanding sportswoman, attended OHS 1964-1969.
Fran, her mum, Ida and younger sibling Karen all commenced their Astley Cup hockey careers at the tender age of 13, an honour usually given to more senior students.
Whilst they never thought anything of it, this is an exceptional feat in the 100 year history of Astley Cup.
Four of Fran's six years at OHS resulted in wins in Astley Cup.
The hockey team won 4 and lost 2 games to Bathurst and 3 wins and 3 draws against Dubbo.
Fran captained the hockey team in '68 and 69 and also competed in athletics in the 100 yards and relay.
In 1967 Fran was awarded the prestigious school award Honours Blue for excellence in swimming, athletics, cross country and selection in both NSW and Australian Hockey teams.
In '67 and '68 she was placed 2nd and 3rd in the NSW Cross-country Championships and represented in the State Schoolgirls as well as State and National Junior Women's Hockey teams.
In 1969 Fran was senior swimming and athletic champion, captain of the hockey team "demonstrating outstanding ability and sportsmanship in all sporting activities within as well as outside the school".
Fran had the honour of captaining the school in her final year in 1969.
Back in the 1960s students were billeted for two nights when travelling to Bathurst or Dubbo, often by train. Fran became a regular visitor of the Gleeson family in Dubbo.
Libby Gleeson competed against Fran on the hockey field and they have remained friends to this day.
Between 1967-1972 second daughter of Ida and John, Julie attended OHS.
In 1969 she was selected reserve for the Astley Cup hockey, playing part of the match against Dubbo and in her final year was elected as school prefect.
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She returned to OHS in 1979 as Mrs Julie Barrett, art teacher and coached the Astley Cup hockey side which included her younger sister Karen, an up-and-coming hockey star.
1970 saw Peter, third son of Ida and John, commence 1st Form at Orange High School.
In Peter's final year at OHS, 1975, he not only captained the school with Jenny Horspool, but was Vice Captain of the rugby league side.
In the first round against Bathurst they went down 18-4 but in a hard fought game in the third round against Dubbo on their home turf, they managed a 6 all draw.
Astley Cup came back to Orange that year due to solid wins in netball and athletics.
Youngest of the family of six, Karen started high school in 1978.
Unlike her siblings, her involvement with Astley Cup began when she was a toddler.
Her big sister led her onto the field as Mascot, Karen fitted this role perfectly.
Karen represented the school in Astley Cup from Year 7 defeating both Bathurst and Dubbo hockey teams and retaining Astley Cup.
Her participation in High A hockey team continued right through high school and OHS retained Astley Cup all six years.
She captained the team in her senior years.
The highlight of her 1980 season was selection in the NSW Under 15 Schoolgirls team which won the Australian Championships in Hobart.
She backed this up with selection again in 1981.
In 1983 Karen's final year, not only was she elected a school prefect but she captained the Western Region team which toured New Zealand.
This amazing family of fine athletes will go down in hockey and rugby league Astley Cup history as some of its best.
They certainly lived up to the school motto "Quod Potero Sedulo" - what I can do I will do to the best of my ability.
Celebrations recognising 100 years of Astley Cup will begin during the first round when Dubbo Senior College visits Orange.
Tickets for the dinner on Friday 16th June 2023 at 6pm are available from Orange Ex-Services Club. https://www.123tix.com.au/events/37336/100th-year-astley-cup-dinner
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