Tom Wills

The insubordinate life of an Australian sporting legend

Greg de Moore

$34.99

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English

Allen & Unwin
28 February 2023

Biography: sport; Sports & outdoor recreation; Cricket; Australian Rules football

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AWARD

This is the story of Tom Wills - flawed genius, sporting libertine, fearless leader and agitator, Australia's first great cricketer - the man most often credited with creating the game we now know as Australian Rules football.

Sent to the strict Rugby School in England at fourteen, Tom returned as a worldly young man whose cricket prowess quickly captured the hearts of the colony. But away from the adoring crowds, in the desolation of the Queensland outback, he experienced first-hand the devastating effects of racial tension when his father was murdered in the biggest massacre of Europeans by First Nations people. Yet, five years later, Tom coached the first Aboriginal cricket team.

Tom Wills lived hard and fast, challenging authority on and off the field. But when his physical talents began to fade, the psychological demons that alcohol and adrenaline had kept at bay surged to the fore, driving him to the most brutal of suicides. He was forty-four and destitute.

Greg de Moore has carefully pieced together Tom's life, giving us an extraordinary portrait of one of Australia's first sporting heroes, a man who lived by his own rules and whose contribution to Australian history has endured for more than 150 years.

This updated edition of the bestselling and authoritative biography includes new research and addresses the most troubling of questions surrounding Tom Wills' spectacular yet tragic life.

'This updated, third edition of the biography of the larger-than-life, troubled figure of Tom Wills gives us a haunting portrait of the man who was instrumental in establishing the rules of AFL football and captained a touring Aboriginal cricket team in 1866 . . . has an epically larrikin, but tragic sweep.' -The Age

'a towering figure [who] deserves de Moore's brilliantly written and researched book' - The Australian

'illuminating and intelligent' - Inside Sport

By: Greg de Moore
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
Weight: 504g
ISBN: 9781761068546
ISBN 10: 1761068547
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 28 February 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Greg de Moore is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry based at Sydney's Westmead Hospital. Born in Melbourne of parents who migrated to Australia from Sri Lanka, Greg has lived in Sydney for more than thirty years. He has written and co-written four books -Tom Wills (shortlisted for the National Biography Award 2009),A National Game: The History of Australian Rules Football,Finding Sanity: John Cade, Lithium and the Taming of Bipolar Disorder and Australia's Game: The History of Australian Football.