There aren’t that many Hurwoods to begin with, but a few have made it into the public eye.
Alan Spence Hurwood
A bright spark…
Alan Hurwood (right) distilling oil in Roma in 1927
Alan worked for the Queensland Government for 50 years, being Deputy Government Analyst from 1946 and subsequently Deputy Director of the Government Chemical Laboratory until his retirement in 1961. He distilled the first samples of oil found in Australia at Roma in 1927 and was also associated with the initial work on eradication of prickly pear and on blowfly strike in sheep.
Quoted from the “Bright Sparcs” database maintained by the University of Melbourne
Alan also spent much of World War I in England, working in the munitions factories.
Alexander (Alec) Hurwood
For a family originally from Yorkshire, I suppose we had to have at least one…
Cricketer (bowler), played for Queensland and Australia.
Alec played two tests for Australia, both against the West Indies in the 1930-31 season. He was also a member of the 1930 Ashes Tour to England, playing against a number of the county sides but not in any of the tests. Alec’s test career statistics can be seen at “Cricinfo“.
Alec played his club cricket with Valleys. His record at this level included 350 wickets and almost 50 catches. To commemorate the first 100 years of Brisbane Grade Cricket, a “Valley Team of the Century” was announced on 3rd October 1997 including the following players:
| Kepler Wessels Matthew Hayden Roy Levy Allan Border (Captain) | Stuart Law Leo O’Connor (w/k) Jim Harten Brett Henschell | Alec Hurwood Malcom Francke Col Cooke Keith Dudgeon (12th man) |
Also of note, Alec was a leading bowler used against Donald Bradman when Bradman scored his record 452 runs in the Sheffield Shield match between Queensland and NSW in the 1929-30 season. Alec took Bradman’s wicket in the first innings from a catch by Leeson for only 3 runs. In the second innings, Alec took 6 wickets for 179 runs off 34 overs with one maiden. He finished the match with total figures of 56 overs, 7 maidens, 10 wickets for 236 runs. Family rumour says that Bradman, on retiring at the end of his innings, said: “I would have scored a lot more if it wasn’t for Hurwood”.
More details about Alec’s playing days can be found here.
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