THE STORY OF WILHEMENA “BILL” SMITH, AUSTRALIA’S FIRST WOMAN JOCKEY
Full version at www.justracing.com.au Researched by Phil Purser
The history of the racing industry is filled with some amazing stories. Sometimes they are amazing for the right reasons. You would go a long way though to find a more extraordinary story than that of Bill ‘Girlie’ Smith. If you think Pam O’Neill and Linda Jones, in 1979, were the first women to ride in races against men in Australia, this true story will leave you with a different outlook. In fact they had a predecessor in that field – by over 30 years.
Bill Smith rode in Far North Queensland on the country tracks around Cairns. The other jockeys nicknamed Bill “Girlie” as a reference to his shyness to change his clothes in front of them. He would arrive at the track with the colours already being worn under his normal street clothes. He would never shower at the track – even after a big book of rides. Bill kept conversations with other jockeys to a minimum. His fellow riders didn’t talk much either to “Girlie”, citing him as a loner. They just put all his odd traits down to his eccentric behaviour.
Bill Smith eventually retired from race riding and training racehorses. He had been a battler in his life and retired to live on a government funded aged pension in Innot Hot Springs. The shy, reclusive and then elderly Bill Smith became ill in 1975 and in declining health, he was taken to the HerbertonHospital.
Bill ‘Girley’ Smith never recovered from the illness that led to the stint of hospitalisation. The hospital inquiries were reported as finding that William Smith was actually a woman who had been born Wilhemena Smith in 1886. The investigations revealed tiny Wilhemena was orphaned soon after birth. Wilhemena never married or had a family and no living relations were ever found. The investigations also supposedly found that Wilhemena had worked as a seaman and a miner at various times of her life.
Upon Bill’s death, a jockey called Joe McNamarra, who rode against Bill, spoke of how he and Bill both fell from their mounts one day at Atherton. Joe told of how he was okay, but Bill was winded. Joe tried to undo Bill’s riding pants to help him breathe, but was told, “No, no, I’ll be alright”. Nearly 30 years later Joe McNamarra realised why he had his hand taken away from near Bill’s pants!
Harold McDonald, now 77, who had cumulatively worked at Cairns Cannon Park racetrack for 42 years as both a Starter and Clerk of the Course, said Bill Smith had two nicknames, “Girlie” and “Granny”. Harold recalls, "We all thought Bill was a woman - we were convinced - but we had no proof. He had big hips and a voice like a woman. One day when I was about 17 (1945), myself and mate Robert (Jock) Rookwood waited for Bill to go into to the outside shower. It had holes in the tin structure around the shower and we were going to find out once and for all. You wouldn't believe it, but just as we were about to get our eye up to the hole, a voice bellowed out.” You boys looking for something? Well, we nearly died and got out of there"!
LindeAllendorf says he rode against Bill Smith for about 10 years and continued by saying that “We (jockeys) all wanted to know if Bill Smith was a woman, as he spoke so softly. We were going to strip him one day in the jockey’s room, but a stripe (steward) called Walter Carberywalked in and told us to stop”.Linde said that Bill Smith worked in the Cairns Brewery for many years – somewhere between 10 or 20 years – and used to ride a horse down to work. The horse was Sydney Two, which she trained and rode in races. She’d take him down there and feed him the brewery grain – leave him in a yard there all day then ride him home when she finished work. Linde also recalls her “having a fall at the Cairns track in the 1950’s and the ambulance people rushed to her aid, but Bill Smith would not let them touch her”.
A former medical worker at the Herberton hospital said Bill Smith “Was in Herberton Hospital for a couple of weeks before passing away”. She said that Bill Smith, “Wouldn’t talk much during the day, but at night wouldsmile a lot and talk openly. It was as if she wanted to tell someone her story before she passed away”. “She spoke a lot about her early days in an orphanage in Western Australia. Her parents had arrived in Australia, by boat, as immigrants from England. Wilhemena said her mother had died at an early age and her father couldn’t afford to look after her, so he placed her in an orphanage.
As a little girl, she recalled living with her father when he worked on a property looking after cattle and horses, before he subsequently placed her in the orphanage. Wilhemena told of how her father never returned to the orphanage and spoke of her disappointment when she later learned, he had actually sailed back to England”.
“Wilhemena spoke of how she and another girl from the orphanage had run away, when they were 16 or 17 years of age. She ran away because it was very hard work there, as the older kids had to look after the younger ones and she’d work from daylight to dark. Wilhemena decided she didn’t want to do housework anymore, so she dressed as a man and went to the wharfs to get a job. She got a job on a boat in Adelaide and that boat regularly sailed to Cairns, before returning to Adelaide. She spoke of how she liked getting back to Adelaide, when the boat returned to port, so she could then see her friend from the orphanage”.
“It was on one such boat trip that she decided she’d had enough of being a seaman and she jumped ship in Cairns. She walked Cairns looking for work and eventually got a job in stables in the city. She told of how she felt more at home in stables - rather than on boats – because of her days as a child, spent with her father,
around horses and cattle”.
Asked if she spoke much about her life as a jockey or trainer in Cairns, the retired nurse replied “No, not really, she was more intent on always talking of how she had to work so hard in that orphanage. She’d smile all the time – I think she just was happy to be telling someone her story before she died”.
-------///////-------
Bill Smith obviously held a joint trainer and jockey licence, both training and riding winners way back in the 40’s and 50’s, although he was not a high profile premiership jockey or trainer. The story of William or Wilhemena Smith is one of the most amazing stories in the history of Australian racing. It is unquestionably factual.
Take one moment and reflect what this person had to endure in life to achieve her marvellous feat. She must have surely had a daily battle with innuendo, suspicion and mockery. She obviously rose above all that and today should be rightly regarded as one of Australia’s great pioneering women – in an era when women were clearly denied equality.
Wilhemena Smith needed to be afforded her proper place in Australian racing history. She was unequivocally the first licensed female rider in Australia to ride against men – albeit the licence was in a male name.
Wilhemena was buried in a grave at Herberton Cemetery without a tombstone in the Anglican section at grave number 25, row number 26. Council records indicate she died on 24/6/1975 and was buried on 25/6/1975 at 88 years of age.
The Herberton Lions Club Inc have erected a fitting tribute to this remarkable lady who overcame numerous obstacles for her love of horses and the racing industry to finally recognise Wilhemena “Bill” Smith with a worthy headstone for her final resting place in the Herberton cemetery.
You are a better man than me Bill Smith – and a better woman than most Wilhemena Smith. In death it is high time we saluted you both
Full version at www.justracing.com.au Researched by Phil Purser
The history of the racing industry is filled with some amazing stories. Sometimes they are amazing for the right reasons. You would go a long way though to find a more extraordinary story than that of Bill ‘Girlie’ Smith. If you think Pam O’Neill and Linda Jones, in 1979, were the first women to ride in races against men in Australia, this true story will leave you with a different outlook. In fact they had a predecessor in that field – by over 30 years.
Bill Smith rode in Far North Queensland on the country tracks around Cairns. The other jockeys nicknamed Bill “Girlie” as a reference to his shyness to change his clothes in front of them. He would arrive at the track with the colours already being worn under his normal street clothes. He would never shower at the track – even after a big book of rides. Bill kept conversations with other jockeys to a minimum. His fellow riders didn’t talk much either to “Girlie”, citing him as a loner. They just put all his odd traits down to his eccentric behaviour.
Bill Smith eventually retired from race riding and training racehorses. He had been a battler in his life and retired to live on a government funded aged pension in Innot Hot Springs. The shy, reclusive and then elderly Bill Smith became ill in 1975 and in declining health, he was taken to the HerbertonHospital.
Bill ‘Girley’ Smith never recovered from the illness that led to the stint of hospitalisation. The hospital inquiries were reported as finding that William Smith was actually a woman who had been born Wilhemena Smith in 1886. The investigations revealed tiny Wilhemena was orphaned soon after birth. Wilhemena never married or had a family and no living relations were ever found. The investigations also supposedly found that Wilhemena had worked as a seaman and a miner at various times of her life.
Upon Bill’s death, a jockey called Joe McNamarra, who rode against Bill, spoke of how he and Bill both fell from their mounts one day at Atherton. Joe told of how he was okay, but Bill was winded. Joe tried to undo Bill’s riding pants to help him breathe, but was told, “No, no, I’ll be alright”. Nearly 30 years later Joe McNamarra realised why he had his hand taken away from near Bill’s pants!
Harold McDonald, now 77, who had cumulatively worked at Cairns Cannon Park racetrack for 42 years as both a Starter and Clerk of the Course, said Bill Smith had two nicknames, “Girlie” and “Granny”. Harold recalls, "We all thought Bill was a woman - we were convinced - but we had no proof. He had big hips and a voice like a woman. One day when I was about 17 (1945), myself and mate Robert (Jock) Rookwood waited for Bill to go into to the outside shower. It had holes in the tin structure around the shower and we were going to find out once and for all. You wouldn't believe it, but just as we were about to get our eye up to the hole, a voice bellowed out.” You boys looking for something? Well, we nearly died and got out of there"!
LindeAllendorf says he rode against Bill Smith for about 10 years and continued by saying that “We (jockeys) all wanted to know if Bill Smith was a woman, as he spoke so softly. We were going to strip him one day in the jockey’s room, but a stripe (steward) called Walter Carberywalked in and told us to stop”.Linde said that Bill Smith worked in the Cairns Brewery for many years – somewhere between 10 or 20 years – and used to ride a horse down to work. The horse was Sydney Two, which she trained and rode in races. She’d take him down there and feed him the brewery grain – leave him in a yard there all day then ride him home when she finished work. Linde also recalls her “having a fall at the Cairns track in the 1950’s and the ambulance people rushed to her aid, but Bill Smith would not let them touch her”.
A former medical worker at the Herberton hospital said Bill Smith “Was in Herberton Hospital for a couple of weeks before passing away”. She said that Bill Smith, “Wouldn’t talk much during the day, but at night wouldsmile a lot and talk openly. It was as if she wanted to tell someone her story before she passed away”. “She spoke a lot about her early days in an orphanage in Western Australia. Her parents had arrived in Australia, by boat, as immigrants from England. Wilhemena said her mother had died at an early age and her father couldn’t afford to look after her, so he placed her in an orphanage.
As a little girl, she recalled living with her father when he worked on a property looking after cattle and horses, before he subsequently placed her in the orphanage. Wilhemena told of how her father never returned to the orphanage and spoke of her disappointment when she later learned, he had actually sailed back to England”.
“Wilhemena spoke of how she and another girl from the orphanage had run away, when they were 16 or 17 years of age. She ran away because it was very hard work there, as the older kids had to look after the younger ones and she’d work from daylight to dark. Wilhemena decided she didn’t want to do housework anymore, so she dressed as a man and went to the wharfs to get a job. She got a job on a boat in Adelaide and that boat regularly sailed to Cairns, before returning to Adelaide. She spoke of how she liked getting back to Adelaide, when the boat returned to port, so she could then see her friend from the orphanage”.
“It was on one such boat trip that she decided she’d had enough of being a seaman and she jumped ship in Cairns. She walked Cairns looking for work and eventually got a job in stables in the city. She told of how she felt more at home in stables - rather than on boats – because of her days as a child, spent with her father,
around horses and cattle”.
Asked if she spoke much about her life as a jockey or trainer in Cairns, the retired nurse replied “No, not really, she was more intent on always talking of how she had to work so hard in that orphanage. She’d smile all the time – I think she just was happy to be telling someone her story before she died”.
-------///////-------
Bill Smith obviously held a joint trainer and jockey licence, both training and riding winners way back in the 40’s and 50’s, although he was not a high profile premiership jockey or trainer. The story of William or Wilhemena Smith is one of the most amazing stories in the history of Australian racing. It is unquestionably factual.
Take one moment and reflect what this person had to endure in life to achieve her marvellous feat. She must have surely had a daily battle with innuendo, suspicion and mockery. She obviously rose above all that and today should be rightly regarded as one of Australia’s great pioneering women – in an era when women were clearly denied equality.
Wilhemena Smith needed to be afforded her proper place in Australian racing history. She was unequivocally the first licensed female rider in Australia to ride against men – albeit the licence was in a male name.
Wilhemena was buried in a grave at Herberton Cemetery without a tombstone in the Anglican section at grave number 25, row number 26. Council records indicate she died on 24/6/1975 and was buried on 25/6/1975 at 88 years of age.
The Herberton Lions Club Inc have erected a fitting tribute to this remarkable lady who overcame numerous obstacles for her love of horses and the racing industry to finally recognise Wilhemena “Bill” Smith with a worthy headstone for her final resting place in the Herberton cemetery.
You are a better man than me Bill Smith – and a better woman than most Wilhemena Smith. In death it is high time we saluted you both