NRL to honour first State of Origin game between NSW and Queensland WWII troops in Bougainville, PNG
Jack Barnes and Horace Marjoribanks were the Maroons and Blues captains in Bougainville in 1945. (Supplied: Australian War Memorial and Ian Harrison, Waratah Cheetahs Oldboys Club)
Wayne Marjoribanks always knew his dad Horace was a great footy player who nearly signed with the Manly Sea Eagles in the 1950s.
But he didn't find out until after Horace passed away that the travelling confectionary salesman was the first Blues captain in what some rugby league historians consider to be the first ever State of Origin game.
What is dubbed Australia's greatest sporting rivalry had unlikely origins in a Papua New Guinean seaside village at the end of the Second World War.
On September 16, 1945, in the weeks after Japan surrendered but before Australian soldiers returned home, Queensland and New South Wales troops — many of them first-grade footballers — played the first of two rugby league games at Torokina on Bougainville Island.
It was thought to be the first time interstate teams were selected according to birthplace rather than where they lived or enlisted — a unique concept that would not be replicated until State of Origin as we know it began in the 1980s.
The trophy usually resides at the Army Museum at Brisbane's Victoria Barracks but will make an appearance at Origin II on Wednesday night. (Supplied: NRL)
Queensland won the series at Torokina's Medco Oval, two games to nil, and was awarded a trophy made from a 120mm Japanese naval shell.
On Wednesday night at Origin II, that trophy will be displayed at the MCG alongside the State of Origin shield — the first time the NRL has officially recognised the historical significance of the series.
'Dad would've been fairly peeved off'
A match report published in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin on September 27, 1945, described how the "Bananalanders" smashed through the NSW defence to score 30 seconds before full-time and win the first game 10-9 .
Match report published in Rockhampton Morning Bulletin on September 27, 1945. (Supplied: National Library of Australia)
"I have witnessed one of the most spectacular and exciting games of rugby league I have seen," wrote Warrant Officer Ron Connor.
"The spectators swarmed over the field and [try scorer Hec Bradshaw] was carried shoulder high to the dressing shed."
Horace Marjoribanks' children only discovered about a decade ago that their late father, who enlisted in an engineering unit, had captained the losing side.
"Dad didn't mention anything about Bougainville," Wayne Marjoribanks said.
"I love it. I love the idea that he could've been the first NSW captain and his offsider in Queensland [Jack Barnes] would've been the first Queensland captain.
"[Queensland] won in the last minute, which Dad would've been fairly peeved off about. He was very competitive."
Horace, nicknamed Horrie, played first grade in the Newcastle Rugby League at five-eighth before and after World War II.
Several members of the Marjoribanks clan were talented footballers, most notably Horace's nephew Bob Banks (shortened from Marjoribanks).
Banks represented Australia in more than a dozen tests from 1953 to 1962 and ironically his adopted state Queensland more than 20 times prior to Origin.
The Marjoribanks/Banks clan excelled in the Newcastle Rugby League, with Horace Marjoribanks (left) and Bob Banks (second from right). (Supplied: Ian Harrison, Waratah Cheetahs Oldboys Club)
Horace was a salesman for MacRobertson's, the original maker of Freddo frogs and Cherry Ripes, and was offered a contract by the Manly Sea Eagles in 1950, according to son, Wayne.
"It was six games with an option for the next year at 50 pounds a game," he said.
"Dad knocked it back because Mum and Dad had just bought the new home in Adamstown [Newcastle] and wanted to stay there and probably also didn't want to go down to the big smoke in Sydney."
Wayne Marjoribanks (second from left) with former Kangaroo and Queensland player Bob Banks (seated) and other family members. (Supplied: Wayne Marjoribanks)
The quiet bloke who helmed the 'Bananalanders'
Maroons captain Jack Barnes was an electrical linesman who not only played first-grade footy in Rockhampton but was also a talented cricketer who represented Queensland in a Sheffield Shield match in 1941 before he was drafted.
“He was a pretty quiet sort of a man. Loved his football, loved his cricket,” son John Barnes said.
“After he retired from the sporting scene he was always an avid football watcher and cricket watcher.”
John said his father didn’t say much about the war but another inter-military rugby league trophy — won by a field ambulance side Jack led in 1943 — ended up at the family home for many years before it was given to the RSL.
Jack Barnes' (holding trophy) field ambulance side defeated an artillery team in a 1943 match. (Supplied: Australian War Memorial ID no. 016105)
“It was made out of a mortar shell with machine gun bullets as handles. It was pretty well-made for something that was knocked up in a wartime engineering shop somewhere,” John Barnes said.
He said Jack, who played fullback, was a Broncos supporter until he died in 2011, and that his descendants were still “well and truly” Maroons supporters.
“That never changes does it? That’s part of the blood,” John said.
“My brother and myself, we both played rugby league, all my grandchildren play rugby league ... we’ve all been avid bloody rugby league players for sure.
“It’s a proud thing for our family that [Dad] was a part of history.”
The original team sheet for the first Queensland vs NSW interstate series game played in Bougainville on September 16, 1945. (Supplied: Greg Shannon)
Origin restores 'sense of justice' for Queenslanders
Greg Shannon from the Queensland Rugby League history committee said with an eighth of the Australian population serving in the military during WWII, many well-known sportsmen ended up in uniform.
Kelly Brennan, Eric Bowe and Doug McRitchie were among those who played at Bougainville and also represented state and national rugby league sides.
After the war, interstate games continued to be played based on where players lived, which Mr Shannon said gave NSW an unfair advantage.
"Particularly in the 1960s and 70s, Queensland players went to Sydney in droves because that's where the big money was, so often we struggled to keep the same side every year," he said.
"As a [Queensland] kid growing up in the 1970s it used to drive you nuts. We had good players but we'd lose them and then they'd come back in a blue jersey. It was awful … We didn't win a series for 21 years.
"When Origin started it was wonderful ... There was a sense of justice."
Greg Shannon from the QRL history committee was instrumental in uncovering details about the Bougainville interstate series. (ABC News: Sharnie Kim)
Historic Bougainville games figure in PNG NRL deal bid
The Bougainville games are being recognised by the NRL as it closes in on a deal with the federal government worth up to $600 million over 10 years to secure a PNG-based side.
Rugby league is considered PNG's national sport and an important diplomatic tool for Australia as China moves to grow its influence in the Pacific.
Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, pushed to publicise the WWII-era games but denied it was a strategic move ahead of an announcement on an 18th NRL franchise.
"I thought this was a brilliant story and more Australians needed to know about this," he said.
"I think they're unrelated in that one's a historical event and one's prospective negotiations but one of the reasons we are keen to support a PNG team entering the NRL is the strong and enduring sporting ties, particularly rugby league, between our two nations."
Minister Conroy said negotiations were ongoing but the government and NRL's goals were "aligned".
"It's not a done deal yet but I can't think of anything that will do more for a relationship between our two countries than this so I'm very keen to progress it," he said.
"It's unfair to Australian taxpayers and quite frankly the millions of footy fans in Papua New Guinea for this to continue for much longer so I'm hopeful we're in a position to make an announcement in the next few months."