Old Buffers
The Old Buffers carnival began as a result of a unifying Victorian passion for football. A
group of people in Alf Week’s barbershop (formerly situated at 99 Canterbury Road) was
discussing the chances of the South Melbourne football team, the ‘Southerners’ or ‘Bloods’
as they were known, winning the premiership flag. The debate became heated and the
decided outcome was a football match between Middle Park locals – those from the north
of Armstrong Street against those from the south. The losing side was to provide
entertainment and dinner for the winning side that night at the Middle Park Hotel.
The match took place on Monday 3 June 1907, a public holiday. Combined, the teams called
themselves the ‘Old Buffers’. North played in blue and south played in red. The red team
was victorious that first year, and during the victory dinner that night a collection was taken
up and donations passed on to the Royal Children’s Hospital. And so began a tradition that
lasted for the next 73 years.
Each year on the King’s/Queen’s birthday holiday, the Old Buffers charity match would take
place. Players had to be over 35 years of age and the match, described in The Argus as ‘an
amazing burlesque’, was a mixture of rugby and Australian football.
Players slithered and fell all over the field and their grotesque efforts to run
with the ball, missing it more frequently than they kicked it, caused roars of
laughter. The ethics of football were entirely disregarded.1
A charity fund was established and over the years thousands of pounds were raised for local
hospitals and institutions. By 1913, the game had taken on a carnival atmosphere with
players dressing in fancy dress and sideshows, foot races and wood-chopping competitions
adding to the atmosphere. The people of Middle Park embraced the event and took part in
costume, parading along Armstrong Street with decorated bicycles, horses and prams. The
day grew bigger and bigger and included equestrian events, motorcycle competitions,
athletics, model aerobatics, band recitals and carnival rides.
Pat Cashmore remembers spending time with her grandparents, who lived on Armstrong
Street, during the carnival. ‘How we used to look forward to it’, she recalls:
… we had a wonderful vantage point from which to watch the procession. It
started at the Baths and went down Armstrong Street to the reserve off
Canterbury Road under the viaduct. The local people and organisations dressed
up, marched in the procession, then ran the stalls and spinning wheels at the
Carnival. What excitement for post-war children!2
The last Old Buffers carnival took place in 1981. The spirit of the carnival, however, had
long since faded and the turnout was disappointing. The South Melbourne Lions Club tried
hard to resurrect the carnival but without the support and enthusiasm of the local
community, it failed.
1
2
Argus, 4 June 1912.
Information complied by Meyer Eidelson, Middle Park History Group, 2013.
After 74 years of fundraising, football and fancy dress, the Old Buffers carnival was finally
over.
Sources:
Argus, 4 June 1912, 14 June 1938.
Information compiled by Meyer Eidelson on the history of the Old Buffers Carnival, 2013.
For more information, see the State Library of Victoria:
[http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/167387]
Port Phillip City Collection 2389
Heritage Recognition Program