Charlie Moore (Australian rules footballer)

The third son (the sixth child of twelve) of George Moore (1843–1925) and Elizabeth Jane née Cazaly (1845–1924),Both his parents were born in England. [http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly4.htm Genealogical Chart: Cazaly (Fourth Generation)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091024123955/http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly4.htm |date=24 October 2009 }} Walter Charles Moore was born in Fiji on 24 September 1875.Although both Main & Allen (2002), p.3 and [http://members.pcug.org.au/~croe/ozb/oz_boer_more.cgi?record=13603 Australians in the Boer War, Oz-Boer Database Project, Full Record: Charles Moore (301)]) state that he was born in Albert Park, the evidence of [http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly5.htm Genealogical Chart: Cazaly (Fifth Generation)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091024113748/http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly5.htm |date=24 October 2009 }}, obviously constructed from detailed birth records, which states that he was born in Fiji is far more persuasive.

His mother was the aunt of Roy Cazaly;Main & Allen (2002), p.5; see [http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly.pdf Cazaly Family Tree] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529094055/http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly.pdf |date=29 May 2008 }} making Moore Cazaly's cousin. His eldest sister, Edith (1868–1907), was married to Sir Francis Pratt Winter (1848–1919). Moore married Rose Alice Walters (1872–1924) on 9 May 1898 at Fitzroy, Victoria;See [http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly.pdf Cazaly Family Tree] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529094055/http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly.pdf |date=29 May 2008 }}; [http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly5.htm Genealogical Chart: Cazaly (Fifth Generation)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091024113748/http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly5.htm |date=24 October 2009 }} they had one child, George Clarence Leonard Moore (1898–1967), born in Collingwood on 8 November 1898.[http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly5.htm Genealogical Chart: Cazaly (Sixth Generation)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091024113748/http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly5.htm |date=24 October 2009 }}

His father the Hon. George Moore, originally a soldier, worked as a government official in Fiji from 1872. In 1876 he was appointed as the first Government Surveyor; in 1880 was promoted to Staff Surveyor; and in 1899 he became the Commissioner of Lands, Works, and Water Supply, and the Crown Surveyor.George Moore is listed as "Commissioner of Lands, Fiji" in the Who's Who of 1902 (p.919), as "Commissioner of Lands, Works, and Water Supply, and Crown Surveyor, Fiji" in the Who's Whoof 1903, and as "Late Commissioner of Lands, Works, and Water Supply, and Crown Surveyor, Fiji" in the Who's Whoof 1915 (p.527) and 1916 (p.1577). He was awarded the Imperial Service Order for his service in 1903.The Who's Who entries also state that he was awarded an Imperial Service Order in 1903; the award of which implies long service (see Imperial Service Order). At the time of Moore's death in South Africa, his father resided in Fiji,Both the Who's Whoof 1915 (p.527) and 1916 (p.1577) list his address as "Suva". and his mother and sister lived at 46 St Vincent Place, Albert Park — the street surrounding the park in which a memorial to Charlie Moore would later be erected.Main & Allen (2002), p.6.

Moore played for the Albert Park Football Club — and possibly the South Melbourne Football Club — in the Victorian Football Association before playing in the VFL.Maplestone (1996), pp.430–439 has the records of all those who played for Essendon in the VFA. Moore's name does not appear as an Essendon VFA player. Thus, his first senior VFL game, in round 9 of 1897, was also his first game for the Essendon Football Club. He made his debut for Essendon in the first season of the VFL, on 3 July 1897, against Collingwood at Victoria Park.Maplestone (1996), p.440; [http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/player_roundbyround/1897/16/player_roundbyround_16_1897.shtml?club_idIndex=4&season_idIndex=110 AFL Statistics (Round by Round) — Essendon 1897] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101246/http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/player_roundbyround/1897/16/player_roundbyround_16_1897.shtml?club_idIndex=4&season_idIndex=110 |date=6 July 2011 }}.

Although short ({{convert|169|cm|ftin|abbr=on|frac=2|disp=semicolon}}), Moore played at full-forward for Essendon. At a time when a team's best goal-kicker usually played at centre half-forward, he was their leading goal-kicker in 1898 (his first full season), kicking 20 goals.Essendon Football Honour Board {{cite web |url=http://www.essendonfc.com.au/club/history/club-honours |title=Club Honours - ESSENDONFC.com.au |accessdate=2013-01-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117171959/http://www.essendonfc.com.au/club/history/club-honours |archivedate=17 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}; Maplestone (1996),p.373. In just 15 games, he came fifth in the competition's goal-kicking list.Archie "Snapper" Smith of Collingwood, who had played 18 games, had scored 31 goals.{{cite web |url=https://australianfootball.com/leagues/every_goalkicker/AFL/138/Premiership+Season/1?season_from=1898&season_to=1898&limit=1000 |title=AFL Premiership Season - Every goalkicker: 1898 |publisher=Australian Football |access-date=26 April 2023}} In three seasons he played a total of 30 senior games for Essendon, kicking 34 goals.{{cite web |url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/essendon/essendon-forward-charlie-moore-was-the-first-vfl-player-to-die-at-war/news-story/0ec3f8c3ba135996174675797481e355 |title=Essendon'S Charlie Moore the first VFL player to die at war |publisher=Herald-Sun |date=22 April 2018 |access-date=26 April 2023}}

In the 1898 VFL Grand Final, Moore played against Fitzroy's Stan Reid, who would also die in the Boer War. Moore kicked one goal in Essendon's loss to Fitzroy:Rogers & Brown (1998).

{{blockquote|In the Geelong game at East Melbourne (viz., Round 12 on Saturday 29 July 1899), according to "The Argus", all hell broke loose when "Moore, the Essendon forward, marked just outside kicking distance and Thompson (Geelong) was holding him ... Moore struggled and in doing so struck Thompson ... as Moore stood back McShane (Geelong) ran up and deliberately struck him behind the ear.

"Moore swung around to hit his assailant, and in doing so struck the umpire on the mouth."Maplestone (1996), p.55. Moore was not reported for this incident.[http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/tribunal/2/1899/All/tribunal_2_all_1899.shtml?competition_group_idIndex=1&season_idIndex=109&guiltyIndex=0 AFL Historical Statistics: Tribunal – 1899] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101429/http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/tribunal/2/1899/All/tribunal_2_all_1899.shtml?competition_group_idIndex=1&season_idIndex=109&guiltyIndex=0 |date=6 July 2011 }}.}}

In addition to his footballing skills, Moore was also an excellent swimmer and a highly talented boxer. In the early days of his sojourn in South Africa, Moore showed off his sporting prowess by winning the Regiment boxing competition and being runner-up in the swimming competition:

{{blockquote|    Christmas Day 25 December 1900.

    We camped and organised a sports day, the chief and ever popular item being a boxing competition — light hitting and sparring for points. Well, all morning they banged away till only three stalwarts remained — Charles Moore being the favourite. After rest and refreshment Sergeant Sanderson came into the ring seeking for a knockout. Tall and strong he made it a rushing bout, but never a blow got home. Moore danced nimbly away watching his chance then hooked the Sergeant, just one to the chin, it proved sufficient. Last man in — short thick set and powerful — he tried much the same tactics as Sanderson, with identical results. He couldn't hit the favourite, who cleverly evaded each attack, waited for an opening, then got one home which knocked the other man right out under the ropes, where he lay wondering just what struck him. Light tapping for points you say. Well the pace may have been a bit merry, but that's how they did it in the army. Poor Charlie Moore, who also aimed at being the regiments crack swimmer, but here he bumped into Frank Felstead — a lighter built man with just the right build for surging through water with little apparent effort, so Corporal Moore had to rest content with second place and he was a bad loser.Nemaric, (2000), pp.10–11. Quoting directly from an account that appears in the memoirs of Rupert Lowe (1879–1965), of Geelong, who had served along with Moore in the Fourth Victoria (Colonial) Imperial Bushmen's Contingent.}}

According to a fellow trooper in South Africa, Moore was "university trained, gifted, and well fitted to lead men and gain respect from his comrades". Following the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, Moore enlisted in the Imperial Military Forces in the Fourth Victoria (Colonial) Imperial Bushmen's Contingent. The stated requirement for enlistment was that candidates must be capable horsemen, and have a certain amount of bush experience. According to (Main & Allen, (2002), pp. 3,5), The Official Records of the Military Contingents to the War in South Africa noted that:

{{blockquote|    At the request of the Imperial Government, which desired that a corps of seasoned bushmen, bold riders, and sharpshooters, should be enrolled, capable of contending with a guerilla enemy, this [Fourth (Imperial)] Contingent was raised.The officers and men were to serve directly under the Imperial Government and be subject entirely to it. The period of service was limited to twelve months or the duration of the war."Although Main & Allen do not explicitly say so, this paragraph was directly taken from Murray, (1911), p.226.}}

At the time of his enlistment, Moore listed his occupation as "chainman", which indicated that his work was with surveying teams in the bush,In this context it is also significant that his father was the Crown Surveyor on Fiji. and, in particular, that he was responsible for the application of the Gunter's chain. At the time, his height was measured at {{convert|5|ft|6+1/4|in|cm|abbr=on}}, and his chest at {{convert|36|in|cm}}.Main & Allen, (2002), p.5. Corporal Moore left Australia for South Africa on 1 May 1900, with the Fourth (Imperial) Contingent, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly,[http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1450182/ Australian War Memorial Boer War Nominal Roll: Nicholas William Kelly]; [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/roll-search/honours_and_awards/?preferred_name=Nicholas+William+Kelly&service_number=&unit=&honour_award=0&roll_type=All&award_authority=0&conflict=0&op=Search Honours and awards (gazetted): Nicholas William Kelly]: Mention in Despatches (16 April 1901), Mention in Despatches (7 May 1901), Companion of the Bath (26 June 1902).

According to a fellow trooper, soon after Moore arrived in South Africa, he was demoted to Private for getting "too big for his boots", and having "looked upon the wine when it was red"Nemaric, (2000), p.11. The expression "having looked upon the wine when it was red" is a euphemism for intoxication.

The expression was first used by E. Œ. Somerville and Martin Ross (i.e., Edith Anna Somerville and Violet Florence Martin) in their series of humorous articles, first published in installments in The Badminton Magazine in 1888 and 1889, and then in aggregated book form in 1901 as Some Experiences of an Irish R.M..
Somerville & Ross (1906), p.43: "Let it not for one instant be imagined that I had looked upon the wine of the Royal Hotel when it was red, or, indeed, any other colour; as a matter of fact, I had espied an inconspicuous corner in the entrance hall, and there I first smoked a cigarette, and subsequently sank into uneasy sleep."

The allusion is to Proverbs 23:31: "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright."[http://www.godrules.net/library/kjv/kjvpro23.htm]. On 12 May 1901, he was part of a reconnaissance squad patrolling in the location of the Toorberg Mountain above the Doornbosch Farm[http://gis.deat.gov.za/isrdp/staticsites/ss_k/documents/doornbosch/doornboschfarm.doc The Doornbosch Farm] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817065941/http://gis.deat.gov.za/isrdp/staticsites/ss_k/documents/doornbosch/doornboschfarm.doc |date=17 August 2011 }}, [http://gis.deat.gov.za/isrdp/staticsites/ss_k/documents/doornbosch/Toorberg.JPG The Toorberg mountain looking down onto the Doornbosch Farm] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817065804/http://gis.deat.gov.za/isrdp/staticsites/ss_k/documents/doornbosch/Toorberg.JPG |date=17 August 2011 }}. The South African author Etienne van Heerden's father farmed at the Doornbosch Farm. when they came across and engaged a group of Boers.Main & Allen, (2002), pp.5–6. In the ensuing battle, Moore's horse was shot out from underneath him, and he took cover behind the body of the fallen horse. He was then seriously wounded when a Boer bullet hit him in the waist, having passed through the body of the dead horse. Moore eventually killed his Boer opponent after eight shots, and had struggled back to a ridge and was crawling along it on his hands and knees when his mates found him. They took the gravely wounded Moore to the nearby Kwaggashoek Farmhouse.The Kwaggashoek Farm (sometimes written as Quaggashoek) is where the first traces of the deposit that is mined today at Thabazimbi were discovered. He died of his wounds that night; a contemporary South Melbourne newspaper claimed that Moore "was the first man of the Imperial Contingent to die of gunshot wounds".Main & Allen, (2002), p.6.

He was originally buried near to where he died; his body was later exhumed and he is now buried in the Dutch Reformed Church cemetery, Somerset East, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

File:St vincent garden albert park.jpg

Charles Moore is commemorated on war memorials at:

• Charles Moore Memorial drinking fountain, St Vincent Gardens, St Vincent Place, Albert Park, Victoria, erected by public subscription.[http://www.hagsoc.org.au/sagraves/photos/mem39.jpg Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra Inc.: Charles Moore Memorial Drinking Fountain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720173011/http://hagsoc.org.au/sagraves/photos/mem39.jpg |date=20 July 2008 }}. The inscription on marble pillar reads: "In Memory of Charles Moore of the Aus. Imp. Regt. who fell in action 13th May 1901 (sic) at Doornborsch, South Africa during the Boer War. Aged 26 years (sic). Erected by subscription." (Main & Allen, (2002), p.4; [http://www.hagsoc.org.au/sagraves/photos/mem40.jpg Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra Inc.: Charles Moore Memorial Drinking Fountain, Inscription].
• Boer War Memorial in Ballarat, Victoria.[http://www.hagsoc.org.au/sagraves/photos/mem11.jpg Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra Inc.: Ballarat Boer War Memorial (Charles Moore's name appears sixth in the third column of the inscription on the north panel of the memorial, under "4th Victorian Contingent")].
• Memorial Shrine with drinking fountain and a lamp, at Bank Street South Melbourne; a memorial to the 140 residents of the City of South Melbourne who served in the Boer War in various contingents (includes a separate list of the eight of the 140, including Moore, who had lost their lives in active service).[http://www.hagsoc.org.au/sagraves/photos/mem67.jpg Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra Inc.: South Melbourne Boer War Memorial]; [http://www.hagsoc.org.au/sagraves/photos/mem69.jpg Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra Inc.: South Melbourne Boer War Memorial, Listing of those who had died whilst in service]
• Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.[http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1639795/ Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour: Charles Moore (301)].
• Albert Park State School.

• List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service
• 1898 VFL Grand Final

{{reflist}}

• Main, J. & Allen, D., Fallen — The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War, Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2000. {{ISBN|1-74095-010-0}}.
• Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. {{ISBN|0-9591740-2-8}}
• [https://archive.org/details/officialrecordso00murr Murray, P.L., Official Records of the Australian Military Contingents to the War in South Africa, (Melbourne), Albert J. Mullett, Government Printer, 1911.]
• Nemaric, P., "Rupert Lowe, 4th Victorian Mounted Rifles", Sabretache: The Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol.41, No.1, (March 2000), pp. 8–14.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Rupert+Lowe,+4th+Victorian+Mounted+Rifles.-a083477074
• Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. {{ISBN|0-670-90809-6}}.
• Somerville, E.Œ. & Ross, M., Some Experiences of an Irish R.M., Longmans, Green and Co., (London), 1906.

• {{AFL Tables|ref=C/Charlie_Moore.html}}
• [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1639795/ Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour: Charles Moore (301)]
• [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1435230/ Australian War Memorial Boer War Nominal Roll: Charles Moore (301)]
• [http://www.hagsoc.org.au/sagraves/photos/memv0013.php The Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra Inc.: Graves and Memorials of Australians in the Boer War 1899–1902: Melbourne, Vic, Albert Park (accessed 26 April 2008)].
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130117171959/http://www.essendonfc.com.au/club/history/club-honours "Club Honour Board", (Essendon Football Club website). Accessed 7 July 2014.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101246/http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/player_roundbyround/1897/16/player_roundbyround_16_1897.shtml?club_idIndex=4&season_idIndex=110 AFL Statistics (Round by Round) — Essendon 1897]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101026/https://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/player_roundbyround/1898/16/player_roundbyround_16_1898.shtml?club_idIndex=4&season_idIndex=109 AFL Statistics (Round by Round) — Essendon 1898]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101437/http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/player_roundbyround/1899/16/player_roundbyround_16_1899.shtml?club_idIndex=4&season_idIndex=108 AFL Statistics (Round by Round) — Essendon 1899]
• [http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ianmac/fourth.html Defending Victoria Website: 4th Victorian "Imperial" Contingent]
• [http://members.pcug.org.au/~croe/ozb/oz_boer_more.cgi?record=13603 Australians in the Boer War, Oz-Boer Database Project, Full Record: Charles Moore (301)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080529094055/http://member.melbpc.org.au/~lshade/Cazaly/Cazaly.pdf Cazaly Family Tree]

{{Essendon leading goalkickers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Charlie}}

Category:1875 births

Category:1901 deaths

Category:Australian rules footballers from Melbourne

Category:Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents

Category:Essendon Football Club players

Category:Australian Army soldiers

Category:Australian military personnel killed in the Second Boer War

Category:VFL/AFL players born in Fiji

Category:Fijian people of British descent

Category:Fijian emigrants to Australia

Category:Military personnel from Melbourne

Category:People from Albert Park, Victoria

Category:19th-century Australian sportsmen