Harry Brush
Victoria
Harry Brush, who died on 25th January 1905, was a key promotor of the Australian Henley Regatta on the Yarra. He served on the Executive Committee of the regatta committee as a nominee of the subscribers for the first three years of the regatta before his untimely death in 1905. He was clearly a trusted and capable person. This regatta became one of the great sporting events in Australia for a greater part of the twentieth century.
This was his only known connection with the sport of rowing. He was however a keen sportsman in many other sports.
His obituary in The Argus on 26th January 1905 provides more details of his active sporting and professional life.
DEATH OF MR. HARRY BRUSH.
A STERLING SPORTSMAN.
Keen regret is felt in the city yesterday at the death of Mr Harry Brush at Sir Thomas Fitzgerald s private hospital. It is in sporting circles that the deepest of regret will be felt, for since his boyhood Mr. Brush had been in ardent fellow or of all forms of manly sport. Old Collegians of the Geelong Grammar School, where Mr Brush spent his boyhood remember him then as a leader in sports and athletics - active and fearless in every branch. While at school Mr. Brush became a member of the Geelong football team then under famous under the captaincy of 'Jim" Wilson, and he played with the team for many seasons. In after life he retained his boyish reputation for excellence and fearlessness in sport and athletics.
He became a regular follower of the hounds, and more than once he piloted a horse over the Flemington course in the Hunt Club Steeplechase. He was one of the originators of the old Melbourne Athletic Club and thus was keenly interested in racing and probably there was no man in Victoria had wider knowledge of the turf than he. Polo clubs in all parts of the state called upon him to allot the handicaps in their gymkhanas. In polo itself he was in enthusiast and was honorary secretary of the Kooyong polo ground. His interest in rowing and in boating caused him to take an active part in the promotion of the Henley on Yarra regattas. In fact there was no branch of sport in which he has not known and esteemed. He was recently a candidate for the position of handicapper to the V. R. C., now occupied by Mr. W A Menzies. Subsequent to this election Mr. Brush became a judge of the V A T C. and later of the V.R.C.
His death as has been stated was primarily due to in accident in the hunting field. While hunting at Alphington his horse fell on him and fractured his pelvis. The injury was repaired as far as possible by skilled surgery, but Mr Brush gave up all hard riding. A few years later he was visiting a friend at Colac, and was given a mount on a horse which was reckoned steady enough. Something however startled the horse, and it reared, falling on Mr Blush and breaking his pelvis again. The accident was followed by complications which made it necessary for him to make several visits to Sir Thomas Fitzgerald's hospital. It was during the last of these that he died yesterday morning. He went into the hospital on Sunday in good spirits saying that "he hoped this would be his last." Sir Thomas had anticipated that possibly no further attention would be necessary. He was given an anaesthetic on Monday, and was practically over the trouble on Tuesday, but complications arising from an embolism set in, and death resulted from heart failure.
Mr Brush, who was the third son of the late Mr. Samuel Brush, of Messrs. Brush and Drummond, was 41 years of age,was unmarried. He was a member of the Melbourne Stock Exchange, being in partnership with Mr. W. P. Green. Yesterday morning when the news of his death was received at the Exchange, the noon "High Change" was adjourned by the chairman (Mr R S Anderson) as a mark of respect to his memory. He is to be buried this afternoon, the funeral moving from his late residence, "Wilgah" Burnett street St Kilda for the St Kilda Cemetery it half past 4 o'clock.
Andrew Guerin
January 2025
Sources include:
DEATH OF MR. HARRY BRUSH. (1905, January 26). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9871022