On American Independence Day (4 July) 1971 the California Golden Bears Rugby Union team played North Queensland at the Townsville Sports Reserve in front of a crowd of 5,000.

Every North Queensland player in the run on side was from Townsville, except one. Stuart Gregory was listed in the program as being from Mount Isa where he grew up.

The fact is Stuart Gregory was born and grew up in Brisbane where he attended Brisbane Boys Grammar School. Despite that he was unknowingly part of the inaugural Mount Isa Rugby Union competition.

“They were the auditors of Mount Isa Mines. So, as a fairly junior auditor, for a couple of years I got the role after Christmas, usually January, February for about a month or two. I'd go up, live at Mount Isa, and do some of the more mundane audit work that was needed to be done. “

It was no fancy lodgings with Stuart bedding down in the old barracks.

“It was rudimentary accommodation owned by Mount Isa Mines and I certainly had no expectation of anything more grand. It was single men's quarters with toilet and shower next to them and they had a mess so we could eat breakfast and dinners.”

“We were very comfortable for whatever it was, six or eight weeks that I'd spend up there during the course of the year.”

The Irish Club was consistently the highest earning club in Queensland in that pre-poker machine era, but it was not a place Stuart frequented much.

“Not all that often.” He recalled. “We were just young people, the boys and the girls and whoever was around and we'd mix and, you know, go to parties and go to the pub and things like that.”

Bob Kelsey was part of the group of around 15 and he attempted to get Rugby Union off the ground. Two players interested were state reps Les Jones (New South Wales under 16) and John Gregory (Victoria).

It was fifty years ago and Stuart’s memory was stretched to recall every detail but, for obvious reasons he remembered John.

“There wasn't all that many Gregory's that I knew, “ he stated. “He was a really nice young fellow who worked in the computer area.”

At that time MIM had a computer that’s only job was payroll. It was housed in a large room, weighed about 27 tons and what it did can now be done on your mobile phone.

“He was one of my good mates up there however when I think of it we probably shouldn't have been. You know, the auditors shouldn't have been very good mates with the company staff but if you're going to stick them up there for six weeks, you can't expect them not to be, you know.”

Stuarts thinks John may have been one of the guys that initially got him involved with coming down and training because when he returned in the middle of the year at the end of the financial year they played in the same team.

Kelsey organised a meeting and 67 people indicate a willingness to play so trial matches were held at Centenary Park (where Outback at Isa now stands).

The Mount Isa Rugby Union Association was formed with mining engineer Barry McLennan elected its first President.

McLennan had been in Mount Isa for two years and had playing experience in England, Canada and Northern Rhodesia, whom he also played Water Polo for from 1960-63.

The Board of Management responsible agreed to let the Association use Kalkadoon Park and four teams were formed to take part in the inaugural Premiership.

Easts, who later evolved into Euros, included Irishman Ray Clark at fullback while winger George Roberts captained Warrigals.

Keas were mostly New Zealanders and were captained by Tom Herewini who was part of a famous Rugby family including Mack Herewinin who played 32 matches for the All Blacks including 10 internationals from 1962 to 1967. 

John Gregory was centre for Wests and when Stuart returned in the middle of the year (end of financial year) he wore the bulldogs green and gold.

All four clubs were under control of the Mount Isa Rugby Union until the end of May when Warrigals formed their own club.

Hoping to play a couple of games in Mount Isa Stuart only managed one, against Keas, due to the touring Springboks and Golden Bears.

In Brisbane he was a member of the University Club which encouraged players to train and play when away for work.

“We were all amateur and if you happen to be staying at a place like Mount Isa well, you could play, you didn't have to get any particular approvals or anything. It was just, a matter of playing, and I really enjoyed playing at that level.”

“it was a great opportunity to stay fit, to have a good time and enjoy the camaraderie of the very new Mount Isa rugby competition. “

So when the North Queensland team to play the Golden Bears in Townsville was named, Mount Isa’s Stuart Carlton Gregory was in it. When he ventured to Townsville for the weekend from Mount Isa he didn’t go alone.

The curtain raisers for Gregory’s Sunday game included Mount Isa against Far North Queensland and on the Saturday a Mount Isa second side played Ingham.

The selectors for the Mount Isa sides were Ross Cullen and Peter Curtis. Cullen was born in New Zealand and ended up in Queensland in 1965 via the Riverina in New South Wales.

After an internal inquiry he was sent home by team manager Bill McLaughlin, who soon after the side arrived in Britain announced that any Wallaby who played dirty football would be suspended for the next four matches.

He added the penalty would be invoked irrespective of any action, or not, taken by the referee and he did not care if the Australian in question was provoked.

First choice hooker for the Wallabies Peter Johnson wrote about the match in ‘A Rugby Memoir’ and said. Oxford started off so savagely Ross Cullen had to receive attention following the first ruck.

Before the reserves, of which Johnson was one, settled onto the bench there was trouble.

Though we had not seen anybody cautioned the Oxford tight head prop O.C. Waldron was alleging his left ear had been ‘almost bitten off’ by Ross Cullen and it seemed every Rugby official in Britain had gathered to add his two pence worth to the matter.

I clearly recall asking Ross what had happened. He said: ‘The bastard was boring in on me, so I told him I’d bite him if he didn’t stop.’ I asked if he had actually bitten him so Ross replied: “No, I didn’t, he pulled his ear away as he sensed my teeth and that must have done it.’

“He was adamant his intention was to deter not injure and that, as a hooker who had often experienced this illegal ploy of boring, I would know what it was like. I certainly did. In the presence of Peter Ryan, I suggested to Ross that he should flatly deny biting Waldron if, as he claimed, he hadn’t.

Though he agreed with this course he later claimed the inquiry had been conducted in such a way as to make a bald statement of innocence impossible.

Though little was said by officials it was clear from the glares in our direction some action would be taken. I feared the worst and Ross would be the first recipient of McLaughlin’s [the manager] automatic four game suspension for dirty play award.

I wasn’t being entirely altruistic in my hopes Ross would be exonerated as his suspension would mean I’d have to play several games on the trot and that I didn’t want.”

“The summons to an early morning team meeting the next day was met with little enthusiasm as the night with the Oxford players had been long and hard. Bill McLaughlin opened the proceedings and virtually closed them by announcing Ross Cullen was being sent home because of the biting incident.

Some months later a French Rugby official and I were discussing the matter and he suggested it was all predictable. ‘You English speakers detest biting and kicking above everything else. So Waldron could have broken Cullen’s neck, and you English say, at least he would have done it honourably. All Cullen could possibly have done was bite his ear off and yet Cullen is the only one punished. This is typical Anglo-Saxon logic.’

I found it difficult to disagree.

Ken Kearney, dual international and Wallaby hooker, described the punishment as “unbelievable”.

Brian Mulherin, president of Cullen’s Brisbane club Easts said, “I still cannot believe that this has happened. Only a few weeks ago I presented Cullen with a trophy for the club sportsman of the year and I said then, and I repeat now, he represents all that is good in the code, on and off the field.”

Two days after Mulherin’s statement, Easts unanimously re-elected Cullen as first grade captain for the 1967 season.  
 
Although he adopted a low-profile approach to rugby in the wake of the tour, Cullen continued to represent Queensland and won the last of his 21 state caps in 1968.

In that final season Cullen came up against the All Blacks at Ballymore where, in a spiteful encounter he was, notably, one of the few local forwards not to be censured. 

On his passing earlier this year Mount Isa Life Member and long-term president Glenn Faulkner wrote; “Ross and family spent many years working and living in Mount Isa. He came down to Rugby Park to help wherever he could, be it playing for Wests or helping the under-19 rep players. Never banged on about what he had done in the game. A humble man who gave back to what he loved.”

Fellow selector Peter Curtis was awarded Life Membership of the Queensland Country Rugby Union after serving as Chairman and President.

He kicked a penalty goal in a 5-3 loss to Ingham that meant he scored all Mount Isa’s points over the two games.

It was a memorable weekend and a huge social occasion to celebrate American Independence Day.

There were USA diplomats in attendance and the 134 metre aircraft carrier USS Roark and accompanying vessels were docked in Townsville. Teams from all over North Queensland came for a gala weekend. 

The Golden Bears or Cal Rugby were not easybeats by any stretch of the imagination. Rugby was the oldest intercollegiate sport at the University of California, becoming the university's first sport played against an outside opponent in 1882.

The 1971 side went 5-4 on its six-week tour and defeated North Queensland 38-9. Stuart gained his revenge two weeks later when Queensland downed the Bears 26-3 at Ballymore.

“They were big athletic guys that had just sort of started playing rugby. Most of them played gridiron during the on season and rugby during the off season.”

It may have been the first year for Mount Isa Rugby Union but it was a huge year for Queensland and Australia, meaning it was a massive year for Stuart. Before his lone appearance in Mount Isa he played against the British and Irish Lions and after against South Africa and at the end of the year toured France.

The highlight of the year for Queensland was its one and only win against the British and Irish Lions. The 15-11 upset victory was achieved at the relatively new home of Queensland Rugby Ballymore with Gregory described as a "giant in the lineouts."

The visiting Lions had high hopes for their tour and indeed it will be forever remembered as one of the greatest success stories ever witnessed in British and Irish sport. Two tour matches in Australia, against Queensland and New South Wales were expected to prime them for the challenge of the All Blacks.

They did exactly that with the Lions losing only one match in New Zealand, against the All Blacks who they defeated 2-1 in the series.

While the All Blacks matches were supposed to be close it was the opening game of the tour against Queensland that almost derailed the tour before it had really begun.

The Lions had a short turn around after their long flight and the Queensland side were ready and waiting to ambush them.

The Lions flew from London to Brisbane via Frankfurt, Tehran, Delhi and Hong Kong, where they had a long night on the lash. Willie John McBride, who opposed Stuart in the lineout that day and went on a record five Lions’ tours said in Terry O'Connor's 1970s tour book, How The Lions Won.

"I was on the field. I wouldn't say I was playing. All I wanted to do at half-time was lie down,"

Jeff McLean was on the wing for Queensland but on the morning of the game he was pulling beers in his father’s pub. In a sign of how low-profile Rugby was at that time he arrived at the ground and found his way in blocked.

"There was a huge traffic jam on the way to the ground and the coppers stopped us at the gate at Ballymore and weren't going to let our car in,'' McLean said.

Stuart emphasised it was still a good win with the Lions scoring the only try.

“We had a fellow called Lloyd Graham, who was a pretty good kicker, who kicked a very long field goal in the last five minutes to ensure we won the game.”

Fullback Graham, kicked two field goals with the heavy leather ball used in those days including the monster from near the touchline, just inside the Lions half.

“It got longer and longer by the telling until I'd kicked it from over the creek in Finsbury Park,'' Graham quipped in an interview 50 years later.

“We knew how good the Lions were, they nearly scored from the kick-off and they had the best pack in the world as they proved by winning the Test series in New Zealand that followed. We just didn’t give them too much room to move so our forward pack deserved a lot of the credit for a great win.”

For Queensland captain and Wallaby centre Barry Honan the Lions match was a wonderful finale to his representative career.

"I didn't drink.” Honan recalled when he was interviewed aged 78. “The first drink of alcohol on my lips was champagne in the dressing room after that win,''.

In a sign of how amateur the game was Honan was back teaching maths and physics at Marist College Ashgrove the next day and was reminded even further a little later.

To start the game Queensland’s Miss Rugby Sue Francis performed a ceremonial kick off, as was popular at that time. The Queensland flyhalf who kicked the game off properly was Geoff Richardson.

Richardson was making his debut for Queensland and his excellent showing pitched him into a Test debut later that season. At the post-match function, Richardson and Miss Francis got to chatting.

“I don’t think Geoff’s line was as corny as ‘I can kick the ball better than you’ but we met and three years later we were married,” Sue recalled in later years.

It was a sliding doors moment because Richardson was only in Queensland due to National Service. He had been called from country NSW to Townsville for army training in those Vietnam War years.

The only New Zealand sports writer to be knighted Sir Terry McLean, said after the game.

"These Lions are hopeless; they are undoubtedly the worst team ever to be sent to New Zealand."

While that assessment turned out to be premature his observation of Stuart’s performance was spot on. "They could not win the ball at the lineout.”

Sir Terry’s other point was the performance of local official Kevin Crowe.

"One object of the Lions' astonishment was Mr Kevin Crowe, the referee, who, practically speaking, has run the gamut. In his time this earnest little man has baffled Springboks and All Blacks. Now he has bewildered Lions.”

The tourists were enraged by Crowe’s performance, blowing 16 penalties for Queensland and only five for the Lions. Nine of Queensland’s 16 offered points scoring opportunities.

The Lions have to this day played in Brisbane on 25 occassions and the 1971 match against Queensland remains their only loss. They have won the seven Test matches against the Wallabies with their 1966 31-0 hammering still the Lions' biggest margin of victory against any of the three southern hemisphere nations.

In 1968 retirements left Australia searching for promising locks and Stuart’s dominating display in the lineouts and forward contests in Queensland’s 34-3 loss to the All Blacks earned him a spot on the bench for the first Test.

A late withdrawal saw him called in for his international debut in the second Test at Ballymore. Australia lost a close encounter 19-18 with a controversial decision costing the home side victory.

For us, it was absolutely devastating because we thought we were going to win, we ended up losing 19-18. Good old Kevin Crowe gave a penalty try. No doubt we transgressed but in this day and age, to give a penalty try, you really do have to be within 10 metres of the try line.

“I don't think I ever beat the All Blacks. I played 16 tests for Australia and I don't think I ever beat the All Blacks. That was about as close as we ever came.”

In the All Black side that day was the most famous All Black of his era and the man named New Zealand Player of the Century in 1999, Colin Meads. Meads played 133 games for the All Blacks between 1957 and 1971 and a then record 55 test matches.

His playing style was physical and uncompromising yet he was an unassuming man off the field. Meads took no prisoners on it and gained a reputation as an enforcer and in 1967 he became only the second All Black sent off in a test, for dangerous play against Scotland at Murrayfield.

In that 1968 series he ended Wallaby Ken Catchpole's career when he grabbed and wrenched the halfback's leg while he was pinned under a ruck.

Meads's iconic status in New Zealand society was recognised in 2001 when he was made a New Zealand Companion of Merit (the equivalent of a knighthood). He stated, however, that unlike his former team-mates Wilson Whineray and Brian Lochore, he didn't want to be addressed as 'Sir' .

They, he argued, deserved the title as they were ‘perfect gentlemen’, whereas he was ‘a bit rougher’.

“When you look back you'd expect it you know, a rookie second row coming into a guy that was probably seven or eight years older than me, had played probably at that stage, you know they only played five tests a year back in those days, but he had probably paid 30 or 40 tests in his time.

“So, you know, he had every right to be, critical of my, skill and everything else; maybe even my upbringing.”

After seeing Stuart play Meads expressed that he would like to have him in the All Blacks and despite the on field fierceness it was friendly once the final whistle blew.

“Oh, very friendly.” Agreed Stuart. “I'll never be critical of Colin Meads because he was a great guy and as you say, after the game, we'd have a chat.”

Stuart was quickly indispensable to the Wallabies and contributed majorly in a 11-10 win over France at the SCG and at the end of the year was chosen for his first Wallaby tour, to Ireland and Scotland.

The Wallabies lost 10-3 to Ireland at Lansdowne Road and 9-3 to Scotland at Murrayfield.

A few months in Mount Isa had him ready for the 1969 season and a tour of South Africa where he played two of four Tests.

In the first Test at Ellis Park in Johannesburg Stuart, known for his exceptional lineout jumping, contributed to Australia's slight edge in set-piece possession.

Unfortunately the Wallabies' struggled against the Springboks' dominant forward pack who overwhelmed them with relentless rucking and mauling.

The final Test underscored the tour's brutal nature when the Springboks massive pack’s size and experience wore the Wallabies down. Stuart’s role as a premier lineout jumper remained vital, helping to secure possession despite the opposition’s intense physicality.

Though he played at every major stadium during his career it is Ellis Park in Johannesburg where according to Stuart “even back in those days, there was a crowd of about 90,000.”

It may have seemed that big due to the parochial South African supporters, but it was in fact around 60,000.

South Africa visited Australia in the weeks after Stuart was in Mount Isa mid-year 1971. It is a series best remembered for the anti-apartheid protests that followed the Springboks. Norman Tasker from the Sydney Sun newspaper covered the tour and stayed with the Springboks.

“There was trouble from the start.“ Tasker later recalled. “Anti-apartheid protesters at Perth airport were outnumbered by Rugby men turned vigilantes, who drew immediate battle lines. A brawl ensued; the vigilantes probably won on points.”

In Adelaide trade unions banned South Africa from using normal accommodation so they stayed in a street level motel with large plate glass windows facing the street. During the night protestors hurled things through the windows.

Melbourne was anarchy with protesters turning feral, sticking ice picks in police horses and throwing fire-crackers laced with fishing sinkers into the faces of policemen. Mounted police responded by charging at pitch invaders, dropping the shoulders of their horses to send them sprawling.

In Sydney flares and smoke bombs rained down as pitch invaders staged a running battle with 800 policemen. 

In preparation for the Brisbane Test Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen declared a State of Emergency to enhance police powers.

When the police advanced the players retreated back to the Tower Mill.

It was a case of bash first and ask questions later and many young University students copped a hiding, including a young Peter Beattie (future Queensland premier).

The Brisbane Test would have been played at Ballymore but the open surrounds made it impossible to police so the Exhibition Ground, with its brick wall perimeter, was preferred.

“I've been to South Africa with the Australian team in 1969 and I certainly wasn't a particularly political person during that period.” Stuart explained. “We had a couple of guys that were very anti-us playing and Anthony Abrahams made himself unavailable.”

For Stuart and the majority of players it was simply a game of Rugby.

Stuart dominated the first 40 minutes of the series with his strong jumping in lineouts but the Springboks adapted and for the rest of the series they directed throws away from him to limit his impact.

At the end of the season Stuart toured France with the Wallabies, playing in both Tests, and then took a year off to travel.

After relocating to Sydney for work Gregory played first-grade rugby for Eastwood and was chosen for New South Wales.

“I played for New South Wales against Queensland, which was interesting.” Stuart described.  “We were genuine amateurs. You were looked after, they bought your beers, paid for your travel and your accommodation and all that sort of thing, but you didn't walk away with any dollars.”

“I had an opportunity for advancement within Coopers and Lybrand by going down to Sydney and so, there was certainly no one suggesting that wasn't the right thing to do.

“To do that now would be much, much different and I guess when there's hundreds of thousands of dollars involved, you can understand why it is different.”

On his return Stuart fought his way back into a Wallaby jersey and played two home Tests against Tonga and toured Wales and England at the end of the year. His final Test match was against England at Twickenham.

In total he played 16 Tests and his contribution to Australia was immense but at the age of 27 he retired to focus on his business interests.

During his six years with the Wallabies Stuart matched it with the World’s best and was acknowledged as one of the world’s premier lineout jumpers. He was a fine all-round player with a physique made for the lock position.

Yet it could easily have been a career that never was.

“I went to school here in Brisbane and only got to play in the seconds at school. I went to uni and I had no particular interest in going on with rugby, but a few of my mates said, why don't you just come down and play.

“So my first year at uni I played in the under 19 B's, right? They only had two teams, the A's and the B's and I wasn't good enough to play in the A's because you were selected based on what you'd done at school.”

“Eventually I started to enjoy it more and I got better. I had been a bit of a shot putter in my days at school and so I started to do weights and things like that to build myself up. So my weight got up to 110 kilos and I was put into the second row and I didn't look back from there.”

Paul Mooney, the coach/selector of the Queensland Under 19s, spotted his talent and drafted him into his side.

“The next year I actually toured in the Queensland under 19 side in New South Wales and Victoria. Paul Mooney took us away on that trip and we played New South Wales country, Sydney and Victoria.”

The next year he went on to make his Queensland debut against Ireland at 20.

Back in Mount Isa Easts won the Minor Premiership with fullback Ray Clark scoring 100 points for the season. Easts dismissed Warrigals easily to go straight into the Grand Final and were joined by Keas who scrapped through 14-12 over Wests and 18-11 over Warrigals.

They couldn’t continue the run and Easts won the Grand Final 20-8 with C Thomas winning the John Myers Tankard for Man of the Match. Despite Stuart playing for the Wallabies that year Keas winger Ross Boulton was named the seasons Best and Fairest.

Stuart is retired now but from his study window in in Newmarket he can look across and see Ballymore and the eastern stand.

The stand was not there when he played the Lions but he can still nostalgically reflect on what is still to this day seen as Queensland Rugby Union’s greatest victory.