Kenneth Australia Gavin

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Mary-Ann Cook who writes:
Kenneth Australia Gavin was born at Cudal near Orange, the grandson of Michael Gavin who came to Australia from County Cork in Ireland in the 1930s. His father George Gavin was an early farming pioneer of the farming in the Cudal district. Ken Gavin and his brother Roy were the twelfth and thirteenth children of the family and both learned to play rugby in Cudal. One of their teammates was Lance `Mac` Smith, another international rugby union player.
When the Gavin Family moved to Orange the boys played with the famous Waratahs Club and both represented the Central West in an historical match at Bathurst that saw the only defeat on tour of the British side. The defeat of the touring side drew the selectors attention to the talent that was available in the Central West, in particular to have a closer look at the Gavin brothers. Ken had previously played for New South Wales in 1906 and 1907 against Queensland and again in 1907 against Western Australia.
Ken Gavin was considered unlucky to miss selection in the 1909 Wallaby touring team, but when two of the team were injured Ken was rushed to England as a replacement and the brawny forward established himself as one of the world`s greatest forwards of that era.
Ken missed the Test against Wales, but played in the back row in the First Test against England, which Australia won 9 - 3. On his return, Ken was critical of the selectors and played in the league match between the Wallaby`s and the Kangaroos, thus forfeiting his amateur status; he dropped out of first class football.
Ken Gavin was a commercial traveller for many years and was a genial character who became a better-than-average lawn bowls player with the Orange City Bowling Club. He died at his home in Orange at the age of 73.

Kenneth married Charlotte Louise Edye, daughter of Andrew Edye and Harriet Anderson, on 16 Sep 1916 in Holy Trinity, Orange, NSW Australia. (Charlotte Louise Edye was born on 28 Apr 1892 in Orange, NSW Australia and died on 1 Jun 1968 in Newtown, Sydney, NSW Australia.)