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War Memorial
Australia

Published Biographies

Blood, Sweat and Fears, Medical Practitioners and Medical Students or Served in World War 1: Christopher Verco, Annette Summers, Tony Swain & Michael Jelly. (Army Health Services Historical Group) - reproduced in full

Parade to Paradise, 101 Season of East Torrens Cricket and Cricketers 1897-98 to 2002-2003: Peter Herbert and Geoff Sando (Adapted)

Additional Biography

Early Life, Education and Sport

Charles (Charlie) Edward Dolling was born on the 4th September 1886 in Wokurna, a Spencer Gulf country town near Port Broughton in South Australia. His parents were German born Johann Gustav Dolling and Australian born Minna Marie Spoehr (married in 1869 at Hahndorf).

He was educated in Adelaide at the Way College and Prince Alfred College (PAC). Although not an outstanding student, he passed his Senior Examinations (5 subjects) and received his certificate in December 1905. Even though sport had probably always been a great distraction, his results still enabled him to enroll at the University of Adelaide the following year.

At PAC he was a very good athlete, tennis player and represented the First Teams in both cricket and football. In addition, he was chosen to be a school prefect.

Already an outstanding schoolboy cricketer he played 1st XI and Intercollegiate games in 1903, 1904 and 1905. Dolling was also a very good schoolboy footballer at Prince Alfred College Dolling and had played in their 1st XVIII in 1904 and 1905 and was a member of the intercollegiate side.

In the annual intercollegiate cricket match against St Peters College in December 1904 as team captain he scored a mammoth 311 runs, the second highest score ever made by a PAC cricketer in Intercollegiate cricket (previously Joe Darling had made 252 and Clem Hill 360).

In February 1905 he was a member of the PAC cricket team which played a match against an Adelaide University Eleven. In the match Charles Dolling, who would eventually go on to become the AUCC's first captain, was outstanding by top scoring with 63 not out and taking 6 for 30 including a hat-trick. The majority of those players on both teams would go on and play for Adelaide University when the Club was finally admitted to the District competition in the 1908/09 season.

In December 1905 after a run of many great performances and whilst still a student at PAC, the 19-year-old Dolling was picked to represent South Australia. In his first match against Victoria at the MCG, the “schoolboy” was dismissed by the legendary Australian Captain 130kg Warwick “Big Ship” Armstrong in both innings.

Adelaide University Studying Medicine and a State Cricketer - A Conflict of Interests

With his first-class cricket career with South Australia progressing well it would have made study a little harder. He passed one subject, German in 1906 which probably gave him a sixth senior subject so he could study medicine the following year. In 1907, he passed 1st year medicine (2nd class) and in 1908 he passed 2nd Year (3rd Class). Third Year was only completed in March 1910 with the completion of two supplementary examinations and later in November the same year he achieved the desired result and passed 4th year (3rd Class).

As a regular in the Sheffield Shield team, cricket was still a major distraction from his medical studies. By now, as well as playing for South Australia he was also one of the State Selectors. However, he did make himself unavailable leading up to and during his exams in November of 1910. It was a great effort, considering his other commitments and apparently some earlier health issues, that he past his 5th Year (3rd Class) and had his MBBS Degree conferred in the regulation 5 years in December 1911.

Adelaide University Sport

On leaving PAC Charles embraced university sporting activities and played football and cricket for the “Blacks” and competed in the annual University Tennis Tournament.

Adelaide University Football Club (AUFC – “The Blacks”)

Adelaide University football teams had played before 1906, mainly in interfaculty games, against the college, and also Intervarsity contests against Melbourne in 1904 and 1905. In March 1906 the AUFC was formally constituted and in April was admitted as a member of the Adelaide University Sports Association. Dolling’s teammate and a great friend from PAC, Harold Stoddart, was elected the first captain. Stoddart became a fine league footballer with Norwood (debut June 1906) and was a regular State player over several seasons.

The University team played in the Adelaide and Suburban Football Association in this first year and finished outside the final four. Charles was a regular member of the team for only two seasons and played in the 1906 and 1907 Intervarsity. Probably, because of cricket commitments affecting his study, it was necessary in the following years to give football away and concentrate in the winter on his medical subjects.

Adelaide University Cricket Club (AUCC – “The Blacks”)

It was first proposed in 1897 by Adelaide University graduate and lawyer William Magarey for an Adelaide University Cricket team to play in the South Australian Cricket Association A-Grade competition. However, it was not until the 1908/9 season that this eventually was approved by the SACA. The first team was largely composed of former Prince Alfred and St Peter's College old scholars who has already been playing A-Grade cricket for established SACA clubs. Now a medical student, Charles Dolling had already played for Sturt, East Torrens and Adelaide A-Grade clubs and had been an established member of the State team since 1905/6 season. It was logical that he would be selected as captain and he headed a very formidable line up of students much to the angst of the other clubs who had lost many of their fine young players.

The AUCC team lined up to play Glenelg, the other new club in the competition, for their first match. The University Oval and wicket was not yet completed, and they would have to play all their games away or on neutral grounds in that first season.

Charles Dolling scored a century against Glenelg in University's first SACA A-Grade game in October 1908.

Dolling would have four prolific seasons with University Cricket Club from 1908/9 until 1911/12, including a record of 769 runs at 64.08 with four centuries in his first season 1908-09. This was the highest season aggregate in the SACA competition to that time.

In 1910 the Adelaide University Cricket Club first established the lasting tradition of playing regular Intervarsity contests against interstate universities.

Adelaide University Sports Association Awards

He was awarded an Adelaide University Sports Associate Blue for Cricket in 1911. Although he had outstanding performances earlier, one of the prerequisites for the award was that he must have played in the Intervarsity match. This occurred in December 1910.

Medical Career Takes Over

Towards the end of the 1911/12 season his medical career intervened and virtually ended his first-class and district careers. After working in the Adelaide Hospital, he moved to work in medical practices at Minlaton and then Streaky Bay to gain further experience. His sporting activities were limited to the occasional country cricket match and local tennis tournaments.

Dolling did come out of "retirement" in the summer of 1913/14 after accepting an invitation to tour New Zealand on a private international cricket tour organised by Arthur Sims comprising of a number of Australian Test cricketers. Also playing in the Australian Team were Trumper, Noble, Armstrong and Mailey. In the last game of the tour at Eden Park, Auckland and what would be Trumper’s last first-class game, Dolling scored 104 runs in 118 minutes.

Medicine & Cricket Involvement after the Great War

After the War, Dolling remained in for several years working in England and Wales. He also played cricket for the Sutton Cricket Club, Surrey, England. Returning to Australia in 1921 he set up a medical practice on the Port Road at Hindmarsh where he remained until 1934. He married New Zealand born academic Dorothy Clarke in 1923.

His interrupted cricket career resumed briefly for the West Torrens District Cricket Club eight seasons after his last match with University. Following some outstanding performances, he returned to first class cricket in 1922 at the age of 36.

In the 1922-23 district cricket season he again won the SACA batting aggregate with 856 runs at 71.33. This was 14 years after he had won the award playing with University. After retirement from district cricket in 1926 he served as the SACA Medical Officer and a State and Australian Selector.

Always a supporter of the AUCC, Charles Dolling also returned to the Club in the 1927/28 season as Club President and in 1929/30 season as Club Coach.

During his years as the suburban Family Doctor on the Port Road at Hindmarsh, he gained great respect from the community and would often charge a fee on the basis of what people could afford (which often meant no charge at all).

In March 1934 he left his Hindmarsh practice and with Mrs Dolling and their two children headed to England and the Continent. Apart from the touring and visiting acquaintances, the main purposes of the trip was to visit London and Vienna (Charles spoke fluent German) to study dermatology. Also, as an Australian Test Selector, the apparent timing of the journey did happen to coincide with the successful 1934 Ashes Series.

After 18 months abroad, the Dolling’s returned home with a short stop-over in Fiji and a detour to New Zealand to visit Dorothy’s family. On his return in July 1935 he soon set about establishing a specialist dermatology practice in the Shell Building on North Terrace Adelaide.

While in England, he perhaps had a slight warning that his health was not entirely in order, however in June 1936 he suffered a stroke in his surgery and passed away shortly after in Calvary Hospital, North Adelaide. His untimely death at only 49 years of age, as well as being a sad loss for his family, was the loss of a great South Australian cricket personality whose knowledge of the game was second to none.

He was survived by his wife Dorothy and children, Charles Hoani Scott and Eleanor Ngaire.

Family Legacy

After Charles Dolling passing, his wife Dorothy continued her great service to the community including membership of the committee that established the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden and was State President of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In 1944 she received an OBE for her work. For more information:

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dolling-dorothy-eleanor-10031

Profile added with the permission of the author Rob O'Shannassy.

For the complete profile including photographs, newspaper articles, documents and sources prepared for the AUFC/AUCC WWI Memorial Project please see the document attached.