post federation: sporting achievements
During the century of world wars and the Great Depression, Australia achieved great heights in sporting achievements. These are the main highlights of significant Australian performances.
Sir Donald Bradman - Sir Donald Bradman is arguably the greatest cricketer of all time. His statistics are incredibly superior to anyone else even to this day. He played in 52 Test matches for Australia from 1928 to 1948. He batted 80 times against England, the West Indies, South Africa and India for 6996 runs with an average of 99.94.
Rod Laver - Rod Laver was born in Langdale, Queensland in 1938. He is regarded as one of the all time greats of the game. He is the only person to have won the Grand Slam twice, in 1962 and 1969 and was also the first tennis player to become a millionaire. Laver won Wimbledon four times, Australian Open three times and the French and US Open twice.
Pharlap - Pharlap is probably the best known and most revered racehorse in Australian history. In his brief life he repeatedly overcame apparently insurmountable odds to win 37 of 51 races. He was an exceptionally large horse of 17 hands and was of a chestnut colour.
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