Rodney Cavalier bats away racism claims against Donald Bradman

One of the co-authors of a groundbreaking essay on Donald Bradman’s family history has declared the cricketer was ‘not ever racist’.

Sir Donald Don Bradman.

One of the co-authors of a groundbreaking essay on Donald Bradman’s family history has declared the cricketer was “not ever racist”, noting the sportsman had his own Indigenous family connection and that Aboriginal children were welcome in the Bradman home.

A collaboration between former NSW Labor state government minister Rodney Cavalier and historian Bernadette Mahoney, the essay has helped to improve awareness Sir Donald’s maternal grandmother Sophia Neich grew up in an Indigenous household.

Mr Cavalier said the essay documented how Sophia’s mother Mary Cupitt – who gave birth to her outside of wedlock — married an Aboriginal man called Henry Emmet in the 1840s when her daughter was only two.

Sophia, who took her father’s surname of Neich, was raised alongside her Indigenous half-siblings. Her father and Sir Don­ald’s great-grandfather, Emanuel Sebastiano Neich, was a Genoan merchant mariner who became one of Australia’s first Italian ­migrants.

In the essay, published in the summer 2014-15 edition of the cricket journal Between Wickets, Mr Cavalier and Ms Mahoney noted Sir Donald’s mother, Emily Whatman, “certainly knew her Aboriginal grandfather”.

“Mr Emmett did not die until Emily was 27 years old,” the essay said. “A Bradman narrative needs to note that his grandmother on the Whatman side grew up in a household with half-siblings who were Indigenous. When we hear stories that Don Bradman had ­Aboriginal friends as a child, it may well be that those friends were more than friends.”

The intervention follows a dispute between high-profile ABC radio presenter and columnist for The Weekend Australian Magazine Phillip Adams and ­Malaysian-Australian singer Kamahl sparked by differing views of Sir Donald.

Earlier this week, Kamahl said a tweet by Adams was “disgusting” after the media personality claimed Bradman treated the ­singer as “an honorary white” for inviting him to his home every year from August 1988 until the cricket legend died in 2001.

Broadcaster Phillip Adams.

Entertainer Kamahl. Picture: Tim Hunter

“Clearly, Kamahl, he [Bradman] made you an Honorary White. Whereas one of the most towering political figures of the 20th century [Nelson Mandela] was deemed unworthy of Bradman’s approval,” Adams tweeted.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson called for an immediate overhaul of the ABC’s social media policy, warning ABC management was “incapable” of protecting its reputation against “big name” journalists who “go rogue”.

Senator Henderson, a former ABC journalist, said the dispute between Adams and Kamahl highlighted the need for the board to intervene and “directly manage the conduct of ABC employees” on social media.

Senator Sarah Henderson. Picture: Sean Davey

The argument between the men was triggered by a recently unearthed letter Sir Donald wrote to then-prime minister Malcolm Fraser, in which he urged Mr ­Fraser to scrap regulations on capital and called for the public to be “re-educated” about private ­enterprise.

When the letter was made public, Adams denounced Sir Donald as a “right-wing nutjob”, while Kamahl defended the cricket great as someone who “welcomed me into his home”.

Mr Cavalier, who was chair of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust between 2001 and 2014, and a ­renowned cricketing authority, told The Australian that former Governor-General William Deane had related that Sir Donald had spoken of how his Aboriginal friends were welcome in the home when he gave the eulogy at the cricketer’s funeral.

“He was not ever racist,” Mr Cavalier said.

As for Adams’ comments on former South African president Nelson Mandela, he said: “David McNicoll was the first Australian journalist to interview Nelson Mandela on Robben Island. First question Mandela asked McNic­oll: is Don Bradman still alive?”