QUESTION: Is Aussie rules football derived from the Aboriginal game Marn Grook?

History books will tell you that Tom Wills, the father of Australian rules football, attended Rugby School in Britain and designed the game as a modified version of rugby. However, evidence suggests that Wills was familiar with, and may have been influenced by, Marn Grook.

Marn Grook translates to ‘game ball’ and was typically played with a ball made from possum skin, stuffed with charcoal and grass.

The game involved kicking and catching the ball and this display of athleticism was a key aspect of the game. It was often played by large groups of men, with some accounts also suggesting that women, and even children, participated as well.

Wills was the son of Horatio Wills, a landowner in the Western District of Victoria. Tom Wills was one of the area’s only white children during the 1830s and 1840s. So, he grew up playing with the Aboriginal children in the district, spoke the local language and participated in local ceremonies.

The adoption of some of the facets of Marn Grook into the game seems plausible. For his game, Wills did away with ground-level scrums, and instead focused on keeping the ball in the air, with rewards for players who caught the ball direct from another player’s kick.

Tom Davies, Gerringong, New South Wales

QUESTION: Who was the first fighter ace in Britain?

Major Lanoe George Hawker VC (1890-1916) was Britain’s first flying ace (‘a military pilot credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat’).

In 1913, Hawker gained his aviator’s certificate, after he had paid for his flying lessons himself, and was commissioned into the fledgling Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

When the First World War broke out, neither the British nor the Germans had many aircraft, so Hawker was something of a pioneer. One of Hawker’s early flying achievements was to attack a zeppelin hanger, dropping hand grenades onto it from the air.

Hawker was both a skilled aviator and an innovator. He invented a thigh-length fur-lined boot to keep aircrew warmer. He adapted his Bristol Scout (a single-seat aircraft) to carry a Lewis gun.

With this he downed three German aircraft in a single day, a feat for which he was awarded a Victoria Cross in 1915.

He went on to down a total of seven enemy aircraft, earning himself the title of ‘ace’. Hawker was then given command of 24 Squadron. His motto was ‘Attack everything!’

On November 23, 1916, Hawker was attacked by Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron, and he became his 11th victim.

Von Richthofen claimed Hawker’s Lewis gun as a trophy. German Grenadiers recovered Hawker’s body from the wreckage of his aircraft and buried him, noting the grave’s location. However, the grave has never been found.

Lanoe Hawker’s name is recorded on the Arras Flying Services Memorial in France. Hawker’s VC is in the collection of the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon, the place where Hawker first learned to fly.

Bob Dillon, Edinburgh

QUESTION: Why have over 80 churches been burned down in Canada over the past few years?

In 2021, a horrific story swept Canada that 751 unmarked graves had been discovered in the grounds of Marieval Indian Residential School, just weeks after the remains of 215 children were reportedly discovered at Kamloops Indian Residential School.

The BBC reported ‘Canada mourns as remains of 215 children found at indigenous school,’ an article that still remains on their website.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau ordered the country’s flags to be flown at half-mast on all federal buildings to honour the ‘215 children whose lives were taken at the Kamloops residential school’.

A wave of anti-Christian violence spread across the country. At least 96 churches were burned or vandalised. However, a multi-million investigation has so far failed to turn up any evidence of mass graves.

This all detracts from the fact that the 20th century’s church-run residential schools were grim places. These often separated indigenous Canadian children from their families and communities. Many died from disease and suffered from cultural dislocation.

Currently, the story that children were buried in mass unmarked graves at indigenous residential schools appears to be false.

D. L. Anderson, London SW3