Lurline Hook - Hay’s gold medalist
Lurline Hook
Born: 1915, Hay NSW
Died: March 11, 1986, Ballina, NSW
Lurline Hook (left) was born in Hay and went on to win gold at the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney.
By Krista Schade
As the Paris Olympics approach we delve into the history of Hay’s own gold medalist.
Lurline Elsie Hook (1915 – 11 March 1986) was an Australian diver who won a gold medal at the 1938 British Empire Games. She was Australian springboard champion in 1931, and a New South Wales diving champion six times over.
Lurline was born in Hay, NSW in 1915, where her father, Mr M. Hook, who was employed in the Telephone Department, was stationed for some time. Lurline moved with her family to Lismore in the State's north-east, where she received a certificate from the Lismore Ladies' Life Saving and Swimming Club in 1924 for completing 50 and 100 yard swims.
In 1926 Hook won the title of Queen of the Olde English Fayre, raising over £102 for the church she represented, St Luke's, Lismore and enabling repayment of a loan for its construction.
At her very first attempt at competition, Lurline placed third in the NSW junior diving championships in 1929 and fourth in the senior event.
“Mrs. H. Hook and her daughter, Miss Lurline Hook, returned to Lismore from Sydney last night. Thirteen-year-old Lurline Hook was placed third in the State junior diving championship and fourth in the senior championship. Mrs. Hook states that it was the opinion of competent judges that her daughter won the junior event, and the winner said, "The little Lismore girl won."
Diving off the top tower on Saturday last Lurline struck the lower tower, but escaped with slight abrasions. Despite the long journey from Sydney, she started in the ladies' 220 yards at the (Lismore) baths last night.”
The Northern Star (Lismore), February 6, 1929.
In the 1930 NSW championships she was injured and unable to perform up to expectation.
“In the N.S.W. ladies' diving championship at the Spit Baths, Sydney, Miss Lurline Hook was one of the 15 competitors and was thought to have a good chance of securing the title. However, she struck her left foot on the board in the downward flight of a Molberg dive and this put her out.”
The Northern Star (Lismore), March 26, 1930.
But 1931 was her year - Lurline won her first Australian national diving championship in 1931, winning the springboard event in Brisbane at the tender age of 15. It was the first time a country girl had won, and her achievements were breathlessly reported in The Riverine Grazier.
“A prominent Sydney sporting journal says: ' Some of the Sydney girls thought they could dive until they contested the N.S.W. Diving Championship with Lurline Hook. The Hay native outpointed them easily and showed herself to be the best girl diver the State has ever seen.'
The Riverine Grazier (Hay), January 24, 1931.
WONDERFUL GIRL DIVER
“For the first time in the history of swimming in Australia, a country girl has won a national championship. The little miss to perform the unparalleled feat is Miss Lurline Hook, 15. After a really delightful exhibition, which included plain header, 1½ forward somersault, molberg, backward header, and isander dives from the three metres springboard, Miss Hook won the title from the holder, Miss Greta Mott (Victoria), and Miss H. Beardsmore (Qld.)”
The Referee (Sydney), January 28, 1931.
Lurline went on to win gold in the 10-metre platform event at the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney.
This action shot from the NSW State Library is captioned “Diver Lurline Hook diving backwards off a diving board into the water, circa 1930”
Hook met her first husband, Hylton Davies at the 1931 championships. A fellow athlete Hylton was a first-grade rugby league footballer who played for Newtown in the 1930s.
“A romance which started at the Empire Games results in the announcement of the engagement today of Miss Lurline Hook, Empire Games high diving champion, and Mr. Hylton (Hycs) Davies, third son of Mr. H. G. Davies, and of the late Mrs. Davies, of St. Peters, Sydney.
Miss Hook, who has been six times diving champion of New South Wales, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M Hook, of Lismore, and has been living in Sydney for the past eighteen months.
"I first met 'Hycs' when I came down for one of my first attempts on the senior diving championship when I was 15 years of age," said Miss Hook. "He used to hold my towel for me."
Miss Hook has now retired from competitive diving. Her fiancé, who is also a swimming enthusiast, played first grade football with Newtown until recently, when he was forced to retire owing to an injury to a ligament in his knee”.
The Sun (Sydney), October 31, 1939.
They married before he joined the AIF shortly after the outbreak of WWII. He was killed in Borneo in July 1945, leaving behind Lurline and their infant son Ian. In 1947 she remarried Loyal George Cavanagh.
Lurline died in Ballina, NSW on March 11, 1986.
Below: These diagrams of types of high dives performed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm are from the official report, summarising the events of the games, published in 1913. The Isander (above left) and Mollberg dives were both named after the Swedish divers who invented them.
