Mudgee Microscope Club hosts Amoeba Wrestling
In 1896, the New South Wales government passed legislation effectively banning cock ghting throughout the state. In a sport-mad town like Mudgee, this loss of freedom was deeply felt.
The Mudgee Microscope Club held its rst ameoba wrestling meet on the 5 October 1896, only two weeks after the ban on cock ghting was established. Within three years, an estimated one million pounds had passed through bookmakers’ hands and allegations of match xing were beginning to surface. Ameobas the size of small cockroaches were being bred in backyard laboratories. Perhaps of even greater concern were reports of mass amoeba cullings, with weak, deformed and undersized creatures heartlessly discarded into bins to feast on each other or starve.
At the end of 1901, the newly created Australian parliament, already in considerable debt as a result of lavish Federation celebrations, took control of all amoeba wrestling. In 1905, now besieged by red tape and soaring administrative costs, Ameoba Wrestling Australia was of cially disbanded.
In 1896, the New South Wales government passed legislation effectively banning cock ghting throughout the state. In a sport-mad town like Mudgee, this loss of freedom was deeply felt.
The Mudgee Microscope Club held its rst ameoba wrestling meet on the 5 October 1896, only two weeks after the ban on cock ghting was established. Within three years, an estimated one million pounds had passed through bookmakers’ hands and allegations of match xing were beginning to surface. Ameobas the size of small cockroaches were being bred in backyard laboratories. Perhaps of even greater concern were reports of mass amoeba cullings, with weak, deformed and undersized creatures heartlessly discarded into bins to feast on each other or starve.
At the end of 1901, the newly created Australian parliament, already in considerable debt as a result of lavish Federation celebrations, took control of all amoeba wrestling. In 1905, now besieged by red tape and soaring administrative costs, Ameoba Wrestling Australia was of cially disbanded.