BIO
Prince Alfred College football vice-captain Gordon Goode may well have been the ‘Good’ who in 1904 played one senior game with Norwood. He would have been a mature 18-year-old that July day at Unley Oval, where Sturt upset an inaccurate Norwood 5.9 to 3.13. (See also: Samuel Cleveland Good)
Born at Port Pirie on 22 January 1886, Gordon was PAC football vice-captain in 1904 and 1905 – in the latter year under the leadership of future Norwood champion Harold Stoddart – and took over the reins in 1906 when, despite his resolute roving performance, St Peter’s convincingly won the intercoll match, 14.14 to 6.6.
In 1906 Gordon also was captain of cricket and a strong performer in tennis, gymnastics and athletics. He won the intercoll 400 yards in 53 3/5 seconds – nearly a second faster than his record the previous year.
Gordon’s father, William Goode, was a prominent pioneering businessman and mayor of Port Pirie. He and three brothers, all born in Worcestershire, established the firm Goode Brothers with businesses in Yankalilla, Willunga, Goolwa, Port Pirie and Adelaide. When William died early in 1910 he was survived by his widow, Marion, née Jones, five sons and four daughters. Gordon was reportedly pursuing a medical course at the University of Edinburgh. Soon after the outbreak of World War I, however, Gordon was named as a station hand when he enlisted at Morphettville on 7 October 1914.
Corporal Gordon Goode was a member of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade when he died of enteric fever at the 21st General Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt, on 16 October 1915. He was 29. With the inscription“They did their duty”, his headstone at the Chatby Military and War Memorial Cemetery, Alexandria, also honours his youngest brother, Eric, who lost his life at Gallipoli.
Gordon Goode, of Knightsbridge, left £2,330 in his will when it was presented for probate in November 1916. His name endures at the Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hazelwood Park (Knightsbridge) War Memorial and Port Pirie Oval WWI Memorial Gates.
P. Robins, D. Cox November 2022