Though he only wore the original Carlton guernsey with the chamois yoke in four senior appearances through the 1908 season, Koochew is forever remembered as the first League footballer of Chinese origin.
And now, his portrait – in mixed media on polycotton - proudly hangs on a wall of the aptly-titled Kick Gallery in Northcote, as part of artist Tim Vagg’s exhibition, Heroes, Drunks & Bounders – Forgotten Tales of Melbourne.
For Vagg, a 36 year-old Ballarat-born artist of 15 years experience, there’s no doubting Koochew ranks as a hero.
“For the most part I’d prefer to leave judgment to the viewer, but certainly, Wally fits into the ‘hero’ category,” Vagg said.
“I originally heard a fellow named Sam Pang mention this largely forgotten story of Sino-Australian footballers like Wally Koochew and decided to follow it up. Although I’ve never done studies based on famous figures before, I wanted to provide a living memorial to people like him who didn’t get recognition in their own lifetime . . . and every painting has a distant story.”
Walter John Henry Koochew (sometimes spelled Kou Chow, Kow Chow or Ko Chow) was born in Carlton on July 6, 1887. Wally’s father, James, migrated to Australia from Whampoa, 13 kilometres south of Guangzhou (Canton), aboard the ship Frances from the port of Hong Kong in 1865 - one year after the Carlton Football Club was formed.
For James and so many Chinese, the lure of Australia was gold.
Having spent his formative years in the north-western town of Macedon, Wally Koochew was recruited to Carlton from neighbouring Brunswick. But by 1909, he was back at Macedon after an all-too-brief Princes Park foray.
Upon his retirement as a player, and after health issues intervened, Koochew ran a hot dog stand at the old Arden Street Oval in North Melbourne. He died in the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1932, aged 44, and was laid to rest in Heidelberg Cemetery, not far from the grave of the great Australian game’s founder, Tom Wills.
The Koochew painting, which has already been snapped up by a Carlton tragic, is taken from a team photograph captured prior to the Blues’ round three match with Essendon at Princes Park in early 1908. The photo appeared in the Weekly Times of May 23, 1908.
Sharing wallspace with Wally at the gallery is an eclectic mix of sportspeople, adventurers, criminals and thespians - the likes of football’s first Indigenous player Joe Johnson, the pioneer John Pascoe Fawkner, early 20th century crime figure “Squizzy” Taylor and character actor Frank Thring.
Heroes, Drunks & Bounders – Forgotten Tales of Melbourne, runs until September 5 at Kick Gallery, 239 High Street, Northcote. The gallery is open Wednesday-Friday from 11am to 7pm, and Saturday from 12noon-5pm.
Ballarat-born artist Tim Vagg poses by his portrait of
Wally Koochew, Kick Gallery Northcote, August 2009
Wally Koochew portrait, mixed media on polycotton
Wally Koochew, 1908
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