"Among the hundreds of recruits who left Melbourne for Seymour yesterday was Mr J A [sic] Wheatley, better known throughout the Commonwealth as 'Dad' Wheatley, once the amateur champion cross-country runner of Australia. Mr Wheatley represented Australia at the Olympic games held at Athens several years ago. His brother, Private Noel  Wheatley, a promising black and white artist, aged 20 years, was killed in action at Gallipoli recently, and Mr G A Wheatley and another brother, Horace have enlisted to  avenge his death. They are sons of Mr A E Wheatley, of Moonee Ponds, formerly assistant registrar of titles."                     

The Argus 3 August 1915        

ATHLETES AT THE FRONT

 G. A. Wheatley, than whom there is probably no more widely known runner in khaki, is at the Suez Canal, and writes, 'I saw A. D. Ellis the other day; he looked fit enough to do 220 in 22sec. W. E. Scott's younger brother is with us; he is a corporal. The other day some of the 6th went by, and when watching them was, much to my surprise, hailed by an old club mate in Peter Eller*; he is a captain. We have some heavy rushes through the sand, and I stand them very well, still having a bit of 'ginger' left. Was out the other day trench digging and met some Sydney runners. I see at the military sports in December that T. S. Hewett won the Marathon, but what was wrong with my old pacer, Steve Hollow only getting third in the quarter, in, 55 1-5sec. ? I guess he was a long  way short of a gallop. I might be able to win, a 'pot' myself when I get back, if some kind-hearted handicapper will let me out. We hear Russell Watson got hit- hope it was only a small prize he got.'

ATHLETES AT THE FRONT. (1916, March 8). Winner (Melbourne, Vic. : 1914 - 1917), p. 5. Retrieved September 16, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154557067

*P Eller appears on the Essendon State School and Moonee Ponds West State School Rolls of Honour.

G. A. Wheatley is now acting as staff sergeant-major in France, and his brother Horace is with him as a corporal. Other Essendonians include Lieutenant A. J. May (now en route for the front), L. Armstrong (expecting to leave shortly), and  F. H. Wickham, the hurdler, who has  gained his captaincy.

AMATEUR ATHLETICS. (1916, October 14). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 23. Retrieved May 27, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140700364

R. H. Thurston (East Melbourne) has sent a postcard from France with the cheerful heading, "Mud Avenue, The Push." The date is September 30. He mentions G. A. Wheatley (Essendon) as in the same company ("we occupy the front stalls"), and that Cyril Scott and A. D. Robertson (both of the E.M.H.) are there. 

ATHLETICS. (1916, November 18). Weekly Times (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 21. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132717539

In a letter to Mr. R. H. Croll, dated November 1, G. A. Wheatley writes in his usual happy way. Written from   "Somewhere in the Mud," Wheatley says: "Never felt so dirty in all my life. If I went into a barber's for a shave he would consider it a 'time and a half' job, and would send a boy straight away for the lawn mower, and commence the big drive — or, rather, push . ... My couches have consisted of everything imaginable — cow sheds, fowl houses, fields, ditches, dug-outs, dug-ins — but at present I am O.K.'

ATHLETES. (1917, January 3). Winner (Melbourne, Vic. : 1914 - 1917), p. 8. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154550434

G. A. Wheatley has experienced a disappointment in France. Writing under date December 1, 1916, he sets out the facts:- "I picked up a Melbourne city tram ticket the other day. It annoys me very much, knowing that I have such a treasure with no tram handy to board. I had a letter from  Steve Hollow the other day. He is still in 'Blighty' and doing well.

No doubt you have seen those excellent drawings by Captain Bairnsfather in "The Bystander.' Well,   they are quite realistic, and only the other day I saw one of his pictures in true life bully tins and petrol tins floating about and a fellow up to his knees in water, muffler well around his neck, smoking a cigarette and miserably  watching, his brazier burning the only cheerful thing for him within miles. What his thoughts were I cannot say - possibly something in the way of a Hot Frankfort and Roll stunt."

Captain Bruce Bairnsfather was a popular wartime cartoonist. 

Perhaps this is the drawing of which Greg Wheatley was thinking.

SPORT IN FRANCE

Writing from France on August 23, Sergeant   "Dad" Wheatley (Essendon Harriers) explained that he had just completed four months' course at Trinity College, Cambridge. He went on: "We had a five-mile cross country race, and I had charge of B Company's team. A few of us trained, and I strained a tendon in doing so. That stopped

me for two weeks.

"The day came, just 400 yards in front of the barrier was our first obstacle, a ditch with very little water in it. I got to the ditch well up, but fell in, and was used as a doormat by the others. I thanked Providence they wore sandshoes. I finished 24th. B Company won the teams race, finishing 15 in the first 31. B Company carried off the sports shield by winning at cricket, tennis. Badminton, and running, and getting a second in swimming.

"Do you know, by the way, that the trains in France go so slowly that the boys can milk the cows as they pass?"

SPORT IN FRANCE. (1917, October 20). Weekly Times (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 22. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132696188

ATHLETICS

WORD FROM "DAD" WHEATLEY INTERESTED IN ARTICLES BY "LYNX"

By "ALL ROUND"

No one is better qualified to speak of amateur running than Sergeant-Major G. A. Wheatley, now serving his country "Some where in Belgium." As a Victorian and Australasian champion, and record holder, he met in his day all the best men on the track in this country, and he was twice abroad as Australia's representative at world championship meetings in Greece and England.

Writing to a Melbourne friend, under date November 18, he said:—"I've been reading in 'The Weekly Times' the discussions by 'Lynx' of various athletes, and I think them very good. He certainly took on a contract when he attempted to handicap the sprinters at the various distances, 100, 220, and 440 yards. He has mentioned all the good sprinters, but I would have liked Leo. Morgan's name in the list. If memory serves me, Morgan was credited with doing the 100 under evens. He had a bad knee, and had to give it up, or he would possibly have ranked as one of our best short-distance runners. Billy Shea was very versatile, and well I remember seeing him win the three sprint championships in one day. The quarter took my fancy. He   won by three yards, with Mitchell, of Bendigo second. Billy fell, and Mitchell picked him up. I was only a squeaker in those days.

I also noticed in the Walking article George Bonhag's name mentioned. Is that the Bonhag who won the Olympic Games walk at Athens? That was his first walk. Winning a world's championship in a maiden attempt certainly takes a bit of beating. That walk seemed to me a case of the judges' automatically 'yanking' off the competitors. They kept pulling them off till they got to Bonhag, who stayed there, and eventually won. But lots of funny things happened at Athens. I am glad to see Roche doing so well. He was always keen on the game, and had notions of putting up times for distances over 440, but I think him better suited up to the quarter. Sorry to hear of Russell Wat son's bad luck. He had yards of running in him, and I expected to see him right at his top before he reached 28, which I consider a middle distance runner's best year.

I, like a lot of other runners, have become an expert duck-board harrier. A brother officer in this company is Andy Sime, the well known Marathon runner, whose record I need not relate. Was it four starts, three wins and a third? Something like that. We go for long walks together, and make the mud look foolish. Here's looking at you from a superb chateau, made out of sandbags and sheets of tin." 

ATHLETICS. (1918, February 16). Weekly Times (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 22. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122131666

NOW AND THEN

G A WHEATLEY 1916 AND 1912

Wheatley is now in France with his Company. The famous Victorian was recently in Egypt offered a lieutenancy, but as acceptance of this would have meant his separating from his Company, he promptly declined it. In consequence he still holds the rank of sergeant. His brother, H D, the sprint swimmer, is with the same Company. Of the two photographs of the Australasian record holder reproduced here, the one in khaki is the most recent one received from Egypt, while the one in running costume was taken at the opening run of the 1912 cross-country season at Brighton Beach Baths, and is one for which Wheatley has always had a special liking. The photographs form rather a contrast, and this is heightened by the background shown in the original photograph (somewhat cut down in reproduction) of a car from the factory of the Peace Maker, Henry Ford. The 'Pieces Maker' was the rude suggestion put forward quite' recently by a certain humorous American journal.

ATHLETES. (1916, July 19). Winner (Melbourne, Vic. : 1914 - 1917), p. 9. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154550704

G. A. Wheatley is now acting as staff  sergeant-major in France, and his brother Horace is with him as a corporal. Other Essendonians include Lieutenant A. J. May (now en route for the front), L. Armstrong (expecting to leave shortly), and  F. H. Wickham, the hurdler, who has  gained his captaincy.

AMATEUR ATHLETICS. (1916, October 14). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 23.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140700364

ATHLETES

"Somewhere in the Refrigerator", is the present location of G. A. Wheatley. The ex-Australasian champion (writes Mr A. S. Howcroft), sends a cheery letter under date of February 2, from France, where he has been from the time the Australians arrived there last year. He says, "Steve Hollow is in our company, and looks pretty well on it. C. V. Scott has just come back from Blighty. I visited the Big Smoke my self a little time back, leaving the trenches like a mudlark, and reappearing spick and span, in new togs; felt just like a peacock. There is not much news to tell. Everything is "tray bong." Remember me to all the boys. Here's looking at you from a tin hat and remaining yours to an icicle."

ATHLETES. (1917, March 28). Winner (Melbourne, Vic. : 1914 - 1917), p. 8. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154550064

"DAD" WHEATLEY IS CHEERFUL.

In a note from somewhere in France, the old Australasian champion, G. A. Wheatley, discourses on many things, including some sports meetings. It was written in January, and there had been some heavy falls of snow. ""When this begins to thaw," he went on, "it forms ice, and the boys of the village, all about 50, break it away from the gutters. Huge chunks of ice going to waste would hurt the feelings of the managers of some of our ice factories. I have been kept busy with sports. You know it usually takes weeks to prepare for a boxing tournament. I fixed ours up in one hour, and they were some fights, believe me. The athletic games were held in eight inches of snow, and the competitors ran in socks. No times were taken, for fear some sarcastic person would suggest that the officials used an eight-day clock.

"Football was also played in the snow, and  the battalion completed in one week the following events:—Football (Australian, Rugby, and Soccer), athletic sports, three miles' cross country race, tug-of-war, boxing. It was nothing short of perpetual motion. After the battalion sports we went on with brigade sports. One match at football can be mentioned only with bated breath. A thaw set in the night before, and the ground turned into a lake. Early in the morning a freeze  came on, and the field became a huge Glaciarium. On top of that followed a fall of snow, about eight inches. The match had to be played. It reminded me of the opening night of an ice skating rink. We slid all over the place, and if you turned suddenly your feet were at once A. W. L. (absent without leave), and you would get up looking like the Man from Snowy River. You couldn't stand up and kick the ball. One chap had a shot 10 yards in front, and tried to punt a goal. Away went his feet, and he didn't even score a point. We (the 31st) eventually got home with one goal nine behinds to one goal five behinds, and so worked into the final. What happened to us in the final I draw a veil over.

"At the Brigade sports I got a job as starter. Had to use a rifle with blanks. It was necessary to use a snow scraper to get the track clear. Dr Eric Woods, the University footballer, won the high jump with 4ft. 11in. It was as cold as charity, and my fingers were quite numb. We are hoping much of our boxers and are feeding them on under done steak to make them wild."