Alfred Ernest Wemyss Duffield (1881-1945)

Described by a journalist as “one of the most remarkable men in the State”, Ernie Duffield was a well-known musician. In his youth, he was taught piano and organ at the Bunbury convent before emigrating to South Africa for many years, where he played the organ in the largest cathedral in South Africa. Ernie was also the local champion lightweight boxer for some time both here and in Johannesburg and a world-class champion jockey who rode in South Africa for the ‘diamond king’ Abe Bailey (reference). 

Early Life

Ernie, the eldest child of Alfred and Mary Duffield, was born in Fremantle in 1881 and came to Bunbury as a young child (reference; reference). His parents moved to Bunbury in the late 1880s. Alfred was a baker and confectioner and initially had a business that also supplied carbonated drinks and cordials. At the same time, he and Mary ran a cafe and lodging house on Victoria Street, where they also lived (reference; reference; reference; reference). Later in 1898, they moved to Boyanup when Alfred was granted the licence for the Railway Hotel (reference; reference). 

Ernie first attended the Bunbury convent and then later the public school (reference; reference). He did well at school and gained several prizes (reference; reference; reference). He was also entertaining as a child, singing, playing the piano and acting in school productions and other social events (reference; reference; reference; reference). 

After leaving school, Ernie was employed as a corresponding clerk in the Transport Branch of the Railway Department at Bunbury for five years before leaving for South Africa (reference). 

Entertainer

During his time, Ernie seems to have spent a lot of his out of work hours entertaining. He regularly entertained at the Sailor’s Rest concerts playing the piano and xylophone solos and as an accompanist and singer (reference; reference; reference; reference; reference). Ernie provided the music for dances and balls all over the district (reference; reference; reference; reference). He also provided items for concerts. These were often music hall style and comedic, with Ernie dressing in character to sing “Miss Dolly Grey” (reference; reference; reference). He was popular, and one newspaper article, promoting a grand ball for the Farmers Association in Brunswick, stated, “there ought to be a record attendance, especially as Mr Duffield is providing the music (reference).” He also played the organ for the Roman Catholic Church for many years and civic receptions (reference; reference).

Other Pursuits

Ernie seemed to be a good all-rounder. He played football with the Imperials Football Club and was secretary of the Collie Railways Cricket Club, as well as organising and participating in various sports days (reference; reference; reference; reference). 

He did cross the law when he and friends were insulting and throwing things at passengers on a ferry. However, Constable Denis O'Connor did testify that Ernie immediately ceased when he was told to while his friends did not (reference).

His passion was horses. He was taught to race by the Locke brothers, who were well known in the South West racing circles, and rode his first winner for them (reference). However, his parents objected to him pursuing horse racing which led to him deciding to go to South Africa to follow the sport (reference). 

His mother was a strong woman who stood up for her children in court. At a truancy hearing against Ernie’s brother, Herman, Mrs Duffied stood up to Resident Magistrate Mr Timperly, who said her boys wer a nuisance in the neighbourhood. To this accusation she replied, "You do not know everything. ... My children are good children, and I will not allow any man or woman to say a word against them or to hurt a hair on their heads, and I will always step in and protect them. There are no children who behave better than my children, and I have had to make complaints of the way they are treated." (reference). This was after Herman had been previously before the Donnybrook court for stealing from neighbours (reference). 

Mrs Duffiled died in 1903, less than six months after Ernie left the Bunbury railways (reference).

South Africa

Ernie left Bunbury in 1902 to take up an appointment with the South African Railway service in Capetown (reference). This, however, allowed him to pursue his love of horse racing and, as a jockey, he quickly rose through the ranks to become a champion jockey in South Africa and in 1904, he won all of the six races on the program at one meeting in Standerton, Transvaal which was a shared world record (reference; reference). Along the way, Ernie also picked up the nickname "Plum" and was often referred to this way in the newspaper articles (reference).

The South African press spoke of him in glowing terms. One report stated "he has proved beyond doubt that he is one of the finest horsemen who has visited these shores in addition to being one of the straightest. It is a well-known fact that Australian lads are not sought after to any great extent, but Duffield is evidently the exception, as he seems to command all the riding he desires to do." (reference). Unfortunately, Ernie came down with several bouts of malaria in those early years in South Africa, which permanently affected his health. When he visited Western Australia in 1904, his riding was already lacking its early lustre (reference;reference). When he returned to South Africa, he suffered another bout of malaria, and racing had deteriorated somewhat due to the Kaffir War (reference; reference). It was probably during this war that Ernie started to assist at the boxing tournaments in Durban "at the piano, he used to while away the idle moments for the audience, and was not adverse to putting on a glove when they were short of a contestant in the ring (reference).” Later, just before the Great War, Ernie recalled his boxing "I was most interested to read your comments on that cable re 'Brownie' Carslake winning the jockeys' championship of the world, although other sporting writers hadn't a word to say. Now, I've held the South African championship so long that they can't find an opponent amongst jockeys in any part of S.A. So, during the war, and just before I joined up they (the promoters) had to put me against soldiers and sailors from the gunboat.—men who were good enough to fight at Blackfriars' and the Rational Sporting Club; and although I was only a bantam I fought welters (reference).”

Ernie moved to Johannesburg, and in 1905, he became a trainer, at which he was also successful, as well as still riding (reference; reference). Around the same time, Ernie started publishing "South African Sporting Life" which was a weekly journal that, according to a newspaper article was "a bright journal, cleverly written, and with the pen wielded by one that has been right in the thick of the game in Boerland for so many years (reference).”

During the First World War, Ernie fought with the South African Forces in German East Africa, and due to injuries from that campaign, he mainly confined himself to stage work (reference). His son, Ernie, also a jockey and well-known race caller in South Africa, recalled this post-wartime in his biography "Through My Binoculars": "My father Ernie was a very successful jockey, but when he returned from the war he had taken to drink. He was not riding after the war but he would go out each day and come back in the evening, always with money in his pocket but under the weather. It turned out he was playing piano for money in the Ranch Hotel (reference).”

Ernie returned to Western Australia in 1922 and for some years travelled around the state a little playing piano in cinemas for silent movies and giving concerts, including one in Bunbury (reference; reference; reference; reference). He still, at this time, had a drinking problem, likey a form of self-medication after the horrors he experienced during the war (reference). He also stayed at the Bunbury Seaman's Institute (reference; reference). After returning from a visit to South Africa in 1929, Ernie settled in Dowerin and trained horses (reference; reference). In 1941, Ernie went to Youanmi and ran the IXL tearooms (reference; reference). When the mine closed in 1942, he moved to Geraldton where he lived until he died in 1945 ( reference; reference; reference).

Marriage and Family

While in South Africa, Ernie married Mary Guthrie, an English nurse, and they had three children Ethel, born in 1906, Ernest, born in 1911 and Bernard, born in 1913 (reference). His son Ernest told the following story of his father teaching him to ride: “My earliest recollection was when my father was teaching me to ride on a Shetland pony. I took a tumble and began to cry. He put me back in the saddle and said, ‘What are you crying for? You’ll fall a number of times before you learn (reference).”

Mary and the children must have stayed in South Africa when Ernie returned to Western Australia because in 1923 when young Ernest was 12, he was accepted into the stables of one of the leading South African trainers. Still, his mother would not allow it and made him finish school (reference).

Researched by Gaye Englund for the Museum of Perth.