1927 - 2010

Born and bred in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Murray Tate attended Waverley College and formed a lifelong association with the Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club (Easts) after he left school. He was a member of Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club, through which he gained his Bronze Medallion surf life-saving qualification in 1944, at age 17, and for which he was vice-president in 1972.

He was a tall and solidly built ‘inside back’ player for Easts as well as a rugged defender and good handler. He enjoyed a first-grade premiership in 1946 and played a big part in taking the club to the 1947 grand final by dropping a goal after the full-time bell rang out at the Sydney Showground, when Easts were locked at 9-all with Gordon. Easts went on to clinch the premiership by thrashing Manly 32–6.

Murray made his senior-representative debut for New South Wales, against Queensland, in 1948. However, during the 1949 season, he was ‘scapegoated’ when New South Wales was defeated by New Zealand, and he unfairly found himself in a two-year hiatus from ‘big football’.

Described as “the ideal type to succeed against the hard-running All Black centres”, he finally earned higher honours during the 1951 season after his ‘shock selection’ as ‘inside centre’ for the Wallabies’ 3rd Test against New Zealand, at the Brisbane Cricket Ground. The Aussies lost, 6–16.

For the 1952 season, Wallaby Number 386 was selected to play ‘fly half’ for all four Tests, two in Fiji and two in New Zealand.

For the ’53 season, as ‘halfback’ for the first Test, he played against South Africa, at Johannesburg Rugby Stadium. The Wallabies suffered a 3–25 loss.

In ’54, his final season of international rugby, he was the first-choice ‘fly half’ for the Wallabies’ two home Tests against Fiji.

At the end of Murray’s four-year international career, and when he died at age 83, he was proud to have played eight Tests for Australia.

Courtesy the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club.