Smith, Bill (1886–1975)
Smith, Bill (1886–1975)
Australian jockey. Name variations: Wilhelmina Smith. Born in 1886 in Australia; died near Cairns, Australia, in 1975.
Horse racing was long considered a sport exclusively for men; only in the 1970s did women begin breaking in to that closed world, and it was not until 1974 that the Australian Jockey Club officially recognized women jockeys. Over 70 years before that, however, Bill Smith was known in North Queensland, Australia, for his skill with riding racehorses. He was said to have been small and slightly built, as is necessary for a jockey, but spoke harshly and swore constantly, and was considered eccentric for refusing to change clothes with the other jockeys before and after a race. Sixteen-year-old Smith won Australia's St. Leger Quest Derby in 1902 and the Jockey Club Derby the following year. In 1909–10, he won the Victorian Oaks Derby. He spent the last several years of his life reclusively, and in 1975, the year after women jockeys were allowed to race in Australia, he died and was discovered to have been a woman. It is not known why she continued to live as a man long after her racing days were over. She was buried under the name of Wilhelmina Smith.
sources:
Radi, Heather, ed. 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology. NSW, Australia: Women's Redress Press, 1988.
Kimberly A. Burton , B.A., M.I.S., Ann Arbor, Michigan