Lorna Jean McConchie (22 July 1914 – 9 December 2001) was a former Australia netball international and national team head coach. In 1938 McConchie played for Australia in their first international match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. McConchie was later head coach when Australia won the inaugural 1963 World Netball Championships. In 2009 she was inducted into the Australian Netball Hall of Fame.

Early life and education

McConchie attended East Kew Primary School and

University High School University High School may refer to: Australia * University High School, Melbourne, Victoria Canada * University Hill Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia United States Arizona * University High School (Tolleson) * University High S ...

before studying

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at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

. She subsequently became a lecturer at Melbourne and helped establish the university's physical education course. In 1949, she represented the Australian Physical Education Association at the first women's conference in

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Playing career

Clubs

McConchie played netball for East Kew, winning premierships in 1928, 1929 and 1930. She also played for University High School Old Pupils and

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

Victoria

Between 1931 and 1940, McConchie played for Victoria in the Australian National Netball Championships. In 2000, together with

Sharelle McMahon Sharelle Jane McMahon (born 12 August 1977) is an Australian former netball player who List of Australia national netball team captains, captained the Australia national netball team. She played in the goal attack and goal shooter positions. Do ...

, Wilma Shakespear, Myrtle Baylis, Shelley O'Donnell and Simone McKinnis, McConchie was named in Netball Victoria's Team of the Century.

Australia

On 20 August 1938, McConchie played for Australia in a 40–11 win against

Royal Park, Melbourne Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne's inner city parks (). It is located north of the Melbourne CBD, in Victoria, Australia, in the suburb of Parkville. Many sporting facilities are provided including the North Park Tennis Club, Royal P ...

. This was the first netball Test between Australia and New Zealand. She was then named vice-captain of the Australia team that was due to tour

in 1940. However the tour was cancelled due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Coaching career

University of Melbourne

Between 1959 and 1979, McConchie coached several

club teams .

Australia

In 1956, McConchie was head coach when Australia toured

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Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The team was captained by Pat McCarthy. She was also head coach when Australia won the inaugural 1963 World Netball Championships. The team featured Joyce Brown and Wilma Shakespear.

Umpire and administrator

McConchie also served as a netball umpire and sports administrator. She served three terms as President of Netball Victoria in 1955–58, 1969–70, and 1980–81. In 1959, she was one of two

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

delegates at the inaugural conference of the

International Netball Federation World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, m ...

. This conference helped formulate the modern

rules of netball Netball is a ball sport for two teams of seven players; its rules are published in print and online by the International Netball Federation. Games are played on a rectangular court divided into thirds, with a raised goal at each short end. The ob ...

. She subsequently became a member of the INF's rules interpretation committee and attended every World Netball Championship between

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

in this capacity.

Honours

Head coach

; Australia *

World Netball Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by the World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and t ...

**''Winners'':

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

Individual awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McConchie, Lorna 1914 births 2001 deaths Australian netball players Australia international netball players Netball players from Melbourne Australian netball coaches Australia national netball team coaches Australian netball administrators Australian netball umpires Australian women referees and umpires Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal University of Melbourne alumni Academic staff of the University of Melbourne University of Melbourne women