Kenelm Mackenzie "Mac" Ramsay (27 August 1914 — 1 July 1942) was an Australian
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
international.
Ramsay was born in
Quirindi
Quirindi ( or ) is a small town on the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Liverpool Plains Shire.
At the , Quirindi had a population of 2,602. It is the nearest link to Gunnedah, New South Wales, Gunnedah to the northw ...
and educated at
Tamworth High School
Tamworth High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located in Willis Street, South Tamworth, a suburb of the Tamworth Regional Council local government area in the New England region of New South W ...
.
Rugby career
A versatile forward, Ramsay debuted for
Drummoyne
Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of ...
in 1935 and made the New South Wales state side in his first season in the top grade, then moved on to
Randwick
Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...
the following year, where he played in two premierships.
Ramsay gained a total of four caps for the
Wallabies
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...
from 1936 to 1938 and was on the
1939–40 tour of Britain and Ireland which was abandoned due to the war, two days after the team arrived in England.
World War II
Ramsay, enlisting in 1940, served as a Corporal in the
1st Independent Company and was posted to
New Ireland. The island was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and soldiers in Ramsay's unit were ordered to retreat. He made it to a ship but was captured by a Japanese destroyer. After being interned at
Rabaul
Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...
, Ramsay was put on the ''
Montevideo Maru'' which was transporting Australian prisoners of war to Hainan. It was torpedoed en route by the ''
USS Sturgeon'', unaware that prisoners were on board. Over 1000 people, including Ramsay, were killed in the sinking of the ship.
See also
*
List of Australia national rugby union players
List of Australia national rugby union players is a list of people who have played for the Australia national rugby union team.
Note that the "position" column lists the position at which the player made his Test debut, not necessarily the posit ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsay, Mac
1914 births
1942 deaths
Australian rugby union players
Australia international rugby union players
Rugby union players from New South Wales
Rugby union forwards
People from Quirindi
Drummoyne RFC players
Randwick DRUFC players
Australian Army personnel of World War II
Australian military personnel killed in World War II
People who died at sea
New South Wales rugby union team players
20th-century Australian sportsmen