Bill Sandilands was the curator of the Sandell Oval for an astonishing 40 years.

He cared for the grounds and their surrounds as though were his children. In a very real symbolic – and perhaps emotional – sense they were. He was a bachelor with few relations but a multitude of friends.

Well known and respected at the Hawthorn Football Club, Bill followed his beloved Hawks passionately.

The Sandell Oval was larger in 1946 than it is now. There was no car park and the First XI played there. The oval was still too small even then, however, and the traffic in Barkers Road was in some peril from a lofted straight drive. The First XVIII played at Victoria Park, Kew.

There was an old scoreboard in the north-east corner, built on a storage space in which Bill kept his lawnmower and other tools. If the weather was inclement on Friday, he was known to sleep overnight in the toolshed in order to be on duty first thing in the morning. The ground had to be in prime condition for the Saturday game. 

The stories about him are often the stuff of which legends are made. 

He spent some time in residence in a flat in the Gadsden Pavilion. In the winter of 1971, there was severe flooding and Bill used one of the School’s dinghies to row himself home at night.

He was rolling the wicket at Kew at lunchtime one Friday when some boys were playing hockey and one of them drove a ball directly under the roller, with the lamentable result that it was rolled into the pitch on a good length. Bill was not impressed and expressed his frustration trenchantly. He managed to patch up the damage in time for the game to start but had to cope with a few comments made by the batting side. The fielding side was, of course, delighted.

On a hot afternoon in January 1946, two young men walked up the track through the trees leading from Wrixon Street to Urangeline. They had not met before, but soon discovered that each had been demobbed after war service, and that they were both being interviewed by the headmaster, V. F. O. Francis, for a position on the staff. As they arrived at the house, one held out his hand, and said, ‘I’m Arthur’. The other replied, ‘I’m Bill’. ‘Best wishes, Bill; hope you get the job’. ‘Likewise, Arthur’. They were Arthur Sandell and Bill Sandilands. They both got their jobs: and Carey is very fortunate indeed that they did.

David Morgan
22 August 2024