The Australian Women's Register

Summary

When Mollie Dive was a Sydney schoolgirl, a teacher one day told her ‘Mollie, you spend too much time on the oval.’ Mollie’s reply was a straightforward declaration of love for an activity that would remain a life-long passion. ‘I love sport,’ she said. ‘I just can’t help myself.’

An all-round sportswoman (she tried her hand at netball, squash, golf, tennis and lawn bowls) Mollie was known for her excellence on the cricket oval and the hockey field. She stayed involved with these sports as a coach and administrator long after her playing days were over. She was a New South Wales and Australian selector, President of the New South Wales Women’s Cricket Association and a member of the executive of the Australian Women’s Cricket Association. She was associated with the Sydney University Women’s Sports Association for fifty years

Her achievements and contribution to sport were recognised in 1987 when, as well as being awarded an Order of Australia medal for her services to sport, she was honoured by the naming of a grandstand after her at North Sydney Oval, a ground at which she never played!

Mollie played cricket with her family at home (her father played once for the New South Wales state team) but it was not a game she played formally until she went to Sydney University in 1932. She left university with Blues in cricket and hockey, a science degree and a cricketing reputation that eventually saw her obtain employment at the CSIRO, where she worked for most of her life, and captaincy of the Australian team that had the first ever Ashes win over England in 1948-49.

Events

• 1933
• 1933 - 1951
• 1938
• 1948 - 1951
• 1946 - 1949
• 1933
• 1987
• 1987