Nicholas Shehadie

Nicholas Michael Shehadie was born to a Lebanese Greek Orthodox family in the beachside Sydney suburb of Coogee.[1] He was the third of five children born to Hannah (née Khouri) and Michael Shehaidie, who arrived in Sydney from Lebanon in 1925, one year before Nicholas was born.[2] Nicholas grew up in Redfern, Sydney and attended the Cleveland St Public and later Crown St Commercial schools.

The young Shehadie embraced Sydney's sporting lifestyle and joined the Coogee Surf Club where many of the surfers were avid rugby players, Keith and Colin Windon among them. He joined the Randwick Rugby Club and was first picked as a replacement in first grade when he was still aged fifteen. He made his first representative appearance for New South Wales against a Combined Services side at age sixteen.[3] In 1947 he appeared in a New South Wales XV against New Zealand and then made his debut for Australia in the final Test against those same touring All Blacks.

He was selected on the 1947–48 Wallaby tour, the fourth youngest of the 30-man squad. He dislocated his shoulder in the fourth tour match against Cardiff but recovered to make 24 tour appearances including the final two Tests against England and France. He finished the tour in the Wallabies side that met the Barbarians in their inaugural match against an international touring team.

Shehadie made representative appearances against the New Zealand Māori in 1949 and that year toured New Zealand in Trevor Allan's team which for the first time in history returned victorious with the Bledisloe Cup.[3] He made further representative showings against the British and Irish Lions in 1950, the All Blacks in 1951 and Fiji in 1952.

He made his second tour of New Zealand in 1952 and then on the 1953 Wallaby tour of South Africa he was honoured with the Australian captaincy in eight tour matches and in one Test. He continued to represent at the highest level from 1954 to 1956 and then in 1957 he made history as the first Wallaby to repeat a tour of the British Isles and Europe. While he played in 24 matches of the trip including two Tests, the tour was a disappointment with the Wallabies losing all five Tests. Shehadie was signally honoured however when he became the first tourist to be asked to play for the Barbarians in the final tour match against his own team.[3]

All up, Shehadie made 175 appearances for Randwick in a 16-year club career. He represented for Australia on 114 occasions – the first player to reach the century mark. He played 30 Tests – a record at the time – 3 of them as captain.[4]

Shehadie worked in the 1950s selling fire doors and securities systems for Wormald Industries and later became a sales manager with an asphalt company. When his footballing days ended he commenced a business supplying and fixing vinyl tiles used in hotel bars and in computer room installations requiring anti-static floors. The business was successful, being first to market with a product in high demand by the growing information technology departments of corporate Australia.[5]

His grandfather Nicholas Shehadie was a clergyman in the Antioch Orthodox Church who migrated from Lebanon in 1910 and later became the head of that church in Australia and New Zealand.[13] Sir Nicholas' father Michael remained in Lebanon due to the outbreak of World War I, won a scholarship to study chemistry at the University of Kiev and in the 1920s chose to migrate to Australia to join his father in Sydney's growing Lebanese community. Michael earnt a living as a chemist and shopkeeper, and having been ordained in Russia took over as the pastoral head of the Antioch Church upon the death of Nicholas senior in 1934.[14]

In February 1957, Nick Shehadie married Marie Bashir (later Dame Marie). She was the Governor of New South Wales between 2001 and 2014. They had three children and six grandchildren. Shehadie lived in Mosman with his wife from 1960 until his death.[15]

Shehadie died aged 92 on 11 February 2018 and was granted a state funeral which was presided over by the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies at St James' Church on 21 February 2018. His funeral was attended by one of the largest groupings of national dignitaries in recent New South Wales history which included: Governors-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, Dame Quentin Bryce and Michael Jeffery;[16] New South Wales Governors Dame Marie Bashir and David Hurley;[16] former Prime Ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard;[17] current and former Premiers of New South Wales Barrie Unsworth, Nick Greiner, John Fahey, Morris Iemma, Kristina Keneally, Barry O'Farrell, Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian;[16] Lord Mayor Clover Moore;[16] Police Commissioners Andrew Scipione and Mick Fuller;[16] Wallabies players and coaches Nick Farr-Jones, Michael Cheika, Alan Jones, Mark Ella and Glen Ella, and Olympian Dawn Fraser.[17] Shehadie was buried privately at Waverley Cemetery in Bronte, New South Wales.[18][19]

• 1 January 1971 Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for service to Local Government.[20]
• 1 January 1976 Knight Bachelor for his service as Lord Mayor of Sydney.[21]
• In 1985, he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.[22]
• 11 June 1990 Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for "service to the media, to sport and to community".[23]
• 28 July 2000 Australian Sports Medal for his service as "Both President of Australian Rugby Union and Captain of Australian Rugby Team (1969–1973)".[24]
• 1 January 2001 Centenary Medal for "service to the community".[25]
• 17 May 2001 Knight of the Order of St John[26]
• In 2006 he was honoured in the second set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.
• On 24 October 2011, Shehadie was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame.

• Shehadie, Nicholas (2003) A Life Worth Living, Simon & Schuster Australia
• Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ