Cornish Wrestling in Australia

During the second half of the nineteenth century the Cornish economy based on metal mining suffered a catastrophic collapse that precipitated large numbers of people to leave Cornwall to find work. Many of these migrated to Australia, where they introduced their favourite sport of Cornish wrestling, which was popular amongst Cornish immigrant communities, helping to sustain a strong sense of 'Cornishness'. By the outbreak of the First World War Cornish wrestling had disappeared from Australia, but it made an unlikely comeback during the late 1990s in the wake of a resurgence of interest in Cornish identity. This article provides details of Cornish wrestling in Australia; its introduction, its growth and decline and its 'revival'.