John Barnett

John Thomas Barnett, nicknamed Towser, was an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer born on 19 January 1880. A hooker or prop for Newtown in Sydney, he was picked five times for the Wallabies from 1907, toured Britain in 1908 and won an Olympic gold medal with the Australian rugby union team at the London Games. In 1910 he joined Newtown's rugby league side, played there for six seasons, was part of its 1910 premiership team and was chosen for both Ashes Tests against Great Britain that year, making him one of Australia's early dual-code internationals. He died of meningitis after pneumonia in 1918, aged 38, and a newspaper fund raised money for his widow and two daughters.