Inside an original Australia Ashes 1936–1937 MCC Tour Scrapbook: C. J. Barnett, Don Bradman and a Hollywood Interlude
- steampunkpicker
- Jan 25
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 2
A primary record of one of cricket’s defining series
The 1936–1937 Ashes series occupies a unique place in cricketing history. It remains the only time when a side has recovered from a 2–0 deficit to win the Ashes - a feat achieved by Australia under the captaincy of Sir Donald Bradman.
This Ashes series marked the first time Bradman captained the Aussies and while much has been written since, there are far fewer records which survive today that capture how it was experienced at the time. Compiled and owned by England Test cricketer Charlie J. Barnett, this photo album/scrapbook offers exactly that: a contemporaneous, player-assembled archive documenting the tour as it unfolded. Comprising 60+ photos Barnett's scrapbook includes 35 cricket press photos of which 18 feature action shots from legendary captain and Aussie sporting hero Don Bradman. There are also 26 iconic Australian landmark, scenery and travel press photos. plus a rare photograph showing Charlie Barnett in Hollywood at the tail-end of their Australasia Tour.
Rather than a retrospective collection, this scrapbook functions as a working record - combining press photography, personal annotations, official tour material, and images of Australian life on tour during the mid-1930s. It is both a sporting document and a cultural artefact.
C. J. Barnett: player, participant, and compiler
Charlie J. Barnett was not a peripheral figure on the 1936–37 tour. He was a key member of the England side, averaging 43.88 across the series with a highest score of 129 in the Fourth Test at Adelaide, and was named among Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year for 1937.
Crucially, this scrapbook belonged to Barnett himself. Several pages include his handwritten notes and annotations ranging from match itineraries and test averages to press cuttings and clippings Barnett selected and curated during the tour. Most insightful are his personal observations on the 'correct way to complete a run' between wickets.
Player-owned and annotated scrapbooks from this period are exceptionally rare. Unlike later compilations assembled for display or commemoration, this volume was created by a Test cricketer actively engaged in the series - making it a primary historical source rather than a secondary narrative.
The Ashes highlights captured in photos
As mentioned earlier in the article, 35 original cricket press photographs are at the heart of the scrapbook, 18 of which feature Don Bradman, spanning key Tests and tour matches.
These images chart the momentum of the series visually from early English dominance, tactical filed placements to Bradman batting, fielding, taking catches and participating in the coin tosses with England Captain Gubby Allen.
Bradman's iconic 212 runs in 437 minutes at Adelaide is captured here. an innings widely regarded as one of the greatest batting performances of all time.
Large-format crowd photographs, including a striking image of the MCG grandstand packed with spectators in January 1937, provide scale and atmosphere, reinforcing the intensity surrounding the series.
Taken together, the photographs reflect not only performance, but calmness under pressure - and how the series momentum shifted.
Bradman the strategist, not just the run-scorer
Recent analysis, including The Guardian’s examination of the series, reinforces what contemporaries sensed after this dramatic series win: Bradman’s greatness during the 1936–37 Ashes lay as much in his strategy, tactical nous, leadership and mental fortitude as in weight of runs.
Australia and its captain were under severe scrutiny, and written off by many. Facing increasing backlash from the public, the press, his teammates and the Cricket Board as well as enduring personal tragedy shortly before the series with the passing of his infant son, Bradman's fortunes needed to change.
Bradman responded accordingly. He manipulated time, adapted best to the weather and pitch conditions, and opposition decision-making with remarkable clarity: altering field placements, managing declarations, protecting his top order, and forcing England into unfavourable choices. As the Guardian notes, England captain Gubby Allen was ultimately “out-thought by a master tactician”.
The scrapbook captures this shift visually - moments frozen not with the benefit of hindsight, but as they occurred. It offers a rare opportunity to get a glimpse of Bradman’s strategic brilliance through contemporary evidence rather than retrospective myth-making.
Beyond the boundary: Life On Tour in Australia
In addition to the cricketing material, Barnett's scrapbook features 26 original iconic Australian landmark and scenery travel press photographs, documenting a glimpse of Australiana beyond the Test arena.
These images include amongst others:
An aerial view of The Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse (November 1936), won by Wotan
Bondi surf lifesavers
Rural Australia: sheep stations, wheat harvesting, cattle musters
City and landscape views, including Hobart and Adelaide
Together, they situate the Ashes tour within its broader social and geographic context. For touring players, Australia was not just a series of grounds, but a lived experience - one that this scrapbook preserves in unusually rich detail.
A Hollywood interlude: where cricket meets cinema
Among the most unexpected elements of the scrapbook is a press photograph showing C. J. Barnett receiving an autograph from British actor Ronald Colman during the Marylebone Cricket Club's team visit to Hollywood in April 1937.
Ronald Colman, a prominent British Hollywood actor, member and Vice President of the Hollywood Cricket Club, is recorded as entertaining the team while filming The Prisoner of Zenda. In the photograph preserved in this scrapbook, Colman is wearing the same swashbuckling costume used during the film’s celebrated duel scene with co-star Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
This trip to Hollywood is further documented and corroborated in a Daily Mirror article published on 19th April 1937 which reports on the MCC team’s Hollywood tour, noting that the cricketers were also entertained by members of the British film colony including Boris Karloff, Binnie Barnes, Eleanor Powell among others.
This moment transforms the scrapbook into more than a sporting archive. It becomes a rare document linking the Ashes, Hollywood, and Don Bradman's record breaking achievements.
The scrapbook as an object: material and provenance
Even the scrapbook's material construction is intriguing. Bound in linen cloth, the photo book features an Alpine or traveller motif with a distinctly Austrian or Germanic design, secured with cord binding and a decorative button.
The inside front cover bears an original supplier’s label: “AL FABER & CIE, Neubaugasse” - a known European photographic stationery firm further supporting the album’s 1930s manufacture.
Attached to the inside back cover is a souvenir/gift card in the shape of Australia with well wishing from an Estmere Hanson of Canterbury (Melbourne Suburb), Nancy Steele of Kew (Melbourne Suburb), Patricia Lawson of Ivanhoe (Melbourne Suburb). The inscriptions show congratulations to Barnett for his high test average score (being within Wisden's Top 5 Cricketers of the Year) and wishing him a speedy recovery.
Conclusion: An exceptional Ashes archive
Not only does Barnett's scrapbook of 60+ photographs richly document the ebbs and flows of arguably the most remarkable Ashes series of all time, it provides a glimpse into the Tour experience from the perspective of a significant figure in the England MCC team. The inclusion of 18 photographs that feature Don Bradman indicate the huge respect and star power of one of Australia's greatest sporting heroes.
Items of this depth combining Test-player ownership, first-hand annotation, iconic Bradman imagery, and the now documented Hollywood crossover are seldom encountered.
This scrapbook stands as a unique record of the 1936–37 Ashes: not as legend, but as lived history, preserved page by page by one of the key English figures within the Series.
For a deeper dive on this archive click the ebay listing below and/or take a look at the video below.
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