Evelyn played her first game for Australia in 1925, playing at that level until 1936. She was 43 when selected as Australia’s goalkeeper at the first formal International Tournament in the US.
Evelyn Tazewell was the finest women’s hockey player of her time and for that and much more, she was inducted posthumously into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
“… many times it was only the brilliant play of Miss Tazewell – the goalkeeper that prevented further scoring against Australia (by England)” The Advertiser, 1930.
Evelyn Tazewell was born in 1893 and at age 21, moved from Hobart to Adelaide where she was introduced to hockey, playing full-back and goalkeeper.
She joined the Adelaide Hockey Club – then Aroha – and four years later, captained the State team against WA – and remained SA’s captain for a stunning 16 years – from 1920 to 1936.
While still captaining SA, she was also President of the All-Australian Women’s Hockey Association in 1920. She was SA’s State delegate to the AAWHA for 40 years from 1920-65.
Taz played her first game for Australia in 1925 and played at that level until 1936.
She was 43 when selected as Australia’s goalkeeper at the first formal International Tournament in the US.
A lean, long-limbed woman, with a tanned complexion. She was independent and reserved, with high standards, but her brief words of praise meant much to her fellow players.
In 1930, In a rare achievement, Evelyn Tazewell became the first woman to earn her All Australian umpiring badge. She continued to umpire at levels from international competitions to grade games for the following 40 years.
After World War II she, along with May Mills and a group of SA women, helped convert an almond and orange orchard into the Women’s Memorial Playing Fields – the grounds being dedicated to Australian nurses who had died in Banka Strait in 1942.
After 50 years of involvement in elite hockey worldwide, she retired as an umpire in 1972.
During an extensive administrative career spanning four decades to the 1960s, she was a member of the SA executive, selection committees, umpires’ committees and a volunteer committee to help prepare playing fields.
Her Australian blazer and hockey stick are displayed at The Pines, and she was rightfully elected to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.
