Almanac Boxing – ‘Diamond in the Dust Heap’, Episode 5: Champion of Queensland

 

Today’s instalment sets out the coverage of 19-year-old Herb’s defeat of ‘Nipper’ Peakes on 27 January 2026 to become bantamweight champion of Queensland. Hot on the heels of this victory, columnist ‘The Gamester’ concludes that Herb possesses the three attributes of the champion’s ‘fighting brain’ – the unquenchable spirit of the animal; iron control; and rapid thinking. In a masterful piece of sportswriting he wonders whether Herb might be the sought-after ‘diamond in the dust heap’.

 

As the three florid newspaper accounts below show, Herb made quick work of his title bout with ‘Nipper’ Peakes. The fight took place just after the Australia Day weekend of 1926, on 27th January. Herb was 19 years old and now had the status of bantamweight champion of Queensland. This made him a highly marketable commodity.

 

BARKLE BANTAM CHAMPION

Peakes Beaten Quickly

Opportunity is a great thing, providing, of course, one can make the most of it, and events prove that the new Queensland bantam champion, Herb Barkle, can do so. A few months ago Barkle appeared to be “stuck in a rut,” as they say, and though there was no doubting his keenness for the game, there was reason for scepticism regarding his ability. However, his chance came. The Brisbane Stadium manager (Mr Doughty) could not find an opponent for Danny McDonald, but on the writer’s suggestion he decided to give Barkle the match. The “wise men” at the ringside thought it would be merely an exercise gallop for Danny, but when Herb toppled the favourite over in the second round a lot of people began to take notice of the country boy. Promoted to a Saturday night “double bill,” Barkle again brought his right hand punch to light, and Jimmy Warren slumbered while the referee recited the full count. No, even then, Herbie was not rushed with matches, but he spent heaps of time in the Gym, and even such a fighter as Danny Frush could not knock him over. ‘Tis said, however, that a good man can’t be kept down, and the match maker, shrewdly suspecting that Barkle could fight a bit, conceived the rather unusual plan of staging a State championship fight on a Wednesday night, and thus bantam champion Charlie Peakes stepped into the ring at the Stadium last Wednesday night, and sat in the opposite corner to Barkle. Of course, it was not a compliment to the champion asking him to box in the middle of the week, and it was even hinted that “Nipper” had “slipped” just a trifle. The hint was right. And he “slipped” further in the third round, after Barkle’s trusty right had found a resting-place on his chin. Although Peakes’ once admirable fighting ability has left him, his gameness is still there, and he was up at “eight,” defenceless. It was then that Referee Craig did the correct thing, and Barkle was the new champion. Barkle is still ambitious. A State title, he thinks, is nice to own, but Stan Thurbon’s Australian crown is what appeals to him. And if Mr Doughty can induce “Ginger” to come up here, Barkle, who undoubtedly carries the “kick,” may be the first Queenslander to hold a National title since Harry Collins knocked out Archie Bradley in Sydney a couple of years ago.

 

BARKLE BEST BANTAM

New Champion Makes Short Work of Old Idol

Issue Never in Doubt

(By ‘The Gamester’ in the Brisbane Courier)

Herb Barkle is what we thought him to be three months ago – the best bantamweight in Queensland. We didn’t want him to fight anyone to vindicate our judgment, but the eventuality came to pass at the Stadium on Wednesday night, when Barkle convincingly dethroned Charlie (‘Nipper’) Peakes. It was all over in three rounds, and the winner was never troubled.

The struggle was a short one as Barkle had made his triumph so certain before the expiration of the third round that the old champion’s second had to interfere. Peakes went down in the closing session for eight and he looked groggy and perturbed when the intervention came to pass. Let me once more reiterate, that this lad Barkle is one out of the bag. He has got the bantam title now safely tucked away in his grip, and I’m going to pass you a tip that he’ll be feather champion inside another twelve months. I would dearly love to see Barkle and Esler clash. He is just the type of puncher to take the sting out of Joseph and even if he fails to do what I predict he’ll do, he’ll give Esler a hellova time of it. Barkle is easily the most improved fighter in Brisbane, and he possesses that rare ring attribute – temperament. He went about his job like an old master on Wednesday. Coolness personified he just let Peakes come to him with his powder-puff deliveries, and when the coast was clear he let go that trip-hammer right of his. And what a clinking good punch it is. I’ll warrant there is not another 8.6 boy in Australia with a stiffer punch than Barkle. This lad with care is going to go far, but I’m afraid he is not going to develop along too sturdy lines. However, there is great scope for him as a bantam and feather and in this division he’ll rule with a k.o. glove unless I’m greatly mistaken.

 

The final article in the series covering the Peakes stoush, penned by ‘The Gamester’, is a classic piece of writing, an exposition of the qualities of a champion. ‘The Gamester’ was clearly infatuated with Herb’s potential.

 

THE FIGHTING BRAIN

The Hallmark of a Boxing Champion

Has Paddy Schafer Found It In Herb Barkle?

(By ‘The Gamester’ in the Brisbane Courier)

My old friend, Paddy Schafer, is one of the happiest men in the world. Like the child that will spend its hours building bricks, Paddy Schafer spends his years building boxers. Equally speculative, equally disappointing are these hobbies; for, like the castle which, so soon as it begins to assume a height which causes the kiddy to brag about it, topples over with a crash, so the young boxer, in all the glory of his promise, suddenly fades away. A perilous enterprise is this building of boxers, but a fascinating one.

Paddy Schafer, like many others, will start his human castle over and over again, so long as there are human bricks, and his hands retain their cunning. He is busy just now with young Herb Barkle, who shows tangible proofs of being something above the average as a bantamweight. It may be a bit premature yet to size Barkle up as a near champion, but this I do think of the lad, that he has got the natural fighting brain which goes a long way in the making of a pugilistic champion.

This brings me to the very interesting question – what are the qualities of a champion boxer in the making?

I have come to the conclusion, after a life-long study of the men who have got there and those who have failed, that the greatest asset of all is the fighting brain.

The amateur champion-hunter always gives himself away in the first sentence. He wants the perfect physical human being.

We have not forgotten the exploits of the American Tex O’Rourke, who but a few years ago visited England with a truly American system for discovering a heavyweight champion. It looked infallible. He combed England with his tape measure and stethoscope. His men must be of a certain age, a certain height, weight, girth, thickness of neck and muscles, colour of eye. A crooked toe could put an applicant out of count.

O’Rourke found that England abounded in perfect specimens, and chose himself some five, the cream of England’s youth. Such a system of training had he, too, that one marvelled at the perfection of it all. Eventually, after a year or so, England saw three of O’Rourke’s champions in embryo. But, ye gods, they failed dismally, as not one of them had the fighting brain. The modelling was exquisite, and some knowledge of boxing was there also. But the knowledge of the late Jim Driscoll, the Peerless, could never have made these men passably good second-raters. They were photographs, still life.

This craze for yard-measure boxers is bad building. Thousands of boxers have I seen down the years, and I am convinced that the psychologist is right: the mind governs the body even to the shaping and strengthening of it.

What do I mean by the fighting brain? It consists, first of all, of the urge, the animal love of combat which never stops to consider personal risk or hurt. Few modern Australian boxers have this fighting spirit, but we have seen it in flashes from Sid Godfrey, Archie Bradley, Harry Collins and now from Billy Edwards. It is a sort of savagery to hurt and not mind getting hurt. But this fighting fire needs control for success – an icy, calculating control, the frigid cunning of the tiger that reserves its eagerness for the deadly spring until the prey is within distance.

Last of all, there is speed of thought. Now every boxer who has got past a novices’ tourney is much faster in the mind that controls his limbs than the average man. The fists of a boxer of experience seem to work automatically; but that is not so, for the quicker the boxer thinks the better he is. All real champions have been extraordinarily quick thinkers.

Therefore, we have three constituents of the fighting mind – the unquenchable spirit of the animal, iron control and rapid thinking. Pick your failure where you will, measure him by this criterion and you will discover why he has failed.

At this stage of his short career, I’m very impressed with Paddy Schafer’s protégé, Herb Barkle, who will shortly be seen in action with Snowy Hill for the featherweight championship of Queensland. Barkle shows the ideal brain, even though it has yet to develop to the requirements of a real champion. He is a natural fighter, a calculating destroyer, and a fairly rapid thinker. I venture to say that with just a little luck this lad is going to climb very high as a bantam, for truly he possesses the brain – the real fighting brain.

But they rise and they fall, some with a crash, some just fading away, and we are left with our bricks to start building again. Let us hope that Barkle is the diamond in the dust heap.

 

Read all of the episodes of Diamond in the Dust Heap HERE

 

All images provided by Dave Goodwin.

 

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