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It’s hard to picture Don Bradman sending 90 text messages a day but cricket’s greatest ever batsman earnt much adoration from his prolific correspondence with fans.
The Don felt compelled to reply to every item of fan mail he received, even if it meant responding to up to 90 letters every night while on tour.
Much of his correspondence and ephemera has been preserved, and forms the basis of the collection housed at the Bradman Museum in Bowral, the NSW town where he grew up.
The museum contains about 8,000 registered objects, predominantly paper-based items, and it was Bradman’s fastidious letter-writing that contributed to his popularity among Australians, according to museum curator David Wells.
“The obvious reason is he was the word’s greatest-ever batsman and no one will ever match that,” Wells said.
“Also, he almost touched Australians individually because he was such a conscientious corespondent. Everyone who wrote to him got a reply.
“He was widely loved for the fact that he recognised everyday Australians and felt it was his duty to write back to them because of his ambassadorial role.”
Museum visitation dipped in the years after Bradman’s death, in 2001, but is climbing again. Wells expects the centenary of his birth to produce a surge.
The museum, which also houses Bradman’s caps, bats and blazers, is likely to attract 30,000 visitors this year, including many Indian and English tourists.
Visitors to Bowral can also see the houses the young Bradman grew up in and the oval where he played his first match for the men’s team at age 12.
“We call this the spiritual home of cricket because this is where the young Bradman learnt to play cricket,” Wells said.
“This is where his ashes and his wife’s ashes were scattered, so it has that spiritual element and it has that historical element because it (the town) hasn’t changed greatly, physically, since he was here.”
Besides the major cricket grounds across the country, the other Bradman-dedicated museum is found in Cootamundra, where he was born.
While Cootamundra’s place in the Bradman story is not as well known as Bowral’s, many of the 16,000 people who visit the Cootamundra Information Centre annually make a stop at the Birthplace Museum.
The Bradman family moved to Bowral when Don was two.
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