Tal Austin

Thomas Talbert Leon Austin (9 March 1857 – 11 February 1941), commonly known as Tal Austin, was a New Zealand cricketer and rugby union player. He played nine first-class cricket matches for the Otago cricket team, including one as captain, between 1878 and 1889, and made five appearances for the rugby union team between 1879 and 1883.

Biography Born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 9 March 1857, Austin was from a well-known cricketing family in Dunedin. Along with his three brothers—Gerry, Ernest James ("Tern"), and Bob—he was a member of the Carisbrook cricket club in Dunedin for many years from the early 1870s.

Remembered as a "fine all-round player", Austin made his cricketing debut for Otago playing against the touring England side in 1877. and played as wicket-keeper in the first innings of a first-class game against Canterbury in 1883/84, taking three catches.

Austin was a member of the Dunedin Rugby Football Club, and played five matches as a forward for the Otago provincial team from 1879 to 1883.

On 15 November 1893, Austin married Clara Bertha Westwood at St Mark's Church, in the Auckland suburb of Remuera. After working as a warehouseman in Dunedin, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for many years, He was the inaugural president of the Hills Fruitgrowers' Union, and a founding member and secretary of the Bluffs Fruitgrowers' Company Limited.