Almost 40 years since Australia II won the America's Cup, the location of a piece of team memorabilia — a boxing kangaroo flag — is still unknown, but its search has unearthed a mystery on the other side of the world.
One of the first handmade green and gold boxing kangaroo flags was believed to have been flying on Australia II's support boat, named the Black Swan, during the 1983 America's Cup yacht race in Newport in the United States.
When Australia II first sailed across the finish line, it meant it was the first time in 132 years that the Americans had lost the cup. The story goes that it was about this time that the Black Swan's boxing kangaroo flag disappeared.
And now, a rare and well-worn boxing kangaroo flag has been discovered in the Skerries Sailing Club in Ireland. Despite a longstanding local rumour, it's not believed to be the missing flag from the Black Swan. So where did it come from?
Licence tag the giveaway
Australia II grinder and campaign manager John Longley said the Black Swan's missing flag was likely made in Newport and would have been made from sail offcuts.
Mr Longley said the ageing boxing kangaroo flag, which has lived in the Skerries Sailing Club in Dublin since the 1980s, was made in Australia in late 1983, not in Newport.
No photos of the Black Swan's 1983 boxing kangaroo flag have come to light.
"The chances of it turning up I think are pretty remote considering that obviously someone must have nicked [it] on board that night and souvenired it," he said.
Mr Longley said the Skerries flag's label indicated that it was "clearly" one of the "very, very first" commercial flags made following the victorious race.
"It could have been taken off Black Swan when we got back to Australia. But not in Newport," he said.
"I personally just find it fascinating that an event that was won by people on the other side of the world resonates so much right around the world.
"[It is] a very, very early boxing kangaroo flag being preserved and looked after by this lovely little sailing club in Skerries."
High demand for flags
Alan Bond officially registered a trademark and issued lucrative boxing kangaroo licences in late 1983.
But the Skerries Sailing Club flag does not have the trademark symbol that is typically under the kangaroo's foot.
Flags Australia secretary Ralph Bartlett has written a paper on the boxing kangaroo flag's origins. He said after the 1983 America's Cup possibly only a dozen of these particular flags were made for sponsors who donated more than $24,000.
"As only a limited number of these were made up, it, therefore, becomes rare," Mr Bartlett said.
"It is of value from a historical perspective.
"The fact that this one clearly dated from 1983 is still around in reasonable condition is a good thing and should be appreciated."
Why was it framed?
Skerries Sailing Club Commodore Brian McNally said a call to members has not yielded information about its origin.
"There's no indication of any description on the actual flag itself as to who donated it, or when it was donated," he said.
Bunbury native Grayden Thompson noticed the old framed flag at a wedding in Skerries in 2019 and heard the local rumour that it had come from the Black Swan.
He was reminded of a comment made in a speech at a reception in Bunbury in 1983 for the Black Swan's meticulous bosun and deckhand, the late Newton Roberts.
"He was gutted to find that the boxing kangaroo that had been flying from the Black Swan was missing," Mr Thompson said.
"The story that came through Skerries Sailing Club exactly matched the story from my club on the other side of the world.
"Newton said that he was very, very upset because he thought that one day this flag would become iconic."
But this is not the right flag.
Is it from the 1987 cup's defence?
Black Swan 1983 skipper Phil Judge stayed on board that summer and the night the cup was won.
He said flags would have been taken down and stored each night but there was every possibility a flag went astray at the busy party.
"When we came in, it was pretty chaotic," Mr Judge said.
He suggests that the mystery Skerries flag may have come from the Black Swan when the America's Cup was defended off Fremantle in Western Australia four years later.
"I think there'd be more possibility in 1987 when we did the defence than there was in Newport," Mr Judge said.
Commodore McNally said the flag's weathered appearance suggested it had seen some action.
"It has definitely been in the open," he said.
Australia II starboard trimmer Ken Judge travelled to Skerries to inspect the flag.
"It's interesting. It might have been part of the folklore of the sailing club," he said.
"It's been kept safe all these years and probably needs a bit of TLC."
Mr Judge was also aware of a missing boxing kangaroo flag from Black Swan.
"It's been something that we've all wondered about for a long, long time," he said.
