MEMBERS ON SPORTING STAGE - Melbourne Cricket Club

MEMBER PROFILE
8 MCC NEWS
There’s no forgetting
THE WARDILLS
Tracey Wardill’s connection to the
Melbourne Cricket Club runs
much deeper than most. Not only
has her family rendered exceptional
service both on and off the fi eld since the
1860s, but this eminent neuropsychologist
also is a committee member of the Women
of the MCC group, and she loves it.
“It’s a connection that I really enjoy”,
says Tracey, adding that the club “is in my
blood”. She says the ladies’ group is a
great success, not least because it gives
women the opportunity to enjoy the club’s
facilities with or without a partner.
Apart from the (almost traditional)
breakfast on day two of the Boxing Day
Test, the Women of the MCC group
has run functions dedicated to wine and
football and, most recently, sport
generally. Catherine Freeman was their
special guest at a Long Room luncheon
in October.
The Wardills are indeed legends of the
Melbourne Cricket Club. Tracey’s great
grandfather Dick was Victoria’s leading
batsman in the early days and scored the
fi rst century in Australian fi rst-class
DECEMBER 2008
cricket. He also was secretary of the club
from 1860-63. His brother, the fl amboyant
Major Ben Wardill, was secretary for a
remarkable 32 years from 1879.
Dick’s son Richard captained Melbourne
to their fi rst VFL fl ag in 1900 and his son
David, who served with the RAAF in
World War II, played in the famous Stalag
Luft IV “Test” between Australian and
English prisoners. David was the family’s
great collector of memorabilia and his
daughter Tracey and son Jonathon have
continued the line. You can see some of the
family gems in the MCC Museum.
Tracey’s calling has particular relevance
to a large section of the community. For
more than 20 years she has worked as a
clinical neuropsychologist, specialising in
the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and
other dementias.
She has researched the impact of ageing
on memory and thinking, conducting the
largest study of its kind in Australia to
determine that memory loss is not an
automatic part of the ageing process.
Earlier this year she received a Churchill
Fellowship to study a younger onset form
of dementia that impacts on the 45-65
age group, and the devastating effect this
illness has on families. This “dementia
of the young”, clinically known as
fronto-temporal dementia (FTD), is
diffi cult to diagnose, often being
confused with depression, bipolar
disorder and Alzheimer’s.
Tracey has experienced some bizarre
behavioural shifts in patients with FTD.
A gourmet chef started cooking “meat
and two veg” for her family every night
and one chap started drinking expensive
bottles of wine at two o’clock in the
morning.
The Churchill Fellowship gives Tracey
the opportunity to travel to the UK and
the US to visit dementia clinics involved in
the diagnosis and management of FTD.
She is a prime mover in the Eastern
Cognitive Disorders Clinic at Box Hill
Hospital, a part of the public health
system which specialises in FTD diagnosis.
The current aim is to maximise the
number of patients seen with this disorder.
“The more we see, the better we get
at it,” is the rationale.