By Aaron Cordy
HE stole the hearts of a generation when he strolled onto screen across Australia as young bad boy, Julian ‘Luke’ Ross, on A Country Practice, before appearing in films and TV series like Rake, My Brother Jack, Muriel’s Wedding, Love and Other Catastrophes, My Year Without Sex and much more. But did you know Matt Day has links to Shepparton?
Matt Day featured on an episode of SBS’s Who Do You Think You Are (WDYTYA) that aired in June this year. Shepparton Heritage Centre treasurer and historian Kristy Rudd appeared alongside the star for a segment to delve into his family connection to the area.
“He was very down to earth, very humble. I had no idea, you know, initially who is Mat Day? I went, ‘Oh, okay, it’s an Australian actor’,” said Kristy upon meeting the star for filming.
“I had a script. There was huge amounts of confidentiality I had to sign. Even doing the research here for the show, none of the other volunteers actually knew what I was doing.”
Matt’s connection to the region goes back more than 100 years with the Day family.
“It’s incredible to dive into that family history and realize how significant and how early they are, because we’re talking about probably pre to John Furphy coming here and setting up the foundry. So, we’re looking at very early 1870s. Where the Criterion Hotel was set up was really on the outskirts of what they would have called Shepparton at that time, whereas now it’s a stone throw down the street,” said Kristy.
“We’re talking Alberts here. It was Albert Day, and then it was Albert William Day was second generation. So, you’re looking at what they called on the show: three times great-grandfather of Matt Day; two times great-grandfather was Alfred William Day; and then their son was Alfred Thomas Day. It was very confusing.”
Alfred Day Senior bought the allotments on the corner of Maude and High Street and established the Criterion Hotel, now the Aussie Hotel. The Day family has links to Graytown, Numurkah and Murchison, which Kristy helped the WDYTYA team uncover. Although not all of that made the cut.
“I did four hours of filming, two different types of takes, and then voiceovers and photographs and moving into different spaces down in the bottom of the Aussie hotel, which I hadn’t expected. So here I am in the middle of winter down in the cellar. Everything I’ve told you got said very quickly, but so much was also cut out.
“I think for Greater Shepparton, having those connections with Graytown and Murchison and the Gold Rush coming to Shepparton, it really does show a pattern and a cycle of how those very early families came to this area, and the different skill sets, and the businesses, and the industries that they set up.”
You can see Kristy alongside Matt Day on Who Do You Think You Are, on SBS On Demand.
