Phillip Blashki and now over 500 descendants, mostly in Australia, have been documented. Phillip was primarily a silversmith and had a stall at Melbourne's Great Exhibition of 1888. He was also an optician, watch repairer, jeweller and maker of masonic regalia. He produced several notable items of public importance, including Australian cricket's Sheffield Shield the cost of which was donated by Lord Sheffield in 1893, following his tour (led by W G Grace) of Australia of 1891-2. Blashki's tender was the one accepted. He also produced the NSW Cricketers Association's 'Hordern Shield'. Phillip Blashki started in Geelong as a hawker and retailer
Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield The Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield is the oldest and longest consecutively run club cross-country event in the world. In 1896, a Dublin jeweller, Mr. Samuel Waterhouse, presented the Donore Harriers club with a silver shield for a 10-mile handicap cross-country race. The shield was known as the 'Donore Harriers Waterhouse Challenge Shield'. This race now known as the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield has been competed for every year, except 1916, since then, on St. Stephen’s Day (26 December). The race starts and finishes every year at the same tree beside the Dog Pond on the horse