Also in 1882 he smashed it at Sydney Cricket Ground, where no-one had scored a century before, batting for a day and a half and scoring 321, taking his NSW side to a record score of 775.

Sydney newspapers wondered whether he might go on to score 500 or even 1000 runs.

He was a resident of Cootamundra for almost five years, and was described as "Our Hero" by The Cootamundra Herald in 1883.

This was on the day when his train stopped at Cootamundra station during a journey between cricket matches in Melbourne and Sydney, and a large crowd of citizens was at the station to greet him.

He was noted for being one of the locals who stood in flooded streets and helped survivors in the 1885 Cootamundra rail disaster when the Melbourne to Sydney express was derailed resulting in seven deaths.

He was only the second captain of the Australian cricket side, and he was a superstar - more popular in his day than Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting and Glen McGrath rolled together.

And yet, according to the authors of Billy Murdoch Cricketing Colossus, Billy Murdoch has been sadly neglected in Australian cricket history, only this year being finally elevated to Australia's cricket hall of fame.

Historians Richard Cashman and Ric Sissons gave a fascinating lecture on Billy Murdoch to a capacity audience at the Cootamundra U3A meeting at the Stephen Ward rooms on Wednesday.

"It was abundantly clear that Billy enjoyed living in Cootamundra and contributed much to it," Mr Cashman told the gathering.

"When he moved to Cootamundra in July 1881 he was pleased with the warm welcome he received and the business opportunities here.

"He advertised in the Cootamundra Herald that potential clients could meet him in his (solicitor's) office in Albion Arcade, and immersed himself fully in the town.

According to authors Cashman and Sissons, Billy joined the gun club (he was a keen pigeon shooter), the turf club (he was fond of horseracing and gambling) and the cricket club where he was installed as captain.

An interesting co-incidence is that Don Bradman's grandfather, Charles Bradman, was on the same showground committee as Billy, with both of them signing an open letter in March 1883 calling for a special general meeting to get the association's affairs in order.

"Billy was also a member of a chorus that raised funds to improve Albert Park and performed a stump speech at this event," Mr Sissons said.

"The cricket club was, not surprisingly, his first love and he was a member of the delegation that secured 20 pounds for the improvement of the Albert Park wicket."

Messrs Cashman and Sissons travelled to Coota by train, returning to Sydney yesterday after a dinner at the Central Hotel and a tour including a visit to the vicinity of "Keira", the home on 55 acres he rented from a local magistrate, CHB Primrose.