Barnett was selected to the first Wallaby 1908–09 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, the squad captained by Herbert Moran.

That side competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and Barnett was a member of the Australia national rugby union team captained by Chris McKivat which won the gold medal.

Four of his former Wallaby teammates also debuted that day Bob Craig, Jack Hickey, Charles Russell and Chris McKivat - making them collectively Australia's 11th to 15th dual code internationals.

This mirrored a similar occurrence two years earlier when five former Wallabies in Micky Dore, Dally Messenger, Denis Lutge, Doug McLean snr and John Rosewell all debuted for the Kangaroos in the same match — the first ever Test against New Zealand.

By the November the fund had raised over £64, many donations were made up by his first grade rugby mates, at a time when spare money was often in short supply.