Albert Ernst Victor Hartkopf (28 December 1889 – 20 May 1968) was an Australian sportsman who played

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

for Australia and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

for

Melbourne University Football Club Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. The club fields two teams, known as the "Blacks" and "Blues", who both compete in the Victorian Amat ...

Family

Born in

North Fitzroy, Victoria Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cites of Merri-bek and Yarra local government areas. Fitzroy North recorded a population of 1 ...

to Ernst Robert Hartkopf (1849-1915), and Mary Louise Hartkopf (1859-1939), née Ranke,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

migrants. He married Isabel Faulks on 23 February 1918.

Education

Hartkopf attended

Scotch College, Melbourne (For God, for Country, and for Learning) , established = , type = Independent, day and boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Presbyterian , slogan = , ...

from 1897 to 1909, attracting attention as a cricketer, footballer, and, especially, a star schoolboy athlete: :: A. E. Hartkopf (S.C. cotch College, however, was the champion of the meeting, winning no fewer than five championships iz., Open 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, shot put, and long jump (and came fourth in the Open high jump)in four of them beating the previous best of these contests. Hartkopf is probably the most remarkable schoolboy athlete there has been in Victoria, as, in addition to his athletic ability, he is a prominent footballer in the University League team, and also playing for the Fitzroy club in cricket last year won their bowling average. After Scotch College, Hartkopf studied medicine at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, and graduated Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) on 17 April 1915.

Football

He represented University in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

. Renowned for the length and accuracy of his place-kicks, he played 48 games and kicking 87 goals.

All-round athlete

In 1911, Hartkopf cemented his position as one of Australia's best all-round sportsmen by becoming the Victorian state 440 yards champion and making his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

debut for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

on 23 December 1911 against

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

, scoring an unbeaten 42 and a duck and taking 2/20 with his leg break bowling. He was a regular member of Victoria's cricket side and University's football side until injury and then

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

restricted Hartkopf's sporting career.

Medicine

During World War I, Hartkopf worked first at the Royal Women's Hospital in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and then at the Royal Children's Hospital in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. There is no evidence to suggest his German background caused him problems during the war.

Cricket

In 1919 Hartkopf returned to Melbourne, opening a medical practice in Northcote and returned to cricket, playing his first game for Victoria for six years, scoring 53 and 49 against New South Wales. In 1922/23 in a match for Victoria against the touring MCC he took 5 for 23 and 8 for 105, and scored 86 and 14 not out. In November 1924, an unbeaten half century for Victoria against the touring

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side led to his selection, at age 35, in the Australian team for the second Test of the 1924/25 series against England at the MCG. Batting at number 8, Hartkopf scored 80 in Australia's first innings but could only produce match figures of 1/134 and was dropped from the team. Hartkopf continued to play for Victoria until the end of the 1927/28 season but never returned to the national side. He then concentrated on his medical practice.

Death

Albert Hartkopf died in

Kew, Victoria Kew (;) is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km east from Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara Local government areas of Victor ...

, on 20 May 1968, after a long battle with rheumatoid arthritis.Death of Cricket Identity, ''The Age'', (Thursday, May 23 1968), p.28.
/ref> Unusually, his obituary was not recorded in ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' until 1994.

Footnotes

References

Cricinfo page on Albert HartkopfArticle on Hartkopf from the Darebin Historical Encyclopaedia

External links

* * ttp://www.boylesfootballphotos.net.au/Bert+Hartkopf Bert Hartkopf at ''Boyles Football Photos''. *
Photograph: Victorian First XI (Adelaide 1922)
Collection of the

State Library of South Australia The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research l ...

.
Melbourne University Football Team, League, 1909
''University of Melbourne Archives'': Hartkopf is second from the right, back row.
Albert Ernst Victor Hartkopf
''Darebin Heritage''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartkopf, Albert 1889 births 1968 deaths Australian people of German descent Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Cricketers from Melbourne Australia Test cricketers People from Fitzroy, Victoria Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents University Football Club players