John Brake (11 November 1890 – 16 May 1970) was a former leading

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 ...

er who played with

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

(VFL).

Family

The son of James Hugh Brake (1853-1915), and Barbara Stevenson Brake (1856-1930), née McDougall, John Brake was born at

Horsham, Victoria Horsham () is a regional city in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia. Located on a bend in the Wimmera River, Horsham is approximately northwest of the state capital Melbourne. As of the 2021 Census, Horsham had a population of 2 ...

on 11 November 1890.Serle, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography''. He married Grace Glendinning Taylor (1890-1976) on 19 July 1921.

Education

Brake was educated at the Princes Hill High School, the Hawthorn College, and 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 ...

Bachelor of Agricultural Science (B.Agr.Sc.)

Enrolled at the University of Melbourne in 1910, he graduated B.Agr.Sc. (Bachelor of Agricultural Science) in April 1916, attending the conferral ceremony in his AIF uniform.

Athletics

He was a champion schoolboy track and field athlete. At the 1914 Australasian Athletics Championships, with a height of 11 ft (3.35m) – Brake set a new record for a Victorian Amateur, breaking the record he had set (10 ft 6in) at the Victorian Championships in February 1912) – he tied for first place in the pole vault with the visiting

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

athlete

Dink Templeton Robert Lyman "Dink" Templeton (May 27, 1897 – August 7, 1962) was an American track and field athlete, Olympic gold medalist in rugby union, college football player, and track coach. Personal Templeton was born in Helena, Montana, and att ...

. While at the University of Melbourne he was awarded a triple blue: for athletics, football, and rifle shooting.

Football

University (VFL)

Generally regarded as one of University's few great players, Brake usually played in the ruck. He tried out with Melbourne in the 1909 pre-season. He was vice captain of the University side in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

. ::It is good news to footballers to hear that Jack Brake, the champion follower, has arranged to come to town two out of every three Saturdays, during the season. He is at

he University's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

Dookie College, and is keenly anxious to play for the old team. In order to catch the morning train, it is necessary for him to motor-cycle 26 miles over rough country. He has to cover the same distance on returning on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings.

Victoria

He represented

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 ...

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

Melbourne (VFL) pre-AIF service

The University team withdrew from the VFL competition prior to the 1915 season; and, along with his team-mates

Claude Bryan Dr. Claude Vivian Joseph Bryan (23 December 1892 – 10 March 1960) was an Australian rules footballer who played with University and Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He played with Cananore in the TFL both before and after ...

Jack Doubleday Jack Lindsay Doubleday (28 May 1890 – 30 October 1918) was an Australian rules footballer who played with University and Melbourne in the Victorian Football League. Family The son of John Doubleday (1837-1907), and Elizabeth Josephine Doubl ...

, Dick Gibbs, Roy Park, and

Percy Rodriguez Percy Rodriguez (born Percy Rodrigues; June 13, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was a Canadian actor who appeared in many television shows and films from the 1950s to the 1980s. He was of Afro-Portuguese heritage and was born in the Saint-Henri neig ...

, Brake was given a clearance to transfer from University to Melbourne.

Pioneer Exhibition Game 1916)

Brake was stationed with the 3rd Division in London when an Australian rules match was organised for 28 October 1916 between two teams of Australian servicemen in aid of the British and French

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

.Anon, "News in Brief", ''The Times'', Issue 41309, (Friday, 27 October 1916), p.15, column B. Promoted as the "Pioneer Exhibition Game of Australian Football in London", Brake represented the Third Australian Divisional Team against Australian Training Units at

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...

West Kensington West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, includin ...

before an estimated crowd of 3,000, including the (then)

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

(later

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

), and King Manuel II of Portugal. A news film was taken at the match.

Melbourne (VFL) post-AIF service

As with many players at the time,

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 ...

severely interrupted his career. In May 1919, an unidentified former Melbourne footballer, wrote to the football correspondent of ''The Argus'' as follows: ::"In 1914 the Melbourne football team, after its junction with the University, was a fine team, and succeeded in reaching the semi-finals.
Out of this combination the following players enlisted and served at the front:—
C. Lilley (seriously wounded), J. Hassett, H. Tomkins (severely wounded), J. Evans (seriously wounded), W. Hendrie, R. L. Park, J. Doubleday (died), A. Best, C. Burge (killed), C. (viz., A.) Williamson (killed), J. Brake, R. Lowell, E. Parsons (seriously wounded), A. M. Pearce (killed), F. Lugton (killed), A. George, C. Armstrong, P. Rodriguez (killed), J. Cannole (viz., Connole), A. Fraser (seriously wounded), T. Collins.
These are all players of note, and in themselves would have formed a very fine side, but there is only one of them playing at the present time, viz., C. Lilley, who, as a matter of fact, takes the field under some disability owing to severe wounds which he received on service." — ''The Argus'', 16 May 1919. Brake continued to appear sporadically for Melbourne after World War I, finally retiring in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

after 17 matches with Melbourne and 98 VFL matches over all.

VFL Trubunal

Brake later became a member of the VFL Tribunal.

Military service

World War I

Brake enlisted in the Third Division Artillery of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at the start of the war, reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

World War II

In September 1940 he enlisted in the Second AIF, attaining the rank of Major.

Death

Brake died on 16 May 1970 at

Castlemaine, Victoria Castlemaine ( , Variation in Australian English, non-locally also ) is a small city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Goldfields region about 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest by road from ...

.Personalities, ''Melbourne University Football Club'', p.4.
/ref>

Footnotes

References

Serle, G., "Brake, John (1890–1970)", ''Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13'', 1993.

''Pioneer Exhibition Game Australian Football: in aid of British and French Red Cross Societies: 3rd Australian Division v. Australian Training Units at Queen's Club, West Kensington, on Saturday, October 28th, 1916, at 3pm'', Wightman & Co., (London), 1919.
* Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian Rules Football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . * Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. * Richardson, N. (2016), ''The Game of Their Lives'', Pan Macmillan Australia: Sydney.
Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant John Brake, collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.

Second Lieutenant John Brake, ''The AIF Project''.

World War One Nominal Roll: Second Lieutenant John Brake
collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.
World War One Embarkation Roll: Second Lieutenant John Brake
collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.
World War Two Nominal Roll: John Brake (V52492)
''Department of Veterans' Affairs''.
World War One Service Record: Second Lieutenant John Brake, combined with World War Two Service Record: Major John Brake (V52492)
''National Archives of Australia''.

External links

* *
DemonWiki profile

Jack Brake
at ''Boyles Football Photos''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brake, Jack 1890 births University Football Club players Melbourne Football Club players Horsham Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Participants in "Pioneer Exhibition Game" (London, 28 October 1916) Australian military personnel of World War I University of Melbourne alumni Australian male pole vaulters 1970 deaths