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

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

for Australia and

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for Melbourne University Football Club.

Family

Born in North Fitzroy, Victoria to Ernst Robert Hartkopf (1849-1915), and Mary Louise Hartkopf (1859-1939), née Ranke, German migrants. He married Isabel Faulks on 23 February 1918.

Education

Hartkopf attended

Scotch College, Melbourne Scotch College is a private, Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college was established in 1851 as The Melbourne Academy in a house in Spri ...

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 (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, 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 competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

. 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

debut for Victoria on 23 December 1911 against

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

, 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

restricted Hartkopf's sporting career.

Medicine

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

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and then at the Royal Children's Hospital in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, 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 English 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, found 5 km east from Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District. Kew is located within the City of Boroondara Local government areas of ...

, 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'' 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 li ...

.
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