George Morton Wright (23 August 1914 – 26 October 1940) was an
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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
er who played with
Hawthorn 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 ...
(VFL).
Family
The son of George Edgar Wright (1883-1954), and Annie May Wright (1888-1936), née Morton, George Morton Wright was born at
Mount Gambier, South Australia
Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with a population of 25,591 as of the 2021 census. The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about ...
on 23 August 1914.
He married Lorna Helen Payne (1912-1988), later Mrs. William Beeston Ross, in 1940.
Swimming
Wright had a successful swimming career before playing football.
Football
Initially linked with Geelong's Second XVIII, he was cleared to Hawthorn on 25 May 1938, where he went on to play a single senior game,
against Fitzroy, on 13 June 1938, at the Glenferrie Oval.
Death
A fireman, Wright died when the two upper floors and roof of a waste-paper factory collapsed on him while he was fighting a fire -- that had been lit by two boys -- in Collingwood on the night of 26 October 1940.
At the time of his death he had passed all of the tests required to train as a RAAF pilot; but, when the Fire Brigade declared that it would not release him to the RAAF, Wright made an appeal direct to the Victorian Premier,
Albert Dunstan
Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG (26 July 1882 – 14 April 1950) was an Australian politician who served as the 33rd premier of Victoria from 1935 to 1943 and from 1943 to 1945 and as the third deputy premier of Victoria for five days in ...
, and Wright was waiting to hear the results of the Premier's efforts on his behalf.
Krummel, Paul, "Tribute to a Gallant Young Man: Late Morton Wright's Funeral", ''The Border Watch'', (Thursday, 14 November 1940), p.2.
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Notes
References
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Inquest Evidence Referred to Authorities: Death of Two Firemen, ''The Herald'', (Wednesday, 18 December 1940), p.3.
Paper Store a "Death Trap": Regulations Urged, ''The Argus'', (Thursday, 19 December 1940), p.5.
Death of Two Firemen: Coroner Critical, ''The Age'', (Thursday, 19 December 1940), p.9.
External links
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1914 births
1940 deaths
Australian rules footballers from South Australia
Hawthorn Football Club players
Accidental deaths in Victoria (state)
Deaths from fire
20th-century Australian sportsmen
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