Alex Robertson (Australian rules footballer) explained

Alex Robertson
Fullname:Alexander John Robertson
Birth Date:4 January 1887
Birth Place:Bundalaguah near Sale, Victoria
Death Place:Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey
Originalteam:University Metropolitan
Statsend:1909
Years1:1909
Games Goals1:10 (0)

Alexander John Robertson (4 January 1887 – 6 August 1915), a geologist and mining engineer, was an Australian rules footballer who played for the University Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1910.

He served in the First AIF, and was killed in action at Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey.

Family

The son of James Lang Robertson (1858-1929),[1] and Annie Robertson (1859-1944), née McArthur,[2] [3] Alexander John Robertson was born at Bundalaguah, near Sale, in Gippsland, Victoria, on 4 January 1887,[4] where his father was the headmaster of the local State School.[5] [6] [7] [8]

He married Violet Ann "Dear Wah" Chapman (1885-1917), in Perth, Western Australia on 29 June 1911.[9] Violet left for England not long after Robertson's death, served for almost two years with the Voluntary Aid Detachment at Coulter Hospital, in London,[10] and qualified to serve in France as an ambulance driver. She was killed in a riding accident, in London's Hyde Park, on 30 November 1917.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Education

He was educated at St. Andrew's College, Bendigo, where he was dux of the school,[16] and at the University of Melbourne.[17] He was a resident of Ormond College.[18] [15] While at the university, in addition to his courses in Science and Mining Engineering, he rowed, played cricket, played football, and competed in the long jump for Ormond College;[19] and, as well, represented the university at both rowing,[20] and at football.

Awards

Football

He was part of the Melbourne University team that played in the annual match against Adelaide University on 19 August 1908.[26]

Playing for the university in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA),[27] he made his debut for the university's VFL team, playing on the half-back flank, against Richmond on 8 May 1909. He played 10 senior matches, and was one of the best University players in his last match, the season's final round, in the draw against Fitzroy, that was played in a quagmire at the Brunswick Street Oval on 4 September 1909.[28]

His studies at university and his employment in Queensland prevented him from playing for the university's VFL team in 1910.

Western Australia

Having spent twelve months as a lecturer in science and mining at the Brisbane Technical College, he moved to Western Australia to work as an assistant mineralogist and surveyor with the Geological Survey of West Australia in 1911;[29] and, later, still with the Geological Survey of West Australia, he also assumed the duties of a chemist and analyst.[30] [15] [31] [32]

He was admitted as an inaugural member of the Convocation of the University of Western Australia in 1913.[33] [34]

Military

He enlisted in the First AIF on 10 May 1915, and served overseas in Egypt and at Gallipoli.

Death

He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 6 August 1915.[35] [36]

Lieutenant Alexander John Robertson … had joined the 11th Battalion only two days before his death, and was engaged in holding a trench which had been captured from the Turks.
The latter made a counter attack in force, and Lieutenant Robertson, to inspire confidence in the men under his command, sprang into a recess, and raising his head and shoulders above the parapet, fired his revolver into the foremost of the enemy, and continued to do so until he was shot.
His commanding officer says, "He died a gallant Australian soldier."[37] [38]

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4003594 Deaths: Robertson, The Argus, (Monday, 6 May 1929), p. 1.
  2. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/137583546 Announcements: Marriages: Robertson—McArthur, The Australasian, (Saturday, 13 January 1883), p. 11.
  3. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11814170 Deaths: Robertson, The Argus, (Friday, 16 June 1944), p. 2.
  4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197456427 Births: Robertson, (Saturday, 29 January 1887), p. 5.
  5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62276208 Latest from Melbourne: Local Appointment, The Gippsland Times, (Wednesday, 30 March 1887), p. 3.
  6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138026218 The University of Melbourne: The Annual Commencement; Masters of Arts, The Australasian, (Saturday, 8 May 1886), p. 909.
  7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article268396417 Personal, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 11 May 1929), p. 2.
  8. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244443478 Personal, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Monday, 6 May 1929), p. 7.
  9. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/198146737 Marriages: Robertson—Chapman, The Leader, (Saturday, 5 August 1911), p. 56.
  10. https://portal.ariadne-infrastructure.eu/resource/6244eeca105c0427d378e6bc0f69c8661a1572568c75fc9e19d4e8d9e9664c2b Grosvenor Square, (No 5), Mayfair,, ARIADNE portal.
  11. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1667892 Deaths: Robertson, The Argus, (Tuesday, 4 December 1917), p. 1.
  12. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/82836578 Social Gossip, The Warwick Examiner and Times, (Monday, 17 December 1917), p. 5.
  13. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1411522 In Memoriam: Robertson, The Argus, (Friday, 29 November 1918), p. 1.
  14. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/81821866 Mrs. Robertson's Death, The (Perth) Daily News, (Monday, 3 December 1917), p. 7.
  15. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-61983350/view?partId=nla.obj-61996150#page/n87/mode/2up Photographs and Lives of the Fallen: Lieutenant Alex J. Robertson, The Varsity Engineer: War memorial Number 1914-1919, Committee of the Melbourne University Engineering Society, (Melbourne), c.1919, pp. 88-89.
  16. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/89511940 School Speech Days: St. Andrew's College and Corporate High School, The Bendigo Advertiser, (Friday, 19 December 1902), p.4
  17. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1576961 Roll of Honour, The Argus, (Tuesday, 2 November 1915), p.8.
  18. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/download/pdf?id=uc1.%24b744566;orient=0;size=100;seq=102;num=24;attachment=0 Roll of Service Overseas 1914–1918: Roll of the Fallen: Robertson, Alexander John 1905, The University of Melbourne Record of Active Service of Teachers, Graduates, Undergraduates, Officers and Servants in the European War, 1914–1918, University of Melbourne, (Melbourne), 1926, p.40.
  19. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222258477 Athletics: Amateur, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 29 May 1909), p.21.
  20. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222591173/23618093 Boating, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 30 October 1909), p.33.
  21. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10683016 University Commencement: Presentation of Degrees, The Argus, (Monday, 3 May 1909), p.7
  22. Note that, in his "Application for a Commission", dated 10 May 1915 (see Service Record), he stated: "Completed courses at University of Melbourne, for Master of Science (MSc) & Bachelor of Mining Engineering (B.M.E.)".
  23. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/196133951 University of Melbourne, The Age, (Saturday, 20 March 1909), p.13.
  24. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139693097 Personal, The Australasian, (Saturday, 8 May 1909), p.37.
  25. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203320005 Melbourne University: Conferring of Degrees, The Age, (Tuesday, 24 December 1912), p.8
  26. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197332993 Inter-University Match, (Thursday, 20 August 1908), p.11.
  27. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242058289 University, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Friday, 16 April 1909), p.2.
  28. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10731733/356725 Hard Work at Fitzroy: An Exciting Finish, The Argus, (Monday, 6 September 1909), p.5.
  29. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/218192638 Geological Survey of West Australia, The Coolgardie Miner, (Friday, 14 April 1911), p.3
  30. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28564887 Civil Service Classifications: Appeals of Engineering Staff, The West Australian, (Wednesday, 19 August 1914), p.3.
  31. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26961255 The Late Lieutenant A. J. Robertson, The West Australian, (Saturday, 30 October 1915), p.7.
  32. Note that, in his "Application for a Commission", dated 10 May 1915 (see Service Record), he stated that his "Present Civil Employment" was "Mining Engineer & Geologist, W.A. Mines Dept.".
  33. The significance of "inaugural", and "1913", is (a) 1913 was the year that the university (founded in 1911), first began teaching students, and (b) 1913 was the year of the Convocation's constitution; Meeting of Convocation; An Excellent Attendance, The Western Mail, (Friday, 7 March 1913), p.47.
  34. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/33587651 University of Western Australia, The Kalgoorlie Western Argus, (Tuesday, 4 March 1913), p.9
  35. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26960761 Western Australia: The Roll of Honour: Ninety-Eighth Casualty List, The West Australian, (Wednesday, 27 October 1915), p.7.
  36. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1569369 Deaths: Killed in Action: Robertson, The Argus, (Monday, 11 October 1915), p.1
  37. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/90193819 Social Notes, The (Melbourne) Leader, (Saturday, 16 October 1915), p.50.
  38. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44775514 Belford, W.C., "The Story of the Eleventh Battalion: Chapter IX: The Trenches at Anzac", The Western Mail, (Thursday, 24 February 1938), p.9.

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