Jock Austin Explained

Jock Austin
Fullname:Herbert George Austin[1]
Birth Date:16 March 1938
Birth Place:Framlingham, Victoria
Death Date:[2]
Nickname:Jock
Coachyears1:1980s
Coachclub1:Fitzroy Stars

Herbert George "Jock" Austin (16 March 1938 − 3 May 1990) was an Indigenous Australian community leader.[3] He was a Gunditjmara man who served as the coach and president of the Fitzroy Stars Football Club in its early years.[4]

His son, Troy Austin, is also a former Fitzroy Stars president and currently serves as a member of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria after being elected in 2023.[5] [6]

Biography

Austin was born in 1938 under a gumtree at Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve as the son of Ella Clark and Cyril Austin.[7] He had 11 siblings.[8]

He moved to the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in the 1950s where met Patricia Prior, whom he raised two children with.[8] He participated in Australian rules football and boxing, while also working as a boilermaker and having a job laying tramway track.[8]

Austin founded the Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Co-operative (MAYSAR), an Aboriginal youth sport centre and boxing gym, in 1982.[7] [9] [10]

In the 1970s, Austin became associated with the newly-formed Fitzroy Stars Football Club, a football club run by Indigenous Australians.[11] He introduced the club's first junior team in 1978. After the Northern Metropolitan Football League, which the Stars were competing in, disbanded in 1980, Austin was a driving force in the club staying afloat.

When the YCW Football League (YCWFL) folded in 1986, the Stars applied for entry in 36 local competitions, but received rejections from every single one.[12] As a result, Austin (who was also serving as club administrator) formed the Melbourne North Football League (MNFL) in 1989.[12] [13]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Herbert George "Jock" Austin . billiongraves.com . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241004052302/https://billiongraves.com/grave/Herbert-George-Jock-Austin/23377608 . 4 October 2024.
  2. Web site: JOCK Austin 30 year anniversary of his passing - Sunday 3rd May 2020 . Trove . MAYSAR, Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Co-Operative . 4 October 2024 . https://archive.today/20241004051901/https://www.facebook.com/MAYSARcooperative/videos/586528978629674/ . 4 October 2024 . 2 May 2020.
  3. Web site: Yarra to mark January 26 with a tribute to Herbert ‘Jock’ Austin . Yarra City Council . 4 October 2024 . https://archive.today/20241004052722/https://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/news/2020/01/15/yarra-to-mark-26-january-with-a-tribute . 4 October 2024 . 15 January 2020.
  4. Web site: The Fitzroy Stars Football & Netball Club Have A Story To Tell. . 3KND . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241004034659/https://www.3knd.org.au/post/the-fitzroy-stars-football-netball-club-have-a-story-to-tell . 4 October 2024 . 16 March 2022.
  5. Web site: The Fitzroy Stars - A Place for Community . Deadly Story . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240716203452/https://deadlystory.com/page/culture/our-stories/The_Fitzroy_Stars_-_A_Place_for_Community . 16 July 2024.
  6. Web site: Troy Austin . First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240223064258/https://www.firstpeoplesvic.org/members/troy-austin/ . 23 February 2024.
  7. Web site: Today we acknowledge Herbert 'Jock' Austin on what would have been his 80th birthday . Facebook . Fitzroy Stars Football & Netball Club . 4 October 2024 . https://archive.today/20241004045114/https://www.facebook.com/FitzroyStars/posts/pfbid0jtb4E4fHLgSac6axw2nEAcY7wKCKMjcj83fzEHPuEqv9x8XAVF3Pu8WFiEpF6U8Zl?rdid=WZuAesYwGyfp4lgJ . 4 October 2024 . 16 March 1938.
  8. Web site: Herbert 'Jock' Austin . First Peoples - State Relations . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241004040338/https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/herbert-jock-austin . 4 October 2024.
  9. Web site: Dinham . Abby . Melbourne gym inspiring next generation of Indigenous boxers . SBS News . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230804150255/https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/melbourne-gym-inspiring-next-generation-of-indigenous-boxers/x5wgs8zbp . 4 August 2023 . 30 May 2017.
  10. Web site: Barracking, booing, boxing . ABC Listen . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241004051836/https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sporty/barracking,-booing,-boxing/11282058 . 4 October 2024 . 6 July 2019.
  11. Web site: Fitzroy Stars: Melbourne's only Aboriginal footy club - in pictures . Guardian Australia . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241004023232/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2016/mar/04/fitzroy-stars-melbournes-only-aboriginal-footy-club-in-pictures . 4 October 2024 . 4 March 2016.
  12. Web site: Gorman . Joe . Jason Mifsud and Fitzroy Stars: a man on a mission at a club that means so much . Guardian Australia . 4 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241004032239/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/04/jason-mifsud-and-fitzroy-stars-a-man-on-a-mission-at-a-club-that-means-so-much . 4 October 2024 . 4 March 2016.
  13. Web site: An Aboriginal community's sporting life . Evans . Michael . Trove . Tribune . 4 October 2024 . 11 . 31 August 1988.

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