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Gerry Hazlitt - Haileybury's First Test CricketerGERRY HAZLITT - HAILEYBURY'S FIRST TEST CRICKETER Last Monday the glitterati of past and present Australian cricket met in the palatial surrounds of the Crown Palladium in Melbourne to celebrate the awarding of the Allan Border medal. That morning, a small group of people gathered at the humble west Sydney gravesite of one of Australia’s earliest and most ill-fated test cricketers. This is the burial place of fast bowler Gerry Hazlitt, a shooting star of early last century, who took 7 for 25 against England at Lord’s in 1912, including a devastating spell of 5 wickets for one run. The son of an actor father and a musical mother, he was a childhood prodigy at Haileybury College, at the time a tiny school in one of Melbourne’s beach suburbs. His curving “swerve” balls earned him a place in the Victorian team in 1906, when he was still at school. Even then he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart problem, which subsequently plagued his sporting career. He went on to represent Australia on a number of occasions despite his handicap. In 1910, at the age of 21, he married and moved to Sydney, and later had two daughters. With Honours in Latin, English and Greek he had a first-class knowledge of the Classics, and this combined with his cricket fame enabled him to secure work as an Assistant Housemaster at King’s School Parramatta, which later gave him leave to play in the 1912 test series in England.His weak heart preventing his enlisting at the outbreak of World War One, but his caring and friendly manner, combined with his hero status, made him a figure of respect with all the students at King’s whose lives he touched. Tragically, late in 1915, he developed broncho-pneumonia, and died in October that year at the age of 27. Hazlitt was buried at St Thomas’ Church of England in Enfield. His death followed that of the legendary batsman Victor Trumper by just a few months. It was only in recent times that his surviving family discovered the location of his grave, which had fallen into disrepair. On 15 February, representatives from Haileybury and King’s visited the gravesite and joined with his family to unveil a plaque suitably recognising the memory of a largely forgotten early Australian cricketing star.
Submitted by: Russell Davidson OHA e NewsPlease log into the website for your edition of OHA e News for December 2009. If you have forgotten your log in, please email Russell Davidson at russelldavidson@haileybury.vic.edu.au
Submitted by: Russell Davidson News Bulletin 26/11/09
Director of Development and Alumni Relations 9213 2218. Submitted by: Russell Davidson |
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