A precious photograph of one-game Carlton centre half-forward Gerald O’Halloran, complete in his dark Navy Blue matchday attire, has this week surfaced – 100 years to the round since he turned out for his only senior appearance.
The image is thought to have been taken in the backyard of O’Halloran family home at 7 Frank Street Coburg, on or at about the time that Gerald, wearing the No.19, lined up at centre half-forward in the third round match with Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday, May 16, 1925.
Gerald’s son Bob, himself a Carlton Under 19 and Reserve Grade player from 1960-’63, paid IKON Park a visit this week to share the never-before-published image and shed some light on his father’s short but varied life.
“It’s quite an historic photo. I think my Mum might have taken it with her box brownie,” said Bob, a Carlton Member for almost 50 years who was accompanied by his wife and ardent Blues supporter Jenny.
“It’s precious in a sense, but there is no emotional attachment as I was only seven when Dad died.”
One of seven O’Halloran siblings, Gerald was born in the north-eastern Victorian town of Benalla in 1902. His grandparents, both hailing from County Clare in Ireland, eventually settled in Benalla, having set sail for Australia in the early 1850s at the height of the potato famine.
Away from the game, Gerald found fame as an accomplished flautist and clarinettist, and, as Bob declared, was a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. “I don’t have any of his recordings,” Bob lamented, “but I do know he was for a time an accompanist to Dame Nellie Melba.”
Gerald’s musicianship took him to Sydney town where he also found time to kick a footy in local competition – and it was from Sydney District that he was recruited to Carlton between the wars. Beyond Princes Park, Gerald furthered his on-field career at Coburg, and he later served the VFA Lions as a committeeman and treasurer.
He also found work in a senior position with the taxation department, but illness cruelly brought his life to an end at just 47 years of age.
“Unfortunately Dad developed pancreatic cancer and died in early 1950. I was seven at the time and didn’t know much about Dad or his family because when he died my mother gravitated to hers, and lived in Port Fairy,” Bob said.
“About six or seven years ago I found Dad’s grave in Melbourne General Cemetery, and a memorial has since been placed there.”
Bob graciously availed to the club’s archive a list of Under 19 team rules for the 1960 season, including Round 10 which reads: “players must be financial at all times – especially before the end of season trip”.
He also shared another precious photo of the 1962 Carlton reserve grade team, pictured in front of the since-demolished Robert Heatley Stand. Bob features in the pic, together with the likes of Leo Brereton, Martin Cross, John Goold, Ken Greenwood, Doug Ringholt and Vasil Varlamos, and the resident Coach Jack Carney.
