In July 2008, Brit Heatley solemnly stood on the Carlton ground as last rites were administered to her great grandfather’s old stand.
Through glassy eyes she saw the symbolic final play as the signage carrying the words “Robert Heatley Stand” was levered from the facia atop the soon-to-be-demolished edifice.
”It was sad to see the stand come down,” Brit conceded. “It was also sad that my Dad couldn’t be here – at the time he was living on a cattle station in New South Wales – but it was nice for me to represent the family.”
Melancholy though it was for her, Brit is overjoyed to learn that the Carlton Football Club has declared the Punt Road end of the MCG the Heatley End for Thursday’s AFL season opener against Richmond at the MCG – and she’ll be there with her mother and father and a couple of friends as together they cheer their beloved Blues home.
Completely taken aback by Carlton’s decision to revive the famous Heatley name, Brit couldn’t contain her excitement as she paid the ground a visit to reacquaint herself with the old signage.
“I was on Facebook last night and the story popped up on my news feed. I read that Carlton was bringing Robert Heatley’s name back and I was in shock,” she said.
“I rang my sister in Queensland and rang my Mum and Dad, telling them ‘You’re not going to believe this’. It’s such an honour. It’s so nice that my great grandfather is being remembered in this way knowing what he did for the club.”
Anthony Koutoufides leads out the Blues in front of the Robert Heatley Stand in the Optus Oval farewell game. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)
Robert Murray Heatley was born in Carlton on December 28, 1863, the year before the Carlton Football Club itself was founded.
Heatley, the second of eight children reared by Scottish immigrants, represented Carlton in the then VFA for just one season – 1883 - before interests in bookmaking then property development took precedence.
In 1901, Heatley assumed the Presidency of the Carlton Football Club, holding office through to 1904. He served again in that capacity in 1909-1910 and as Carlton Cricket Club President from 1915-16, and he championed the cause of Princes Park’s development in the early years.
Heatley died on May 7, 1947, four months before Freddy Stafford sank Essendon with his Premiership-winning goal on the final bell. He was buried in a family mausoleum in Coburg Cemetery.
The old grandstand that carried his name at Princes Park was built at a cost of 7000 pounds and formally opened by Alderman Sir William Brunton in 1932. The stand stood for more than three quarters of a century when both it and the neighboring George H. Harris Stand made way for the $19million high performance centre.
Brit, a 38 year-old Owners Corporation Manager for Victoria Body Corporate Services, recalled happy times where she and her father frequented the Heatley Stand to support the team – a given for all members of the clan “because if you didn’t barrack for Carlton you weren’t a Heatley”.
Thankfully, Foster was old enough to remember the grand old man and it’s his childhood recollections of Robert Heatley that Brit still treasures.
“I’ve got so many fond memories that Dad has passed on to me of the man that Robert Heatley was and of the significant contributions he made to Carlton,” Brit said.
“My Dad always told me about the times Robert would take him to the football and of the good times he had with his grandfather.”
It’s fair to say that Thursday night can’t come around quick enough for Brit – particularly now that she knows that Robert Murray Heatley esq. will be looking down.
