Ossie Bertram

Oswald Milne Bertram (17 April 1909 – 5 May 1983) was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne and St Kilda in the VFL during the 1930s.

Ossie Bertram
Personal information
Full name Oswald Milne Bertram
Date of birth 17 April 1909
Date of death 5 May 1983(1983-05-05) (aged 74)
Original team(s) West Torrens (SANFL)
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 76 kg (168 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1933–1934 South Melbourne 23 (43)
1935–1936 St Kilda 15 (17)
Total 38 (60)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1936.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of Frank Ernest Bertram, and Agnes Bertram, née Milne, he was born at Upper Sturt on 17 April 1909.[1] He married Grace Mary Orme in 1940.

Football

Bertram was a rover and was recruited from South Australian National Football League club West Torrens, where he was a leading player who twice represented South Australia at interstate level.[2] He joined South Melbourne for the 1933 season and helped them to win the premiership, kicking 28 goals for the year.[3]

Bertram, who had bee unemployed for three years,[4] was one of a number of interstate footballers who joined South Melbourne in the early 1930s, including Jack Wade and Wilbur Harris, also South Australians, with the promise of immediate, long-term, secure, paid employment outside of football within the (137 store) grocery empire of the South Melbourne president, South Melbourne Lord Mayor, and Member of the Victorian Legislative Council, Archie Crofts.[5] The collection of players recruited from interstate became known as South Melbourne's "Foreign Legion".[6]

After playing in a losing Grand Final the following season he moved to St Kilda in 1935, spending two seasons there.

Military service

He enlisted in the Second AIF on 15 July 1940, eventually retiring from the armed services, with the rank of Major in the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps, on 18 April 1959.[7][8][9]

Notes
  1. Births: Bertram, The (Adelaide) Chronicle, (Saturday, 24 April 1909), p.33; note that his newspaper birth notice (mistakenly) shows his birth date as 18 April 1909.
  2. In footsteps of Father, The (Adelaide) News, (Thursday, 23 May 1929), p.13.
  3. "Ossie" Bertram Reviews South Footballers, The (Emerald Hill) Record, (Friday 29 February 1952), p.8.
  4. McKee, S., "Qualification Rule: How it will affect Bertram", The (Adelaide) News, (Friday, 9 September 1932), p.3.
  5. Faul Championed, The (Perth) Mirror, (Saturday, 9 April 1932), p.5; Manzie, F.K. (Illustrated by Dick Ovenden), "Round the Training Rooms No.4: South Melbourne", Table Talk, Thursday, 22 June 1933), pp.10, 36.
  6. The caricature at the foot of page 10 of Table Talk (22 June 1933) was created by Richard "Dick" Ovenden (1897-1972). From left to right those represented are: Jack Bisset, the team’s captain; Dick Mullaly, the club’s secretary; Brighton Diggins, from Subiaco (WAFL); Bert Beard, from South Fremantle (WAFL); Bill Faul, from Subiaco (WAFL); Jim O'Meara, from East Perth (WAFL); Frank Davies, from City (NTFA); Laurie Nash, from City (NTFA); John Bowe, from Subiaco (WAFL); Jack Wade, from Port Adelaide (SANFL); Ossie Bertram, from West Torrens (SANFL); and Wilbur Harris, from West Torrens (SANFL).
  7. Wandering Watch, Smith's Weekly, (Saturday, 5 January 1946), p3.
  8. World War II Nominal Roll: Bertram, Oswald Milne (340032 (VX46785)).
  9. Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps, Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, no.34, (Thursday, 11 June 1959) p.2083.
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