Full name Simon Fraser Name Simon Fraser Position(s) Full forward Died May 11, 1919 | Years Club | |
Date of birth (1886-08-25)25 August 1886 Date of death 11 May 1919(1919-05-11) (aged 32) Role Australian Rules Footballer | ||
Original team Melbourne Grammar School 1905–06
1909
Total Essendon
University | ||
Simon Fraser (25 August 1886 – 11 May 1919) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon and University in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
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Early life
Fraser was the eldest son of the pastoralist and politician Sir Simon Fraser (1932-1919) and his second wife Anne. He was educated at the Melbourne Grammar School, where he was a successful athlete, cricketer, footballer and rower, being stroke of the First XIII in 1905. That year he was a member of the school athletic team which won "The Argus" and "The Australasian" Challenge cup. He was also a lieutenant in the school cadet corps. In 1905 and 1906 he played 21 games for Essendon Football Club. He entered the University of Melbourne in 1906, where he was a student at Trinity College. He was stroke of the Trinity College rowing crew, as well as of the University eight, winning a University Blue in 1908 for rowing. Fraser graduated with a Bachelor of Mining Engineering degree in 1911.
Olympics
Fraser was chosen as a member of the Australian Rowing Eight which competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He also rowed in the famous race in July 1912 when Australia beat the Leander crew at Henley to win the Grand Challenge Cup. On his return to Australia Fraser managed his father's station called "Nyang" near Moulamein in New South Wales. He died aged 32 from pneumonic influenza at Penshurst, Victoria, after attending the Warrnambool races. He had married Phyllis, a daughter of Mr Hammond Clegg, who survived him, with three young children.