Joe Johnson (Australian footballer)

Joseph Andrew Johnson (19 January 1883 – 23 April 1934) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and is recognised as the first-ever Indigenous Australian to play in the VFL.[1]

Joe Johnson
Personal information
Full name Joseph Andrew Johnson
Date of birth (1883-01-19)19 January 1883
Place of birth Newcastle, New South Wales
Date of death 23 April 1934(1934-04-23) (aged 51)
Place of death Carlton, Victoria
Original team(s) Northcote (VFA)
Debut 1904, Fitzroy vs. Carlton, at Princes Park
Height 168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight 77 kg (170 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1904–1906 Fitzroy (VFL) 55 (15)
1907–1911 Brunswick (VFA)
1912–1914 Northcote (VFA)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1906.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of Melbourne-born Andrew Johnson (1840-1891), and Eliza Catherine Louisa Johnson (1843-1909), née Gordon,[2] Joseph Andrew Johnson was born near Newcastle, New South Wales on 19 January 1883.[3]

He married Nora Campion Naismith (1890-1954) in North Carlton on 3 August 1912.[4]

Johnson's son Percy Johnson, grandson Percy Cummings, and great-grandsons Robert and Trent Cummings also played VFL/AFL football.[5][6]

Johnson has been lauded for his role in being the first known Aboriginal footballer in Victoria,[7] "leading the way" for other Aboriginal players to star in football.[8]

Football
Fitzroy's 1905 Premiership Team:
Johnson, left, second row from back
Fitzroy's 1905 Premiership Team:
Johnson, second from left, front row

Fitzroy (VFL)

Johnson was recruited from Victorian Football Association (VFA) side Northcote Football Club and made his senior debut for Fitzroy Football Club in Round One 1904 against Carlton.[9] Initially playing as a half-back flanker, Johnson played in back-to-back premiership teams in 1904 and 1905.

Brunswick (VFA)

In 1907, Johnson left Fitzroy for VFA side Brunswick as playing coach, playing in their inaugural premiership in 1909.

Northcote (VFA)

In 1912 he returned to Northcote as playing coach until 1914.[5]

Military service

He enlisted in the First AIF on 10 February 1916.

He was court-martialled in Egypt on 1 August 1916,[10] charged with "striking his superior officer", found guilty, and sentenced to "six calendar months imprisonment with hard labor [sic]" — his incarceration, which commenced on 16 August 1916, was suspended on 15 September 1916.[11]

He served with the AIF in France from November 1916, was transferred to the UK for treatment for "acute nephritis" in February 1917, was repatriated to Australia in July 1917, and was discharged from the AIF on 18 October 1917 on medical grounds.

Death

Johnson died suddenly on 23 April 1934,[12] and his funeral was held the next day in Carlton.[13]

Notes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joe Johnson (Australian footballer).
  1. Bews, Andrew (7 May 2007). "Changing Colours". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
  2. Deaths: Johnson, The Age, (Friday, 16 July 1905), p.1.
  3. Fiddian, p. 82.
  4. Deaths: Johnson, The Argus, (Tuesday, 4 May 1954), p.11.
  5. Moncrieff, D. "Thank You Joe Johnson", Aboriginal Football, 16 August 2005. Retrieved 10 September 2009
  6. Muyt, A. "Black, Maroon and Blue", Maroon and Blue, 26 January 2010. Archived 2010-01-26 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 September 2009]
  7. Joe Johnson, The First AFL Indigenous Player, Lions Media, 28 May, 2021.
  8. Gordon, M. "The PM, footy and symbolic reconciliation", The Age, 2 August 2005.. Retrieved 10 September 2009
  9. "Carlton v Fitzroy 07 May 1904". AFL Tables. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
  10. Lambley (2012), p.188.
  11. Service Record.
  12. Deaths: Johnson, The Age, (Tuesday, 24 April 1934), p.1.
  13. "Old Player's Death". The Argus. No. 27, 357. Victoria, Australia. 24 April 1934. p. 11.

References
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