Hubert Opperman
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Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE (29 May 1904 - 24 April 1996), affectionately referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim.
Hubert Opperman rode a bicycle from the age of eight as a Post Office Messenger, until his wife Mavys, fearing for his health and safety, forced him to stop riding in 1994 on his 90th birthday. His trusty Malvern Star bicycle was donated to the museum in Rochester, Victoria. At the age of 91 he died of a heart attack, while he was on his exercise bike in his home in Wantirna, City of Knox in Melbourne.
His feats of stamina and endurance in cycling earned Opperman the status of one of the greatest Australian sportsmen to match cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman and billiards champion Walter Lindrum.
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[edit] Cycling Career
Sir Hubert was born in the town of Rochester, Victoria in 1904. One of his first jobs was as a Post Office messenger, delivering telegrams by bicycle.
He came third in a cycling race at the age of 17 in 1921. The prize was a racing bike by Malvern Star Cycles, a tiny cycle shop in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern. The proprietor of the shop, Bruce Small, was so impressed with the performance he gave the young Opperman a job.
Opperman went on to an illustrious cycling career. In 1924 at the age of 20 he won the Australian Road Cycling titles, as well as in 1926, 1927, and 1929.
In 1928 he won the prestigious Bol d'Or 24-hour classic at a 500m velodrome in Paris. The feat of winning this race is even more astounding. Both his racing bikes had been sabotaged by the chains being filed down so that they soon failed. His manager had to find a replacement bike quickly, and it ended up being the bicycle of his interpreter with heavy mudguards and wheels and upturned handlebars. Effectively he was out of the race for about an hour. But Opperman was determined and rode the old bike for 17 hours without dismounting. He won the race by 30 minutes to the cheers of 50,000 French citizens yelling "allez Oppy". He received a hero's welcome when he returned to Melbourne later that year.
He was voted Europe's most popular sportsman in 1928 by more than 500,000 readers of the French sporting journal L'Auto, ahead of their own national tennis champion Henri Cochet.
He won the Blue Riband for fastest time three times in the famous Warrnambool to Melbourne Classic. In the prestigious Goulburn to Sydney Classic he twice won from scratch, and three times being the fastest rider.
In 1931 Hubert Opperman became the World's greatest endurance cyclist when he won the 1931 Non Stop Paris-Brest-Paris tour (726 miles, 1166 kilometres) breaking all previous records over the distance in the time of 49 hours 23 minutes. After this win he was idolised in the French press and by the French public.
His participation and captaincy of the Australian Teams in the Tour de France in 1928 and 1931 sets an example to more recent Australian riders to follow in his path such as Phil Anderson, Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke.
In 1940 Opperman set more than 100 distance records in a 24 hour cycling marathon at a Sydney Velodrome. Many of his distance records were not broken until decades later.
His cycling career came to an end with World War II when he joined the Royal Australian Air Force and rose to the level of Flight Lieutenant.
Opperman was the patron of both Audax Australia and Audax UK until his death in 1996[1].
In a surprise upset Walter Lindrum was judged uncontested sports champion of the world. Opperman lost by a mere two NSC votes, much to the shock of the press.
[edit] Political Career
After the war Opperman joined the Liberal Party of Australia and in 1949 was elected to the Parliament of Australia for the Victorian electorate of Corio centred on Geelong. He served in parliament for 17 years under Prime Ministers Sir Robert Menzies and Harold Holt. During this time he became the Government Whip in 1955.
He became a Cabinet Minister for Shipping and Transport from 1960 to 1963. Between December 1963 and December 1966 he was Minister for Immigration. While Minister for Immigration there was a relaxation of conditions for the entry of people of mixed descent and a widening of eligibility criteria for entry by well-qualified people into Australia.
After his retirement from politics in 1967 he was appointed as Australia's first High Commissioner to Malta, which he performed for 5 years.
Opperman received an O.B.E. in 1953, and was knighted in 1968.
In 1991 he attended the centenary celebrations of the Paris-Brest-Paris race and received the Gold Medal of the City of Paris.
Sir Hubert Opperman’s legacy is commemorated every year with the Opperman All Day Trial, an Audax (cycling) ride held annually in early November where teams of three or more cyclists ride a minimum of 360km in 24 hours.
The City of Knox, where Oppy spent the last years of his life, has dedicated and named several trails and cycleways around the municipality after famous races which Opperman won. They have also dedicated an annual bicycle event, ‘The Oppy Family Fun Ride’, after Oppy. The fun ride is part of the annual Knox Festival held each March.
[edit] References
- Pedals, Politics and People (1977) Hubert Opperman
