BIO

Bert Jolly and his younger brother Norman both played for Norwood in 1900 and then, having switched zones when they moved house to Parkside, were together in the first Sturt team on its entry to the competition on 4 April 1901. Bert was one of Sturt's better players in that match, against his old club at Norwood Oval, but Norwood was not troubled in winning 10.11 to 5.8.

A little more than three years older than his brilliant brother, Bert was born at Mintaro on 17 April 1879 to sharebroker Henry Dickson Jolly and his wife Annie (née Lathlean), parents of four boys and four girls.

Both brothers were Norwood team-mates for the last four matches of the 1900 season, highlighted by a two-point victory over Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.  Port had the better of the play in heavy conditions but Norwood snatched a late goal to win 3.4 to 3.2.
Norman, the 1904 Rhodes Scholar, played state football in a brief career.  Bert, meanwhile, remained a solid performer for Sturt and was elected a player member of the club committee in 1903.

After football, Bert was a partner with Ferdinand Strempel in the prominent pharmacy firm of Strempel & Jolly.  Bert was an active member of the Toorak Bowling Club and a keen follower of football and cricket.  Late on the Saturday of 26 September 1936, after he had attended a football match,  Bert died at his Rose Park home at the age of 57.  He was survived by his widow Margaret and sons Bert and Norman.

Three years later, on the petition of Margaret Jolly, Bert's estate was ordered to be administered in bankruptcy.  The liabilities were estimated at £5,271 15/8 and the assets at £1,670 15/-.

* Picture kindly supplied by Sturt Football Club historian Ken Hughes.

P Robins Oct 2018