Hubert Opperman
Encyclopedia
Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE
(29 May 1904 - 18 April 1996), 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 rode a bicycle from the age of eight until his 90th birthday, when his wife Mavys, fearing for his health and safety, forced him to stop. His stamina and endurance in cycling
earned Opperman the status of one of the greatest Australian sportsmen.
in 1904 of British-German descent. His father had worked as a butcher, miner, timber-cutter and coach driver. Hubert learned as a child to plough with six horses and to ride bareback. He attended several schools and delivered Post Office telegrams by bicycle.
He came third in a cycling race at 17 in 1921. The prize was a racing bike by Malvern Star
Cycles, a cycle shop in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern
. The proprietor, Bruce Small
, was so impressed he offered Opperman a role in the business, which helped turn both into household names in Australia.
In 1924 at 20 Opperman won the Australian road titles, and then again in 1926, 1927, and 1929.
. Opperman went to Europe in April 1928 with Harry Watson of New Zealand and Erinie Bainbridge and Percy Osborne of Australia. He went to the six-day race at the Velodrome d'Hiver
in Paris, where he met an Australian participant, Reggie McNamara
. The Franco-American writer René de Latour
, who was working for McNamara at the six-day, wrote:
Opperman joined a training camp run by Paul Ruinart, trainer of the Vélo Club Levallois, on the outskirts of Paris. Ruinart and the VC Levallois were at the peak of French cycling and took in Opperman and his team. They rode Paris-Rennes
as their first race. A report says:
Nicolas Frantz
of Luxembourg
won and Opperman came eighth. Opperman then came third to Georges Ronsse
of Belgium and to Frantz in Paris-Brussels
.
The Tour de France started one month later. The shortest day was 119 km and the longest 387 km. Other teams had 10 riders but the Australasia had four, plans to increase the team with Europeans having failed. Their position was worsened by Henri Desgrange
's plan to run most of the race as a team time trial
, as he had the previous year. Teams started at intervals and shared the pace until the end. Desgrange wanted to stop riders racing casually for all but the last hour. The American historian Bill McGann wrote:
With four rather than 10 riders to share the pace, Opperman and his team were handicapped. De Latour wrote:
Opperman was often swept up by the French Alcyon
team. Its manager, Ludo Feuillet, adopted him and helped with advice and tyres. Opperman finished the Tour 18th. He said of the long stages and the hours of darkness that riders endured:
He rode again in 1931
and finished 12th, suffering from several accidents and dysentery
after having occupied sixth place.
. It took us more than 25 hours. Once we had turned there, riders were all over the road with fatigue. Once I had to fend off Frantz when he fell asleep."
Opperman was patron of Audax Australia
and Audax UK
, organisations encouraging long-distance riding, until his death in 1996. He attended the centenary celebrations of Paris–Brest–Paris in 1991 and received the Gold Medal of the City of Paris. Opperman considered Paris–Brest–Paris his greatest win.
In 1928 Opperman won the Bol d'Or 24-hour classic
, paced by tandems on a 500m velodrome
in Paris. Both his bikes had been sabotaged by the chains being filed so they failed. His manager had to find a replacement, his interpreter's bicycle which had heavy mudguards and wheels and upturned handlebars. Opperman rode the bike for 17 hours without dismounting. He was 17 laps of the track behind the leader but after 10 hours rose to second place to Achille Souchard, who had twice been national road champion.
Opperman punctured after 23½ hours and got off his bike for the first time since the broken chain. "He had met Nature's lesser calls as he pedalled, to the roar of the indelicate crowd", said a report. Opperman won by 30 minutes to the cheers of 50,000 yelling "Allez Oppy". His manager suggested he continue to beat the 1000 km record. Opperman declined but his trainer and the crowd persuaded. He cycled 1h 19m more alone to beat the record.
He became enough of a hero in France that "a gendarme
in Montmartre
held up the traffic and waved him through in solitary splendour with the cry: "Bonjour, bonne chance, Oppy!" Opperman had a hero's welcome when he returned to Melbourne
.
bicycle company. Malvern Star were agents in Australia for the British BSA
factory and BSA sponsored Opperman in the years before the Second World War
to break place-to-place and other distance records in Great Britain. He broke Land's End
-John o'Groats in 1934 in 2d 9h 1m and then the 1,000-mile record in 3d 1h 52m. He also took London-York
in 9h 23m 0s and the 12-hour record after 243 miles.
In 1935 he set the 24-hour record with 461.75 miles and broke London-Bath-London with 10h 14m 42s, Land's End
-London with 14h 9m 0s, and shared the tandem record for London-Bath-London with Ernie Milliken, in 8h 55m 34s. He broke London-Portsmouth
-London in 1937 with 6h 33m 30s. In each case he had to wear not the cycling clothes he wore elsewhere but a black jacket and black tights that reached to his shoes. They were required by the Road Records Association to make riders "inconspicuous."
In 1940 Opperman set 100 distance records in a 24-hour race at Sydney. Many were not broken until decades later. He won the Blue Riband for fastest time three times in the Warrnambool to Melbourne Classic
. In the Goulburn to Sydney Classic he twice won from scratch, three times being the fastest rider.
A report said:
Opperman recalled: "At one point, by the light of the car behind me, I could see a large snake in the wheel ruts, and I couldn't stop. All I could do was land the bike on top of it, hard. I suppose I must have killed it. Then, at Nanwarra Sands, I had to pick up the bike and carry it for 10 miles in the soft sand. We learned that I could gain time by sleeping for only 10 minutes at a time, something I have never forgotten."
. He served from 1940 to 1945 and rose to flight lieutenant. He raced briefly after the war but retired in 1947.
after the war and in 1949 was elected to the Parliament of Australia
for the Victorian electorate of Corio
centred on Geelong. He beat a senior Labour minister, J. J. Dedman and held the seat for 17 years before appointment to High Commissioner for Malta
.
He became the Government Whip in 1955. He was appointed Minister for Shipping and Transport, a Cabinet
position, in 1960. Between December 1963 and December 1966 he was Minister for Immigration
(retaining the position when Harold Holt
succeeded Sir Robert Menzies
as Prime Minister
). He oversaw a relaxation of conditions for entry into Australia of people of mixed descent and a widening of eligibility for well-qualified people. One assessment said: "He was the perfect party man: unswervingly loyal, safe with secrets, an honest adviser and a shoulder for fellow ministers to cry on, sometimes literally. He made no pretence of statesmanship."
The assessment added:
Opperman became Australia's first High Commissioner to Malta in 1967, a job he held for five years.
Opperman was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in 1953, and made a Knight Bachelor
in 1968 for his services as High Commissioner to Malta.
Opperman continued cycling until he was 90. He lived in a retirement village which, as the British journalist Alan Gayfer pointed out in 1993, had "No Cycling" signs. Opperman died on an exercise bicycle.
He was voted Europe's most popular sportsman of 1928 by 500,000 readers of the French sporting journal L'Auto, ahead of national tennis champion Henri Cochet
. An obituary said he "ranked alongside Don Bradman and the race horse Phar Lap as an Australian sporting idol, but his fame at home proved less durable than theirs, perhaps because he went on to become a politician."
He won the Frederick Thomas Bidlake
Memorial Prize in 1934 as "the rider whose achievements are deemed the greatest of the year."
Opperman entered the Golden Book of Cycling
on 13 October 1935. This recognised his record breaking exploits in Australia, and more particularly his 1934 onslaught which took five British records in 14 days.
Opperman is commemorated every year with the Opperman All Day Trial, an Audax
ride held in Australia in early November in which teams of three or more ride a minimum of 360 km in 24 hours.
The City of Knox
, where Opperman spent his last years, dedicated and named several trails and cycle ways around the municipality after races which Opperman won. It has also dedicated an annual bicycle event, The Oppy Family Fun Ride. The ride is part of the Knox Festival each March.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(29 May 1904 - 18 April 1996), referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, whose endurance cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim.
Hubert rode a bicycle from the age of eight until his 90th birthday, when his wife Mavys, fearing for his health and safety, forced him to stop. His stamina and endurance in cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
earned Opperman the status of one of the greatest Australian sportsmen.
Australian cycling career
Opperman was born in Rochester, VictoriaRochester, Victoria
Rochester is a small town in country Victoria, Australia. It is located 180 km north of Melbourne with a mixture of rural and semi-rural communities on the northern Campaspe River, between Bendigo and the Murray River port of Echuca...
in 1904 of British-German descent. His father had worked as a butcher, miner, timber-cutter and coach driver. Hubert learned as a child to plough with six horses and to ride bareback. He attended several schools and delivered Post Office telegrams by bicycle.
He came third in a cycling race at 17 in 1921. The prize was a racing bike by Malvern Star
Malvern Star
Malvern Star is a manufacturer of bicycles, located in Melbourne, Australia. It began in 1902, and went on to become a household name in Australia.-History:Malvern Star opened in a small shop at 58 Glenferrie Rd, in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern in 1902...
Cycles, a cycle shop in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern
Malvern, Victoria
Malvern is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Malvern had a population of 9,422.-History:...
. The proprietor, Bruce Small
Bruce Small
Sir Andrew Bruce Small was an Australian businessman and politician. In Melbourne, he developed Malvern Star bicycles into a household name in Australia, then retired to the Gold Coast, Queensland, where he developed property, and as Mayor of the Gold Coast, promoted the area to Australia and the...
, was so impressed he offered Opperman a role in the business, which helped turn both into household names in Australia.
In 1924 at 20 Opperman won the Australian road titles, and then again in 1926, 1927, and 1929.
Tour de France
The Melbourne Herald and The Sporting Globe in Australia and the The Sun in New Zealand started a fund in late 1927 to pay for an Australasia team to the Tour de France1928 Tour de France
The 1928 Tour de France was the 22nd Tour de France, taking place June 17 to July 15, 1928. It consisted of 22 stages over 5,476 km, ridden at an average speed of 28.4 km/h...
. Opperman went to Europe in April 1928 with Harry Watson of New Zealand and Erinie Bainbridge and Percy Osborne of Australia. He went to the six-day race at the Velodrome d'Hiver
Vélodrome d'hiver
The Vélodrome d'Hiver , colloquially Vel' d'Hiv, was an indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. As well as track cycling, it was used for ice hockey, wrestling, boxing, roller-skating, circuses, spectaculars, and demonstrations...
in Paris, where he met an Australian participant, Reggie McNamara
Reggie McNamara
Reggie McNamara was an Australian cyclist known as a roughhouse velodrome rider with a string of dramatic crashes and broken bones over 20 years. He was known as the Iron Man...
. The Franco-American writer René de Latour
René de Latour
René de Latour was a Franco-American sports journalist, race director of the Tour de l'Avenir cycle race, and correspondent of the British magazine, Sporting Cyclist, to which he contributed to 120 of the 131 issues.-Background:René de Latour was born in 42nd Street, New York...
, who was working for McNamara at the six-day, wrote:
- A marked difference between Oppy and his team-mates was that they did not all regard the journey to Europe in the same light. While the others looked on it more as a trip in which to collect a few souvenirs to take home, to the eager Oppy it was a wonderful chance to reach the top in international competition... His arrival in France had been announced with some scepticism: Un beau mentir qui vient de loin is a French saying. (A good liar comes from a distance.) His outstanding wins in Australia did not mean anything to the French riders, and even less to the Belgians.
- 'Whom did he beat over there, anyway?' they would say. 'Let's see him on the road, then we'll know. We've yet to see any classy Australian road rider.'
Opperman joined a training camp run by Paul Ruinart, trainer of the Vélo Club Levallois, on the outskirts of Paris. Ruinart and the VC Levallois were at the peak of French cycling and took in Opperman and his team. They rode Paris-Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
as their first race. A report says:
- The 32 riders assembled at a small Parisian café at midnight. On the street outside, torrential rain alternated with freezing hailstorms. When called outside for the 2am start, the riders kept warm by running on the spot and flapping their arms. The Australians amused the others with a game of leapfrog followed by a sparring match between Watson and Bainbridge.
Nicolas Frantz
Nicolas Frantz
Nicolas Frantz , born in Mamer, Luxembourg, was a bicycle racer with 60 professional racing victories over his 12-year career . He rode for the Thomann team in 1923 and then for Alcyon-Dunlop from 1924 to 1931. He won the Tour de France in 1927 and 1928.Nicolas Frantz was the son of a prosperous...
of Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
won and Opperman came eighth. Opperman then came third to Georges Ronsse
Georges Ronsse
Georges Ronsse was a two-time national cyclo-cross and two-time world champion road bicycle racer from Belgium, who raced between 1926 and 1938....
of Belgium and to Frantz in Paris-Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
The Tour de France started one month later. The shortest day was 119 km and the longest 387 km. Other teams had 10 riders but the Australasia had four, plans to increase the team with Europeans having failed. Their position was worsened by Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
's plan to run most of the race as a team time trial
Time trial
In many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...
, as he had the previous year. Teams started at intervals and shared the pace until the end. Desgrange wanted to stop riders racing casually for all but the last hour. The American historian Bill McGann wrote:
- Desgrange... wanted the Tour de France to be a contest where unrelenting individual effort in the cauldron of intense competition resulted in the supreme test of both the body and will of the athlete. Desgrange was convinced that the teams were combining to fix the outcome of the race. At the very best, even if they were honest, they helped a weaker rider do well. He also felt that on the flat stages the riders did not push themselves, saving their energy for the mountains.
With four rather than 10 riders to share the pace, Opperman and his team were handicapped. De Latour wrote:
- Even if I live to be 150 years old, there is one picture I am sure I shall never forget. It is the sight of the poor lonely Opperman being caught day after day by the various teams of 10 super-athletes, swopping their pace beautifully. The four Australians [sic] would start together. Bainbridge would do his best to hang on, but even though he may have been a good rider in the past, the passing years had taken most of his speed, and he would generally go off the back after 50 miles or so... That left three Aussies against the trade teams' 10. Then, inevitably, if it was not Osborne it was Watson who would have to quit at the 100 miles mark.
Opperman was often swept up by the French Alcyon
Alcyon
The Alcyon was a French bicycle, automobile and motorcycle manufacturer between 1890 and 1957.- Origins :Alcyon originated from about 1890 when Edmond Gentil started the manufacture of bicycles in Neuilly, Seine. In 1902, this was complemented by motorcycle production and in 1906, the first cars...
team. Its manager, Ludo Feuillet, adopted him and helped with advice and tyres. Opperman finished the Tour 18th. He said of the long stages and the hours of darkness that riders endured:
- As the bicycle banged and jolted over uneven ground, one yearned for company, for another human whose conversation would share the anxious misery of those uncertain hours. Yes, there it was, a vague outline of a hunched figure swinging and swaying in an effort to find a smooth track. French is the EsperantoEsperantois the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
of the cycling fraternity, so I ventured some words in that tongue. C'est dur ("It is hard"), but only a grunt came back. For a mile we plugged in silence, then again in French, I tried: 'This Tour - it is very difficult - all are weary.' Once more only a snarling noise returned. 'The boorish oaf,' I thought, 'I'll make the blighter answer.'
- 'It is very dark, and you are too tired to talk,' I inferred, sarcastically. The tone touched a verbal gusher as a totally unexpected voice bawled, 'Shut up, you Froggie gasbag - I can't understand a flaming word you've been jabbering,' and then I realised that I had been unwittingly riding with Bainbridge.
He rode again in 1931
1931 Tour de France
The 1931 Tour de France was the 25th Tour de France, which took place from 30 June to 26 July 1931. It consisted of 24 stages over 5,091 km, ridden at an average speed of 28.735 km/h.The race was won by French cyclist Antonin Magne...
and finished 12th, suffering from several accidents and dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
after having occupied sixth place.
After the Tour
In 1931 Opperman won Paris–Brest–Paris (726 miles, 1166 km) in a record 49h 23m despite rain and wind. Paris–Brest–Paris, which became a challenge ride for amateurs, was then the longest race in the world. Opperman said: "In 1931 it had a class field, with two Tour winners, Frantz and Maurice Dewaele, as well as Classics winners. We started in the dark and rode into the howling wind and driving rain all the way to BrestBrest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. It took us more than 25 hours. Once we had turned there, riders were all over the road with fatigue. Once I had to fend off Frantz when he fell asleep."
Opperman was patron of Audax Australia
Audax Australia
Audax Australia Cycling Club runs cycling events under the auspices of Audax Club Parisien and . Rides are normally from 50 km to 1200 km in distance and operate throughout Australasia...
and Audax UK
Audax UK
Audax UK or AUK is the Audax Club Parisien sanctioned brevet coordinating organization for the United Kingdom.UK Cyclists riding in the Paris–Brest–Paris qualify for the event through AUK....
, organisations encouraging long-distance riding, until his death in 1996. He attended the centenary celebrations of Paris–Brest–Paris in 1991 and received the Gold Medal of the City of Paris. Opperman considered Paris–Brest–Paris his greatest win.
In 1928 Opperman won the Bol d'Or 24-hour classic
Bol d'Or cycle race
The Bol d'Or was a bicycle track race that ran in France between 1894 and 1950. It was a paced, 24 hour endurance event. It has been won by several notable cyclists including Constant Huret , the Australian Hubert Opperman and three time hour record breaker Oscar Egg...
, paced by tandems on a 500m velodrome
Velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights...
in Paris. Both his bikes had been sabotaged by the chains being filed so they failed. His manager had to find a replacement, his interpreter's bicycle which had heavy mudguards and wheels and upturned handlebars. Opperman rode the bike for 17 hours without dismounting. He was 17 laps of the track behind the leader but after 10 hours rose to second place to Achille Souchard, who had twice been national road champion.
Opperman punctured after 23½ hours and got off his bike for the first time since the broken chain. "He had met Nature's lesser calls as he pedalled, to the roar of the indelicate crowd", said a report. Opperman won by 30 minutes to the cheers of 50,000 yelling "Allez Oppy". His manager suggested he continue to beat the 1000 km record. Opperman declined but his trainer and the crowd persuaded. He cycled 1h 19m more alone to beat the record.
He became enough of a hero in France that "a gendarme
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
in Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
held up the traffic and waved him through in solitary splendour with the cry: "Bonjour, bonne chance, Oppy!" Opperman had a hero's welcome when he returned to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
Records
Opperman rode for the Malvern StarMalvern Star
Malvern Star is a manufacturer of bicycles, located in Melbourne, Australia. It began in 1902, and went on to become a household name in Australia.-History:Malvern Star opened in a small shop at 58 Glenferrie Rd, in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern in 1902...
bicycle company. Malvern Star were agents in Australia for the British BSA
Birmingham Small Arms Company
This article is not about Gamo subsidiary BSA Guns Limited of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B11 2PP or BSA Company or its successors....
factory and BSA sponsored Opperman in the years before the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to break place-to-place and other distance records in Great Britain. He broke Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
-John o'Groats in 1934 in 2d 9h 1m and then the 1,000-mile record in 3d 1h 52m. He also took London-York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
in 9h 23m 0s and the 12-hour record after 243 miles.
In 1935 he set the 24-hour record with 461.75 miles and broke London-Bath-London with 10h 14m 42s, Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
-London with 14h 9m 0s, and shared the tandem record for London-Bath-London with Ernie Milliken, in 8h 55m 34s. He broke London-Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
-London in 1937 with 6h 33m 30s. In each case he had to wear not the cycling clothes he wore elsewhere but a black jacket and black tights that reached to his shoes. They were required by the Road Records Association to make riders "inconspicuous."
In 1940 Opperman set 100 distance records in a 24-hour race at Sydney. Many were not broken until decades later. He won the Blue Riband for fastest time three times in the Warrnambool to Melbourne Classic
Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic
The Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic cycling race is a one day road bicycle race . The race started in 1895 and is Australia's oldest one day race and the world's second oldest one day race, after the Liège–Bastogne–Liège Classic. Historically, the route started in central Melbourne and followed...
. In the Goulburn to Sydney Classic he twice won from scratch, three times being the fastest rider.
A report said:
- His conquests included the 2,875 miles from FremantleFremantle, Western AustraliaFremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
to Sydney, over long stretches of rutted tracks and through soft sand where he had to carry his bicycle in searing heat. Sometimes he fell asleep while riding, and crashed. His time of just over 13 days cut five days off the record, and other record fell by the score.
Opperman recalled: "At one point, by the light of the car behind me, I could see a large snake in the wheel ruts, and I couldn't stop. All I could do was land the bike on top of it, hard. I suppose I must have killed it. Then, at Nanwarra Sands, I had to pick up the bike and carry it for 10 miles in the soft sand. We learned that I could gain time by sleeping for only 10 minutes at a time, something I have never forgotten."
Doping allegations
Opperman always denied taking drugs. "There is no sporting prize worth the use of drugs or stimulants", he said. But John Turner wrote of a book by another Australian for which Opperman himself provided the opening words:- Russell MockridgeRussell MockridgeRussell Mockridge was a racing cyclist from Geelong, Victoria, Australia. He died during a race, in collision with a bus....
, in My World on Wheels of 1960 had no illusions. In his posthumous biography, completed by friend and journalist John Burrowes and his widow Lindy, with a quite pertinent foreword by Sir Hubert Opperman, OBE, MP, Mockridge... wrote in chapter 15 (Road Racing and Drugs) quite openly about the widespread taking of drugs by the 'Grand Champions' of his era [including] Hubert Opperman, who took drugs 'in order to last a season.'
End of career
Opperman's career ended with World War II when he joined the Royal Australian Air ForceRoyal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
. He served from 1940 to 1945 and rose to flight lieutenant. He raced briefly after the war but retired in 1947.
Politics
Opperman joined the Liberal Party of AustraliaLiberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
after the war and in 1949 was elected to the Parliament of Australia
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
for the Victorian electorate of Corio
Division of Corio
The Division of Corio is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for Corio Bay. It has always been based on the city of Geelong, although in the past it has also included parts of the western...
centred on Geelong. He beat a senior Labour minister, J. J. Dedman and held the seat for 17 years before appointment to High Commissioner for Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
.
He became the Government Whip in 1955. He was appointed Minister for Shipping and Transport, a Cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
position, in 1960. Between December 1963 and December 1966 he was Minister for Immigration
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Australia)
In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship is responsible for overseeing the Department of Immigration and Citizenship....
(retaining the position when Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
succeeded Sir Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
). He oversaw a relaxation of conditions for entry into Australia of people of mixed descent and a widening of eligibility for well-qualified people. One assessment said: "He was the perfect party man: unswervingly loyal, safe with secrets, an honest adviser and a shoulder for fellow ministers to cry on, sometimes literally. He made no pretence of statesmanship."
The assessment added:
- He found the [opposition] Labor Party's socialist platform of the day too close to communismCommunismCommunism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
to allow any compromise. His dedication to hard work left him with little sympathy for organised labour in any form, and probably inspired one of his campaign slogans 'Opperman for the Working Man.' His autobiography, Pedals, Politics and People (1977), showed that - like his political idol, MenziesMenziesMenzies is a Scottish surname probably derived, like its Gaelic form Méinnearach, from the Norman name Mesnières.The name is historically pronounced , since the was a surrogate for the letter . Today it is often given its spelling pronunciation...
- he was a lover of tradition, European pageantry, and decorous manners. He never quite forgave Harold MacmillanHarold MacmillanMaurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
for forgetting, during a visit to CorioCorio, VictoriaCorio is a residential, industrial and one of the largest suburbs of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, located approximately 9 km north of the Geelong central business district...
, to give proper thanks for a rug specially woven by local mills in the Macmillan tartan.
Opperman became Australia's first High Commissioner to Malta in 1967, a job he held for five years.
Death, honours and memorials
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) in 1953, and made a Knight Bachelor
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 1968 for his services as High Commissioner to Malta.
Opperman continued cycling until he was 90. He lived in a retirement village which, as the British journalist Alan Gayfer pointed out in 1993, had "No Cycling" signs. Opperman died on an exercise bicycle.
He was voted Europe's most popular sportsman of 1928 by 500,000 readers of the French sporting journal L'Auto, ahead of national tennis champion Henri Cochet
Henri Cochet
Henri Jean Cochet was a champion tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s....
. An obituary said he "ranked alongside Don Bradman and the race horse Phar Lap as an Australian sporting idol, but his fame at home proved less durable than theirs, perhaps because he went on to become a politician."
He won the Frederick Thomas Bidlake
Frederick Thomas Bidlake
Frederick Thomas Bidlake was an English racing cyclist of the late 19th century who became one of the most notable administrators of British road bicycle racing during the early 20th century. The annual Bidlake Memorial Prize, was instituted in his memory...
Memorial Prize in 1934 as "the rider whose achievements are deemed the greatest of the year."
Opperman entered the Golden Book of Cycling
Golden Book of Cycling
The Golden Book of Cycling was created in 1932 by Cycling, a British cycling magazine,to celebrate "the Sport and Pastime of Cycling by recording the outstanding rides, deeds and accomplishments of cyclists, officials and administrators." There exists only a single copy of this compendium of...
on 13 October 1935. This recognised his record breaking exploits in Australia, and more particularly his 1934 onslaught which took five British records in 14 days.
Opperman is commemorated every year with the Opperman All Day Trial, an Audax
Audax (cycling)
Audax is a cycling sport in which participants attempt to cycle long distances within a pre-defined time limit. Audax is a non-competitive sport: success in an event is measured by its completion. Audax has its origins in Italian endurance sports of the late nineteenth century, and the rules were...
ride held in Australia in early November in which teams of three or more ride a minimum of 360 km in 24 hours.
The City of Knox
City of Knox
The City of Knox is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and has a estimated population of 155,969 people.-History:...
, where Opperman spent his last years, dedicated and named several trails and cycle ways around the municipality after races which Opperman won. It has also dedicated an annual bicycle event, The Oppy Family Fun Ride. The ride is part of the Knox Festival each March.
Teams
- 1924-1927 : Malvern Star.
- 1928 : Ravat-Malvern Star.
- 1929-1930 : Malvern Star.
- 1931 : Alleluia-Wolber, Elvish-Wolber.
- 1932-1935 : Malvern Star.