Robert Wright
ca.1947
My brother, Robert Harry Wright, was the second son of our parents, Ray & Flora Wright. Robert was born in 1937 and I'm guessing this photo was taken about 1947, a couple of years before I was born.
This is one of my favourite photos of Robert. It was taken before he reached adulthood. Before all his woes began. He was blessed with a superior intellect and sporting prowess in abundance, none of which seems to have transitioned with him to adulthood. Nowadays, it would probably be said that he peaked too early.
My mother once told me that Robert had been involved in a surfing accident at nearby Narrabeen Beach when he was in his teens. A surf board had crashed into his skull in the surf and lifted his scalp. Mum said Robert wasn't the same boy after that. He left home when I was still an infant. I have little recollection of him ever living at home.
He was destined to die of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 45 on 22 May 1982. Contributing factors to his early death may have been the surfing accident and also the rough and tumble biffo of Rugby League, which Robert played with the Manly-Warringah team in his youth.
I remember once attending a football game he was playing in, when I was only a small child. It was at Long Reef Oval on Sydney's Northern Beaches. From a very low trajectory, because I was so little, I can still see Robert leaving the field at the end of that game. His face was covered in blood. My mother was standing beside me, with tears running down her sweet face. I can still see it to this day. Rugby League was an extremely brutal game back then in the 1950s.
Robert was the most handsome and charismatic of my brothers. I wish I'd known him better.
No comments:
Post a Comment