Geoffrey Maxwell Wheeler (21 May 1912 – 17 June 1941) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He played only one VFL game, against Melbourne.Holmesby & Main (2007).
Family The son of Herbert John Wheeler (1877–1947),Deaths: Wheeler, The Argus, (Monday, 16 June 1947), p. 19.World War One Nominal Roll: Private Herbert John Wheeler (5636), Australian War Memorial. and Eliza Lousia Wheeler (1878–1975), née James, Geoffrey Maxwell Wheeler was born at Coleraine, Victoria on 21 May 1912.Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Births Registration no.19360/1912.
He married Margaret Isabel Lingham (1914–1998) in 1937.Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.16433/1937. They had three children: Maxine, Alan and Mabel.
Football Wheeler topped the Ballarat-Wimmera Football League goalkicking total in 1936 with 107 goals.
Hawthorn managed to secure a permit from Ballarat for Wheeler to play on a Monday in June 1937. He played on a split round weekend in which the Hawks and Melbourne played at Glenferrie Oval. The following week he was dropped and lined up in the reserves. A few weeks later while playing in the seconds Wheeler had his arm broken, which finished his season.
Wheeler returned from Hawthorn and played with North Ballarat FC and he topped the Ballarat Football League goalkicking in 1938 with 93 goals and in 1939, 93 goals.
In 1938, Wheeler kicked 17 goals in a match against the Ballarat CYMS FC.
Military service He enlisted in the Second AIF on 24 July 1940, and served in the 2/2 Pioneer Battalion.
Death He was killed in action at Merdjayoun, in French Lebanon, on 17 June 1941, serving with the Second AIF.In Memoriam: On Active Service: Wheeler, The Age, (Friday, 21 May 1943), p. 5; In Memoriam: Roll of Honour—On Active Service: Wheeler, The Argus, (Friday, 21 May 1943), p. 2.
See also List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service
Footnotes
Sources Roll of Honour: Private Geoffrey Maxwell Wheeler (VX45857), Australian War Memorial. Epic of The Pioneers: History Made at Merdjayoun, The Age, (Friday, 26 September 1941), p. 6. Private Geoffrey Maxwell Wheeler (VX45857), Commonwealth War Graves Commission. World War Two Nominal Roll: Private Geoffrey Maxwell Wheeler (VX45857), Department of Veterans' Affairs. Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. Quinlan, Kim, "Footy Stars of the Battlefield", The (Ballarat) Courier, 4 April 2002.
External links
A gold watch and a toy camel via Australian Football