The Story Begins in Wedderburn

Mine begins in Wedderburn, in country Victoria. I was born there — a sixth-generation Jackson to the area.

Wedderburn also happens to be the birthplace of Cresswell "Mickey" Crisp, one of Carlton Football Club's most decorated early champions.

Born on 12 May 1908, Mickey came to Carlton via Wedderburn and Sandhurst, playing 183 games and kicking 281 goals between 1931 and 1941.

His achievements were exceptional.

• He was a premiership player.
• A dual Carlton Best and Fairest winner.
• A leading goalkicker.
• A Carlton Life Member.
• And remarkably, he is believed to be the only footballer to captain the Big V without having captained his own club, Carlton.
• He would later become godfather to another Carlton legend, John Nicholls.

For Carlton supporters, those achievements tell an important part of the club's history.

For me, however, he was simply Old Mick.

As a youngster I spent holidays with him and our families often gathered at Mickey and Tue's Wilson Street home in Princes Hill.

• There were trips to Flemington.
• Nights at the Sandown dogs.
• Swimming at Northcote Pool.
• Snorkelling at Brighton Beach.
• And, perhaps most memorably, long afternoons listening to Mickey tell stories from his treasured football scrapbook.
  • Those scrapbooks contained newspaper clippings, photographs and reports from another era.
  • Mickey would proudly turn the pages and read the stories aloud, often adding a little commentary of his own.
  • To be honest, Mickey thoroughly enjoyed revisiting his achievements.
  • As I often joke, he knew he was good and was perfectly happy to remind everyone else as well.
  • Looking back now, those conversations were more than memories.
  • They were living football history.

An Extraordinary Princes Hill Coincidence

For more than three decades I have lived in Princes Hill, beside Princes Park, the spiritual home of the Carlton Football Club and only a block and a little away from the former Wilson Street home of Carlton great Mickey Crisp.

The coincidence is difficult to ignore.

• A boy from Wedderburn grows up spending holidays with Mickey Crisp, listening to stories from his football scrapbooks.
• Years later, that same boy finds himself living beside Princes Park and virtually around the corner from Mickey's old home.
• You could not have planned it.
• Yet somehow the connections kept appearing.

The Canberra Chapter

Then another chapter emerged.

Today, Susie and I divide our time between Princes Hill and Canberra.

While Princes Hill remains home, we also have an apartment near Manuka Oval.

That simple lifestyle decision would reveal another unexpected connection.

A short distance away sits Eastlake Football Club, whose football teams have long been associated with Manuka Oval.

Today, Eastlake's social club remains a significant part of the Manuka precinct and a gathering place for generations of Canberra football supporters.

Over time, Manuka Oval and Eastlake became part of our Canberra routine.

Then one day, standing inside Eastlake and looking at a tribute to Alex Jesaulenko, another thread suddenly appeared.

The Alex Jesaulenko Connection

Before he became a Carlton immortal, Alex Jesaulenko was an Eastlake footballer.

Before the famous mark. Before the premierships. Before becoming an Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend.

He was a young footballer developing his craft in Manuka — at Eastlake he won a Best and Fairest award and played in three premiership teams before making the move to Carlton.

Eastlake helped shape the player. Carlton transformed him into a legend.

For ACT football supporters, Jesaulenko remains one of the greatest products of Canberra football. For Carlton supporters, he remains one of the greatest players ever to wear the navy-blue jumper.

A brilliant all-round footballer, Jesaulenko once spoke of wanting to play in every position on the ground so that he could better understand and relate to teammates and players he might later coach.

Another connection emerged.

• Mickey Crisp and Alex Jesaulenko belonged to different generations, yet both became part of Carlton Football Club's rich history.
• Different eras.
• Different journeys.
• The same club.
• Another crossing of paths.
• Mickey was on the CFC Committee when Alex J was recruited and played.

A Story Bigger Than Football

There was another layer to the story.

Like many Australians, Alex Jesaulenko's life was shaped by migration. His family arrived in Australia from post-war Europe and built a new life in Canberra.

Similarly, Susie's family arrived from post-war Italy, becoming part of the migration story that helped shape modern Australia.

Different journeys. Different cultures. Different generations. Yet all found opportunity, community and belonging in Australia.

The more I reflected, the more I realised this story was becoming about far more than football. It was also about people, migration, community and place.

Standing under Jezza's large photo in the Eastlakes FC Social Rooms near Manuka…

Then one day everything comes into focus.

• Wedderburn → Princes Hill / Carlton FC → Mickey Crisp.
• Eastlake FC, Manuka → Princes Hill / Carlton FC → Alex Jesaulenko.

A hidden triangle stretching across generations and across Australia.

A story of AFL football, family, migration, memory and coincidence.

And when you finally see all the connections, there is only one fitting response:

You beauty. 💙🏉