Norman Jolly Cricketer

Norman William Jolly (5 August 1882 - 18 May 1954) was born in Mintaro, South Australia. He attended Prince Alfred College and the University of Adelaide (B. Sc), and was awarded the first South Australian Rhodes Scholarship (in 1904 - Balliol College, Oxford). After graduating B.A. from Oxford with a first in natural science (1907) he studied under (Sir) William Schlich, and briefly in Europe, to obtain the Oxford diploma of forestry. His sporting ability matched his intellectual brilliance: he played A-grade cricket, rowed in the Adelaide university eight and three times represented South Australia in Australian Rules football. In 1907 he played one first-class cricket match, for Worcestershire against Oxford University. Batting at number 11, he scored 8 and 1 not out, and from behind the stumps he picked up three catches, the first being that of Oxford captain Egerton Wright. He joined the Indian Forest Service in Burma in 1907 but returned to Australia in 1909 to teach at Geelong Church of England Grammar School. In 1910, as instructor in forestry for the South Australian Department of Woods and Forests, Jolly founded the first course in higher forestry training in Australia. From 1911 to 1918, he was Director of Forestry in Queensland, and then became Commissioner of Forests in NSW. In 1925 he became the first Professor in Forestry at Adelaide University. He died aged 71 in Adelaide.