Erwin Dornau was an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er who played with South Melbourne

Sydney Swans

The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...

 in the Victorian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (VFL) during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Dornau, believe to be the first native born Queenslander in the VFL, played his early football at Kedron. A centre half back, he represented Queensland at interstate football for the first time in 1946 and starred for them at the 1947 Hobart Carnival

1947 Hobart Carnival

The 1947 Hobart Carnival was the tenth edition of the Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian rules football interstate competition.North Hobart Oval hosted the matches during the carnival, most of them under heavy rain...

, finishing equal second in the Tassie Medal

Tassie Medal

The Tassie Medal was awarded to the outstanding player at each Australian rules football Interstate Carnival or Australian interstate championship series held between 1937 and 1988 with the exception of the 1975 knock-out series....

. His efforts in Hobart saw him recruited to South Melbourne and he had a good debut season, gaining eight Brownlow votes.

Dornau died on 23 September 2008.

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