Opperman biography
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Hubert Opperman
20th-century Australian racing cyclist
Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE (29 May 1904 – 18 April 1996), referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim.
Hubert rode a bicycle from the age of eight until his 90th birthday, when his wife Mavys, fearing for his health and safety, forced him to stop.
Opperman biography
His stamina and endurance in cycling earned Opperman the status of one of the greatest Australian sportsmen.
Early life
Opperman was born on 29 May 1904 in Rochester, Victoria. He was the eldest of five children born to Bertha (née Reddie) and Adolphus Samuel Ferdinand Oppermann.
His parents were both born in Victoria, with his father of German descent.[1]
Opperman's father had worked as a butcher, miner, timber-cutter and coach driver. Hubert, the eldest of five children, learned as a child to plough with six horses