{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Ted Lovett | image = | fullname = Edward Lovett | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|2|15|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | originalteam = North Ballarat | height = {{convert|175|cm|ftin|order=flip}} | weight = {{convert|70|kg|stlb|order=flip}} | position = | statsend = 1964 | years1 = 1963–1964 | club1 = Fitzroy | games_goals1 = 9 (2) | careerhighlights = }}
'''Ted Lovett''' (born 15 February 1941) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Holmesby|first1=Russell|last2=Main|first2=Jim|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers|title=Lovett, Ted| publisher=BAS Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-1-920910-78-5}}</ref>
Lovett played two games for Fitzroy in the 1963 VFL season, on a permit, and a further seven in 1964. <ref name=AFLTables>{{cite web |url=http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/T/Ted_Lovett.html |title=AFL Tables: Ted Lovett |website=afltables.com}}</ref> He finished the 1963 season back at North Ballarat and won the first of two Henderson Medal, the other coming in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080828052940/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/87904/20080821-0952/www.fullpointsfooty.net/North_Ballarat.html|archive-date=21 August 2008|url=http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/NorthdBallarat.htm| title=North Ballarat| publisher=Full Points Footy}}</ref> He is an Indigenous Australian.
== Early life == Lovett is the son of Alf Egan, the first Indigenous player for the Carlton Football Club, and Gertie, of the Gunditjmara tribe. He grew up in Fitzroy, Victoria, and was made a ward of the state against his family wishes.<ref name=CarltonFC>{{cite web|url=https://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/2016-10-06/the-fighting-maras-a-family-story|title='The fighting Maras' – a family story|website=www.carltonfc.com.au |date=6 October 2016 }}</ref> He attended school until Grade 5. In 1955, at age 14, Ted and his non-Aboriginal friend of the same age went to Mildura to go fruit picking, but they were picked up by the police and locked up. The non-Aboriginal boy's parents were notified and told to collect him, however, Ted's mother was not notified. Ted commented:{{cquote|From Mildura I was sent to the Ballarat Gaol with adult prisoners and then went to Court and was made a State Ward. For the next seven years I was in and out of boys’ homes including Turana Boys Home, Bayswater Salvation Army Boys Home, and Langi Kal Kal, Youth Training Centre. The treatment in the Boys’ Homes was unjust and inhumane. I was treated cruelly in the homes; no child should have been there. I would escape but was just sent back again.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Edward Alfred Lovett OAM {{!}} First Peoples - State Relations|url=http://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/edward-alfred-lovett-oam|access-date=2021-11-24|website=www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au|date=8 November 2019 |language=en}}</ref>}}
== Community service == In the 1970s Lovett worked for Aboriginal Affairs.<ref name=CarltonFC/> He played a key role in setting up the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative, which specialises in Aboriginal health, welfare and community development. He also worked with eye doctor Fred Hollows.<ref name=Courier2017>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/4717346/our-queens-birthday-honours-2017/|title="Our Queen's Birthday Honours, 2017"|website=www.thecourier.com.au|date=11 June 2017}}</ref>
In 2017, Lovett was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to the Indigenous community in south-west Victoria.<ref name=Courier2017/>
==References== {{reflist|1}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovett, Ted}} Category:1942 births Category:Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Category:Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Category:Fitzroy Football Club players Category:North Ballarat Football Club players Category:Living people Category:Members of the Stolen Generations Category:Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen