Harvey Brothers

The Harvey brothers are six siblings from Victoria, Australia, known primarily for their success in the sport of cricket between the mid-1930s and the early 1960s. The sons of Horace and Elsie Harvey, in chronological order, they are Merv (1918–1995), "Mick" (b 1921), Harold (b 1923), Ray (b 1926), Neil (b 1928) and Brian (1932–1969). All six were long-serving members of the Fitzroy Cricket Club (now Fitzroy-Doncaster), which played in Melbourne's district cricket competition.

The most notable of the six is Neil, who represented Australia in 79 Test matches between 1948 and 1963. He was Australia's most prolific batsman during the post-war era, served as vice-captain of Australia in the last five years of his career and regarded by Wisden as the leading fielder in the world during his career. At the time of his retirement, he held the record for the most Test appearances by an Australian and was the country's second-highest run scorer and century-maker, behind Don Bradman. He was selected in the Australian Cricket Board's Team of the Century and inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. He was also an inaugural inductee into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

The family's eldest son, Merv, played one Test for Australia in 1946–47 after losing his best years to World War II and his grandson Robert Harvey was one of the elite Australian rules footballers of the last twenty years, twice winning the Australian Football League's Brownlow Medal for the best and fairest player of the season and being voted the Most Valuable Player in the competition by his peers in 1997.

Along with their better-known brothers, Mick and Ray played first-class cricket for Victoria, although the former moved to Queensland after one season for his native state due to a lack of opportunities. Neither approached the level of success of Neil or Merv and often found themselves dropped, although Ray was a consistent player for Victoria for two seasons in the 1950s and came close to national selection. Mick's daughter Pauline Harvey-Short represented Australia in softball and her daughter Kirby Short plays for the Queensland women's cricket team. After his playing career ended, Mick became a Test cricket umpire, officiating in two matches. The two other brothers, Brian and Harold, played for Fitzroy in in district cricket. Apart from Harold, all of the brothers represented Victoria at baseball.

While the brothers played together for Fitzroy on a regular basis, they only played first-class cricket together occasionally, mainly due to a lack of form and differences in age. Merv debuted for Victoria before the war, and Neil joined him in 1946–47. Ray followed in subsequent season, and the trio played in two matches together for their state. However, there were no occasions after this when more than two played together in the same match and such occurrences became more sporadic after this as Merv was dropped, while Neil was often away playing for Australia. Mick made his debut in 1948–49 but left Victoria at the end of the season after being unable to hold his position in the team, while Ray often struggled to gain regular selection except when Neil and the other Test players were representing Australia. Ray had a strong end to the 1952–53 season and was selected for all the matches in the following two seasons alongside Neil, but was then dropped.