The son of Harold Cecil Austen (1883–1974), and Violet Hilda Austen (1891–1981), née Beer, Victor Cecil Austen was born at Kew, Victoria on 30 November 1918.
Austen played five games for Hawthorn in the 1942 VFL season, with the highlight coming in his second game when he kicked four goals against St Kilda at Toorak Park.
Austen’s only first-class cricket match was for South Australia against Victoria at the Adelaide Oval where he struggled, taking 0/77 with the ball and making two in both of his innings. He was dismissed twice by George Tribe, a man who also played in the VFL.[4]