1. Graham Vivian "Polly" Farmer was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League and the East Perth Football Club and West Perth Football Club in the Western Australian National Football League.
Polly Farmer is primarily recognised for the way he revolutionised ruckwork and handballing.
Polly Farmer was born at the Hillcrest Maternity Home in North Fremantle to an unknown man and 25-year-old Noongar woman from Katanning named Eva.
In December 1936, Polly Farmer was voluntarily placed in the care of Sister Kate's orphanage in Queens Park, Western Australia, a home for "half-caste" children.
Polly Farmer never found out why he had been put there, though it is presumed that Polly Farmer's unmarried mother did not have the means to provide for him.
At high school, Polly Farmer was spotted by talent scouts for the East Perth Football Club and joined the team.
Polly Farmer began his top-level career in the West Australian Football League, known then as the West Australian National Football League, with the East Perth Football Club in 1953.
Polly Farmer played 176 games from 1953 to 1961 with East Perth.
Polly Farmer was awarded the WANFL's highest individual honour, the Sandover Medal, in 1956 and 1960.
Polly Farmer tied for the medal in 1957 with East Fremantle's Jack Clarke but lost on a countback; he was awarded that medal in 1997 when the WAFL awarded retrospective medals for those who missed out on countbacks.
Polly Farmer was awarded another Simpson Medal in 1961 for his game against Victoria at the Brisbane Carnival.
Polly Farmer was later recruited by Bob Davis to the Geelong Football Club in 1962.
Polly Farmer returned in 1963, winning a premiership with Geelong and coming equal-second in the Brownlow Medal behind Bob Skilton.
Polly Farmer played 101 games for Geelong from 1962 to 1968, won the team's fairest and best award in 1963 and 1964 and captained the team from 1965 until 1967.
Polly Farmer practised handballing through car windows at the car yard where he worked and one of his football legacies is changing handballing from a last-resort option to a "dangerous offensive weapon".
One tactic opposition players tried in order to distract Polly Farmer was racial abuse, but to no avail, as he related to historian Sean Gorman:.
In 1968, Polly Farmer desired to return home to Western Australia.
Polly Farmer led West Perth to premierships in 1969 and 1971, both times defeating East Perth in the grand final.
In 1969, Polly Farmer received his fourth Simpson Medal during the AFC Championships in Adelaide, and played his 300th career game during the season.
Polly Farmer retired after the Grand Final aged 36, after 79 games with West Perth and a career total of 356 games, which remained a record until broken by Kevin Murray in Round 2 of the 1974 VFL season.
Not involved in top-level football in 1972, Polly Farmer returned to the VFL as coach of the Geelong Football Club in time for the 1973 VFL season.
Shortly after taking up the position, Polly Farmer travelled to Canberra in an attempt to personally persuade Manuka Football Club's star rover Edney Blackaby to join Geelong.
Polly Farmer found it difficult to relate to players who were less naturally gifted.
Polly Farmer returned to the WANFL, coaching East Perth from 1976 to 1977 with some success and he coached the first Western Australian state of origin team in 1977.
Polly Farmer was sacked as coach of East Perth in 1977 due to conflict and replaced by Barry Cable in 1978.
In 1956, Polly Farmer met Marlene Gray, a Tasmanian woman holidaying in Perth.
In 1999, Polly Farmer was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but it was not until 2012 that his wife Marlene, who was battling breast cancer, decided to reveal it publicly.
Polly Farmer died at the Fiona Stanley Hospital on 14 August 2019, aged 84.
Polly Farmer was survived by his three children, his wife Marlene having died in 2015.
In 1971, Polly Farmer became the first Australian footballer to receive a Queen's honour when he was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year honours list.
Polly Farmer's name was included in the 150 bronze tablets set into the footpath along St Georges Terrace that commemorate notable figures in Western Australia's history, as part of the WAY 1979 celebrations.
Polly Farmer was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.
In 1994, Steve Hawke, author and son of former prime minister Bob Hawke, met with Polly Farmer to discuss writing his biography.
Polly Farmer was inducted into the inaugural Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 as one of the twelve official "Legends" and then into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
Polly Farmer has been nominated as the first ruckman in every Team of the Century for each of the two leagues and three clubs for which he participated, plus the Indigenous Team of the Century, in which he was the captain.
In 2008, Polly Farmer was named at number 5 in The Ages top football players of all time.
Polly Farmer is depicted contesting a boundary throw-in with Carlton ruckman John Nicholls in Jamie Cooper's painting The Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.
Polly Farmer is depicted in the rare 1963 Scanlens football card series, which, due to production problems during the printing process, is considered one of the rarest and most valuable trading cards in Australia.
Carlton legend John Nicholls, whose ruck rivalry with Polly Farmer was compulsory viewing for football fans in the 1960s, reflected fondly on their on-field contests and enduring friendship:.
Polly Farmer has been a friend of mine for the best part of 60 years.
Polly Farmer was a brilliant footballer, I learnt a lot from him, he made me a better player and I respected him.
Polly Farmer was a good friend of mine, a very good friend.
Fellow Western Australian indigenous football legend Barry Cable, whose career overlapped with Polly Farmer, reflected on his unique style of ruck play:.
Polly Farmer had a special game and ruck play all of his own, and no one has ever been able to follow it.
Our game has always started in the centre square, with a contest between two big men, and Polly Farmer was the greatest of all the big men who seek to set the standard of competitiveness for their teams, lead from the front at every contest and compel their teammates to match their skills and commitment in the pursuit of victory.
Polly Farmer laid the path for so many great footballers from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to come into the elite levels of the game and showcase their skills.