Cecil Wallace Graham (1911–1994) was anAustralian rules football player inSouth Australia. He was also the father, grandfather, and relative of several other footballers.
Cecil Wallace Graham was born in 1911,[1] and is a descendant ofKudnarto, aKaurna woman famous for having made legal history by being the firstAboriginal Australian woman to marry a European settler in thecolony of South Australia in 1848.[2]
Graham grew up atPoint Pearce mission on theYorke Peninsula.[3]
Graham was an Australian rules football player[2] who played A grade football at the mission, playing as afull-forward.[3]
He played forCentral District Football Club in theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL).[4]
Graham was a member of the1983 Indigenous All-Stars team.[5]
Graham married Doris May Edwards[1] (28 March 1912[6]-2004), who was also born at Point Pearce, in 1930. They had 15 children. He died in 1994.[7] Doris, aKaurna woman, was well-known in her own right, and her 90th birthday party was held inAdelaide Town Hall and attended by premier of South AustraliaMike Rann in 2002. She was believed to be the oldest Kaurna woman still alive at that time. Her great-great-grandfather, on her mother's side was Thomas Adams, who marriedKudnarto.[6]
Graham and Doris were the parents of Rex ("Curra"), Fred (Tonga), Bradley Graham (the oldest three sons), and also well-knownSturt footballerMichael Graham. All of the boys played football.[3] Their eldest daughter was May, later May Turner.[8]
Graham and his wife Doris wrote about their family history inAs We've Known It: 1911 to the Present,[8] published in 1987 by theSouth Australian College of Advanced Education. In it, they relate that Sturt coachJack Oatey and general manager Vic O'Donnell asked Michael to move to Adelaide and play for the club. Doris and Cecil moved the whole family to Adelaide to support their son's football career, and Michael attended college in Adelaide.[1]
Bradley Graham won a Mail Medal in theMid North. Bradley's son,Phillip (Phil) Graham, played in theSANFL, as did his brothersColin Graham, and Brenton. was their uncle.[3] Brenton won aTomkins Medal in 1978 in the SANFL under-19, but developed problems with his knee and was only able to play 10 senior games, all in the early 1980s.[3]
Phil, Colin, and Michael were also members of the 1983 Indigenous All-Stars team.[5] Colin (born 1958) played withMelbourne in theVictorian Football League (VFL).[3][9]
Phil and Brenton's sister Debra is the mother ofAFL premiership playersTroy Bond andShane Bond.[3]
Cecil Graham was the father-in-law of formerCollingwood and later (2014)Perth Football Club playerLeon Davis.[10]
In 2003, there was a Cecil Graham coachingGlandore Football Club, in division four amateur football,[11] who had played forSturt Football Club.[12][a]
This entry is from theAustralian Dictionary of Biography