Derek Peardon (born 24 September 1950) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player who played in the VFL between 1968 and 1971 for the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

. At the age of five Peardon and his sister Annette were taken from their family on

Cape Barren Island Cape Barren Island, officially truwana / Cape Barren Island, is a island in Bass Strait, off the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second-largest island of the Furneaux Group, with the larger Flinders Island to the north, and ...

and placed in

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

s in Launceston. A champion schoolboy footballer and gifted professional runner, Peardon was the first indigenous ( Palawa) footballer to play for the Tigers. Selected in the 1965 All-Australian Schoolboys' team, he played in the 1966 Richmond Fourths premiership side as well as the 1967 Under 19s premiership and 1971 Reserves premiership, his last game for the club. Returning to

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

in 1972, Peardon played six seasons for City South, including premierships in 1972 and 1974. During this period he won two club

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

awards as well as the Northern Tasmanian Football Association

in 1973. He represented the NTFA on nine occasions and

twice. He also played one season, 1977, for North Hobart in the Tasmanian Football League. During his time at Richmond one of his teammates was Kevin Sheedy. Sheedy credits Peardon with initiating his interest in indigenous Australia.

References

* Hogan P: ''The Tigers of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996

External links

* * 1950 births Living people Richmond Football Club players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football North Hobart Football Club players City-South Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1950s-stub