We are deeply saddened at the passing of AFL great and author Bill Dempsey, who published his memoir The Boy from Birdum with Steve Hawke in 2021.

Bill Dempsey was a humble achiever. While he will mainly be remembered as a champion footballer with his beloved West Perth and Darwin Buffaloes, Bill was a family man, an entrepreneur and a community leader.

Bill Dempsey was a premiership captain who played over 400 games in 20 seasons in Perth and the Northern Territory. He was a member of the West Australian Football Hall of Fame, the Australian Football Hall of Fame and the Indigenous Team of the Century. In 2022 he was recognised as the Sir Douglas Nicholls honouree for his post-football work supporting First Nations communities. He is revered as a true legend at West Perth Football Club.

Born in the shadow of Japanese bombing raids in Birdum in 1942 and forcibly removed from his mother after the death of his father and baby sister, he was a stolen child who never lost contact with his family and found a second family amongst his fellow inmates at the Retta Dixon Home. Brought to Perth at the age of seventeen as a ‘spare wheel’ to his mate Jim Anderson, he stayed on to become a football champion and a trailblazer as an Aboriginal entrepreneur throughout the 80s.

In The Boy from Birdum, Bill shared his story frankly, courageously, and with the charismatic flair of a natural-born yarn spinner. Working with Bill was like calling your best mate for a chat. He always made you smile.

In Bill’s own words:

‘As I look back, I can tell you, straight-up, that I think of myself as a lucky man. That little boy who walked in the gates of the Retta Dixon Home on Bagot Road in Darwin with one little suitcase, who’d lost his father and sister, and thought his mother had abandoned him, has turned out to have a pretty good innings.

I’ll tell you why I think I’m lucky.

It’s not the footy…

…It’s family.

…This Buffalo boy can look back on his life with a smile.’

To all Bill’s family and friends, we send our deepest condolences. The world has lost a gentleman and some of its sparkle.  

Photo by Cole Baxter from the book launch of The Boy From Birdum.