BIO

Bill  Padman followed in the footsteps of his brother Edward, playing for Norwood and South Australia but then going one better by celebrating a premiership with the crack team of 1907.

Born at Plympton on 18 April 1885, the youngest son and sixth child of Thomas and Isabella (Taylor) Padman, Bill was educated at Sturt Street Public School and Prince Alfred College, finishing in 1901.  After two amateur league seasons with St Barthlomew’s, he stripped with Norwood as a follower and backman in 1904.  Indisposition kept him out of the sensational premiership match that year.  Against doctor’s order, he attended the Jubilee Oval and saw Norwood slam on seven goals in the last quarter to pip Port Adelaide by one point.  In the excitement, club patron Sir Edwin Smith threw his silk bell topper in the air and never saw it again.

Bill established himself as a slick wingman as his six-year career progressed. He played in three matches against Victoria and also represented SA against Broken Hill and a visiting New Zealand team which offered little resistance.

Bill’s big year was 1907.  Norwood not only defeated Port Adelaide for the flag but also beat Carlton at Adelaide Oval for the Championship of Australia. That year Norwood also toured Victoria and defeated in turn Essendon, Fitzroy and Ballarat Combined.  Bill considered the Ballarat match the most memorable he ever took part in. Trailing by six goals at three-quarter time and kicking into a gale, Norwood piled on seven last quarter goals for victory.

Bill named West Torrens rover Tom McKenzie as the champion player of his day.

Bill initially worked for the firm Goode, Durant Co.  In 1910, at North Rhine Congregational Church, he married Lillian Ivy Marianne Evans, youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs Angas Evans of “Ivanhoe”, Keyneton, and great-grandaughter of George Fife Angas, the co-founder of SA.  The couple moved to a Berri property they named Wah Gunyah (“near water”).  A pioneer in the use of gypsum to enrich the soil, Bill produced grapes, oranges and stone fruits.  

He returned to Adelaide in 1926 and established a manufacturing and indent business.  He was a director of Norseman Gold Mines for 32 years. His wife died at Mitcham in 1944 and Bill followed at St Peters on 25 June 1968, aged  83

P Robins, D Cox Oct 2019