Tribute to WA football forefather: Jimmy Melbourne

Western Australia's football pioneer, Jimmy Melbourne, is being honoured almost 80 years after his death with a headstone on his unmarked grave at a ceremony on Friday.

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Shelley Ware: A very significant event is also happening tomorrow [Friday]. A headstone will be placed on the unmarked grave of Jimmy Melbourne at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery.

Jimmy Melbourne was the first Aboriginal footballer to play in the Western Australia State Football League back in 1900.

During the First World War, he served at Gallipoli and after the war he settled in Melbourne, where he was tragically murdered.

Now the WA Football Commission with the WA Football League and the Honoring Indigenous War Graves Association are honouring jimmy Melbourne with a headstone and I think this is a fantastic tribute.

So well done to everyone involved in that.

Jimmy Melbourne is a significant figure in Western Australia football.