Norm McDonald (Australian footballer)


Norm McDonald, a Gunditjmara man, was an Australian rules footballer of Aboriginal heritage.

Football

Essendon (VFL)

McDonald played in the Essendon premiership teams in 1949 and 1950 and won the Essendon Best and Fairest award in 1951.

Golden Square (BFL)

In 1954, McDonald was cleared from Essendon, and was appointed captain-coach of the Golden Square Football Club in the Bendigo Football League, in place of ex-North Melbourne footballer Harry Green. McDonald left the club before the end of the 1954 season, and his position was filled for the remainder of the season by the team's full-back, Vin Lapsley. Footscray's premiership half-back flanker Alan Martin took over as Golden Square's captain-coach in 1955.

Athletics

A noted sprinter, McDonald ran second in the final of the 1952 Stawell Gift to his Essendon Football Club teammate, Lance Mann; and, two days later he, once again, ran second to Mann — in the final of the Bendigo Easter Gift.
The Easter Gift was an entirely different race from the Bendigo Thousand that had been conducted earlier that year from 8—10 March 1952: "McDonald suffered a financial setback when he backed himself heavily to win the Bendigo Thousand and was beaten by 1ft. in his semi-final in time equal to 6yds., 2ft. inside evens — his best run of the season."
McDonald also ran second to Mann in the 1952 Lilydale Backmarkers Handicap on 22 March 1952.

Death

He died on 28 November 2002 at the Footscray Hospital.

Indigenous Team of the Century

In 2005, McDonald was named on the half-back flank of the Indigenous Team of the Century.

Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll

In 2008 he was inducted into the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll.

Footnotes