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George William Meiers (1917–2011) was a City of Fremantle councillor 1961-62, and a prominent North Fremantle resident, well known for his involvement in football. He first played for the North Fremantle Amateur Football Club, notably as captain in their 1939 premiership year. He was then recruited by East Fremantle, winning the Lynn Medal as East Fremantle’s best and fairest player in his first season in the WAFL in 1940. He spent the next five seasons at East Fremantle where he captained the side, earned selection in the WAFL state team and played in the 1945 Premiership. He coached East Fremantle 1955-56, when some of the players were Merv Cowan, Trissy Lawrence, Jack Sheedy, Wilson Onions, Ray French, Laurie Nugent, Ken Holt, Ray Sorrell and Big Bob Johnson. He was made an honorary member of the WAFL in his later years.
George Meiers was born 11 August 1917 at 1 Hicks Street North Fremantle, and married Enid Alexe Gray who was born at 11 Jackson Street. The couple bought the house next door, 13 Jackson Street, which has been built as the rectory for [[../churches/stmarys.html|St Mary's Church]], which was (and is) across the road. He died in February 2011, aged 94. Meiers Street in North Fremantle was named in his honour.
Before George Meiers was a member of the Fremantle City Council, his daughter Judy Evans believes he was on the North Fremantle Town Council in the 1950s, tho we haven't yet found the exact dates. North Fremantle became part of Fremantle from 1961, so it makes sense that a prominent NF councillor would become a member of the new, enlarged Council.
Other family members were involved with the North Fremantle Football Club: George's father William John Meiers, and his brother Donald, who died at 20 when his appendix burst after a football match at Toodyay.
The former St Mary's Rectory in 2021 (Google Maps).
References and Links
Many thanks to Judy Evans who brought her father to my attention.
perthfootball.com.au - source of some of the above.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 26 April, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/meiersgeorge.html (it was last updated on 14 March, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.