In some ways the late Terry Burgess was the forgotten Saint.

St Kilda’s long history of Indigenous footballers had not included the rover and wingman who played five senior games in 1959, thus being the second Indigenous player to represent the club at the top level after Jim Wandin had been the trailblazer in 1952.

That omission was certainly not intentional by the club, but it seems that the AFL became aware of Terry Burgess’s heritage back in 2019 when he was added to the list of Indigenous players in the AFL Season Guide.

Terry’s son tells us that his father was an all-round sportsman who was an accomplished professional runner - good enough to win the 880 yard event at the famed Stawell Easter carnival in both 1958 and 1959.

Terry came to St Kilda from the Tasmanian club City South probably due to the connection that Saints secretary Ian Drake had with the club as a former player. City South was also the original club of future Brownlow Medallist and 1966 premiership vice-captain Verdun Howell.

The last senior St Kilda game for Terry Burgess was in the closing round of 1959 and amazingly there is a small grab of colour film in that game where the number 42 guernsey can be seen in action. Also visible in that film are teammates Lindsay Fox and Neil Roberts. A week later Terry Burgess played in the reserves first semi final at the MCG.

Many years later, just before Terry passed away in 2005, Lindsay Fox flew Roberts and a couple of teammates by helicopter to see their fellow Saint in a gesture that Terry’s family greatly appreciated. In one of life’s strange cycles, Terry Burgess junior now works for Linfox in Wodonga.

Both Terry Burgess senior and  junior were fine players for Myrtleford sharing the rare honour of both being Myrtleford best and fairest winners – Terry senior winning the award in 1961 and his son victorious in 1981, 1983 and 1988.

Terry senior initially played for Myrtleford for four years, took up a coaching job with Rowley then returned to Myrtleford and played in the team’s one and only premiership in 1970 – funnily enough in the red white and black colours. He worked on a local tobacco farm.

The story of Terry Burgess now takes its rightful place in the rich tapestry of St Kilda’s Indigenous history.