Lyall Williams

Edwin Lyall Williams was a prominent Churches of Christ minister in Victoria and an Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League.

Early life

The son of Arthur James Williams and Annie Maria Williams, nee Petchell, Edwin Lyall Williams was born in Kaniva on 18 June 1906.
After attending Sandsmere State School and then Nhill Higher Elementary School, Williams moved with his family to Ballarat in the early 1920s.

Football

Williams commenced his football career in Ballarat in 1923 before joining Victorian Football Association club Camberwell in 1928. In 1929 he joined Hawthorn for two seasons before returning to Camberwell, playing until the end of the 1934 season.

Church

Ordained as a minister with the Church of Christ in 1928, Williams moved from a parish in Boronia to the Glenferrie Church of Christ in 1929. A popular minister, he had the education and gift of expression to speak with depth and subtlety about big issues. In 1936 Williams accepted a call to the ministry of the Church of Christ at Ponsonby Road in Auckland, New Zealand. He returned to Australia to serve as Principal of the Church of Christ national college from 1945 to 1973.

Family

Edwin Lyall Williams married Bertha Lila Brown on 25 January 1930 and they had two sons and a daughter together.
Williams died at Murrumbeena on 2 October 1994.