CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Garry Wilson

Australian rules footballer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ5524250
Source-derived summary

Garry J. "Flea" Wilson (born 17 July 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Background

Wilson, during his playing days, was described by The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers as having "limitless courage" as a wispy rover, with a playing weight of only 64 kg. He played wearing a headguard after several concussions. Many considered him one of the most technically gifted players ever to play the game, and he was renowned for his hard training ethic.

Debuting in 1971 with the Fitzroy Football Club, Wilson came from Preston Swimmers and forged a successful career, winning best and fairest awards with the Lions in 1972, 1976, 1978, 1979 and 1980. He finished third in the Brownlow Medal count of 1978. Always amongst the Brownlow votes, his best season was 1979, when he finished just one vote behind the eventual winner, when all the Melbourne newspapers had him far out in front of their own polls. Wilson became captain in 1982. He finished with 268 games to his name after retiring in 1984.

Some of Garry Wilson's finest performances came in the interstate arena.

Editorial summary

“Garry Wilson” enters the record as australian rules footballer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Garry, Wilson and Australian can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1953, 1971, 1972, 1976—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1953-07-17. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Garry, Wilson and Australian.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Garry Wilson” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Garry, Wilson and Australian provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5524250. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1971, 1972 and 1976.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Garry Wilson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Garry Wilson primary sources, Garry Wilson archive and Garry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Garry Wilson”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Garry Wilson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.