Berrigan

Distinguished and Famous people from Berrigan

Finley has provided Berrigan Shire with notable connections to Australian football. Two players followed local junior football with long league careers, carrying the town's name into the records of different Victorian clubs.

🏅 Shane Crawford

Shane Crawford spent his childhood in Finley and played for its football club before attending Assumption College. Hawthorn recruited him in the 1991 draft, and he made his senior debut in 1993. His career included the 1999 Brownlow Medal, four club best-and-fairest awards and six seasons as captain. His last league appearance was Hawthorn's 2008 premiership victory. The midfielder's fitness and ability to cover ground became hallmarks of a career that began on a country club's oval.

🏅 Tom Hawkins

Tom Hawkins grew up on a farm at Finley and played junior football locally before progressing through Melbourne Grammar and under-18 competition. Geelong selected him under the father–son rule in 2006, following the club career of his father Jack. He became a key forward in its 2009, 2011 and 2022 premiership teams and won the 2020 Coleman Medal. His Finley upbringing and club football provide the local connection, before a long career at Kardinia Park.

✈️ Ern Coate

Ern Coate returned from Mediterranean flying operations in June 1943 and became an instructor with No. 5 Operational Training Unit, based at Wagga Wagga and later Tocumwal. The garage proprietor and trained engineer had become a decorated Beaufighter pilot, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bar for his wartime service. His Australian training appointment preceded staff work at RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne from July 1944. Tocumwal’s connection is that later phase of the training-unit posting. It links the district’s wartime aviation history with a pilot whose operational experience had been gained in Egypt, Malta and North Africa.