Syd Jackson's is an extraordinary life story. Taken away by formal arrest warrant when he was only three, separated from his family for twenty years and reunited with his parents only twice before they died, the pain of separation was truly profound for him.

In that context, the Great Australian Game served as a panacea for the prodigiously-gifted player. It took Syd from from Roelands Native Mission in the Western Australian port city of Bunbury, to the big smoke in Perth and ultimately to the big time in Melbourne as one of the great League footballers of his generation.