As a Noongar man growing up on Ballardong country, leaving his hometown in pursuit of becoming the Collingwood legend he ultimately became wasn’t an easy decision for Leon Davis.

Growing up in Northam in Western Australia – 100km in-land from Perth – Davis spent the first 14 years of his life in the town that has grown exponentially in population size since he left in 1995.

And while he’s grateful for the decision he and his parents ultimately came to, coming back to the town he holds so many fond memories caused the 225-game veteran to reflect deeply about the early stages of his life.

“Obviously a lot has changed over the years, a lot of these buildings weren’t here when I was growing up,” Davis said upon returning to Northam alongside his family earlier this month.

“A lot of my family still live here and a lot of the kids, and I’ve got a niece that just came over before that’s going to spend the day with us so it’s really special to come back and see everyone and get back to country.

“Mum and Dad knowing what was best for us at the time with how we (Leon and his brothers) were developing and coming through our football journey, they knew that for us to excel and get more exposure we had to move to the city, which was Perth.

“It was tough and my brothers and I hated it, but looking back now it was the only move for us to make for me to chase my dreams and my brother’s had aspirations to play AFL as well.

“I will always thank them for making the move for us.”

But before his football became serious around 14 years of age, Davis was just a kid who had the “freedom” to do whatever he pleased.

Spending his formative years surrounded by siblings and cousins, Davis remembers fully immersing himself in the life he was presented at the time.

“It was great having a little bit of freedom being in a country town like this - freedom to go on adventures and venture out and discover the town and what it had to offer,” he said.

“At the time you don’t really appreciate it, but as I got older and learnt more about my culture, really taking in the luxury of growing up on country and being able to grow up here was really special and amazing.

“Being in a country town like this was like a big playground for myself and having two brothers and a lot of cousins to venture out with and get into trouble with is something that I look back on now with very fond memories.

“To come back now and to visit these places that I grew up in and roamed around and played in is great.”

Connecting back to country has always been important for the 42-year-old, who has spent the last three decades away from his home region living in Perth, Melbourne and now country Victoria.

Currently residing in Heywood, in Victoria’s south-west, Davis said it was important to acknowledge where his journey had taken him but also respect that Ballardong country will always be his home.

“It’s good to recharge and connect back to country, I live over in Victoria and I’ve lived there for half my life through footy and now where my wife’s family is from,” he said.

“To be over there now on Gunditjmara country is really special seeing their culture.

“Wirin, my son, he’s a part of that and he’ll grow into that, but for myself it’s always respecting that culture but also knowing that I’ve got my own back here.

“Just walking on the ground to get out to my sacred sights and spending time with my father like I did yesterday is great. Knowing I can always come back whenever I want is a powerful thing.”

Doing so with his parents and four-year-old son Wirin made the trip all the more special for Davis, as he embraced the opportunity to teach his son just as Trevor and Nancy did for him.

“As First Nations people we have a spiritual and physical connection to our country and our culture. Anytime I can get back on country, that connection I feel it straight away, the powerfulness of it,” he said.

“It recharges me and gets me going again and to bring back my son Wirin and take him out to these sights and see him have so much fun yesterday with his grandparents on country is something that a lot of family and First Nations people miss out on.

“To be privileged to be able to do that with my son and my parents is definitely something that they’ll take a lot of photos, a lot of videos, so it’s going to be special to show him throughout his life.

“To take my shoes off and walk along the ground, a to get out to Burlong and get up to Shackleton and these kind of places that hold a very significant spot in my father’s heart and obviously passes down to me, it’s very special.”

Davis explained how significant being on country is for First Nations people, it is also important for people of all races to be educated on why this is the case.

“I can’t speak highly enough of how important it is for First Nations people to connect to their culture and top their ancestors, and just connect to their people,” he said.

“If we aren’t doing that we get lost as First Nations people, so for me to be privileged enough to still have my father around and my mother and be taught these lessons of culture from my father, I’m very fortunate.

“It’s important to seek out your bloodlines and where your family grew up and where your family are actually from.

“On the flip side of that to non-First Nations people, get out and experience our culture, get out learn more.

“Educate yourself on what it is and what make First Nations people so connected to their culture as well. It’s a great learning lesson for all of this nation to seek that out and that’ll give us more of a purpose and more of a cause to work together moving forward.”

This was a mantra that Davis took on his 12-year AFL career, through his retirement from the game and further employment at the Collingwood Football Club.

But it was his time in the game that reinforced why Davis believed this education was important. 

**

It was November 1999 when Davis found out his dream of playing AFL was going to become a reality. But having his name read out by Victorian Club Collingwood came with a sense of trepidation.

“Draft day was a bit of a funny one. In my mind I was thinking ‘Collingwood? Where’s the Collingwood Football Club in Western Australia?’ Because I wanted to stay home,” said Davis.

“My Mum was wrapped, she was so happy, but for me it was a bit surreal. I had waited so long for the draft to come around and it was a dream of mine from five or six years old to play AFL footy, I always carried a footy everywhere I went.

“On draft day I was sitting in front of the TV, Ansett, I think it was called, it was sponsored by the old airline back then. When West Coast and Fremantle had a pick it was eyes glued to the TV, everyone came in and sat, hoping that they would call my name so I could stay here in WA.

“It didn’t happen. I don’t think I was in the room at the time, and I walked back into the room and heard my name get called and it was Collingwood.

“I looked at my Mum and she was screaming and happy, and she knew what I was thinking and she said, ‘son we have to leave, we have to go to Melbourne, we have to move again’.

“Mum was really happy and she understood the gravity of it and what it was going to take for me to actually fill out my dream and play AFL footy.

“We flew over not long after that and got down to the Club and saw everyone. They were there for about two weeks but then my Dad lost his Mum, so we flew back for ‘sorry business’ and that’s how the journey started.”

Long before he became the first Indigenous player to reach 200 AFL games and a two-time All-Australian for the Magpies, Davis had plans to return West.

“My plans were to go over for two years and hopefully get traded back to WA,” said Davis.

“Obviously I got to the Club and the work that I do now (Cultural Development) wasn’t there at the time, so to stay there for the 11, 12 years that I was there and then to be back there now is a journey that I’m still on.

“It was definitely hard to stay in Melbourne at times, just to draw from home and how strong of a connection I do have with my culture and my family.

“But the encouragement and support I did have my family, and to ensure that I was comfortable over there. They said, ‘this place wasn’t going anywhere’ and was always going to be there for me to come back to.

“The opportunity I had to play for the Collingwood Football Club set a path for the next generation to come through and set a path for so many more First Nations people and non-First Nations people to achieve their dreams and live out what they dreamed to do.”

That journey is one that transcends the football field. The challenges that came and still come with being an Aboriginal man, away from his culture and country, in a new environment, ultimately shaped the next 20 years of his life.  

“My playing was probably the easy part. The footy side of it was my enjoyment, it was my escape from society and escape from all the troubles and all the shit that I went through as a kid,” he said.

“The rest of what I do (sharing his culture and educating others) is something that I’ve done from a very young age. It’s something that my Father’s done, my Mother’s done, and my Grandparents and my ancestors before me.

“First Nations people are on this journey. Every day is a struggle, when we deal with racism and all the stuff that we deal with, it’s a daily occurrence.

“The football was something that I dreamed of doing, I worked really, really hard to get there. For it to play out the way it did, and to have the career that I did, for as long as I did is that something that I credit to my parents and my family and the support from this community.”

While incredibly proud of the hard work that allowed him to live out his childhood dream on the football field, Davis does not shy away from his commitment to change off the field, including at Collingwood in his role of Cultural Development Manager.

“As far as the off-field stuff, it’s something that I won’t stop doing until I’m gone. It’s a daily occurrence that we get up, we face each day as a new one,” said Davis.

“My Father the way he is, I’ve been able to learn so much off him. It takes a lot to make him stop what he’s doing, and he’s never stopped what he’s doing. He’s one that lives every day as a new one.”

With the pull of culture and family maintaining, Davis immediately returned home to Northam when he retired from the game in 2011. The importance of continuing his cultural journey outweighed the further on-field opportunities.

“I packed the car up and I had a big trailer with all of my stuff in it and drove across the Nullarbor and pretty much left Melbourne. If I was going back, it was going to take something that took a bit of effort to do,” said Davis when reflecting on the move.

“Coming home and the draw from here and my family, I had missed out on so much. So much cultural activity, so much cultural knowledge that was passed down to my two brothers and not me because I was away. It was very, very hard for me to deal with.

“Leaving footy wasn’t that hard of a decision for me. I was 30, had just come off All-Australian off the half-back line and even my Manager at the time told me that I was crazy to leave the game and that time.

“There was part of me that wanted to stay and play footy and keep going and keep that enjoyment, and keep fulfilling that dream that I had from such a young age.

“But for me it was a higher calling and there was something way more important than playing football on the ‘G in front of 80,000 weekly. That was coming home and getting out on country and connecting back and making sure that I spent that time with my father and really learnt off him.”

In his return to Western Australia, Davis pulled on the boots once more for the Perth Football Club, before an eventual homecoming to Northam.

“After retirement I came back and played in the WAFL (Western Australian Football League) for a year, that didn’t quite work out with how I was at the time, then I came back up to Northam to play some footy up here,” he said.

“It was something that I dreamed to do and something that I waited to do for a very long time.

“When I was young, every weekend we’d walk over (to the football oval) not knowing that it was one home game on week and the next week was away. We didn’t know if there was a game there that weekend or not. We’d always walk over and get to the hill and look down and think ‘oh well there’s a game because there’s cars, oh sweet we can go watch some footy.’

“(Playing football at Northam) was something that I’ve always wanted to do so after that first year out of retirement, I came back to play with some family, that was really amazing and something that I waited so long for.”

While reflecting on the decision to retire from AFL at just 30 years of age, on the very country that he returned to, Davis knew he made the right call.

“Looking back now in hindsight it was the right move. Completely and 100 percent the right move to retire then and it sort of brought me onto a path to where I am now and the work that I do now back at the Club,” he said.

Davis’ employment at Collingwood and his role in the Club’s own journey of reconciliation, is a fitting and selfless full circle moment, and exemplifies his commitment to continuous betterment of society.

“The work that I do at the Club is work that I do every day of my life in my community, wherever I am I’m always trying to educate and inspire people to be the best versions of themselves and that’s something that I’ll continue to do,” he said.

The best versions of Bobby Hill, Ash Johnson, Nathan Kreuger, Josh Eyre and Kalinda Howarth is a big part of what Davis is looking to foster – ensuring First Nations athletes at the Club following his footsteps can celebrate their culture and be their authentic selves.

“It’s work of just inclusion. When I played I couldn’t be who I was, my culture wasn’t something I could discuss or talk about or express at the Club. It was a different time altogether,” he said.

“The work that I do now and the work that I did when I did it play is just to educate and try and make sure people understand how amazing our culture is, what we have to give and offer as traditional owners of this country.

“So for mine it’s making sure that guys like Bobby, Ash and ‘Kreugs’ and even the people that work at the Club (can express themselves). It’s making sure that environment is one of inclusivity and making sure that everyone belongs.

“I got to the door of the Club every day of my playing career and sort of had to take a breath before I walked in to get myself ready in case something was said or something happened.

“To live like that and looking back now, was something that I did automatically, but obviously now working at the Club it’s different, I can be myself, I can express my culture and educate people on a daily basis and share my thoughts and my culture as well.

“Respecting and acknowledging first and foremost that the Traditional Owners of this country are First Nations people, so acknowledging that but making sure that we also understand that so many different cultures from all over the world make up our football club and are in this community, and are in all the communities in this country. Making sure we accept that, we acknowledge that, and we celebrate that.

“That’s the kind of work I’m trying to do at the Club now and it seems to be working. Everyone seems to belong and everyone to be on the same path of understanding and inclusion.”

His words to those within the Collingwood community?

“Be yourself, you don’t have to change. You don’t have to change who you are. You can bring everything you’ve got to the Club and share it and make the Club better.”