Laurie, Brian & Brett Peake

Football Legends: Three generations of the Peake family played football for the East Fremantle Football Club.

Originally from Meckering- Lawrence ‘Laurie’ Ronald Selby Peake (1927-1980) was the first to play for the East Fremantle Football Club in 1947 and from 1949 to 1953 he played 85 games for the ‘Old Easts’. (reference)

The year he retired -his son Brian Francis Peake was born (4 Dec 1953). Brian also played for East Fremantle and at his prime, with an extraordinary 402 game career, was rated the No 1 footballer in Australia; was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1990, inducted into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004, and inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Grandson Brett Peake carried on the tradition.

The family story begins with Laurie’s parents in Northam, Western Australia. His father Douglas John Peake (1892-1966) and mother Myrtle Harriet Joyce (born Tickera, South Australia (1891-1973) married in Northam in 1911. The family lived in Meckering and Douglas worked as a blacksmith. He volunteered in 1916 and served in World War l as a Private in the 10th Light Horse Regiment (reference) and then worked as a farrier with rank of corporal with the 1st Australian Army Service Corps Company. (reference)

Laurie was the youngest of their six children: Cyril Archibald (1911-1999,) Douglas Frank (1913-1982), Beryl Maude (1916-1987), William Henry (1921-1984), Edgar George (1923-1991), and Laurie, born 22 Sept 1927.

Laurie and his older brothers Cyril and Frank were mad for football. They all played football for Meckering in the Northam Association. Brother Cyril A Peake enlisted in 1940 and worked as a welder during WWll with the RAAF in Wagga NSW, where he coached AFL to school children. (reference)

Laurie worked as a butcher in Meckering and in June 1946 announced his engagement:

An engagement of interest to the district is that of Mr. Laurie Peak to Miss Nita Finniss- We have no comments to make on Laurie's constitution, however, for a man who can give his heart away one day and play such a stirring game of football the next… (reference)

1947 was a big year for Laurie Peake- he began his football career with one game played with the East Fremantle Club. He also married Nita Ruth Finniss in Perth. In 1948 Laurie returned to Meckering for business reasons and his first child Ronald John Peake was born there on 25 February.

“Meckering's success on the field has not been great. It achieved its best result in 1948 when it reached the first semi-final but was eliminated by Unions. It then lost its star players in Laurie Peake to East Fremantle and Cedric Martin to Swan” (reference)

Laurie was coaxed back to the East Fremantle club in 1949 on the condition they found him accommodation (20 Yeovil Crescent, Bicton) and he stayed with the old Easts until 1953. (reference)

In 1950, along with other players, Laurie joined the Lumpers Union: (reference)

1953 East Fremantle’s Laurie Peake struck a purple patch for four or five minutes and produced 2.2 in that time. (reference)

Peake is a vigorous player who believes in driving the ball deep into the scoring area. His hard-bumping methods were most effective when East Fremantle launched its last quarter offensive against Claremont. (reference)

 Laurie was featured in a ‘know your player’ article in August 1953- see photo (reference) In December 1953 his second son Brain John Peake was born at Harrisdale Hospital in Como. (reference) In 1954 Laurie was still working as a waterside worker or a “lumper” and living at 42 Griffin Cres, Manning Park.

Brian (nicknamed Bomber), an apprentice plumber and devoted surfer had a long and successful career with East Fremantle where he made his debut in 1972, playing in three WAFL premiership winning sides (1974, 1979 and 1985), winning a Sandover Medal in 1977 and captaining the All Australian side in 1979 and 1986.

He was East Fremantle Captain from 1979 to 1981 and relocated to Geelong in Victoria in 1981, where he played 66 games for Geelong and captained that team 1982-1983. (reference & reference)

After the 1984 season, Peake returned to WA, where he continued to play for a further six seasons. He played State of Origin football for Western Australia from 1978 to 1987, captaining the side in 1979, 1980, 1986 and 1987.

After being controversially sacked by ‘the Sharks’ in 1990 Peake moved to Perth, where he played ten games and became the second West Australian behind Barry Cable to reach 400 games of senior league football. Peake has been named a WAFL Hall of Fame Legend. (reference)

Brian’s son Brett Peake, also played for East Fremantle from 2003 to 2009- playing 59 games. (reference) He was the first player to be drafted by Fremantle under the father-son rule, utilising selection 43 in the 2003 AFL Draft. Peake spent the entire 2004 season playing with East Fremantle. In 2006 he became a regular with the Dockers' side, playing 20 games and finishing the season with 10 Brownlow Medal votes. As his father did in most of his 300 games for East Fremantle, Peake wore the Number 7 guernsey for Fremantle.

In 2009 Peake was recruited by St Kilda Football Club and made his debut for ‘the Saints’ in 2010. By the end of the 2010 AFL season, Brett Peake had played in seven finals matches including two grand finals. (reference)

2016: Brett Peake will be nearly 33 when he plays his first State game today, making him the oldest debutant in WA history and completing the third chapter of a grand family tradition. “It will be a very proud moment for me and the family given what Dad has achieved,” Peake said on the eve of WA’s match against Tasmania at Steel Blue Oval. “I don’t think there is any area of the game where I can beat him but playing for WA means I can at least match him in something… and he kicked seven goals for WA when he was 32 so if I can snag eight at the same age, well that would be something to have over him.” (reference)

In a 2019 article ‘WA football legend Brian Peake relives glory days in rare interview’ Brian Peake said he was “proud his son had emerged from the fatherly shadow to compile a 118-game AFL career for Fremantle and St Kilda’’. The pair each kicked seven goals for WA in a match and the younger Peake is still playing for Bunbury in the South West Football League. (reference)

The family are considered to be of Maori descent:

2012 Asia-Pacific Team of the Century (reference): B: James Gwilt (PNG), Mal Michael (PNG), Alipate Carlile (Fiji), HB: Dannie Seow (Singapore), Paul Bower (Maori), Karmichael Hunt (Samoa/Cook Islands) C: Dustin Martin (Maori), Brian Peake (Maori), Wayne Schwass (Maori) HF: Paul Medhurst (Malaysia), Setanta Ó hAilpín (Fiji), Andrew Embley (Burma) F: David Rodan (Fiji/Tonga), Aaron Edwards (Samoa), Mathew Stokes (Philippines)  R: Nic Naitanui (Fiji), Daniel Kerr (India), Peter Bell (Korea)
IC (from): Trent Dennis-Lane (Burma), Wally Koochew (China), George Tansing (China), Enrico Misso (Sri Lanka), Craig Jacotine (Sri Lanka), David Gallagher (Sri Lanka), Jordan McMahon (India), Clancee Pearce (India), Alex Silvagni (India), Sudjai Cook (Thailand), Donald Dickie (Maori), Daniel McAlister (Maori), Danny Dickfos (Maori), Brett Peake (Maori), Israel Folau (Tonga), Lin Jong (Taiwan/East Timor)
"The criteria used is i) the player has played at least one VFL/AFL game, and ii) the player was either born in one of the countries that make up the Asia-Pacific region , or has a parent or grandparent, who was born in the region." September 3, 2012 By Damian Balassone (reference)

Researched by Rebecca Foote, 2021