Bill Lawry
Lawry was born in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury. He was given the names William Morris after the early Prime Minister of Australia, William Morris Hughes. His father Alfred played amateur cricket until the age of 51. Bill never saw his father play, who was aged 47 when Bill was born. Aged nine, he played competitive cricket for the first time with the Thornbury Presbyterian Church team. He spent three years there, as well as playing for Preston Technical School. When he was twelve, he entered Melbourne's district competition playing for Northcote's fourth team, working his way up to the First XI by the age of sixteen. At the time, he was apprenticed as a plumber and attending Preston Technical College. Lawry was selected for Victoria's Second XI at the age of seventeen. He made a duck against the South Australians and did not see any further action for the Seconds for the rest of the summer of 1954–55. The following season, Lawry was recalled to the Seconds and scored 183 against South Australia.
Bill Lawry
Lawry continued his marathon season with a remarkable performance in the final of the Victorian district cricket season, playing for Northcote Cricket Club against the Essendon Cricket Club. In 2000, the Victorian Cricket Association's Umpires Association voted it "The District Match of the Century". The Essendon team included Ian Monks (captain), John Grant, Greg Brown, Barry Davis, Daryl Foster, Keith Kirby, and John Swanson; and, apart from Lawry, the team's captain, the Northcote team included Frank Brew, Ian Cowley, and Paul Shanahan.
The match was played at the Albert Cricket Ground over four days — 2 April, 9 April (Easter Saturday), 11 April (Easter Monday), and 16 April 1966 — to reach a first innings result: Essendon declared at 9/514 at tea on Day 2, and Northcote chased the total, making 5/516, with Lawry finishing 282 not out, having been at the crease for 509 minutes, faced 454 balls, and hit 32 fours.