BIO

Thomas Young Liston made his debut for Norwood in 1886, at the age of 18. His first recorded game was on 26 April, against South at Adelaide Oval.   
 
He was a brother of Norwood stalwart George Grieve Liston (1880-91).
 
[He was also the brother of John Stewart Liston, who may have played for Norwood in 1886]
 
Thomas Liston was born in 1867, and grew up at number 27 Beulah Road, Norwood. His parents, William and Jemima Liston, had emigrated to South Australia from Scotland in 1852. They lived for a decade in the Barossa Valley, before settling in Norwood in the early 1860’s.   
 
Thomas was employed as a sawyer with prominent timber and hardware merchants Cowell Bros. The firm of Cowell Bros was established in 1876, on the north east corner of The Parade and Sydenham Road, which became familiar to generations of Norwood residents as “Cowell’s Corner”.  
 
Cowell Bros’ Norwood property comprised more than two acres, and included a row of cottages in Beyer Street, named “Elsie Terrace”, that the company made available to its workers. As a Cowells employee, Thomas Liston, together with his wife Alice, lived in one of these cottages between 1893 and 1910.      
 
Around 1911, Thomas and Alice Liston moved to Melbourne, where Thomas continued to work as a sawyer.     
 
Thomas Liston died in Victoria in 1942.

C Lane March 2018