William Hudson Rockliff was born on 26 January 1885 in Corowa, New South Wales. He had moved to Perth with his family by the mid-1890s and first appeared for Training College in 1904. By the time of his enlistment at the start of the war in August 1914 he had represented the team for 10 years and was working as a schoolmaster at Perth Boy’s School.Â
As a Lieutenant in the 11th Battalion, Rockcliff was among the first to land at Gallipoli early in the morning of 25 April 1915. He was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to the abdomen on 3 May 1915. After convalescing in Egypt returned to action, receiving special mention for his “conspicuous gallantry”. He was promoted to Captain in the field before being wounded again on 7 August 1915 with bomb splinters to the face and shock. He was granted six months leave in August and returned to Perth he married his first wife, Emily Maude Trethowan, fated to die in 1920.
In February 1916 Captain Rockliff was reassigned to the 44th Battalion and embarked for the Western Front from Fremantle on 6 June 1916. In France he won a Military Cross for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Although suffering heavy casualties, he led his company to the capture and consolidation of the objective. In spite of the fact that his company was isolated during the whole of this time and under heavy severe hostile barrage, the security of their position was never in doubt owing to his gallant determination and personal example.”
After the war he married Frederica Eleanor Rawll and they had two children together. As headmaster of Fremantle Boys School in 1924 he oversaw a sporting culture that included both soccer and Australian rules. During World War II Rockliff was a Commanding Officer at the Northern Army Camp in WA. He died in 1964 in Perth, Western Australia, at the age of 79.