Farmer was born at the Hillcrest Maternity Home in North Fremantle to an unknown man and 25-year-old Noongar woman from Katanning named Eva.

In December 1936, Farmer was voluntarily placed in the care of Sister Kate's orphanage in Queens Park, Western Australia, a home for "half-caste" children.

[7][8] At high school, Farmer was spotted by talent scouts for the East Perth Football Club and joined the team.

[7] In the opening moments of his debut for Geelong in 1962, Farmer severely injured a knee, causing ligament damage[13] and missed the rest of the season.

I watched how a man overcomes not the physical, not the mental, but the spiritual – that's the most important – he was an absolute star, about one decade, one century ahead of his time".

[14] One tactic opposition players tried in order to distract Farmer was racial abuse, but to no avail, as he related to historian Sean Gorman: I never took any notice of it.

In 1969, Farmer received his fourth Simpson Medal during the AFC Championships in Adelaide, and also played his 300th career game during the season.

Farmer also played 31 games for Western Australia and five games for Victoria in interstate football, and four International Rules matches on the 1968 Australian Football World Tour (which are counted as senior by the VFL/AFL); if these are included, he played a total of 396 career senior games, which remained a record until broken by Murray in either of Round 12 of 1974 (using the VFL/AFL's totals), Round 13 of 1973 (excluding Farmer's International Rules matches) or Round 17 of 1973 (including Farmer's International Rules matches).

Shortly after taking up the position, Farmer travelled to Canberra in an attempt to personally persuade Manuka Football Club's star rover Edney Blackaby to join Geelong.

[20] In the 1960s, former Geelong player Neil Trezise approached Farmer about representing the Australian Labor Party in the seat of Corio.

[5] The couple sold their house in 1992 and ran a two-star Southway Auto Lodge motel in South Perth until 1998.

Two fundraising events were organised in Perth and Melbourne by John Watts, Bob Davis and Sam Newman,[22] raising $120,000.

[23] In 1999, Farmer was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease,[24] but it was not until 2012 that his wife Marlene, who was battling breast cancer, decided to reveal it publicly.

[31] Farmer's name was included in the 150 bronze tablets set into the footpath along St Georges Terrace that commemorate notable figures in Western Australia's history, as part of the WAY 1979 celebrations.

Farmer explained, "I want the foundation to be of practical assistance to young Aboriginal people with potential to do something with their lives … Not just sport, but in the professions and business.

"[5] Hawke enlisted the help of recently retired federal politicians Ron Edwards and Fred Chaney to establish the foundation, and was joined by Sir Ronald Wilson, a former High Court judge; and Greg Durham, chief executive of the Geelong Football Club.

On 6 October 1997, Western Australian Transport Minister Eric Charlton announced that the $400 m Northern City Bypass would be named the Graham Farmer Freeway.

Charlton said, "He already has a place in WA sporting folklore and it is fitting that a showpiece of the city's transport network should bear his name… The northern traffic bypass system links West Perth and East Perth which are, coincidentally, the two districts which Graham Farmer represented with distinction on the football arena".

Carlton legend John Nicholls, whose ruck rivalry with Farmer was compulsory viewing for football fans in the 1960s, reflected fondly on their on-field contests and enduring friendship: As a person, ‘Polly’ was a good man.

[38]On behalf of the AFL, chief executive Gillon McLachlan issued this statement: When discussing ruckmen, every player who saw him play or took the field against him, deferred to Polly.

Our game has always started in the centre square, with a contest between two big men, and Polly was the greatest of all the big men who seek to set the standard of competitiveness for their teams, lead from the front at every contest and compel their teammates to match their skills and commitment in the pursuit of victory.

Beyond football, as a proud Noongar man, he was a leader for the Aboriginal community and his standing in the game and in society enabled his people to believe that they too could reach the peaks and achieve their best potential.

He laid the path for so many great footballers from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to come into the elite levels of the game and showcase their skills.

At every point of his career, his teams found success on the field, thanks largely to his dominance that built a record that few players could ever hope to match.