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Indigenous Australians

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Title: Indigenous Australians


1
Indigenous Australians Sport Origins and
Achievements
2
Lecture Format
  • Will take a broad brush approach by looking at
    Indigenous contribution to sport in Australia.
  • Examine some of the key barriers that prevented
    Indigenous people gaining equality in sport.
  • Look at whats happening today at the local level
    to bring about better understanding and
    opportunities for Indigenous sportspeople.

3
Background of Sporting Achievements
  • It is true to say that Australia is a sports
    loving country in which Indigenous Australians
    have made a major contribution-running, boxing,
    tennis, cricket, AFL,NFL, soccer, basketball,
    hockey, horse racing.
  • Considering Indigenous Australians are just over
    2 of the general population (22 Million) their
    contribution to sport Australian culture needs
    to be acknowledged-will examine this in the
    Murray Goulburn Region (Australian Bureau of
    Statistics, 2010).
  • Important to note that despite the continuing
    gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous
    equality, Indigenous Australians have achieved
    sporting success disproportionate to their
    population.
  • In 2010 an estimated 83 Indigenous players were
    playing footy in AFL about 16 of AFL-will come
    back to this.

4
Opportunities for the Future
  • History shows that until the 1970s, Aborigines
    found it just as hard to gain equality in sport
    as they did in life generally.
  • For those who did make it in sport however, a
    voice was found from which they could then push
    for the rights of their people in the broader
    society.
  • And for that, sport must be acknowledged as
    having provided an opportunity for Aborigines to
    push for greater equality and the enjoyment of
    those fundamental rights that belong to all
    peoples.

5
Indigenous Struggle for Equality
  • For those who have chosen sport as a pathway to
    recognition greater equality, it has also
    provided inspiration for fellow Indigenous
    Australians.
  • Well show them were just as good- if not better
    approach.
  • Role modeling, for younger generations.

6
Overview of Indigenous Sportspeople their
achievements across a broad range of sports on
the National International level.
7
Aboriginal Cricket Team, 1868
  • In 1868 very first Australian cricket team to
    visit England was Aboriginal. They played a match
    at North Shields, enthralling crowds with
    displays of boomerang throwing as well as
    cricket.

8
Eddie Gilbert
  • Eddie Gilbert is widely acknowledged as the
    unluckiest Aboriginal sportsmen of that era. He
    received high praise from Sir Donald Bradman and
    could have gone on to play for Australia.
  • Instead, his career was cut short when the
    Queensland Cricket Association told Gilbert his
    services were no longer required. Little doubt
    remains as to the motivations behind the
    associations decision.
  • The stark reality is that many others suffered
    discrimination similar to Gilberts. True, the
    barriers were breaking down during the interwar
    years, but they were breaking slowly. In fact,
    during that period, Aborigines probably achieved
    no more in their push for equality in sport than
    they did in their push for equality in general
    Australian society.
  • However, for those who did manage to break
    through the barriers and forge successful
    sporting, careers, sport did provide a launching
    pad for bigger and better things.

9
Achievements in late 1800s
  • Possibly the most remarkable achievement against
    the barriers to equality in sport was the
    selection of Frank Ivory to play rugby union for
    Queensland in 1893.
  • Also noteworthy is the little known fact that the
    winner of the 1876 Melbourne Cup was a
    13-year-old Aboriginal jockey named Peter St
    Albans. Peter St Albans wagged school to ride the
    Melbourne Cup winner of 1876.
  • year winner Jockey
    trainer
  • BRISEIS Peter St Albans J Wilson
  • Other famous Aboriginal Jockey- Darby McCarthy
    whose record includes three Stradbrokes, the
    Brisbane Cup and Doomben 10,000, and the 1969 AJC
    Derby and Epsom Stakes on the same day.
  • McCarthy was dynamic and for his group 1 double
    at Randwick he jousted with George Moore.
  • http//www.melbournecup.com.au/previous.php

10
Sporting achievements at the local level
11
Lynch Cooper, 1927Sport and Empowerment
  • Historian Colin Tatz points out, Lynch Coopers
    victories brought him money (from gambling on
    himself) that helped him and his family to
    survive the depression years with relative
    dignity.

12
Example of Local Talent in Running
  • Eddy Briggs- Professional, Stawell Gift Finalist
  • Donny Briggs-Professional Runner
  • George Nelson-Professional Runner, Trainer of
    Stawell Gift winner, Noel Hussey, 1968
  • Paul Briggs- Stawell Gift finalist
  • Stan Charles- Stawell Gift finalist
  • Geoff Cooper, professional running
  • Jimmy Murray, professional runner
  • Bobby McDonald created crouch start in running
  • Leo Muir, Runner up in Wangaratta Gift
  • Sir Doug Nichols won Warracknabeal Gift

13
Multi Talented Sportspeople
  • Many local sportsmen were multi skilled combining
    running, football and boxing- Doug Nichols, Jimmy
    Murray, and many more ran, played footy, and
    fought in boxing tents-Jimmy Sharman's travelling
    boxing tent of 1950s.

14
Evonne Goolagong
  • Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, who beat fellow
    Australian Margaret Court to win Wimbledon in
    1971, has made a name for herself as an
    Aboriginal activist.
  • The attitude of paternalism that the media
    displayed towards her in her younger days
    probably provided much of the motivation for her
    entry into the world of activism.
  • Although times had changed enough to ensure that
    she never suffered deliberate racial exclusion
    like Eddie Gilbert did half a century earlier,
    Goolagong-Cawley was still forced to deal with
    the media constantly highlighting her
    differences. Words used to describe her included
    picaninny, dusky and tawny.

15
Lionel Rose Reception 1968
  • 250,000 strong crowd turned up in Melbourne in
    1968 to celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal
    boxer Lionel Rose, who had just become world
    bantamweight boxing champion-who did he beat and
    where?
  • Roses reception was the perfect example of the
    changing times. While Aboriginal sportspeople who
    succeeded at sport were just as equally lauded by
    the press and adored by the people as their non-
    Indigenous counterparts, racism coupled by
    ignorance remained just below the surface.

Jacksons Track
Lionel Kosta, 1998
16
Cathy Freeman, 2000
  • Challenged misconceptions of Indigenous
    Australia by using flag as a symbol of
    Indigenous Australian nationhood and identity.
  • Inspired other Indigenous sportspeople younger
    generation to set their sights high in sporting
    achievements

Olympic Games, Sydney 2000
17
FOOTBALL AS A PATH TO EQUALITY ACCEPTANCE
  • SOME EXAMPLES

18
Joe Johnson 1904-1906
  • Regarded as one if not the first Indigenous
    footballer to play in the Victorian Football
    League, VFL (Joe Johnson played 55 games and won
    two premierships with Fitzroy from 1904 to 1906)
  • He then went to Northcote to coach a young lad
    named Doug Nichols.

19
Marn-Grookn. Gunditjmara. Eng. "Game
Ballhttp//www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngro
ok.html
  • It is believed this very game, played for
    millennia, provided the lawmakers of Australian
    football with some of the fundamentals of the
    game we know and play today.
  • It was a mass game of keepings off with a round
    ball about the size of an orange, which was a
    possum skin stuffed with charcoal and bound by
    kangaroo tail sinews (Poulter, Sharing Heritage
    in Kulin Country, 2011 37),

20
Origins of Australian Rules Footy
  • Origins of Australian Rules are claimed to be
    Marngrook with influence of Gaelic football first
    played by the Irish in Australia in 1843 which
    coincided with St Patricks Day.
  • However, some aspects of Australian football,
    such as high marking, were undoubtedly influenced
    by the Aboriginal game-will discuss other
    attributes that Indigenous people have brought to
    the game shortly.

21
RISE OF INDIGENOUS FOOTBALLERS in 21 Century
Australia
  • In 1982 to when the Krakouer brothers arrived at
    North Melbourne there were 5 Indigenous players
    in what was then the VFL (Age, June 18, 2005).
  • In (2005), there are 51 Indigenous footballers in
    the AFL making up 8 of the competition.
  • In 2007 there are now 71 and increase of 20
    Indigenous players in the space of years? What
    does that represent (Koori Mail, 18 March, 2005).

22
Cummeragunja 1888-2007
  • Given the size of its population (500 at its
    peak) its contribution to sport and particularly
    football has been outstanding.

23
Sir Doug Nicholls 1932-37
  • Nicholls initially joined Carlton, but faced by
    constant racist taunts from his own team mates he
    moved to Fitzroy, where he played from 1932-37.
    (story)
  • What makes Nicholls story so special is that he
    went on to become an activist with the Aboriginal
    Advancement League and was later knighted - a
    rarity for an Indigenous Australian.
  • In 1976, Nicholls became the Governor of South
    Australia, an incredible achievement given that
    Aborigines were only granted voting rights in
    l962 and only won the right to be included in
    the census in 1967.

24
Sir Doug Nicholls on Assimilation
  • 'Let us enter your society on our terms, living
    side by side with you but remaining at all times
    a cultural group with our own identity' (speech
    by Sir Doug Nicholls 1969, in Peterson and
    Langton, 1983253).

Winner of Warracknabeal Gift, 1929
25
Eddy Jackson Norm McDonald, 1947-1952
  • Two of the first Indigenous Australians to
    succeed at Australian football's highest level
    between 1947 and 1952. 
  • Both continued to play country football for many
    years after their retirement from the 'big time'.
  • Jackson Coached Thornton
  • (story)
  • McDonald played with Golden Square in Bendigo
    League.

26
Indigenous equality recognition through sport
Pathways to the Future
Back Row Ian Charles, Frank Abrahams, Paul
Briggs, Terry Hood (d.), Jim Berg, Joe Swindle,
Ian Charles Robert Muir, Geoff Clark, Robert
Lowe, Gary Murray. Middle Dowie Bux, Billy Muir
(d.), Wayne Briggs, Alick Jackomas (d.)Team
Manager, Alec Smith, Des James, Gary Nelson.
Sitting Lionel McGee, John Murray Bert Williams
(d.).
  • Presented to Academy of Sport Health Education
    Program, University of Melbourne, 20 January 2011
  • Dr Wayne Atkinson-Senior Lecturer
  • School of Social Political Science
  • University of Melbourne

27
Key Events that bought about equality in
Indigenous participation in SportGreater
Awareness of Racism on and off the Field
28

April 17, 1993, Victoria Park, Melbourne. Nicky
Winmar has just completed a best-on-ground
performance to help St. Kilda to a memorable
victory over Collingwood in round four of the
Australian Football League (AFL) season.
  • Racial Vilification

Winmar's courageous act led to a push by former
Essendon player Michael Long to create a racial
vilification policy adopted by the AFL (Age, 10
March, 2005).
29
Winmar Incident (cont)
  • If Winmar was the player that brought the issue
    of racism to the media, an incident involving
    Michael Long was almost certainly the instigator
    for the creation of the AFLs anti-racism
    program. In 1995, the Essendon champion
    complained of suffering racist abuse from
    Collingwood ruckman Damian Monkhorst.
  • AFLorganised mediation between the two players
    failed to resolve the issue, and left with no
    choice, the AFL moved quickly to introduce its
    Code of Conduct.
  • Under the new rules, players could be fined or
    suspended for on-field racist language. It is
    also significant that the Code of Conduct was
    introduced in the same year as the Federal
    Governments Racial Hatred Act 1995.
  • The efforts of Winmar and Long should not be
    underestimated. As sportspeople, they brought
    racism to the fore of public debate, and helped
    to pave the way for legislation that would have
    been unthinkable only a decade earlier.

30
Cultural Continuity through Sport, Health
Education
Cummera Footy Team,1927
Rumbalara Football Netball Club, Shepparton
Academy of Sport Health Education, Shepparton,
2005 (University of Melbourne)
Oncountry Learning Indigenous Studies visit to
RFNC Uni of Melb,2005.
31
Cummeragunja Football Team Premiers, c.1927.
Henry Charles, Rupert Cooper, Gordon Aultern,
George Burns, Bill Atkinson, Gingo Morgan, Micky
McDonald, Selwyn Briggs, Frank Atkinson, Jacky
Cooper, Tim Ross,Mick Morgan, Aaron Briggs,
Henry Charles, Maurice Charles. Front Bob
Nelson, Tom Dunolly Snr, Dowie Nicholls, Tom
Dunolly Jnr.
32
Statistics on Indigenous Players in AFL, 2010
  • 19825
  • 200551
  • 200771
  • 201083
  • 1982-2005 90 increase in 23 years
  • 2005-2010 50 increase in last 2 years.
  • 2 of Aust Pop but over 15 of AFL, 2010

33
Indigenous AFL Umpires
34
Sport and Indigenous Recognition Conclusions
  • It is true that sport has given Aborigines more
    recognition and collective pride, than any other
    single activity both from within their own
    community and from the broader Australian
    community.
  • Indigenous Australians still have a long struggle
    ahead of them if they are to achieve equality.
    They are still in a disadvantaged position. Even
    in sport, where so much progress has been made,
    there is much that still needs to be done (Colin
    Tatz, Aborigines and Sport, 1987).

35
Opportunities through Sport Health Education is
pathway to Future
Pride Integrity Respect Shared
Identity Solidarity
  • Grab the ball use it to your teams advantage

36
Rumbalara Football Netball Club A Holistic
Approach to the Future
37
A Holistic Worldview of Sport, Health, Education
Community
38
Questions for Discussion
  • Why do Indigenous Australians perform so well in
    sport?
  • Why are they so good at footy?
  • Is Indigenous achievement in sport innate or a
    learned, cultural trait or is it driven by social
    and economic factors?
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