A Nation’s Shame Part One

by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (July 6^th 2009)[1]

Editor’s Note

The 74^th Ashes Series will begin in November 2025 in Perth, Australia. England has won 32 series outright and retained the Ashes once as they were the holders in a drawn series – Australia has kept the Ashes six times in drawn series. They have won 34 series outright, meaning they have held the Ashes 40 times, compared to England’s 33.

            The first tour by Australians took place before the ‘first’ Ashes Series. It was made by Aboriginals in 1968. It has taken far too long to credit their achievements, some of which are detailed below.

The Editor

Too Little Too Late

In 2002 they were inducted into Australian Sport’s Hall of Fame. Ballrinjarrimin: Boninbarngeet, Brimbunyah, Bripumyarrimin, Bullchanach, Grougarrong, Jungunjinanuke, Murrumgunarriman, Pripumuarraman, Unaarimin, and Zellanach – two of whose indigenous Australian names are not listed, so they were referred to at the time as Peter and Jim Crow (they have been identified subsequently as Arrahmunijarrimun and Jallachmurrimin respectively), along with coach: captain and manager, Charles Lawrence, were the first team to represent Australia in any sport.

With the exception of Lawrence, an English cricketer who had settled in Australia, they were all indigenous. The honour was well deserved, but long overdue. They were a very long time dead by then, having been kept waiting nearly a century and a half for their achievements to be properly acknowledged in their own country.

A Tour with Distinction

Despite the shocking racism of their times, the indigenous Australian cricketers represented their country with distinction during the 1868 tour of England. They played forty-seven matches during the six-month tour and won sufficient respect to be invited back, but the return tour didn’t happen. The pioneering tour occurred without the approval of the colonial authorities in Victoria.

They were welcomed in England originally for curiosity and gradually on merit, but it was a different story on their return to Australia. All but two of them were lost to cricket and sport. Murrumgunarriman played for New South Wales against Victoria in 1870 and the best of them, Unaarimin, remained in the colony and was briefly employed by Melbourne Cricket Club.

He played for Victoria against the English tourists in 1879 and impressed in England too. George Tarrant was the second fastest bowler in English first class cricket at the time. Unaarimin faced the feared bowler and won his respect; Tarrant declared him to be the best batsman that he had ever bowled to. He should have had a glittering career in cricket.

The Indigenous Cricketing Pioneer

They arrived in Sydney in February 1869, but plans for the second tour were quickly destroyed, partly by lack of finance, but more so by racist laws. Allegedly set up to protect the indigenous population from exploitation by white settlers, the legislation confining indigenous people to reservations curtailed their limited freedoms further. These laws restricted their movements to the extent that they could not leave the colony without the written permission of the relevant minister.

The 1868 tourists were treated appallingly in their own country. One died on the tour of England; two disappeared in Australia, the fate two of others is not known and seven died in reservations that were established by colonial governments in Australia. The greatest batsman that George Tarrant pitted his skills against was a proud black man who had no truck with the racist attitudes of his so-called peers.

Unaarimin was a member of the Jardwadjali people, born on the Mullagh Station near Harrow in Victoria on August 13^th 1841. He learned to play cricket while working in agriculture. Unaarimin was the best of the indigenous Australian tourists of 1868. He averaged around 20 with the bat on pitches that posed difficulties for batting and bowled 1877 overs that included 831 maidens, taking 245 wickets at a miserly average of around 10 runs per wicket. He was such an all-rounder that he occasionally kept wicket too, claiming four stumpings.

While his own countrymen failed to appreciate his rare cricketing skills, Tarrant and English spectators recognised talent when they saw it. On his return he was recruited as a professional by the Melbourne Cricket Club – such was his prowess, although his professional career did not last long, due in no small measure to the racism that he faced including from so-called team-mates. Unaarimin stubbornly refused to yield to racism both in cricket and in life. While some compromised, he would not live in a state-controlled reserve and bravely protested against racist attitudes from opponents and his own team-mates.

Unaarimin played one match for Victoria in 1879 against the English tourists, top-scoring with 36 in the second innings despite batting low in the order. He died a day after turning fifty. A competition for indigenous cricketers is named after him, although ironically it uses the name given to him by whites, rather than his indigenous name. He remains one of the most important Australian role models for indigenous sportsmen and women, but Victoria was not the only Australian colony that possessed talented Aboriginal cricketers in the nineteenth century. Western Australia boasted a team so talented they thoroughly earned their nickname – The Invincibles.

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[1] This article was first published in the Magazine in 2009. It was originally not in two parts, but it has been split for the convenience of readers.