-1868 CRICKET NEWS-

Introduction

Tom Wills was Australia's first sporting icon and founded the game of Australian football in 1858. He was a true champion of the game he had devised and which was based on the Aboriginal football game of Marngrook. He was also the greatest cricketer of the colonial era and introduced the game to his Aboriginal friends. In the later 1860's Wills organised exhibition cricket games at the site of the MCG where the Aboriginal participants also displayed their unique athletic abilities. For instance 'Tarpot' ran the 100 yards backward in 14 seconds. The record still stands to this day. The Aboriginal Cricket Team that Wills had drawn together then toured England in 1868 and were the first Australian Cricket Team to beat the English. It was in 1985 that I first produced two posters on this team's place in history.   More

Aussies Beat Poms!

Introduction

Tom Wills was Australia's first sporting icon and founded the game of Australian football in 1858. He was a true champion of the game he had devised and which was based on the Aboriginal football game of Marngrook. He was also the greatest cricketer of the colonial era and introduced the game to his Aboriginal friends. In the later 1860's Wills organised exhibition cricket games at the site of the MCG where the Aboriginal participants also displayed their unique athletic abilities. For instance 'Tarpot' ran the 100 yards backward in 14 seconds. The record still stands to this day. The Aboriginal Cricket Team that Wills had drawn together then toured England in 1868 and were the first Australian Cricket Team to beat the English. It was in 1985 that I first produced two posters on this team's place in history.   More

A Night at the Theatre with Murrangurk

Introduction

Our knowledge of the convict William Buckley's life amongst the Kulin people has previously been reliant on European documentation affected by myth and false assumptions. This poster has been produced through a greater reliance on Aboriginal oral history and seeks to understand the contest of Buckley's role and relationship with the Kulin people. The illustration shown is an 1861 painting by Frederick William Woodhouse titled 'The first settlers discover Buckley', and is provided courtesy of the State Library of Victoria.    More

Forget Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis

-this is the fastest man who ever lived!

Introduction

Few people know that Australia's first Olympic sprint medalist, Hec Hogan was Aboriginal. Most people mistakenly believe that it was Cathy Freeman in the 400 metres at Sydney in 2000. However many people at least know Hec Hogan's name, that he shared the world record for the 100 yards sprint, and that he won a bronze medal in the Melbourne Olympic games in 1956. Hardly anyone however has ever heard of Charlie Samuels who set a series of unbelievable records in the 1880's.   More

Marngrook

The Aboriginal Roots of Australian Football

Introduction

From the 1950's I had been aware of Tom Wills' role in founding Australian Football in 1858. I was also aware that like my own great-grandfather he had spent his childhood in the company of Aboriginal people, participated in their games and spoke their language fluently. I also knew about the Aboriginal football game of Marngrook from stories passed down my family. In the early 1980's I therefore first began popularising the idea that Marngrook was a precursor to Australian Football. The idea has become well accepted by the general public, but the Australian Football League stills clings to its version of Terra Nullius and refutes any connection with the Aboriginal game.   More

My Story by William Barak

Introduction

This narrative was dictated by William Barak on 26th May 1888. He was 64 years of age and unwell, fearing he would die. It was recorded by an Aboriginal teenager who had gained his literacy skills at the Coranderrk school and there were several errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. The following re-interpretation of Barak’s narrative is therefore offered, with his intended message being shown in plain text with the original words bolded. These imputed intentions are drawn from elements of Aboriginal oral history and other documentation. I produced the document in August 2014 in consultation with Wurundjeri Elders and the State Library of Victoria. Copies are available on request.   More

Simon Wonga - A Man of Destiny

Introduction

This is the first of two posters I have created on Simon Wonga, who truly was a man of destiny and was probably the major reason why the Wurundjeri people have survived into the present day. I had the great privelage and pleasure of successfully nominating Simon Wonga to the Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll and he was duly inducted in September 2014. For further details on his biography simple google the Victorian Indigenous Honour Rolland go to the 2014 inductees.

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Simon Wonga - the Master Mimic

Introduction

This second poster on Simon Wonga recounts his interactions with the Aboriginal Protector William Thomas when Wonga was aged 19. The incidents recounted show not only Wonga's amazing skills at mimicry, but also his impish wit.   More

The Basic Tenets of Wandjinist Religion

-the World’s Oldest Faith

Uncle Reg Blow (1939-2012) defined the tenets of this ancient religion as follows:

Introduction

Reg Blow and I first met in 1978 and remained firm friends and colleagues until his death in 2012. Throughout this time we had many deep discussions on the nature of traditional Aboriginal religion and the implications it held for the idea of a non-interventionist God. We finally drew these thoughts together in the last few weeks of his life. We discussed the label we could attach to this religion and I first proposed that we should call it 'Wandjinism' as the West Australian name of Wandjina for the Supreme Being was the most publicly known such name. Reg however pointed out that the Queensland term Wandjina had a different connotation. It was therefore decided that the religion should be named after Baiamee, a southeast Australian name for the Supreme Being. Two days before Reg died he read the final document which concluded with the proposition 'God's only will is for us to care for the land and each other'. Reg sighed tapped the sheet and said 'That's it'. In his final week I drove Reg and his family to the 2012 Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll dinner, where Re was duly inducted. If you wish to view the 2012 Honour Roll write up on Reg Blow it can be found in the Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll. Simply go to the 2012 inductees. Reg's wife Walda Blow was for her own lifetime achievements also an inductee in 2014.   More

The Dreamtime Story of Birrarung

As retold by Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Bill Nicholson

Introduction

Many thousands of years ago the Yarra and Plenty valleys held huge inland lakes until they wore new paths through the Plenty, Warrandyte and Kew gorges. A story originally told by Billibelleri, the Wurundjeri Headman from 1836 to 1846, recounted how two ancestor heroes, Barwool and Yan-Yin, freed Wurundjeri land from water by cutting channels with their stone axes. This story was retold as follows by Wurundjeri Elder, Bill Nicholson, at the 2012 Warrandyte Festival.    More

Why does our Constitution not regard all Australians as born Free and Equal?

-It is time that our constitution reflected our national democratic values of mateship and the right to a fair go

Introduction

This poster was created in response to the 'Recognition' discussion leading up to the proposed constitutional review in a couple of year's time. I felt that the best way to ensure removal of the constitutional provisions that allowed discrimination on the basis of race, was to enshrine a proposition in the constitution that all citizens are born free and equal, and remain so within the rule of law. The intrinsic equal worth of all human beings is the proposition from which all other rights flow. It the Australian constitution stated that Australia is a plural democratic society founded on the equal worth of all citizens under the rule of law, then it would be impossible to allow any discrimination on the basis of race. In effect this would enshrine our national values of Mateship (equal worth) and the Right to a Fair Go (equality under the rule of law) within the Australian constitution. As it stands, Australian citizens have no such constitutional rights.   More

William Barak

Australia’s leading civil rights figure of the 19th Century

Introduction

This poster is about William Barak. In my opinion he is Australia's leading civil rights figure.   More

William Cooper

Australia’s Leading Civil Fights Figure of the 20th Century

Introduction

When Julia Gillard was visiting Israel as Australian Prime Minister, she was told that they had named a university after a famous Australian civil rights figure. Prior to the Second World War he had been the only individual in the world to make a complaint to the League of Nations about Germany's treatment of its Jewish citizens. Gillard had to confess that she had never heard of William Cooper. She was of course only one of the vast majority of Australians who have never heard of or learned about this great Australian.   More