The Aboriginal cricket team at the MCG in 1867.

The 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England was a cricket tour by a team of Australian Aborigines who toured England between May and October that year, becoming the first Australian cricket team to do so. The first tour by a white Australian team in England did not happen until 1880. Image File history File links Aboriginal_cricket_team_at_MCG_in_1867. ... Image File history File links Aboriginal_cricket_team_at_MCG_in_1867. ... For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... Australian Aborigines are the main indigenous people of Australia. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004... 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

English teams had previously toured the United States and Canada in 1859, and Australia in 1861 and 1863/64. 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

Team members included:

• Johnny Mullagh - traditional name: Unaarrimin
• Bullocky
• Sundown
• Dick-a-Dick - traditional name: Jungunjinanuke
• Johnny Cuzens
• King Cole - traditional name: Bripumyarrimin (died of tuberculosis early in the tour and was buried in Tower Hamlets in London)
• Red Cap.
• Twopenny - originally from Bathurst. Later played one game for New South Wales against Victoria
• Charley Dumas
• Jimmy Mosquito

Unaarrimin or Johhny Mullagh (Born 13 August 1841 died 14 August 1891), was part of the famous Aboriginal australian_cricket_team|Australian cricket team]] that toured England in 1868. ... Tuberculosis (commonly abbreviated as TB) is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system (meningitis), lymphatic system, circulatory system (Miliary tuberculosis), genitourinary system, bones and joints. ... The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is the London borough to the east of the City of London, north of the River Thames in East London. ... London is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom, and is the most populous city in the European Union. ... Location of Bathurst in New South Wales (red) Bathurst is a regional centre in the state of New South Wales, Australia. ... Emblems: Floral - Waratah (Telopea Speciosissima); Bird - Kookaburra (Dacelo Gigas); Animal - Platypus (Ornithorhynchus Anatinus); Fish - Blue Groper (Achoerodus Viridis) Motto: Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites (Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine) Slogan or Nickname: First State, Premier State Other Australian states and territories Capital Sydney Government Const. ... Motto: Peace and Prosperity Other Australian states and territories Capital Melbourne Governor HE Mr John Landy Premier Steve Bracks (ALP) Area 237,629 km² (6th)  - Land 227,416 km²  - Water 10,213 km² (4. ...

The indigenous cricket team

From the early 1860s a number of cricket matches between Aborigines and whites were being held, mainly in western Victorian cattle stations around Wimmera, where many Aborigines worked as stockmen. The athletic skills of the Aborigines became apparent and matches developed so that ultimately a representative indigenous cricket team was formed. // Events and trends Technology The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... The Wimmera is a region in the west of the Australian state of Victoria, internationally renowned for its national parks, spectacular wilderness, historic wineries, and country hospitality. ...

Tom Wills managed and coached the team which played a match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day 1866 and which attracted 8,000 spectators. A dishonest entrepreneur by the name of Captain Gurnett persuaded them to extend the tour to Sydney. He planned also to go to Brisbane and then to England. After arriving in Sydney however, Gurnett embezzled some of the funds raised for the tour and the team was left stranded. Thomas Wentworth Wills was an Australian sportsman who is credited along with Henry Harrison as one of the inventors of Australian rules football. ... For other meanings, see MCG (disambiguation). ... Boxing Day is a public holiday observed in many Commonwealth countries on 26 December. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Brisbane () is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland. ...

Eventually they made their way back to Victoria and a second attempt to tour to England was initiated with new financial backers, this time with Charles Lawrence, an ex-Surrey professional cricketer who had coached at the Albert Club in Sydney as coach of the indigenous team. Surrey is a county in southern England, part of the South East England region and one of the Home Counties. ...

They arrived in London in May 1868 and were met with a degree of racial fascination - that being the period of the evolutionary controversies following publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species in 1859. Reaction was mixed, with The Times describing the tourists as a travestie upon cricketing at Lord’s, and described the men as the conquered natives of a convict colony. The Daily Telegraph said of Australia that nothing of interest comes from there except gold nuggets and black cricketers. 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... The title page of the 1859 edition of On the Origin of Species. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... This article concerns the British newspaper. ...

The first match was played at The Oval with 20,000 spectators in attendance throughout the match, presumably mainly out of curiosity for a strange looking race rather than for cricket. The Times reported: Their hair and beards are long and wiry, their skins vary in shades of blackness, and most of them have broadly expanded nostrils. Having been brought up in the bush to agricultural pursuits under European settlers, they are perfectly civilised and are quite familiar with the English language., and The Daily Telegraph reported: It is highly interesting and curious, to see mixed in a friendly game on the most historically Saxon part of our island, representatives of two races so far removed from each other as the modern Englishman and the Aboriginal Australian. Although several of them are native bushmen, and all are as black as night, these Indian fellows are to all intents and purposes, clothed and in their right minds. The famous gasometers, which are now listed buildings. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... This article concerns the British newspaper. ...

The Aboriginals played 47 matches throughout England over a period of six months between May and October, winning 14, losing 14 and drawing 19 - a good result that would have surprised many at the time. Their skills were said to range from individuals who were exceptional to two or three who hardly contributed at all. Johnny Mullagh scored 1,698 runs and took 245 wickets.

An English fast bowler of the time, George Tarrant bowled to Mullagh during a lunch time interval and later said "I have never bowled to a better batsman".

As well as playing cricket the Aborigines frequently made an exhibition of boomerang and spear throwing at the conclusion of a match as well as various athletic demonstrations. Dick-a-Dick held a narrow parrying shield and would have people throw cricket balls at him which he warded off with the shield. The Aboriginal side was narrowly beaten in a cricket ball throwing competition by a 20-year-old W. G. Grace, who threw 118 yards. A typical wooden returning boomerang A boomerang is an Australian Aboriginal wooden implement used for various purposes. ... Hunting spear and knife, from Mesa Verde National Park. ... Statue showing a Gallic shield with a butterfly boss. ... Cricket ball A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. ... William Gilbert Grace (July 18, 1848–October 23, 1915) was an English cricketer who, by his extraordinary skills, made cricket perhaps the first modern spectator sport, and who developed most of the techniques of modern batting. ...

The team arrived back in Sydney in February, 1869. Cuzens and Mullagh were employed the following season as professionals at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... For other meanings, see MCG (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Australian cricket team
• History of Test cricket (to 1883)

The Australian cricket team, together with the English cricket team, are the oldest teams in Test cricket having played its first Test match in 1877. ... For more coverage of cricket, see the cricket portal. ...

External links

• ATSIC article (deleted)

References

• Lords' Dreaming: Cricket on the Run - The 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England by Ashley Mallett - ISBN 0-285636-40-5
• Passport To Nowhere: Aborigines In Australian Cricket 1850-1939 by Bernard Whimpress, Publisher: Walla Walla Press, Sydney, 1999 - ISBN 0-876718-06-4
• Cricket Walkabout: The Australian Aborigines In England by John Mulvaney and Rex Harcourt Publisher: Macmillan Australia, 1988 - ISBN 0-333-43086-7