Indigenous sport

Desert uprising

Articles, Indigenous sport
Three years ago, Melbourne Football Club saw the future. With some help. Bruce Hearn Mackinnon was the medium in question, and the tall, dark, lithe and crazily gifted figure in…

Weaving Silk

Articles, Indigenous sport
In 1868, the first-ever touring cricket side from Australia, the aboriginal team, would hold “games” for the crowd’s entertainment after a day’s play. The entertainment was complimentary, but sometimes they’d…

A black and white argument

Articles, Indigenous sport
 Aboriginal sportsmen and women have deeply enriched Australian sport, and, internationally, have done the nation they represent proud. After all these years, it seems compulsory to preface any discussion of…

Footy from the heart

Articles, Indigenous sport
When it’s time to pile into the bus, or onto the back of the flatbed truck, or to ride on the creaking bones of a senile old Holden, then the…

The Black Man’s Burden Part 2: Beyond Dreaming

Columns, Indigenous sport
The annual event at Yuendumu, in the Northern Territory, used to be a gathering of the clans, featuring dance, spear-throwing, corroboree and other ceremonies. Now it’s a sports carnival, with…

The Black Man’s Burden Part 1: Myths and legends of walkabout

Articles, Indigenous sport
In 2000, ten percent of the players in the AFL convened at a Players Association forum. All were Aboriginal, and most were beset by similar problems. The specific outcomes of…