Background
From the early 1860s onwards, cricket matches between Aborigines and European settlers had been played on the cattle stations of the Wimmera district in western Victoria, where many Aborigines worked as stockmen. The athletic skills of the Aborigines were so evident that a series of matches was eventually undertaken with the intention of forming the strongest-possible Aboriginal eleven.
The resulting team was coached principally by William Reginald Hayman with assistance from Tom Wills. The latter captained the team in a match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground which began on Boxing Day 1866 and attracted 8,000 spectators. An entrepreneur, Captain Gurnett, persuaded the team to play in Sydney, with a planned expedition to Brisbane followed by a tour of England. However, after their arrival in Sydney, Gurnett embezzled some of the funds raised to finance the enterprise, leaving the team stranded.
Read more about this topic: Australian Aboriginal Cricket Team In England In 1868
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