.INTERESTING READING
Charles Lawrence, a professional cricketer who remained in Australia after playing with the first English team to tour Down Under in 1861, took over the coaching and captaincy of the team and organised a number of benefit matches that enabled the players to return home in May 1867.
Soon after Lawrence arranged a tour of England for the team of 16 players plus himself. This group of pioneers are listed below (traditional names in brackets):
•Charles Lawrence – captain/coach
•Peter (Arrahmunyarrimun)
•Sundown (Ballrinjarrimin)
•Tiger (Bonnibarngeet)
•Tommy Red Cap (Brimbunyah)
•individual Cole (Bripumyarrimin)
•Harry Bullocky (Bullchanach)
•Mosquito (Grongarrong)
•Two Penny (Jarrawuk)
•Dick-a-Dick (Jumgumjenanuke)
•Jim Crow (Lyterjerbillijun)
•Johnny Mullagh (Unaarrimin)
•Johnny Cuzens (Yellanach)
•Jeremy Tarpot (Murrumgunerrimin)
•Lake Billy (Mijarrie)
•Billy Officer (Cungewarrimin)
•Harry Rose (Hingingairah)
After a three-month odyssey to the Mother Country via boat, the team arrived on 13 May, 1868. Coming not long following the publication of Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” the team’s arrival generated considerable public interest.
Unfortunately not all of it complimentary with The Times describing the tourists as “the conquered natives of a convict colony” before going on to decry them as “a travestie upon cricketing at Lords”. Nevertheless the matches were very well attended throughout with the first match at The Oval attracting a bumper crowd of 20,000.
Of course it was not all about the cricket with cultural demonstrations being an equally, if not more, important part of the attraction for the crowd.
Dressed in traditional white trousers, the team sported distinctive bright red shirts with accompanying blue sashes and different coloured caps to assist the public in identifying the players. The players also took along traditional tribal wear such as possum cloaks and feathers into which they would change at the conclusion of play to provide demonstrations of boomerang and spear throwing, with ‘Dick-a-Dick’ also using a narrow shield, or boammer, to parry away a hail of cricket balls thrown at him by teammates.
The undoubted star of the tour was Unaarrimin (‘Johnny Mullagh’) who captured an incredible 245 wickets at an average of around 10 in addition to scoring the most runs for the tour with 1,698 as well as its highest individual score of 94.
Crisscrossing an alien country for almost six months he helped his side achieve some impressive results as they won 14, lost 14 and drew 19 matches across a gruelling 47 match itinerary, the difficulty of which was noted by Sporting Life upon their departure when they wrote “no eleven has in one season ever played so many matches so successfully – never playing less than two matches in each week, and frequently three, bearing an amount of fatigue that now seems incredible”.
FIRST TOURING TEAM TO ENGLAND
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