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Aborigines cast spell over Norwich

1 January 2003 - Norwich Evening News UK - Lakenham cricket ground has played host to some of the greatest figures in the history of the game.

W G Grace, Garfield Sobers, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Colin Cowdrey, Geoff Boycott and Brian Lara are among those to have played on the ground that was the home of Norfolk County Cricket Club until the year 2000.

But probably the most remarkable team ever to appear in the city made their visit years before any of these legendary names – in the summer of 1868.

That was when the touring Australian Aborigines took on club side Carrow, a match recalled in a newly-published book by Australia's former Test off-spinner, now journalist, Ashley Mallett.

Mallett's book, "Lords' Dreaming: The Story of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour Of England and Beyond", includes extracts from a report on the game at Lakenham, taken from the pages of the Norwich Mercury.

The match was played on July 23 and 24, 1868, and the tourists humbled their hosts by an innings and 52 runs.

It was the 19th match of a tour played all over England, from Norwich to Bradford, Liverpool to Lord's.

The Aboriginals played 47 matches in all, winning 14, losing 14 and drawing 19, with star player Johnny Mullagh - described as the best batsman alive - scoring 1698 runs and taking 245 wickets. Their dexterity and speed won the hearts of the English spectators, including Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh.

In the early 1860s, Charles Lawrence, an ex-Surrey and England cricketer, was travelling around Australia and noticed how skilled the Aboriginal labourers on the sheep stations were with the boomerang and spear. Why not, he thought, drill them in cricket and take them on tour as a "curiosity" team?

However, this was at a time when Aboriginal rights were being denied and to get the team to England, Lawrence had to smuggle them on to a clipper bound for Gravesend.

The players had names like Sundown, Dick-a-Dick and King Cole. The tour was marred by homesickness, drunkenness and King Cole dying of pneumonia.

Among those playing against the Aboriginal team during the tour was the young W G Grace. The first match was watched at The Oval by 7000 people.

When the touring team visited Lakenham, Mullagh and tour captain Lawrence combined to rout the home side for 82 in their first innings, Mullagh taking four for 18 and Lawrence four for 57.

The Australians then scored 235, of which Johnny Cuzens hit a brilliant 87, Mullagh 42, and Lawrence and Red Cap 20 each.

Batting again, Carrow fared only marginally better than in the first innings. Lawrence took eight for 50 as Carrow were dismissed for 101, presenting the Australians with a resounding victory.

The Norwich Mercury of July 29, 1868, reported: "The noted Australian Eleven have been creating a little sensation in many parts of the country since their introduction here, by their play, appearance and their novel performances with some of their native weapons and implements of the chase, and the enterprising gentlemen who conceived the idea of this visit have proved that they had a tolerably shrewd appreciation of the characteristics of John Bull."

The Aboriginals were even allotted colours to help spectators with identification.

"Whether in the field or at the wicket they exhibited a degree of activity and practised skill that was overwhelming," it was reported.

Against Carrow, the bowling of Lawrence and Mullagh was described as "formidable in the extreme".

Like Mullagh, Cuzens achieved the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets on tour.

At the end of the match on the second day at Lakenham, the Aboriginals delighted an ever-growing crowd by competing in races, and giving demonstrations of spear and boomerang throwing. Reports said they were "decidedly an attraction worthy of commendation".

Mallett has reconstructed this pioneering tour against a background of the Aborigine's tragic history. It is a cricketing story that goes beyond the boundary into Victorian history and the genocide that destroyed Aboriginal culture and the lives of these Aboriginal cricketers.

It is an episode of cricketing history that is still preserved today in the MCC Museum at Lord's, where Dick-a-Dick's boomerang is on display.

Despite their success as cricketers, the Aboriginal team met with racism on their return to Australia, never playing again as a team. Only two of their members went on to careers in cricket.

Indeed, it took nearly 130 years before another player of Aboriginal heritage, Jason Gillespie, would again play cricket for Australia.

The book is fully illustrated with historic photographs and illustrations.

Source: Norwich Evening News

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