Darkness and a little light: ?Race? and sport in Australia Colin Tatz (AIATSIS & Australian National University) and Daryl Adair (University of Technology Sydney) Despite ?the wonderful and chaotic universe of clashing colors, temperaments and emotions, of brave deeds against odds seemingly insuperable?, sport is mixed with ?mean and shameful acts of pure skullduggery?, villainy, cowardice, depravity, rapaciousness and malice. Thus wrote celebrated American novelist Paul Gallico on the eve of the Second World War (Gallico 1938 [1988]:9-10). An acute enough observation about society in general, his farewell to sports writing also captures the ?clashing colors? in Australian sport. In this ?land of the fair go?, we look at the malice of racism in the arenas where, as custom might have it, one would least want or expect to find it. The history of the connection between sport, race and society - the long past, the recent past and the social present - is commonly dark and ugly but some light and decency are just becoming visible. Coming to terms: ?Race?, ethnicity, identity and Aboriginality in sport Colin Tatz (AIATSIS & Australian National University) Notions of genetic superiority have led to some of the world?s greatest human calamities. Just as social scientists thought that racial anthropology and biology had ended with the cataclysm of the Second World War, so some influential researchers and sports commentators have rekindled the pre-war debate about the muscular merits of ?races? in a new discipline that Nyborg (1994) calls the ?science of physicology?. The more recent realm of racial ?athletic genes?, especially within socially constructed black athletic communities, may intend no malice but this search for the keys to their success may well revive the old, discredited discourses. This critical commentary shows what can happen when some population geneticists and sports writers ignore history and when medical, biological and sporting doctrines deriving from ?race? are dislocated from any historical, geographic, cultural and social contexts. Understanding discourses about race, racism, ethnicity, otherness, identity and Aboriginality are essential if sense, or nonsense, is to be made of genetic/racial ?explanations? of sporting excellence. Between the two major wars boxing was, disproportionately, a Jewish sport; Kenyans and Ethiopians now ?own? middle- and long-distance running and Jamaicans the shorter events; South Koreans dominate women?s professional golf. This essay explores the various explanations put forward for such ?statistical domination?: genes, biochemistry, biomechanics, history, culture, social dynamics, the search for identity, alienation, need, chance, circumstances, and personal bent or aptitude. Traditional games of a timeless land: Play cultures in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities Ken Edwards (University of Southern Queensland) Sports history in Australia has focused almost entirely on modern, Eurocentric sports and has therefore largely ignored the multitude of unique pre- European games that are, or once were, played. The area of traditional games, especially those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, is an important aspect of the cultural, social and historical experiences of Indigenous communities. These activities include customs of play that are normally not associated with European notions of competitive sport. Overall, this paper surveys research undertaken into traditional games among Indigenous Australians, as well as proposals for much needed further study in this area. Culture, ?race? and discrimination in the 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England David Sampson As a consequence of John Mulvaney?s important historical research, the Aboriginal cricket and performance tour of Britain in 1868 has in recent decades become established as perhaps the most famous of all public events in contact history involving Aborigines, white settlers and the British metropolis. Although recognition of its importance is welcome and significant, public commemorations of the tour have enveloped the tour in mythologies of cricket and nation. Such mythologies have obscured fundamental aspects of the tour that were inescapable racial and colonial realities of the Victorian era. This reappraisal of the tour explores the centrality of racial ideology, racial science and racial power imbalances that enabled, created and shaped the tour. By exploring beyond cricketing mythology, it restores the central importance of the spectacular performances of Aboriginal skills without which the tour would have been impossible. Such a reappraisal seeks to fully recognise the often trivialised non-cricketing expertise of all of the Aboriginal performers in 1868 for their achievement of pioneering their unique culture, skills and technologies to a mass international audience. Football, ?race? and resistance: The Darwin Football League, 1926?29 Matthew Stephen (Northern Territory Archive Service) Darwin was a diverse but deeply divided society in the early twentieth century. The Commonwealth Government introduced the Aboriginals Ordinance 1911 in the Northern Territory, instituting state surveillance, control and a racially segregated hierarchy of whites foremost, then Asians, ?Coloureds? (Aborigines and others of mixed descent) and, lastly, the so-called ?full-blood? Aborigines. Sport was important in scaffolding this stratification. Whites believed that sport was their private domain and strictly controlled non-white participation. Australian Rules football, established in Darwin from 1916, was the first sport in which ?Coloured? sportsmen challenged this domination. Football became a battleground for recognition, rights and identity for all groups. The ?Coloured? community embraced its team, Vesteys, which dominated the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) in the 1920s. In 1926, amidst growing racial tension, the white-administered NTFL changed its constitution to exclude non-white players. In reaction, ?Coloured? and Chinese footballers formed their own competition - the Darwin Football League (DFL). The saga of that colour bar is an important chapter in Australia?s football history, yet it has faded from Darwin?s social memory and is almost unknown among historians. That picture - Nicky Winmar and the history of an image Matthew Klugman (Victoria University) and Gary Osmond (The University of Queensland) In April 1993 Australian Rules footballer Nicky Winmar responded to on-field racist abuse by lifting his jersey and pointing to his chest. The photographic image of that event is now famous as a response to racial abuse and has come to be seen as starting a movement against racism in football. The racial connotations in the image might seem a foregone conclusion: the power, appeal and dominant meaning of the photograph might appear to be self-evident. But neither the fame of the image nor its racial connotation was automatic. Through interviews with the photographers and analysis of the use of the image in the media, we explore how that picture came to be of such symbolic importance, and how it has remained something to be re-shown and emulated. Rather than analyse the image as a photograph or work of art, we uncover some of its early history and explore the debates that continue to swirl around its purpose and meaning. We also draw attention to the way the careful study of photographs might enhance the study of sport, race and racism. ?She?s not one of us?: Cathy Freeman and the place of Aboriginal people in Australian national culture Toni Bruce (University of Waikato) and Emma Wensing (Independent scholar) The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games generated a national media celebration of Aboriginal 400 metre runner Cathy Freeman. The construction of Freeman as the symbol of national reconciliation was evident in print and on television, the Internet and radio. In contrast to this celebration of Freeman, the letters to the editor sections of 11 major newspapers became sites for competing claims over what constitutes Australian identity and the place of Aboriginal people in national culture. We analyse this under-explored medium of opinion and discuss how the deep feelings evident in these letters, and the often vitriolic responses to them, illustrate some of the enduring racial tensions in Australian society. Sport, physical activity and urban Indigenous young people Alison Nelson (The University of Queensland) This paper challenges some of the commonly held assumptions and ?knowledges? about Indigenous young people and their engagement in physical activity. These include their ?natural? ability, and the use of sport as a panacea for health, education and behavioural issues. Data is presented from qualitative research undertaken with a group of 14 urban Indigenous young people with a view to ?speaking back? to these commentaries. This research draws on Critical Race Theory in order to make visible the taken-for-granted assumptions about Indigenous Australians made by the dominant white, Western culture. Multiple, shifting and complex identities were expressed in the young people?s articulation of the place and meaning of sport and physical activity in their lives. They both engaged in, and resisted, dominant Western discourses regarding representations of Indigenous people in sport. The paper gives voice to these young people in an attempt to disrupt and subvert hegemonic discourses. An unwanted corroboree: The politics of the New South Wales Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout Heidi Norman (University of Technology Sydney) The annual New South Wales Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout is so much more than a sporting event. Involving a high level of organisation, it is both a social and cultural coming together of diverse communities for a social and cultural experience considered ?bigger than Christmas?. As if the planning and logistics were not difficult enough, the rotating-venue Knockout has been beset, especially since the late 1980s and 1990s, by layers of opposition and open hostility based on ?race?: from country town newspapers, local town and shire councils, local business houses and, inevitably, the local police. A few towns have welcomed the event, seeing economic advantage and community good will for all. Commonly, the Aboriginal ?influx? of visitors and players - people perceived as ?strangers?, ?outsiders?, ?non-taxpayers? - provoked public fear about crime waves, violence and physical safety, requiring heavy policing. Without exception, these racist expectations were shown to be totally unfounded. Research report: Recent advances in digital audio recorder technology provide considerable advantages in terms of cost and portability for language workers.b&w photographs, colour photographs, tablessport and race, racism, cathy freeman, nicky winmar, rugby league, afl, athletics, cricket, digital audio recorders

HMAS Nirimba was a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) training base located at the former RAAF Station Schofields at Schofields, New South Wales, Australia. The University of Western Sydney, Nirimba Campus now occupy the site, which was also the scene of dress rehearsals for the 2000 Olympic Games opening ceremonyWooden Plaque 15cm x 13cm with insignia ofH.M.A.S. NirimbaH.M.A.S. Nirimba

Heidi Beard, canoeist at the 1960 Rome Olympics, carried the Olympic flame into Heidelberg West's Olympic Reserve on 30 July 2000Two pages from "The Heidelberger" (25/07/2000 & 01/08/2000)Memories relit for Heidiesheidi beard, olympic torch relay, olympic games sydney 2000, beard family

Contains medallions and names of members of the 2000 Australian Olympic TeamFolder containing 20 commemorative medallions including the 12 Australian Gold Medallists.olympic games sydney

Digital copy of news article reporting Briar Hill Primary School past pupil Anna Wilson, an Olympic cyclist.Digital copy of newspaper clippingbriar hill primary school, briar hill state school, anna wilson, olympic games sydney 2000

Digital copy of news article reporting on Briar Hill Primary School past pupil Anna Wilson, an Olympic cyclist.Digital copy of newspaper clippingbriar hill primary school, briar hill state school, anna wilson, olympic games sydney 2000

These cross country ski boots are part of the pioneer ski recreational sport in the Victoria Alps. The mid 1900's saw the Victorian Alps begin to be used for recreational skiing, especially cross country. The majority of skiers at this point in time were either from the SEC Vic. Kiewa Hydro Scheme or from Melbourne. International skiers had better ski fields (ski lodges etc.) in Europe, the U.S.A. and Canada. With greater and better coverage of the Winter Olympics and some medal wins, skiing became more interesting and rewarding for city dwellers in Melbourne and Sydney.These ski boots are of great significance to the Kiewa Valley as it demonstrates that winter sports in the region have and still do attract not only skiers but also provide an employment (even though seasonal) avenue which "livens up" a small rural community and provides for a diversity of land usage which did not exist in the 1800's. These brown cross country ski boots, "Grief" brand have "cherry" inserts with cream laces, within the main boot. The boots have red and black laces and crossover tie flaps (to allow for maximum front foot entry. These boots do not have any ski clips to hold firm those restraints (quick release) on the skis (like "modern boots and skis). The heel section has the red Greif "W" pattern.At the underside of the rubber sole in freehand script "Cresta"snow skiing, ski boots, winter recreational sports.

In 1869, the Warrnambool Meat Preserving Company commenced their business on the site, where it operated until 1875 when it was sold to the directors of the Warrnambool Woolen Mill Company. After being destroyed by fire in 1882 it wasn’t until 1910 that the Warrnambool Chamber of Commerce was approached by Marcus Saltau and Peter McGennan to invest in a new mill. The original directors were James Dickson, P J McGennan, Robert Swinton, M Saltau, and J W Younger. In 1955 the Warrnambool Woollen Mill formed a partnership with the Wangaratta Woollen Mills. Dunlop bought the mill in 1968. From that time until its closure in 2000 it had a number of different owners, the last being the Smith Family Industries. These sheets provide data relating to sales of various different blankets in colours and sizes and where sales occurred . All the capital cities are listed with quantities and customer numbersThe woollen mill was one of the major industries of Warrnambool for nearly100 years. This document is one of many in the collection of the Warrnambool and district historical society which gives an insight into the scale and type of production during the 20th century.Rectangular bundle of loose pages with card on either side and held together with string. Pages are lined and typed with data and also have two small holes and one elongated hole stamped between the smaller ones.Analysis Season 1937-1938 written in red pencil on front card. 'These sheets stocked in 25 patterns by peacock Bros Pty Ltd Melbourne Sydney Adelaide Perth and Brisbane. When ordering this pattern specify No D5' printed on each of the paper sheets.warrnambool, warrnambool woollen mill, woolen mill, dunlop olympic, marcus saltau p j mcgennan james dickson, robert swinton j w younger, wangaratta, dreamspun

The 1977-1982 Newspaper articles and race results provide information on well known cycling identities in the Geelong area, some of whom achieved Australian and World championships in this sport. Also included are minutes of meetings and correspondence 1978-1985.Well known racing identities of the time and Geelong Cycling Club members - Don Wilson - who won the Australian national road race title in 1975 and 1977. He also competed in the individual road race and the team time trial events at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico, and the Sun Tour during this period.Wilson won and set the fastest time in the amateur Goulburn to Sydney Classic in 1967 run in reverse direction from Milperra to Goulburn. and John Trevorrow - won the Australian national road race title in 1978, 1979 and 1980. He was also 3 time Sun Tour winner in 1975, 1977 and 1979.Newspaper articles and hard backed books with handwritten minutes and correspondence and race results for the period 1977-1982.

This knitting pattern book was published by the Villawood Textile Company, Sydney and contains knitting patterns for womens and mens knitted garments. The patterns were photographed at the St Leonard's Olympic Bowl and mention is made that ten-pin bowling is Australia's 'newest all-family sport which is catching on fast'.Villawool / BOOK 87 / Designs in / 8 ply / Speediknit, / Argyll, / Celeste. / 2'9knitting handicrafts - history, villawood textile company, knitting, handicrafts - history

Medal ribbon used for Olympic medals in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games and made from fine 19.5 micron merino wool. It was made by Melbourne company TD Noone Woven Products who created the ribbon on a conventional ribbon loom. The finishing processes were undertaken by Superior Fit Australia, an Albury-based company. The ribbon was colour tested against various garment colours to confirm design suitability and colour balance and trialed for wearer comfort as it needed to be soft against the skin when carrying a medal. Durability was important as an Olympic medal is a lifelong keepsake. Woolmark supplied 5.2 kilometres of completed ribbon for medal useage.wool - superfine, woolmark company td noone woven products superior fit australia, ribbon, sport, the woolmark company 2000 australian olympic display - exhibition (21/12/2001 - 24/05/2002)

Used by Whitehorse Council in its display on poles along the Olympic Torch Relay prior to the Olympic Games.Orange banner. Marathon Runner in blue over the five Olympic Rings.A.M.P. Sydney 2000flags, sporting, events

Autographed by Bruce Ruxton 28-7-2000collectables, ballarat rsl, ballarat

Programme for 1977 Davis Cup Challenge Round, Australia vs. Italy, held at White City Sydney December 2-4, 1977. Materials: Paper, Inktennis

Programme: Peters International (Sydney) 1996 Materials: Paper, Inktennis

Framed Olympic Games 1956 Photomontage print with Limited Edition Certificate attached. Presented to the South Gippsland Shire Council from the Olympic Games Committee, Sydney 2000. Cream card window mount with engraved text panel set in light brown wood frame. The photomontage features images of the the Olympic Torch and Commemorative medals atop with text and signatures above a collection of ephemera, memorabilia, items of clothing and objects relating to the Olympic games.

Black and white photo of a finale of an Annual Demonstration. Children in costumes, some in military style costumes, some holding Australian flags, other flags and signs before an audience. Signs include ANZAC, Tobruk, Kokoda, HMAS Sydney, HMAS Perth, HMAS Australia, and theatres of combat, Europe, and Asia. The year is not known. Throughout the year Melbourne Legacy provided classes for Junior Legatees such as dancing, gymnastics and Eurythmics. The Demonstration was an annual event to showcase their skills. Melbourne Legacy conducted Annual Demonstrations / Parades from 1928 through to the 1980's, usually held at Melbourne Town Hall or Olympic Pool Stadium. The beautiful costumes were made by members of the Junior Legacy Mothers' Club and the Melbourne Legacy Wives' Association. A record of a Junior Legacy DemonstrationBlack and white photo of the finale of an Annual Demonstration.junior legatee, legacy demonstration

"Last Mail carried by tram in NSW Special Commemorative Trip Operated by the NSW Tramway Historical Assn. during last week of Trams in NSW 19 February 1961". Also has a hand stamp in purple ink "Last tram mail City Railway La Perouse Maroubra Beach Randwick 19 February 1961" The stamp is a 1/- stamp featuring a Melbourne street scene for the 1956 Olympics. Addressed to "Wally Jack 31 York St., Ballarat East Victoria". The post office cancellation stamp "Last Tram Mail Sydney NSW Aust 19FE61"Yields information about the type of materials that a local Ballarat tramway enthusiast collected and reflects the closure of the Sydney tram system in 1961. Envelope - preprinted in dark green and red ink - titled "Last Day Cover" - with a colour stamp in top left hand corner. On rear is another small hand stamp about details of the last tram mail and in the bottom right hand corner the number "1422".trams, tramways, sydney, last tram, post office, postage stamps

A Penn 'Classic 1' tennis ball. Autographed in black marker by Martina Hingis, possibly during the New South Wales Open, at White City Stadium, Sydney, in 1999. Materials: Felt, Rubber, Inktennis

Programme of 1962 Australian Championships, played White City Sydney. Materials: Ink, Papertennis

Programme of 1963 Australian Championships, played White City Sydney. Materials: Ink, Papertennis

Programme for Davis Cup Challenge ROund 1951, White City Sydney. Materials: Ink, Papertennis

Programme for 71st NSW Championships (White City, Sydney). Materials: Paper, Inktennis

Programme for 71st NSW Championships (White City, Sydney). Materials: Paper, Inktennis

Programme for 72nd NSW Championships (White City, Sydney). Materials: Paper, Inktennis

Programme for 72nd NSW Championships (White City, Sydney). Materials: Paper, Inktennis

Construction on the Sydney Melbourne coaxial cable began in 1960 and was one of Australia's biggest and most important telecommunications projects of the 20th century. The laying of a coaxial cable between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, allowed people to direct dial long distance phone calls (rather than operator assisted), and supported simultaneous television broadcasts for the first time. It was officially opened on 9 April 1962 by the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies. This souvenir coaxial cable was presented to Mr Roy Kerr on his retirement. Mr Kerr was the Assistant Chief Engineer, Headquarters Customer Networks Branch, Telecom Australia.This cable has strong historic significance as part of the historic and technologically important Sydney-Melbourne coaxial cable. The cable represents not only a feat of technology but a shift in social engagement with telecommunication technologies, as it allowed people to direct dial long distance phone calls (rather than operator assisted), and supported simultaneous television broadcasts for the first time; it put the power of connection directly into the hands of the Australian public. This souvenir length of cable is well provenanced, and the details of the cables use and significance is inscribed on the steel casing. A 6 tube copper coaxial cable with lead sheath, quad 20lbs conductor cable (paper insulated), and a presentation metal collar and base. Inscriptions around the top of the metal collar and the base. "OLYMPIC CABLES PTY. LTD / AUSTRALIA" "6 TUBE COAXIAL CABLE / WITH 32 PAIRS 20LBS/MILE UNARMOURED / SYDNEY MELBOURNE 1960"coaxial cable, cable, sydney-melbourne coaxial cable, telstra, postmaster general's department (pmg), telecommunications, subscriber trunk dialling (std), television, telephone