Taken some time between 1914-18, depicted is a large group of unidentified males. Four of them are dressed in Australian military uniforms. The remaining 19 men are dressed in striped uniforms. The male in the centre of the front row is cradling a football, suggesting that the group was part of a football or rugby league team. It is believed that the soldiers in this photograph were part of the Australian Imperial Force. This can be inferred by the chevron rank insignia visible on their uniforms. The placement of this insignia on the sleeve of the right arm suggests that this soldier was either a Warrant Officer or a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO). Additionally, they are also wearing 'Rising Sun' collar badges on their coats. Australia, unlike most other Commonwealth countries, did not adopt metal regimental badges during the First World War. All units were issued with the Australian Army General Service Badge, better known as the 'Rising Sun’ badge. This insignia is almost always identified with the Australian Imperial Force. Sport has always been entwined with war. Both sport and war demand peak physical fitness, camaraderie, strategy, and allegiance to a team collaboratively working towards a common goal: to win. The connection between sport and war is especially strong in Australia since these two concepts form the basis of our national identity. The Australian War Memorial has a number of World War I recruitment posters linking war and sport in its collection. One of the posters produced in 1915 by the State Parliamentary Recruiting Committee in Victoria attempted to shame young men into enlisting by juxtaposing the image of an Australian soldier standing guard over his deceased mate with a photograph of a Victorian Football League match. Another poster, produced in 1917, features vignettes of different sports including cricket, bowling, boxing, kayaking and golf. Its slogan reads, "Join Together - Train Together - Embark Together - Fight Together: Enlist in the Sportman's 1000".The record is historically significant due to its connection to World War I. This conflict is integral to Australian culture as it was the single greatest loss of life and the greatest repatriation of casualties in the country's history. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when the Australian government established the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in August 1914. Immediately, men were recruited to serve the British Empire in the Middle East and on the Western Front. The record has strong research potential. This is due to the ongoing public and scholarly interest in war, history, and especially the ANZAC legend, which is commemorated annually on 25 April, known as ANZAC Day. Additionally, the record presents a unique opportunity to further explore the relationship between the arts, sport and war. This statement of significance has already established that war is integral to Australia's national identity - and sport is of equal importance. Specifically, the record begs to question how the peak physical fitness and camaraderie valued in team sports were creatively translated into military recruitment campaigns during World War I. Evidently, this record and its historic context demonstrates that there is potential here, and if further research is completed on this topic, it may provide insight into Australian military recruitment tactics used in the past and present, and into the future.Sepia rectangular photograph printed on matte photographic paper mounted on card.Reverse: 6529 / hyossest (?) / (?)1/11/1 /military album, army, military, war, wwi, world war i, sport, football, rugby, aif, australian imperial force

1903 or 1908 Moorabbin Australian Rules Football Club. Philip Jones, a relative of James Jones who was a pioneer settler in Moorabbin Shire, is holding the football. In the late 1850s Melbourne's schools are first recorded organising football games modeled on precedents at English schools The earliest known such match was played on 15 June 1858 between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School on the St Kilda foreshore. On 10 July 1858, the Melbourne-based Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle published a letter by prominent Victorian cricketer Tom Wills, calling for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter. The Melbourne Football Club's rules of 1859 are the oldest surviving set of laws for Australian football. The ten simple rules were drawn up on 17 May at a meeting chaired by Tom Wills and in attendance were journalists W. J. Hammersley and J. B. Thompson, and Thomas H. Smith. The rules were signed by Tom Wills, William Hammersley, J. Sewell, J. B. Thompson, Alex Bruce, T. Butterworth and Thomas H. Smith. Importantly, the rules were widely publicised and distributed. Having been codified in 1859, this means that Australian football is an older sport than most other football codes in the world, including soccer. As Geoffrey Blainey states, "soccer has no club that matches the antiquity of the early Victorian clubs." In 1859 several new football clubs formed including the Castlemaine Football Club, Geelong Football Club and the Melbourne University Football Club. The first football match played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) was not until 1876. Cricket authorities soon saw the opportunity to capitalise on the rapid growth of Australian football, however, and soon most grounds in Victoria were expanded to accommodate the dual purpose, a situation that continues to this day. Football matches between 1859 and 1899 were played in a 20-per-side format. n 1896, delegates from the stronger and wealthier Victorian Football Association clubs—Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne—met to form a breakaway competition and in 1897, the Victorian Football League (VFL), was born as an eight-team competition. Popularity of the VFL grew rapidly and by 1925 with 12 teams, had become the most prominent league in the game and would dominate so many aspects of the sport from that point on. Moorabbin Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, was the name of two distinct Australian rules football clubs which played in the Victorian Football Association (VFA). The first club, founded in the early 20th century, joined the VFA in 1951 and played there until 1963 with great success; they played home matches at Moorabbin Oval and wore royal blue and white hooped jerseys. The second club played in the VFA from 1983 to 1987. Moorabbin played initially in the Federal Football League, making their debut in 1909 and competing until 1950. During this time the club won 12 premierships, including winning all six premierships staged over the nine years between 1940 and 1948 (the competition was in recess from 1942 until 1944). The club entered the VFA in 1951. Its Federal League home ground, the Dane Road Reserve, was not up to VFA standards; so, in 1951 the club played at Cheltenham, and in 1952 moved into the Moorabbin Oval, which the Moorabbin Council had developed during 1951. The Kangaroos made the 1954 and 1955 finals series without success but in 1957 they helped eliminate premiership favourite Williamstown after defeating them by two points in the Semi Final. Moorabbin, who were coached by Bill Faul, took on Port Melbourne in the Grand Final, whom they had not once beaten since joining the league. In another upset, Moorabbin won comfortably to claim their maiden VFA premiership. In the early 1960s, the Moorabbin Council was very keen to bring a Victorian Football League team to Moorabbin Oval. 1964, the Moorabbin City Council secured a deal with St Kilda, who moved to Moorabbin Oval starting in 1965. The club originally intended to seek readmission for the 1965 season, but in July the club committee decided to withdraw permanently from the Association,and disbanded.Photograph is Black and White. Three rows of Australian Rules Football players in a typical team photograph. Some are wearing striped jumpers, either the stripes are going horizontal or parallel. There is a known man in this photo, named Philip Jones, who is holding the football in front row. There are two men wearing suits at the left, on the end of the third row. Hewitt, Photographer, 92 Regent St. North Richmond.moorabbin, football club, 1903, 1908, philip jones, james jones, early settlers, market gardeners, pioneers, herron john, australian rules foorball, victorian footbal league, victorian football association, moorabbin city council, moorabbin shire, city of moorabbin, st kilda football club,

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

The Victorian Baseball League was established in 1889 with the following clubs - MCC, Metropolitan, Richmond, Richmond Cricketers, Kew, Geelong, Fitzroy, The Age, Carlton, Coburg. MCC defeated Metropolitan for the first Premiership. By 1897 Kew had built up to six teams, but went into recess about the turn of the century. They reformed c.1906 and did not resume until 1926 under Captain/Coach Frank Littlefield. I think he was ex Hawthorn Baseball and/or Cricket club(s). They won the D Grade Premiership of 1926 and/or 1927 playing out of Victoria Park at 12 noon, and as a curtain raiser to either Kew or Kew District or East Kew Football Club and after World War 2, North Kew which had now joined Kew as a tenant. Team members were H.L. Barclay (ex Richmond), A. Brierley (ex Collingwood), H. Ely (ex Essendon), Frank Littlefield, J. Marshall and C. Robinson (ex Hawthorn-East Melbourne Cricket Club). In 1926, the KBC played against Caulfield, Fairfield, Fitzroy, Ivanhoe, Northcote, Prahran, University, Williamstown, YMCA. In 1927, Preston replaced Fairfield. A third team was formed post WW2 which played at Willsmere Park. The Reserves followed to Willsmere Park in 1963 and the Seniors in c.1970. Kew Council moved the club to a sub-standard Stradbroke Park No 2 Oval for the 1976 season and this proved to be the last for the club. Melbourne Baseball Club moved in for two seasons, but also moved when improvements to No 2 Oval were not made. They then moved to Macleay Park in a share arrangement with North Balwyn BC. Research: Ian Job, 2015A premiership cap awarded to Christopher Robinson of the Kew Baseball Club in 1927.Navy blue peaked baseball cap, embroidered in gold thread with K B.C. Premiers 1927sports uniforms, caps, premiership caps, baseball,

The Victorian Baseball League was established in 1889 with the following clubs - MCC, Metropolitan, Richmond, Richmond Cricketers, Kew, Geelong, Fitzroy, The Age, Carlton, Coburg. MCC defeated Metropolitan for the first Premiership. By 1897 Kew had built up to six teams, but went into recess about the turn of the century. They reformed c.1906 and did not resume until 1926 under Captain/Coach Frank Littlefield. I think he was ex Hawthorn Baseball and/or Cricket club(s). They won the D Grade Premiership of 1926 and/or 1927 playing out of Victoria Park at 12 noon, and as a curtain raiser to either Kew or Kew District or East Kew Football Club and after World War 2, North Kew which had now joined Kew as a tenant. Team members were H.L. Barclay (ex Richmond), A. Brierley (ex Collingwood), H. Ely (ex Essendon), Frank Littlefield, J. Marshall and C. Robinson (ex Hawthorn-East Melb Cricket Club). In 1926, the KBC played against Caulfield, Fairfield, Fitzroy, Ivanhoe, Northcote, Prahran, University, Williamstown, YMCA. In 1927, Preston replaced Fairfield. A third team was formed post WW2 which played at Willsmere Park. The Reserves followed to Willsmere Park in 1963 and the Seniors in c.1970. Kew Council moved the club to a sub-standard Stradbroke Park No 2 Oval for the 1976 season and this proved to be the last for the club. Melbourne Baseball Club moved in for two seasons, but also moved when improvements to No 2 Oval were not made. They then moved to Macleay Park in a share arrangement with North Balwyn BC. Research: Ian JobTeam photo of the Kew Baseball Club players and club officials and or supporters. The grandfather of the donor, Christopher Robinson has been identified as sitting in the middle row, 2nd from left.kew baseball club, victoria park

The Victorian Baseball League was established in 1889 with the following clubs - MCC, Metropolitan, Richmond, Richmond Cricketers, Kew, Geelong, Fitzroy, The Age, Carlton, Coburg. MCC defeated Metropolitan for the first Premiership. By 1897 Kew had built up to six teams, but went into recess about the turn of the century. They reformed c.1906 and did not resume until 1926 under Captain/Coach Frank Littlefield. I think he was ex Hawthorn Baseball and/or Cricket club(s). They won the D Grade Premiership of 1926 and/or 1927 playing out of Victoria Park at 12 noon, and as a curtain raiser to either Kew or Kew District or East Kew Football Club and after World War 2, North Kew which had now joined Kew as a tenant. Team members were H.L. Barclay (ex Richmond), A. Brierley (ex Collingwood), H. Ely (ex Essendon), Frank Littlefield, J. Marshall and C. Robinson (ex Hawthorn-East Melb Cricket Club). In 1926, the KBC played against Caulfield, Fairfield, Fitzroy, Ivanhoe, Northcote, Prahran, University, Williamstown, YMCA. In 1927, Preston replaced Fairfield. A third team was formed post WW2 which played at Willsmere Park. The Reserves followed to Willsmere Park in 1963 and the Seniors in c.1970. Kew Council moved the club to a sub-standard Stradbroke Park No 2 Oval for the 1976 season and this proved to be the last for the club. Melbourne Baseball Club moved in for two seasons, but also moved when improvements to No 2 Oval were not made. They then moved to Macleay Park in a share arrangement with North Balwyn BC. Research: Ian JobTeam photo of the Kew Baseball Club players and club officials and or supporters. The grandfather of the donor, Christopher Robinson has been identified as sitting in the back row, 2nd from left.kew baseball club, victoria park, christopher robinson

VFL Complimentary GF Ticket 1938 GFThe Framed Ticket is for the 1938 GF is exclusively for Club Officials & Players only. 1938 was a premiership year for Carlton FCBrownish frame, 150mm x 10mm (6x4) wood &, cardboard & glass frame. The ticket is centered within the frame

The Victorian Bands' League was officially founded on the 10th of April, 1931. This new organisation quickly gained the affliations of all brass bands in Victoria and took over the control of bands from the Victorian Bands' Association. The new VBL started presenting massed bands events at the MCG and ran competitions around Victoria. This program pamphlet is a unique example of the style of massed bands events that were held at the MCG with 24 brass bands all marching into the ground and performing a number of items individually or in groups. This would have been quite a spectacle! This small program is very significant to the banding history in Victoria. It provides a wealth of information as to the bands that existed in 1933 as well as what they played, and how the VBL organised events. As well as this, there is evidence of a large number of metropolitan bands as well as bands from country areas.Small printed pamphlet on thin paper.victorian bands' league, melbourne cricket ground, malvern tramway junior, malvern tramways band, stonnington city brass, coburg west boys, prahran city, kingsville and yarraville citizens', footscray city, footscray-yarraville city brass, coburg city, northcote citizens and soldiers', essendon citizens', moonee valley brass band, geelong city, terang brass, geelong west city, south melbourne city, reservoir citizens', st. kilda city, oakleigh city, oakleigh band, hawthorn city, kensington district, brunswick city, moreland city band, moorabbin shire, metropolitan fire brigade, sunshine district, sunshine community brass, kew city, kynetown town

Program of event on 25 February 1954 at Melbourne Cricket Ground to welcome Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, presented by the Victorian Government in association with the Victorian Branch of the Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia.Folded white glossy paper, discoloured with age, printed in silver and blue on both sides. Displays the RSL logo.royal visits, queen elizabeth ii

This blazer belonged to Gordon Burleigh (1888-1956) who lived at ‘Macken Hill’ in Mepunga. He was the ninth child of James and Janet Burleigh who were early settlers in the Nullawarre area. Gordon Burleigh was a prominent and successful sportsman playing football and cricket in the local area and playing one game in 1914 in the Victorian Football League for Geelong. The blazer indicates that the cricket team he played for was the Premier team for 1934, 1935, and 1936 and the ‘S.W.’ on the blazer pocket may indicate South Warrnambool but it is more likely to be ‘South West’, perhaps the name of the district the team played in. This blazer is of considerable interest as it belonged to Gordon Burleigh, a prominent sportsman in the district in the early decades of the 20th century.This is a maroon-coloured blazer which belonged to Gordon Burleigh of Mepunga. It has gold-coloured edging and piping on the sleeves, pockets and edges (collar etc) of the blazer. It has two material-covered buttons and stitched buttonholes and gold stitching on the pocket. There is a tag on the collar but no writing is visible. Pocket: ‘Premiers, S.W., 1934-35-36’gordon burleigh, local cricket in the 1930s, warrnambool, cricket blazer