Celebrating the 'Journey to the G'

Community

2016 marks the 150th anniversary of the ‘Journey to the G’, when the Australian Aboriginal Cricket Team travelled from Harrow in Western Victoria, through our Shire to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, to play their first match against the Melbourne Cricket Club on Boxing Day 1866.

Golden Plains Shire Council welcomed Ian Coutts, Secretary of the Mullagh Wills Foundation Committee before the August meeting of Council to talk about the event. Council was also delighted to welcome Deanne Gilson, Wadawurrung representative, who provided us with a Welcome to Country.

Sporting clubs and organisations, together with community groups and schools, are also invited to celebrate this important time in Australia’s history by adding messages of support into a Message Reconciliation Book. For more information on how your school or sporting club can get involved, please contact Dean, Recreation Team Leader  on 5220 7111 or by emailing [email protected].

Golden Plains Shire Council is proud to be part of the 150th Anniversary of one of the most remarkable achievements in Australia’s sporting and cultural history, and also formally recognized the achievements and expressed support for reconciliation through sport as part of the August Ordinary Council meeting.

Journey to the G will culminate with an official ceremony at the MCG on Boxing Day 2016 during the Australia v Pakistan Test Match. The Message Book and Message Stick will be presented to the MCC by the Mayors and Aboriginal Elders of the municipalities along the journey.

About the Mullagh Wills Foundation

The Mullagh Wills Foundation has been established to coordinate the historical and cultural commemoration and to recognise the achievements of Johnny Mullagh and Tom Wills in early indigenous cricket in Australia.

The basic purposes of the foundation is to:

  • Provide an opportunity to bring together communities across Victoria;
  • Recognise the contributions different cultures have made to our Nation;
  • Increase community awareness of the contributions made to sport and the community by Johnny Mullagh and Tom Wills;
  • Promote a message of reconciliation through sport;
  • Recognise and commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Aboriginal Cricket Team’s Boxing Day match at the MCG in 1866; and
  • Recognise and commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Aboriginal Cricket Team’s tour of England in 1868.

You can find out more about the Journey to the G, Johnny Mullagh, Tom Wills and their amazing achievements at the Mullagh Wills Foundation website.

Rate this page

Is this page useful?