INDIGENE

INDIGINE - PART ONE by Whispering Jack

He was named Joe Johnson and he was the trailblazer for Indigenous Australian footballers, the first in the history of the VFL/AFL. After coming to Fitzroy in 1904, Johnson immediately played in a premiership team and he did it again in his second season but his VFL career did not endure. Joe Johnson finished up at Brunswick Street at the end of 1906 and by that time, he had 55 games under his belt.

Very few of his people followed him. Two decades later George Simmonds would play a handful of games with Melbourne but it was rare back then to see an Aboriginal player in the competition.

The first Australians were not treated kindly after colonisation by the British. They suffered from the muskets, the pick axes and the hangman's noose. Their women were abused and raped. Then many of those who escaped the white man's rough justice fell prey to his alcohol and his diseases and when that was done they were dehumanised and deligitimised in their own land where they were not even recognised as citizens despite a 40,000 year presence in this place going back to the dreamtime.

This I learned first hand when Pastor Doug Nicholls visited us in the early 1960s to address our school assembly. He was short in stature (a diminutive 154cm) and stocky by then but he was a gracious man who had us enthralled as he articulated the story of a young lad from Cumeroogunja in New South Wales who slept in boxes at the Victoria Market and fought in the legendary Jimmy Sharman's boxing tents in the mid 1920's.

The young Doug Nicholls wanted to play Aussie rules football with Carlton where he was allowed to train but the trainers refused to rub him down and the players didn't want him playing in the team. After overhearing some of them say that he "smelled", Nicholls crossed to VFA side Northcote playing in its 1929 premiership team before before joining Fitzroy in 1932.

Doug Nicholls played at Brunswick Street with triple Brownlow Medallist Haydn Bunton. He represented Victoria in 1935 and he was a brilliant rover in the years before the Second World War. His career was cut short when a knee injury forced him into retirement at the end of 1937 after 54 games with the Maroons. He was also a gifted athlete who ran professionally.

At the end of his football life, he became an effective spokesperson for his people. At the National Day of Mourning speech in 1938 Doug Nicholls said,

"Aboriginal People are the skeleton in the cupboard of Australia's national life .... outcasts in our own land."

And so it came to pass that his story did not end with the passing of a great sporting career. Nicholls developed an interest in religion, became a lay preacher, a social worker, the pastor of the first Aboriginal Church of Christ in Australia.

When Pastor Doug Nicholls spoke at my school he had been chosen by the Father's day Council of Australia as Victoria's Father of the Year for 1962. He went on to receive an OBE (1968), serve in Victoria's State Parliament as a Minister, gain a knighthood and became the 28th Governor of South Australia. He passed into the dreamtime 1988, a model for all his people.

I often think how unfortunate it was that Sir Doug Nicholls didn't live to see how well represented his people are in the very same sport where mean-spirited racism drove him out of one of our senior clubs.

The number of Indigenous Australian footballers to have played at AFL/VFL level has grown to almost 200; the recent growth in numbers having been exponential. Among that number are two of Sir Doug's direct descendants in David Wirrpanda and Nathan Lovett-Murray.

And the numbers are growing as the current senior and rookie lists of the 17 clubs now have above 80 Indigenous Australian which is a far cry from the time, over a century in the past, when Joe Johnson was the only one playing at the highest level in the sport.

TO BE CONTINUED

This series is written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of current Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

Please support the initiative of Demonology and Demonland by donating towards our special tribute (see below).

The Bank details are as follows:

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Limited

Jilmara Milikapiti

BSB 065901

Account No: 923542

Reference for donating use - "W.Tribute" for identification.

Donations will go as proposed by Judee on Demonology:

  Quote

Let's help Aussie's family with their Pukumani Tribute to honour Aussie's dear father. We fans can show our respect and love independant of anything the club organises and I am sure it will be noticed and appreciated. I have made a few calls and Judith R. has kindly already called Jilamara Arts and Craft Association on behalf of Demonology (and hopefully Demonland) who are happy to handle the contributions and make sure all goes to the specific needs. Perhaps to the cost of a Pukumani pole? All these things including feeding all guests can be really expensive.

We are family.