Australians have often gone to great lengths to see their favourite sporting teams, even back in the 1860s. This is evidenced by the recently acquired diary kept by George Thomson in 1868-69.
Explore the diary of George Thomson in Trove
Thomson was advised to travel to Scotland for health reasons, and he decided to time his trip to coincide with the local all-Indigenous Australian cricket team’s tour of England, enabling him to catch a game in Surrey. The cricket team, made up of Jardwadjali, Gunditjmara and Wotjobaluk men who worked on stations in the Wimmera had achieved immediate success in matches against other teams in the district – they were also the very first Australian cricket team to tour England.
Thomson wrote in his diary about seeing his 'old friends' play in their first match and joining them for lunch. This is a rare eyewitness account of a significant event – cricket was important in early 19th century colonial society in Australia, and the 1868 tour of the Indigenous Australian team made headlines in both England and Australia and continues to be a significant moment in Australia’s cricketing history.
