Wallaga Lake Aboriginal Cricket Team

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cricket became a defining part of life on the Wallaga Lake Aboriginal reserve. From this community emerged the Wallaga Lake cricket team, a side now best remembered through the iconic photograph held in national collections. Captioned “The Wallaga Lake Aboriginal cricket team with Mr Hockey” (c.1900), the image captures players from the Penrith, Davis and Bond families standing alongside the station manager.

The Team grew out of everyday games at the reserve’s well-used cricket ground, located in an area where families had camped and fished for generations. The team made excursions to compete in nearby towns. In 1900 the Cobargo Chronicle reported that “a team of aborigines from Wallaga Lake Station visited Cobargo on Saturday” for a challenge match. Into the 1910s they remained active, appearing in reports of Wallaga Lake sports days and open-air concerts.

The Team also featured in mechanics’ institute concerts and fundraising events. During this period of history, cricket became a platform for Aboriginal men to showcase skill, discipline, and sportsmanship at a time when racial discrimination and stereotypes were widespread. Success on the cricket field fostered pride within communities and challenged societal prejudices about Aboriginal capabilities.

This sporting life formed part of a broader cultural world at Wallaga Lake at the time, one rich with music, gum leaf playing and supper dances. Despite the hardships of being under the control of Aborigines Protection Board, the Wallaga Lake Community found ways to keep their connection to each other strong, a mark of the resilience and determination of the people who lived there.