Almost 137 years to the day, Albert `Pompey' Austin, an Aboriginal from the Framlingham Mission Station near Warrnambool, made his senior football debut with the Geelong Football Club.
On May 25, 1872, a barefooted Pompey Austin ran out onto the field at Geelong's Argyle Reserve against Carlton. Pompey who had a fine reputation as a local athlete in the Western District, was the first Aboriginal to play Australian (then known as Victorian) football at the highest senior level.
Despite his skills and athleticism, Pompey's story was largely forgotten by the time he died in 1889. However as Melbourne Cricket Club Librarian, Trevor Ruddell highlights, Pompey has `a seminal place in the development of Aboriginal football and he should be celebrated. Not only for his cameo appearance for Geelong, but as a prominent member of Framlingham's first football team in 1877'.
Tomorrow's Dreamtime at the G pre-match game will honour the first Aboriginal to play senior football when the West Vic Eels play Tiwi Island's Imalu Tigers for the Pompey Austin Cup. The Eels have a long and successful history in state wide Indigenous sports carnivals dating back to the early 1980s.
Carnivals are extremely important cultural events, promoting healthy lifestyles, respect and pride through sport, while keeping cultural connections strong. It has been a dream of the Eels since its formation that they would play on Victoria's largest sporting stage- the MCG.
The West Vic Eels also play a vital role giving opportunities and providing a platform for Indigenous people of Western Victoria to participate in sport, administration, sport training, event management, as well engaging in the broader community through football. The Eels is a unique team that unites annually or bi-annually to participate in carnivals and has no permanent coach.
Each year players are selected from Western and South Western Victoria allowing a wide range of young men the opportunity to play in the team which unites five Indigenous communities in the region. For this reason the Eels are possibly the most unique Indigenous teams in Victoria's football history.
Football (in the general sense) was not unknown to the Framlingham community and neighbouring tribes in the nineteenth century; their ancestors had played Marn-Grook, an ancient ball game, for hundreds or if not thousands of years. Since Pompey's debut and the formation of the Eels many talented players have gone on to play football at elite levels. These include: Nathan Lovett-Murray (Essendon), Andrew Lovett (Essendon), Norm Mc Donald (Essendon), Leroy Jetta (Essendon), Adam Goodes (Sydney), Chris Johnson (Brisbane), Brett Goodes (North Ballarat VFL), Aaron Clark (Carlton VFL), Jason Misfud (St Kilda), Eric Clarke (St Kilda), Robbie Muir (St Kilda), Ted Lovett (Fitzroy), Phil Egan (Richmond) and Wally Lovett (Collingwood and Richmond).
Representing five Koori groups adjoining Gariwerd, Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre is the major sponsor for the game. The Eels, wearing significantly coloured and designed guernseys, will assert their unique position in Aussie Rules by promoting the cultural link from the traditional game, Marn-Grook, though to the continual contribution to the modern game by Western and South Western Victorian Aboriginals.
Visitors to Brambuk last Thursday witnessed a spectacular demonstration of living culture. Approximately 20 men, including Aboriginal Elders from South Western Victoria, attended a workshop held to make possum skin footballs used in their traditional ball game called Marn-Grook.
Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, the men sewed possum skins and filled them with grass and crushed charcoal to give them weight. The mountainous ranges of Gariwerd, known as the Grampians, provided a picturesque backdrop as the group divided into two teams kicking the ball high into the air and jumping and marking it; just as it was played hundreds or even thousands of years ago on the same land.
Marn-Grook was played by the Aboriginals of Western and South Western Victoria, including in the region now known as Moyston where the forefather of Australian Rules football spent his childhood.
Tom Wills grew up with the Djab Wurrung people speaking their language and playing their games. For the past decade or more Marn-Grook has become the central focus of debates amongst historians and sports writers who are divided in their beliefs as to whether Aussie Rules has its roots in the Aboriginal game or British Rugby.
For those who witnessed Brambuk's workshop, it is without a doubt that Marn-Grook, with its high kicks and marks, and large playing field had a strong and lasting impact on Wills.
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