·
Benn
Harradine,
Australia’s first Indigenous field event athlete and the first Indigenous
field athlete to represent Australia at an Olympic Game (Beijing 2008) and
World Championships in Berlin. He holds the Australian and Oceania records
for discus throwing.
·
Bianca
Franklin is
the older sister of Hawthorn football star Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin. She
represented Australia internationally in underage netball in 2004 and 2005.
A former Australian Institute of Sport netball scholarship holder, Franklin
played 9 seasons in the former Commonwealth Bank Trophy and established ANZ
Championship. A recipient of an ATSIC award for West Australian Young
Achiever of the Year in 2003, the shooter was nominated for Female
Sportsperson of the Year at The Deadlys in 2006 [35].
·
Cathy
Freeman,
a track and field athlete, won gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 after
being a silver medallist 4 years earlier. Cathy also owns a couple of world
championship 400-metre medals from 1997 and 1999, along with some
Commonwealth titles. In 2011 she was named an Australian sport legend.
·
Jacob Groth,
a sprinter, was a World Junior representative in 2004.
·
Joshua
‘The Boss’ Ross started as a track and field athlete in 2003 with his win in
the Stawell Gift [16] which he also won in 2005. Joshua was ranked number 6
on the all-time list after less than a year in competitive athletics. He
ended his career in November 2009 as the third fastest Australian over 100m
of all time (10.08 seconds). Joshua represented Australia in the 2004 Athens
Olympic Games, during the world championships in 2005 and 2009, and the
Commonwealth Games in 2006.
·
Kyle
Vander-Kuyp was
adopted by Dutch parents. He is an elite track and field athlete and hurdles
champion. He set the Oceania record in 1995 and competed at the 1996 and
2000 Olympic Games, as well as the 1994 and 1998 Commonwealth Games.
·
Nicole
Cusack was
a netballer known to have the ability to change the course of games with her
turn of pace and play making skills. An Australian Institute of Sport
scholarship holder in 1984-85, Cusack went on to represent Australia in 52
international Tests between 1989-1998, winning a world championship in 1995
and Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1998. After quitting netball, Cusack
went to coaching the Australian Diamonds [35].
·
Nova Peris-Kneebone was
a member of the Australian women’s hockey team at the 1996 Olympics,
becoming the first Aboriginal Australian to win an Olympic gold medal. In
1997 she switched sports to become a track athlete, winning gold in both the
200m sprint and with the 4x100m relay in 1998.
·
Patrick
Johnson is
a sprinter who started in 1996 at the Australian University Games in
Canberra. In 2003 while in Japan, he became the first Australian to break
ten seconds (9.93) for 100 metres in legal conditions, making him the 17th
fastest man in history. Patrick won the men’s 100m open at the 2006 Telstra
A-Series.
·
Dan Christian,
a Wiradjuri man, started playing junior cricket in Sydney to graduate from
Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in 2003. He also played in the UK a few
times [12]. He was the captain of the 2009 British tour of the Australian
Indigenous cricket team. Dan is the first Aboriginal cricketer to score a
century at an elite level on Australian soil.
·
Jason ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie is
a Kamilaroi man and has a 71-Test career. He is Australia’s first Indigenous
cricketer to play at the highest level [15]. Jason retired after 14 years in
2008 with 259 wickets and produced a double century in his final Test match
in 2006. A bronze statue at the Adelaide Oval acknowledges his contribution
to cricket.Famous
Aboriginal footballers/Rugby League players
·
Adam
‘Goodesy’ Goodes was
born in the South Australian Yorke Peninsula town of Wallaroo. He got
drafted to the Sydney Swans on the day of his Year 12 exam. Goodes is a dual
Brownlow Medallist and member of the Indigenous Team of the Century, and has
represented Australia internationally. He’s believed to be able to play any
position on the ground. Goodes was just the 64th player, and 4th Aboriginal
player, in AFL history to reach 300 games. He is involved in several
Aboriginal sport and community programs.
·
Allistair
Pickett began his
career with West Perth in 1995. Playing country football for an extended
period due to injury he continued to play for Peel Thunder in 2001. He
joined Subiaco in 2003 to become one of the club’s all-time finest and most
decorated players. He hung up his boots in 2011.
·
Andrew
McLeod, from Darwin,
started his career in 1994 and played a record 340 AFL games before retiring
in 2010 due to a knee injury, aged 34. Andrew won several medals, among them
‘Best on Ground’ in 1997 and 1998, the Michael Tuck Medal in 2003 and Jim
Stynes Medal in 2005. He captained the Aboriginal All Stars and the 2008
Dream Team.
·
Antoni Grover reached
200 games for the Fremantle Dockers in August 2011. Grover hails from Perth
and started AFL as an 18-year-old.
·
Corey Ah Chee,
debuted in 2000 in the South Australian Football League (SAFL) from which he
retired in 2009 after 206 senior games. He continued in the North Eastern
Football League (NEFL) in South Australia [14]. He was the first Aboriginal
captain of the Port Adelaide Magpies.
·
David
Wirrpanda,
footballer and Western Australia Young Australian of the Year 2008. Since
making his debut in 1996 as a 16-year-old for Perth’s Western City Eagles
David has notched 227 appearances for the club before retiring in 2009 after
the birth of his first child. David was named an All-Australian, represented
Australia in International Rules matches against Ireland and was the
inaugural AFL Community Leadership Award winner in 2003 [21]. His David
Wirrpanda Foundation (http://www.dwf.org.au)
helps underprivileged young people.
·
Des Headland retired
from AFL in September 2010 after a persistent knee injury. He played 52
games at the Brisbane Lions and 166 games with Fremantle.
·
Neil Nicky
Winmar points to
his black skin after playing Collingwood in 1993 because fans had hurled
racial abuse to him. The incident forced the AFL to finally begin tackling racism in
its sport head-on.
·
Gavin
Wanganeen, was the
first player to reach 300 AFL games during the 2000-2009 decade. He started
playing on 14 April 1990, aged just under 17 years, with the Magpies. His
score includes 127 games for Essendon, 173 games for Port Adelaide and 8 for
South Australia. Gavin’s nickname was ‘Indian rubber man’ because of his
flexibility. He quit in 2006 due to injury. Gavin was a first Aboriginal
Brownlow Medallist and first Indigenous footballer to 300 games. He was
inducted to the Australian Football League Hall of Fame in June 2010.
·
Gorden
‘Raging Bull’ Tallis played
rugby league from 1992 to 2004. During his peak he was considered the best
second-rower in the world, and in 2008 was named in an Indigenous Australian
rugby league Team of the Century.
·
Greg Inglis is
a versatile rugby league player who won the Golden Boot Award in 2009 as the
world’s best player.
·
Jonathan
Thurston is a Rugby
League player who started his career at the Canterbury Bulldogs before
moving to the North Queensland Cowboys in 2005. Thurston is the inaugural
winner of the Eddie Gilbert Medal in 2007, won the Wally Lewis Medal in 2008
and the Preston Campbell Medal in 2010. He’s rated by many as the best
league player in the world.
·
Laurie Daley represented
Australia in Rugby League on 31 occasions and has been named as one of
Australia’s finest players of the 20th century, playing mainly in the 1990s.
Daley was named in the list of Australia’s 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007).
·
Mark Ella is
considered as one of Australia’s all-time greats. He played 25 tests for
Australia and by 1982 captained the Wallabies. Mark was one of the inaugural
5 inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame in 2005, and
inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 1997. Ella retired in
his mid-20s.
·
Michael Long began
his football career with St Marys Club in Darwin. In 1989 he started playing
for Essendon. After 12 years with the club he had participated in 190 games.
Long won the Norm Smith Medal in 1993. He then started working as an
ambassador and chaired the Long Walk Foundation. In 2007 he was inducted to
the AFL Hall of Fame. Long is also known for his fight against racism.
·
Michael
O’Loughlin is one
of the most decorated Aboriginal players in the history of the AFL. His
career started in 1995. He was a member of the Indigenous Team of the
Century and just the third player with Aboriginal heritage to play 300
games. O’Loughlin twice represented Australia internationally. He played his
last game in August 2009.
·
Neil ‘Nicky’
Winmar who was
involved in Australia’s most infamous sporting racism moment in the 1993
season. Nicky’s match-winning performance against Collingwood brought on
some racist taunts from hard-core Collingwood fans. At the end of the game,
Nicky famously lifted his jumper and pointed to his black skin.
·
Troy Cook in
2010 ended a 303-game senior football career started in 1993, with 108 games
with the Perth Demons, 43 with the Sydney Swans, 150 with the Fremantle
Dockers and two while representing Western Australia.
·
Wendell
Sailor is of Torres
Strait Islander descent and debuted in 1993 and played for Brisbane, the
Dragons and Wallabies and finally St George Illawarra. Sailor played 14
rugby league games and 37 rugby union matches for Australia. His first grade
tally stands at 222 [17]. In 2006 Sailor was given a 2-year suspension for
drug use.
Famous Aboriginal socceroos
·
Belinda
Dawney was part of
the female soccer players, the ‘Matildas’.
·
Bondi Neale was
a famous Aboriginal goalkeeper in the early 20th century, playing in the
Northern NSW premiership. He also played rugby league, rugby union and
cricket.
·
Bridgette
Starr is the first
Aboriginal woman to play at a World Cup final in 1999.
·
Charles
Perkins played
soccer with Manchester United before becoming a national figure in
Aboriginal politics.
·
Jade North is
a defender and by June 2011 had played 34 times for Australia. He joined the
Brisbane Strikers as one of the youngest players of the National Soccer
League. North represented Australia at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, and
played for Tromso, Norway, in 2011.
·
John Moriarty was
the first Aboriginal person to represent Australia in soccer. Born in 1938
and a member of the Stolen Generations, he became a socceroo in 1960. He is
now an ambassador for Football Federation Australia’s Indigenous Football
Development Program. He also co-founded Aboriginal art business Jumbana
Group, famous for painting
a Qantas aircraft with an Aboriginal design.
·
Kyah Simon is
a female socceroo who led the Matildas into the knockout stage of the 2011
FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany. She is the first Aboriginal Australian to
score a goal in a World Cup tournament.
·
Lydia
Williams is a
female socceroo, considered to be the best goal keeper in women’s football
in Australia.
·
Travis Dodd became
the first Aboriginal soccer player to score a goal for Australia. He played
his 100th match with Adelaide United in 2009. He became the second person to
achieve this milestone (after Matt Thompson of Newcastle earlier that year).