Aboriginal Cricket Tour of England Attempted in 1867 — Blocked by Victorian Authorities

The Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines was established by the Victorian government in 1860 with broad powers over the welfare and movement of Aboriginal Victorians. Its policies, framed as paternalistic protection, in practice restricted Aboriginal freedom of movement and economic opportunity. The proposed cricket tour of 1867 was the kind of high-profile inter-colonial venture that the Board considered itself entitled to scrutinise.

Wills's withdrawal in early 1867 forced the commercial promoters to find a new captain-coach. Charles Lawrence, the Sydney-based English professional, accepted. The Board's opposition emerged through 1867 in the Melbourne press; mission staff and church leaders amplified it.

After Tom Wills's withdrawal from the Aboriginal coaching project in early 1867, the commercial promoters W.E.B. Gurnett and Charles Lawrence picked up the plan. They proposed a touring side that would play across New South Wales and Victoria in 1867 and then sail to England. The Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines, established in 1860 to oversee the welfare of Aboriginal Victorians, opposed the project on the grounds that the players' health and conduct could not be guaranteed in England. The Board's chairman, R. Brough Smyth, was a vocal opponent. Public objections were also raised by Christian missionaries who argued the tour would expose the players to alcohol and exploitation. The Board's authority over Aboriginal travel was not yet codified — that would come with the Aborigines Protection Act of 1869 — but its political weight in Victoria was sufficient to block the original itinerary. Lawrence responded by moving the operation. He brought the players up to Sydney by mid-1867 (where the New South Wales authorities had no equivalent body), continued coaching them at the Albert Ground, and arranged passage to England via Sydney rather than Melbourne. On 8 February 1868 the party boarded the Parramatta at Queenscliff, the Victorian port, in what some accounts describe as a deliberate evasion of the Board. The 81-day voyage took them to Gravesend on 13 May 1868. The Aborigines Protection Act of 1869 closed the loophole permanently.

The successful 1868 tour proved the players could compete to a respectable English standard but the political climate in Victoria turned harder. The Aborigines Protection Act 1869 confined Aboriginal Victorians to government missions and required signed permission to leave; further Aboriginal touring became impossible. None of the 1868 players ever toured England again.