On 6 May 1905, at Wesley College in Melbourne, the New South Wales Cricket Association and the Victorian Cricket Association founded the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket — the body that would become Cricket Australia. South Australia refused to join because the constitution gave players no representation; the dispute would eventually trigger the 1912 Big Six walkout.
The state associations had been founded in the 1890s — NSWCA in 1893, VCA in 1895, SACA in 1871, QCA in 1876. They organised inter-state cricket but had no national presence. Tours to England since 1878 had been organised privately by the touring players, who shared profits.
The wealth generated by tours was substantial — the 1902 tour reportedly cleared £8,000 — and the state associations wanted access to it. The 1905 board was effectively a state-association takeover.
Discussions had been ongoing since 1903. The 1905 meeting was the formal founding. Joe Darling, the Australian captain at the time, was opposed to the change but had no formal way to block it.
Until 1905 Australian Test cricket had been organised by the players themselves. Tours to England were arranged by an elected senior player (Joe Darling, Monty Noble and others), profits were shared between the players, and ground bookings were negotiated locally. The system worked but gave the state associations no income and left international tour selection to the players' inner circle.
The NSWCA and VCA, frustrated by the lack of revenue, agreed in early 1905 to form a national body. The first meeting was held at Wesley College, Melbourne, on 6 May 1905. The constitution gave each founder state three permanent representatives; the players were not represented at all. South Australia, whose delegates argued that without player representation the body would be illegitimate, refused to join. Queensland sent an observer.
The constitution was amended in 1906 to admit Queensland with one delegate and to give NSW, Victoria and SA three permanent representatives each. South Australia eventually joined. The board took over selection, tour management and revenue from the 1907-08 home Ashes onwards. The transfer was contested — Joe Darling led an organised player resistance — and eventually erupted in 1912, when six leading Australians (Trumper, Hill, Armstrong, Cotter, Carter and Ransford) refused to tour England in protest at the board's choice of tour manager. Australia sent a weakened side to the Triangular Tournament and the dispute lingered for years.
1903-04: First moves toward a national board.
Early 1905: NSWCA and VCA agree to form ABC.
6 May 1905: Founding meeting at Wesley College, Melbourne.
South Australia refuses to join (no player representation).
Queensland attends as observer.
1906: Constitution amended; SA and QLD admitted.
1907-08: Board takes over Ashes tour management.
1912: Big Six walkout — Trumper, Hill, Armstrong, Cotter, Carter, Ransford refuse to tour England.
1903-04
State associations begin discussing a national body.
Early 1905
NSWCA and VCA agree on a constitution.
6 May 1905
ABC founded at Wesley College, Melbourne.
1906
Constitution amended; SA, QLD join.
1907-08
Board takes control of Ashes tours.
1912
Big Six walkout.
1973
Renamed Australian Cricket Board.
2003
Renamed Cricket Australia.
“The board structure denied the players any representation.”
The Big Six dispute weakened Australia's 1912 Triangular Tournament side and was a contributing factor in the tournament's failure. The board prevailed in the long run; players were never given formal representation, and modern Cricket Australia (renamed 2003) maintains the same governance structure.
Clem Hill, one of the Big Six, never played another Test. Trumper played one more series (the 1911-12 Ashes) before his death in 1915. Armstrong returned to play and captain Australia after the war.
A founding moment of Australian cricket administration that solved one problem (state revenue) by creating another (player-board conflict). The pattern of 1905-12 — board imposing structure, players resisting — recurred through Australian cricket history (1977 World Series, 2017 pay dispute) and traces directly to the constitution adopted that May.
The Australian Board of Control was the model for the Australian Cricket Board (renamed 1973) and Cricket Australia (renamed 2003). The structural choice of 1905 — governance by state associations without formal player input — has been the basis of every Australian cricket structure since.
The 1912 dispute foreshadowed the 1977 World Series Cricket revolt, in which Kerry Packer's signing of the Australian team was, in essence, a player rebellion against the same governance principle established in 1905.
England
1932-08-12
In August 1932 the MCC selectors confirmed Douglas Jardine as England's captain for the 1932-33 tour of Australia, a decision contested at the highest levels of English cricket and one that — combined with Plum Warner's appointment as tour manager — would set the conditions for the Bodyline series.
England
1934-03-21
On 21 March 1934 Douglas Jardine wrote to The Cricketer that he had 'neither the desire nor the intention' of playing in the upcoming home Ashes series. The announcement, taken as a quiet resignation, removed the architect of Bodyline from the field before Australia returned to England — a precondition Australia's Board had implicitly demanded.
England / Gloucestershire
1937-11-15
In November 1937 Wally Hammond — the leading professional batsman of his era — was accepted by MCC as an amateur, opening the door to the England captaincy he received six months later for the 1938 Ashes. The change crystallised inter-war debates about the amateur-professional divide and the unwritten rule that England's captain be amateur.