Tom Wills Coaches the Aboriginal XI — Boxing Day at the MCG, 1866

Tom Wills (1835-1880) was the son of a wealthy Victorian squatter, schooled at Rugby in England (where he played in the school first eleven), and a foundational figure of Australian sport. He had captained Victoria at cricket in the 1850s and in 1859 co-authored the rules of Australian Rules football. His relationship with the Djab Wurrung was complicated by a childhood spent on Western District country and shattered by Cullin-la-ringo.

The MCC committee approved the Boxing Day fixture in May 1866 as a one-off novelty. Wills agreed to coach in August. He spent November on the Western District stations selecting players. The Edenhope and Harrow stockmen were already playing organised cricket; Wills's task was to standardise their technique and fitness for a match on the MCG.

Wills's involvement with the Aboriginal team was, on the face of it, extraordinary. In October 1861, only five years earlier, his father Horatio Wills and 18 station personnel had been killed by Aboriginal raiders at Cullin-la-ringo in central Queensland, in the largest single massacre of European colonists in Australian history. Yet Wills had grown up among the Djab Wurrung people in Victoria's Western District, spoke their language, and in May 1866 the Melbourne Cricket Club commissioned him to coach an Aboriginal team for a public match. Wills travelled inland in November 1866 to gather players from station work at Edenhope and Harrow, including Mullagh, Cuzens, Bullocky, Dick-a-Dick and Tarpot, all of whom would later tour England. Coaching took place over several weeks, with Wills speaking to the players in Djab Wurrung. The Boxing Day fixture at the MCG drew a crowd estimated at 10,000-11,000 — extraordinary for a Victorian club match. The MCC won, but the Aboriginal team performed creditably and the public reception was strong enough that a follow-up summer tour of New South Wales and Victoria was organised. Wills withdrew from the project after early 1867 amid disputes over money and over the players' welfare, and Charles Lawrence took over the coaching and captaincy. Wills's mental health, never robust after Cullin-la-ringo, declined through the 1870s; he died by suicide in 1880.

“It was always a matter of wonder how Tom could be friendly with the blacks, considering that they murdered his father.”

Wills's withdrawal in early 1867 was followed by an attempted Aboriginal tour of England that was blocked by Victorian authorities. Lawrence eventually managed the 1868 tour from Sydney. Wills returned to first-class cricket for Victoria in 1869 but his form and mental health both deteriorated; he was cared for by his family through the 1870s and committed suicide in May 1880, days before W.G. Grace's English tour was due to play Victoria.