#edenhope

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

Tom Wills, the Cambridge-educated Victorian who had drafted the original rules of Australian Rules football in 1859, captained an Aboriginal XI from the Edenhope district against the Melbourne Cricket Club at the MCG on Boxing Day 1866 in front of more than 10,000 spectators. The match — the first cricket fixture between an Aboriginal team and a leading white club — was the proving ground that led directly to the 1868 English tour.