KNOWN for its links to the ground-breaking touring Aboriginal First X1 cricket team of 1868, the Western District township of Harrow is poised to again figure in the latest chapter of Australia's Indigenous cricket story.
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On the Johnny Mullagh oval, named for the hero of the Aboriginal First X1, a new generation of First Nations cricketers will make history this weekend when the Victorian and New South Wales Aboriginal Over 50s sides face off.
Staged by Veterans Cricket Victoria and Veterans Cricket New South Wales, the two-day inaugural Harrow Cricket Festival will feature a one-day match between the states on Saturday, April 13 and a T20 contest on Sunday, April 14.
Organisers hope it will pave the way for more interstate matches and lay the foundation for a national over 50s Indigenous side.
Coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of the opening of the Harrow Discovery Centre, which is based around Mullagh and the First X1, the weekend will also include various cultural and cricket-based activities.
The festival comes just a month after Harrows flagship Johnny Mullagh Championship, an annual commemoration of the Aboriginal First X1.
Led by the talented Mullagh, the side of predominantly local Indigenous stockmen learnt the game from their white workmates on district pastoral properties, and toured England in 1868, the first national sporting team to travel overseas.
New South Wales team captain and Veterans NSW board member Matt Lewis said Harrow would mark the first foray into interstate fixtures.
Further tournaments involving South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia were anticipated for September, with play-offs for a place in a national Aboriginal Over 50s side.
"Who knows where it could go? It could end up being part of the World Cup," Lewis said. "Anything's possible."
Lewis, who in 2020 represented Australia in the Over 50s World Cup side, said the choice of Harrow as a venue reflected its cultural and spiritual significance to Indigenous players.
"Harrow is the final resting place of Johnny Mullagh. Mullagh and the Aboriginal team who went over to England on that first tour were tremendous cricketers who had only taken up the game about five years earlier on local sheep stations," he said.
"For us as Aboriginal men recognising something very special that happened nearly 160 years ago, its playing on sacred ground.
"Harrow is a landmark place in our history. We hope it will be a very spiritual event."
Lewis said he hoped the tournament would become an annual event.
Discovery Centre manager Josie Sangster said the 20-year anniversary celebrations would include a tour of the towns culturally significant sites, guests Bharat Sumarsaren and Geoff Lemon from The Final Word Podcast series, video appearances by cricket greats and a performance by singer songwriter Matt Scullion who wrote the song 1868 about Johnny Mullagh and the First X1.
