Indigenous cricketer ‘King Cole’, who died during 1868 UK tour, honoured
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In 1868 a team of 13 Indigenous cricketers travelled by sea to England for a gruelling 47-match trip in what was Australia's first ever sporting team to tour overseas.
It was ten years before the Australian cricket tour that gave birth to Test cricket, and the team were a hit with local crowds, winning 14 games, drawing 19 and losing 14.
But one of them never returned home.
That man was Bripumyarramin, also known as King Cole, who died midway through the tour from complications linked to tuberculosis and pneumonia.
He fell ill a week after the team's narrow loss to the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's and was taken to hospital before passing away on June 24.
Cole was laid to rest at Victoria Park Ceremony in East London, where the Australian Indigenous cricket teams gathered on Wednesday to unveil a noticeboard telling the often-overlooked story of King Cole and the team.
The current tour features female and male teams and is commemorating 150 years since the pioneering tour took place, with fixtures including rematches from the original tour.
This year's female team itself is forging new ground as the first women's Indigenous team to tour the UK.
Natalie Plane, a medium-fast bowler hailing from the Mornington Peninsula and with links to the Kamilaroi mob, said paying tribute to Cole and the team's legacy was something very special to be a part of.
"Unfortunately he didn't make it back home, so it's really cool that we get to come over here and honour him, and give him a path that he deserves," she said.
"People, they don't know the story, don't know the history of this place and now it's going to be here forever."
Cole was from the Wimmera region in Victoria where most of the of the players of that tour where recruited from cattle and sheep stations where they worked as stockmen.
The men were introduced to cricket by wealthy station owners.
"Back in those days it was tough," off-spinner Sally Moylan said.
"Not only were they unbelievable cricketers but unbelievable bushmen too.
"What they would have come from back home and then to be able to bring that and showcase that — it shows great resilience."
Cole showed that resilience in the first game on tour — the slight-framed all-rounder scoring 14 runs in the first innings and taking two catches at point.
A month later he became seriously ill at the team's lodgings in South London and was taken to Guy's Hospital, where he died at the estimated age of 30.
Today a plaque and new noticeboard sit in the shade of a gum tree at Meath Gardens, formally Victoria Park Cemetery, telling the story of Cole and his trailblazing teammates.
Tyran Liddiard, who is representing Cole on tour and wears his name on his shirt, pointed to his heart when describing how much it meant to him.
"Representing King Cole, it means a lot to me personally — he's in here, he's on my shirt when I'm playing," he said.
"Obviously we're here to play cricket, but we're learning a lot about ourselves and our culture as well."
Travelling with the team is mentor and educator Peter Cooley, who said it was important for the team to connect with the past and the "remarkable" feats of the 1868 team.
"I think it's one of the greatest untold stories," he said.
"To do what these players did, and the people involved in that team did by travelling abroad and playing 47 matches in a six-month period, had 14 wins and 14 losses and 19 draws, across a 126-day period when they were on the field for 99 days — which is extraordinary.
"I'm enormously proud of our people for the courage and the bravery that they showed by leaving our shores and not knowing what to expect.
"But the foundation for that was cricket, and that's what's brought us all here together today to celebrate that."
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ABC .net
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