Australia's first international touring cricket team, an all-Indigenous side who toured England in 1868 will be recognised at the upcoming T20 World Cup through an Indigenous inspired kit design.
The team of 13 First Nations cricketers, along with the extensive history of Australian Indigenous cricket and broader Aboriginal culture will be acknowledged through the kit to be worn by the national side.
It comes as Cricket Australia on Wednesday revealed the Australian Men's Cricket Team's playing kit for the upcoming home T20 World Cup.
The kit, which features prominent Indigenous designs has been co-designed by First Nations artists, Kirrae Whurrong woman Aunty Fiona Clarke and Butchulla and Gubbi Gubbi woman Courtney Hagen.
Ms Hagen said the design represented the historical significance of cricket to First Nations people whilst also acknowledging traditional Aboriginal culture.
First Nations artists Aunty Fiona Clarke (left) and Courtney Hagen co-designed the Indigenous inspired kit. Image: Jason McCawley/Getty Images.
"We wanted to try to represent as much richness of our First Nations cricket histories as possible but also represent the diverse culture that is First Nations culture of Australia," she said.
The Walkabout Wickets artwork is the centrepiece of the new kit which pays tribute to past, present and emerging First Nations cricketers.
"Around the Walkabout Wickets (artwork) we're featuring the First Nations flag colours, so the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colours which wrap around the jersey which I think is beautiful to have as a core piece," Ms Hagen said.
Although predominantly gold with a green gradient, Ms Hagen said there were many facets of the design which acknowledged Aboriginal culture and the history of Indigenous cricket in Australia.
"We've got different lands, rivers and borders represented and ancestors represented as the stars," she said.
"We've got some dark orange as well, which is a nod to where Indigenous cricket stems from which is the National Indigenous Cricket Championships and the Imparja Cup.
"On the back we've got the first 11 represented on the front is the Walkabout Wickets (artwork), which is a tie-in to the 1868 team."
1868 saw the first Australian cricket team tour England, a team that was entirely comprised of First Nations cricketers.
Co-designer Aunty Fiona Clarke is a direct descendant of James "Jimmy Mosquito" Couzens, a member of the 1868 team.
She said connection was an important theme for the design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecBG5OsZFXU
"The Walkabout Wickets (artwork) is to do with the past, present, and future," she said.
"The overall design is to do with the process of connecting with yourself as an individual, as a team, in the community and whatever is surrounded by you."
Ms Hagen said the design was a testament to the commitment by Cricket Australia to promote First Nations people as Australia's traditional custodians.
"Cricket's done the work," she said.
"We have so much deep history of First Nations representation, in the 1868 team, Eddie Gilbert, our national Indigenous sides, our nation Indigenous carnivals, our state Indigenous teams.
"We're starting to see it more as part of our identity now moving forward and this jersey represents that."
The upcoming tournament will be the first time an Australian cricket team has worn a Indigenous inspired playing kit at a World Cup.
Cricket Australia's decision to feature the design
Players Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood alongside kit designers Auntie Fiona Clarke and Courtney Hagen. Image: Jason McCawley/Getty Images.
on the international stage is of great significance to Miss Hagen as a First Nations woman.
"It's a really beautiful representation of seeing a team step up when the world is watching on the world stage in our home World Cup to wear a First Nations designed jersey and embrace it as our identity," she said.
"It's the core of our identity as a country and for a sport that didn't emerge from Australia, I think it speaks absolute volumes.
"It says when we're representing Australia, we're representing First Nations Australia because that's who we are."
Australia will host the ICC Men's T20 World Cup for the first time from October 16 to November 13.
16 teams will compete in fixtures held across multiple cities including Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground hosting the final on November 13.
