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First Nations and sport

First Australians Sport

Introduction

First Nations people participated in sports long before Australian Federation.

Indigenous athletes have achieved elite level success across many sports including Australian Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Tennis, Boxing, Basketball, Cricket and Athletics.

Their success and contributions inside and outside the sporting arenas have often been recognised by awarding of formal honours such as the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) or the Order of Australia (OAM), as well as recognition and respect being shown in other ways such as the renaming of a trophy, e.g. the Rugby Union Ella-Mobbs Trophy and naming of an Australian Football League (AFL) Round, the Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

Six women smiling as they play football. One has just kicked the ball.

Darren Clark, The Stronger Sisters playing football at the Tennant Creek football Grand Final, 2011, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-152960442

Darren Clark, The Stronger Sisters playing football at the Tennant Creek football Grand Final, 2011, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-152960442

How to find information on First Nations people and sport

Photo of indigenous team Murrin Bridge 6 stone 7s football team, New South Wales, July 1961

Phil Wilding, Murrin Bridge 6 stone 7s football team, New South Wales, July 1961, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-151504425

There are resources available which can help you research First Nation people’s sporting achievements, experiences, and stories.

Start with the Library catalogue and enter some keywords to find titles, authors, or subjects.

  • If you get too many results, use the Narrow search options (at the right of the results page) to display only the items of interest. e.g. audio (oral histories) or manuscripts
  • If you need to widen your search, click on subject headings in an item’s catalogue record to find other material related to that subject.

Examples of subject searches you can try include:

The Library also holds a number of interviews with First Nations people as part of the Sport oral history project, some of which can be freely listened to online.  Try an advanced search in our catalogue to find a list of these interviews. 

Other items on specific sports or sports people can also be found by searching our catalogue. For example, you can try some of the following keywords as subject searches:

  • Aboriginal Australians - football
  • Aboriginal Australians - athletics
  • Aboriginal Australians - boxing

Selected works

Racism in sport

You can search our catalogue to find items which discuss racism in Australian sport.  Search with keywords or try the following subject searches:

Selected works

National Museum of Australia – Defining Moments

Includes hundreds of events, people and places of profound significance to the Australian people including the following:

Access to Library materials

If you are a registered reader, you can request items to read and photocopy in the Library's reading rooms.

Registered readers can also search selected subscription databases via our eResources portal.

If you can't visit the Library, you can use Copies Direct to request copies and have them sent to you via mail or email. Please note there may be copyright restrictions when using this service.

You can also search Trove to find a library closer to you which has the item in their collection.

If there is no library near you with the item, you may be able to arrange an interlibrary loan through your local public or institutional library. Please ask staff at your local library for assistance with this.

Photo of Aboriginal children playing football, Wudikapildiyerr outstation, Daly River, Northern Territory, 25 June 2010

Darren Clark, Aboriginal children playing football, Wudikapildiyerr outstation, Daly River, Northern Territory, 25 June 2010, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-152235728

Darren Clark, Aboriginal children playing football, Wudikapildiyerr outstation, Daly River, Northern Territory, 25 June 2010, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-152235728

Page published: 21 Nov 2023

Also in this guide

Black and white photo of Aboriginal Australian cricketers in 1868 with C. Lawrence and W. Shepherd as Manager and Captain

Aboriginal Australian cricketers with C. Lawrence & W. Shepherd as Manager and Captain, England, 1868, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136410831

First Nations sporting greats

First Nations athletes have been involved in some of our most triumphant moments in sport and continue to make a significant contribution to our nation’s sport at all levels.

First Australians
A gold medal standing upright on a white cotton surface. The medal shows a figure holding a trumped and a wine amphorae. Behind the figure is a bust on a stand. In raised lettering around the edge of the medal are the words 'Olympiska Spelen Stockholm' The year '1912' is also present.

Olympic gold medal won by Miss Fanny Durack at Stockholm, 1912, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-139311257

Women in sport

Topic

Today, at the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games, tennis tournaments and a host of other sporting events, men and women can compete at elite levels. But this has not always been the case for sports and recreational physical pursuits.

Digital Classroom
Black and white photo of basketball player, Robert Rose, poised to shoot at the goal

Damian McDonald, Robert Rose, basketball player from Canberra Cannons team, 1997, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136393881

Sporting immigrants

With new people and cultures come new ideas and a significant immigrant contribution to Australian sport and society.

Research guide
A black and white photo of Louise Sauvage leading another wheelchair racer on a track.

Serena Ovens, Portrait of Louise Sauvage, 1996 paralympian, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136368441

Disability and sport

The sporting movement for people with disabilities began in the 1940s with the pioneering work of Dr Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England.

Research guide

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