Indigenous star joins Australian Hall of Fame
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame chairman Peter King says an ‘‘oversight’’ has finally been corrected, with Indigenous star Johnny Mullagh given the recognition he and his trailblazing team deserves.
King revealed yesterday that Mullagh, the best player on the 1868 Aboriginal team that was Australia’s first to tour England, would be the sport’s maiden Indigenous inductee when the latest three-person intake is confirmed at the Cricket Australia awards night in February.
Mullagh was a match-winning all-rounder, who batted, bowled and even kept wicket with aplomb, and has also been recognised this year with the Mullagh Medal for best afield during the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.
The selection panel, which includes former Australian test captains Mark Taylor and Belinda Clark, former test batsman Paul Sheahan, The Age and
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Greg Baum and King, agreed that there would be a one-off change in criteria to allow Mullagh to be inducted as he had not played test cricket. The Hall of Fame was opened in 1996, and 44 players have been inducted.
Mullagh is considered one of the best players of his era, reinforced when he featured in 45 of the 47 matches on the 1868 tour of England, finishing with 245 wickets at 10, 1698 runs at 23.65 and also, at times, keeping wicket.
‘‘I think in this case, Cricket Australia, the players association and the Hall of Fame itself wanted to acknowledge the impact Indigenous players have had on the game,’’ King said.
‘‘This was probably a bit of an oversight, in retrospect, and I think we have chosen Johnny as a representative of that era as opposed to going back trying to individualise the individual inductees. I think that is a great decision but the ongoing inductee criteria hasn’t changed beyond that.’’
Mullagh, who hailed from near the town of Harrow, in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, will be one of three inductees announced in February.
King denied suggestions Mullagh’s elevation could be considered ‘‘tokenism’’, amid debate as to how much impact he and his team had. Inductees must have left a major imprint to be considered for induction.
‘‘I think it is acknowledgement of the contribution even though it may have been minimal and may not have been as significant as it could have been in the past. But I think this is really opening the way to the future and, hopefully, we are going to be engaging a lot more with Indigenous talent,’’ King said.
‘‘We have seen the evidence of this in other sports. There are opportunities for cricket to embrace that relationship with Indigenous people a lot more strongly. You may be correct by saying it hasn’t had a massive impact in the past but I think it certainly had an impact. They were the first touring team to travel outside of Australia, so I think they did pave the way a bit.’’
The panel had considered inducting the entire Indigenous squad but King said ‘‘ideally we wanted to pick out a representative of that team, of that era, more so than just that specific team.’’
‘‘His [Mullagh’s] record speaks for itself. It really should have been acknowledged previously. He is a standout character in that era,’’ King said.
Mullagh’s elevation comes as officials consider a shake-up of the Hall of Fame, with discussions on introducing a legend status – as is used in the AFL – and even allowing administrators to be nominated for general induction under way.