'The story of New Norcias Aboriginal cricket team 1879-1906. How was it that New Norcia,this tiny and isolated outpost of Catholic Europe set in the heart of the Western Australian bush , could have given rise to such an extraordinary sporting phenomenon?' (Source: New Norcia Benedictine Community website)
'This is a fine, invaluable book. Its topic is one of the many forgotten stories of the sporting accomplishments of Australian Aboriginal people – in this instance a cricket team made up of Noongar (Nyoongah) men from the Benedictine Mission of New Norcia, Western Australia who played so well in the early 1880s that they became known as ‘the Invincibles’. Bob Reece provides an account that is at once careful, lucid and beguiling as he traces the rise and fall of the New Norcia team from 1879 to their final games in 1906. Reece’s focus is on their remarkable success against what were previously deemed the best cricket teams in the colony of West Australia – the Metropolitan Cricket Club of Perth, and sides representing Fremantle and the township of York. Many games are described in detail, with separate chapters devoted to the key seasons when the Noongar men played the finest cricket in the colony.' (Introduction)
'In Australia the formation of a national cricket team acted as a popular exemplar of the nationbuilding project, a touchstone of an emergent national identity and an important precursor to the political establishment of a white nation. Reflecting the attitudes of a nation-state that viewed membership of the white race and cultural adherence to British standards of civilisation as mandatory to national belonging, it is unsurprising that in the twentieth century the Australian cricket team also came to represent itself as the exclusive domain of white men. Popular narratives that mythologised Australian cricket celebrated matches against England as ‘Tests’ of white Australian masculinity. Cricketing victories against England were seen as indicative of the physical and moral superiority of the British race in Australia measured against those born in the mother country. No player publicly known to be Aboriginal has ever been selected to represent Australia in Test Match cricket, a fact that demonstrates the enduring strength of the historic relationship between Australian cricket and white nationalist sentiment.' (Introduction)
'In Australia the formation of a national cricket team acted as a popular exemplar of the nationbuilding project, a touchstone of an emergent national identity and an important precursor to the political establishment of a white nation. Reflecting the attitudes of a nation-state that viewed membership of the white race and cultural adherence to British standards of civilisation as mandatory to national belonging, it is unsurprising that in the twentieth century the Australian cricket team also came to represent itself as the exclusive domain of white men. Popular narratives that mythologised Australian cricket celebrated matches against England as ‘Tests’ of white Australian masculinity. Cricketing victories against England were seen as indicative of the physical and moral superiority of the British race in Australia measured against those born in the mother country. No player publicly known to be Aboriginal has ever been selected to represent Australia in Test Match cricket, a fact that demonstrates the enduring strength of the historic relationship between Australian cricket and white nationalist sentiment.' (Introduction)
'This is a fine, invaluable book. Its topic is one of the many forgotten stories of the sporting accomplishments of Australian Aboriginal people – in this instance a cricket team made up of Noongar (Nyoongah) men from the Benedictine Mission of New Norcia, Western Australia who played so well in the early 1880s that they became known as ‘the Invincibles’. Bob Reece provides an account that is at once careful, lucid and beguiling as he traces the rise and fall of the New Norcia team from 1879 to their final games in 1906. Reece’s focus is on their remarkable success against what were previously deemed the best cricket teams in the colony of West Australia – the Metropolitan Cricket Club of Perth, and sides representing Fremantle and the township of York. Many games are described in detail, with separate chapters devoted to the key seasons when the Noongar men played the finest cricket in the colony.' (Introduction)
