"Observer"

This annual football publication, first published in 1875, is widely regarded as the first published book about Australian Rules football. It includes a guide to city, suburban and country clubs in Victoria. The 1878 edition contains an account of the Framlingham Aboriginal Football Team. Framlingham is near Warrnambool in south west Victoria. The team is described in one passage as ‘a fine strong athletic lot of fellows all of them. Who with practice would be second to none’. Several players are then mentioned, including Albert ‘Pompey’ Austin who was the first Aboriginal person to play senior level football in European colonist organised competitions. This section is on pages 99-101. The publication is online at State Library of Victoria at: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/114749… (meer)