Marn Grook
Clip 1: The game
2 min 0 sec
Taken from the documentary Marn Grook (1996)
Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be G
Availability of the complete title
Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.
Curator’s clip description
Thomas Wills and his cousin, HCA Harrison, combined elements of soccer, Gaelic football and rugby union to come up with a concoction that incorporated all the codes and founded AFL in the 1860s. An overview of various codes of football over the years is shown through a montage including: historical photographs of Indigenous players; contemporary AFL match footage; stills of men playing various codes – soccer, Gaelic football and rugby union; and a re-enactment showing Indigenous men playing ‘Marn Grook’. Voice-over from narrator Ernie Dingo explains that in the 1840s, Aboriginal Protector Mr Thomas noted that he observed Indigenous men playing a game very similar to what became AFL, and the name of this game was ‘Marn Grook’.
