This book investigates the experiences of one Aboriginal family with an extensive history of involvement with Australian Rules Football. The study focuses particularly on the involvement of the Hayward family in Australian Rules Football, in which they have been intensely involved for many generations. Based on a 2002 thesis. See ‘Hayward’, in University Theses' collection.

Edited description from Trove.

In this book the author tells the epic saga of his family, and in doing so provides a unique snapshot of Aboriginal Australia. He describes the hardships of extreme poverty, the bush and the city, the mission and camps to playing professional football and studying at University.
The book describes how the author’s family experienced an extensive period of colonisation in which their social and cultural autonomy were eroded. It demonstrates how the historical experience of Aboriginal Australians is vastly different to that of mainstream Australians.

The author was born in the Gnowangerup Mission in 1945, and later studied in Perth while living in a hostel run by the Native Welfare Department and later working in government. The author’s father his uncle were stars of the South Fremantle Football Club in the 1930’s and their involvement in football spread to the wider family.

The book suggests that with little access to education or to the mainstream community, sports like running, boxing and football provided a way for Aboriginal people to mix and meet people and to hear about work. The story notes how sport allowed Aboriginal people to show that they were talented and that they could do well.

This book tells the story of Aboriginal life in the central Great Southern from the point of view of people who lived it. It’s the story about how they coped and how they contributed to the development of their country. It draws attention to how Aboriginal people have been under-recognised and undervalued and under-rewarded. ( )