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The 1868 First XI
The men, the matches and the memorabilia of the team that started it all.
Unaarrimin · Johnny Mullagh
One small town. A story that crossed the world.
Long before Test cricket, a team from Harrow did something no Australian side had done before them — they took the game to England.
They were stockmen and shearers from the stations of south-west Victoria — gifted cricketers who trained on a paddock pitch and played with a skill that drew crowds wherever they went. Led on the field by Unaarrimin, known to the crowds as Johnny Mullagh, they became the first Australian cricket team to tour England, in 1868.
Over a gruelling English summer they played 47 matches, travelling town to town, winning admirers with their batting, bowling and athleticism. It is a story of extraordinary talent, endurance and human achievement — and it started here, in Harrow.
Today the Discovery Centre keeps that story alive: the names, the photographs, the artefacts, and the living legacy that still runs through Australian cricket more than 150 years on.
Explore the collection