In 1868, the first Australian cricket team set sail for England and the majority of the party were Aboriginals.

It seems appropriate that Gold Coast 2018 organisers have implemented a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which aims to involve indigenous groups more than ever before.

"With shared vision, together in unity, we move forward with energy and leave our legacy," is the policy laid down by the RAP.

Many feel recognition of First Nation groups is long overdue. For many years, the Aboriginal tour of 1868 had been almost airbrushed from history. It is now considered so significant that the museum at Lord’s cricket ground in London has dedicated a special exhibition to commemorate the anniversary this summer. The artefacts on display include vignettes of the touring party, aboriginal spears and clubs and an original scorebook from 1868.

The Aboriginal cricketers had first demonstrated their skills in matches played in Australia. These had proved an attraction for spectators and an idea was hatched to take a team to England.

In those days, there was little organisation of sport on a national level in any country and tours were organised as a result of private initiatives. The men behind this venture were William Hayman and Charles Lawrence.

A small party including 13 Aboriginals sailed for England on the wool ship Parramatta on February 8 in 1868. The captain of the ship was John Williams. He read from the bible on a regular basis during the voyage. The travelling party "very soon lost all fear of the sea as they heard the captain pray", it was written later.

Their progress by sea was excitedly charted by the press in England and when they finally made landfall they were received with even greater enthusiasm. The party was greeted by Hayman who had sailed ahead of the team.

"They are the first Australian natives to have visited this country on such a novel expedition," wrote the Sporting Life newspaper.

"They exhibited their cricket prowess. We hear they gave satisfaction to a critical coterie of spectators."

The team made their base at West Malling in Kent in South East England, partly because Hayman had family connections in the area.

The London Standard spoke of how "great curiosity has been lately evinced in cricket circles". Most in England were surprised by the ability shown by the visitors in "a game of skill hitherto considered almost exclusively English".

It was no mean accomplishment. The players were said to have found it difficult to acclimatise. In the gloomy English evenings, the teetotal Aborigines thought they were seeing double.

Wherever they went they caused great excitement and even joined the crowds at Epsom racecourse on Derby Day.

"With respect to their prowess as cricketers, that will be conclusively determined in their first public match," reported the Sporting Life. "To use a homely phrase, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating!"

Their first cricket match was against Surrey at Kennington Oval in South London. One newspaper described it as "the event of the century".

One of the umpires for the match was Julius Caesar, one of the most famous Surrey players of the era.

Surrey comfortably won the match by an innings but apart from the cricket there was an additional attraction. This drew a crowd of some 4,000.

They had also come to see "athletic sports at which these interesting strangers are said to excel", reported the Daily News.

These sports included spear and boomerang throwing. These "which were evidently the chief attraction, evoked the hearty cheers of onlookers".

The boomerangs were described as "curious projectiles". Their flight was "most remarkable and bird like but at the same time erratic and not altogether free from danger".

By way of uniform, the team wore red shirts with a diagonal blue sash and each player had a different coloured cap for identification purposes. This was common practice in football at the time but some reports described the headgear as "turbans".

While they were in England, all the players were given nicknames, described as "soubriquets". This was because "high sounding native titles" proved beyond the linguistic abilities of their hosts. A player known as Jumgumjenanuke was given the name "Dick a Dick". He became famous for his ability to defend himself with a shield against a shower of cricket balls thrown by players and spectators. This he did "with grace and dexterity".

An account of exploits told of "the impudent assurance with which he challenged the most skilful throwers and the grotesque grins with which he greeted their inevitable failures to hit him provoked the greatest mirth".

This "sporting" display was repeated up and down the country as an added attraction to the cricket as the Aboriginal team continued their tour.

The promoters even persuaded the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to offer them a match at Lord’s. Even then, this ground in North West London was the most famous in the world.

This represented a change of heart on the part of the club. Contact had first been made with Lord’s after the touring party had sailed. The response of the MCC Committee had been unenthusiastic.

They decided that the proposal be "kindly declined as it was of the opinion that the exhibition was not suited to the Lord’s Ground".

MCC changed their minds, partly after they realised that the Australian team were attracting big crowds. Even so, some members of the Committee remained highly suspicious of the athletic sports such as boomerang throwing. The Club laid down certain conditions under which the match would be allowed and it was stipulated that "no exhibition except the cricket match shall take place on the ground".

For the most part, the contest was a competitive one. In their first innings, MCC were dismissed for 164. The Aboriginals batted solidly in their first innings and led by 21. MCC scored only 120 in their second innings which gave the Aboriginals a real prospect of what would have been a highly prestigious victory. Unfortunately, their batting in the second innings was disappointing and they were 45 all out. One of their players was absent for reasons which were never explained.

The match finished early, so the spectators did their best to encourage the Aboriginal team to provide some extra entertainment in spite of the strict regulations set down by the MCC Committee.

A report of the day said that the players "exhibited their usual sports."

A few days later at the next Committee meeting at Lord’s, one member fumed about "the boomerang performance" He said this "had taken place in violation of the [MCC] Committee’s rule".

Others took a more pragmatic approach and admitted "the performance seemed to give general satisfaction and the public would have been much disappointed if it had not taken place".

The match at Lord’s encouraged others to invite the team to play. They travelled extensively in England and Wales throughout the summer.

But tragedy had struck. One of the team members, listed as "Brippokei" or "Bripumyarrimin", was known as "King Cole". He was struck down with a cold during the tour but his condition worsened rapidly. It was later diagnosed as a combination of tuberculosis and pneumonia. He was taken to Guy’s Hospital but there were no antibiotics in those days and he died in mid-June "of disease of the lungs".

He was buried in the East End of London.

A verse in memoriam was composed which included the following:

"Now run out for nought in the innings of life,

"By the grave of the good he is sleeping,

"Yet sad are his comrades, though reckon they well

"How safe is their mate in our keeping.’’

In August, the team visited the Trent Bridge ground in Nottingham. "Australian and English sports" were advertised. These included boomerangs and spears but also throwing the cricket ball, standing high jump and long jump, pole vaulting, a flat race over 100 yards, a flat race backwards and a "water bucket race". For all these contests, substantial cash prizes were on offer.

The team returned to the South East of England in September and played at Blackheath on a wicket "soddened with water so that the bowling of the Aboriginals had no chance".

By the time the remaining players boarded their ship for the long return voyage to Australia in mid-October, they had played no fewer than 47 matches and won 14 of them.

Players such as Johnny Cuzens - "Zellanach" - had received positive notices on tour. "He hit hard and bowled very fast," said reports of the day.

They had been received with great enthusiasm in England but back home their contribution to Australian sporting history was largely forgotten.

In the years which followed Aboriginals rarely figured in top-level cricket. A Queensland fast bowler called Eddie Gilbert was thought likely to make the breakthrough in the 1930s. His pace was such that it even caused difficulties for Don Bradman, considered the greatest Australian batsman of all time. 

Yet Gilbert was never chosen for Australia. This was partly because of whispers about the legality of his bowling action and partly down to racial discrimination at the time. His final years were spent in declining health at an institution.

It was not until long after his death that a statue was finally erected in his honour. Recognition for the exploits of the 1868 team was also a long time coming. The ledger for the tour came into the possession of Bill O’Reilly, a great figure in Australian cricket before the Second World War. This he donated to the Melbourne Cricket Club. Historians Rex Harcourt and John Mulvaney were then able to re-discover the details of the tour. They published their findings in a book, perhaps appropriately entitled Cricket Walkabout.

In 1988, 120 years after those pioneers had made their epic voyage, Australian rugby union star Mark Ella brought a cricket team to England as part of Australia’s bicentenary celebrations. They planted a tree in memory of "King Cole" and left a commemorative plaque in Meath Gardens, now a London park. This bore an inscription which, when translated, read: "Your aboriginal dreamtime home, wish you peace."

Ashley Mallett, who took 132 wickets in 30 tests of the powerful Australian cricket team of the 1970s, was intrigued by the story of Australia's cricket pioneers. He coached a team of young players of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands descent on a tour of England in 2001.

The party was captained by Barry Firebrace, a descendant of Johnny Cuzens from the 1868 party.

"Everyone is very conscious of that, that is probably the main thing for us," said Firebrace. "To come over and try and re-enact the 1868 tour, to win as many games and leave a good impression like they did."

The team played club sides and were taken to the final England versus Australia Test match. By happy coincidence this was at Kennington Oval, where the the 1868 tour had begun. The youngsters were welcomed by the Test team and met Jason Gillespie, a fast bowler who played 71 Tests for Australia. Gillespie, now a highly-respected coach, has Aboriginal heritage.

The players also visited Victoria Park cemetery and renovated the site where the Eucalyptus tree was planted.

It has taken a long time for the contribution of aboriginals in Australian sport and life to be acknowledged and in previous years they found themselves on the outside looking in, even at the Commonwealth Games.

The 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney had been preceded by Australia’s 150th anniversary celebrations. This event was marked by "a day of mourning" and a gathering was organised by the Aboriginal Progressive Association.

The last time the Commonwealth Games were held in Queensland was at Brisbane in 1982. There were demonstrations against State Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen who took a hard line against Aboriginal land rights. A protest camp was set up close to Games venues. Many were arrested by police on a daily basis.

As the 20th century came to a close, though, things were beginning to change.

Maori elders played a prominent part in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, while organisers of the 1994 event in the Canadian city of Victoria made it their policy to recognise First Nation peoples. It was here that Australian Cathy Freeman unfurled the red, black and gold flag after her victory in the 400 metres. At this time it was still unfamiliar to many outside First Nation communities.

When the Olympic flame for the 2000 Games in Sydney began its Australian odyssey at Uluru, hockey player Nova Peris, who as part of the Australian women's hockey team at Atlanta 1996 was the first Aboriginal Australian to win an Olympic gold medal, was selected as the first bearer. She removed her shoes as a tribute to her ancestors. 

Freeman herself was chosen to light the Olympic Cauldron in another symbolic gesture at the Opening Ceremony. 

Now the involvement of the Yugambeh people and other First Nation groups at Gold Coast 2018 and the RAP is considered "a meaningful opportunity to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation" through the use of indigenous businesses and offering employment and training.

Yugambeh Elders Advisory Group members Ted Williams and Patricia O'Çonnor joined The Queen at Buckingham Palace for the start of the Queen’s Baton Relay for Gold Coast 2018 in March last year.

"They are taking us seriously," Williams said. "Reconciliation is a process we’re going through and I am very committed to it. They are committed to find ways to include indigenous Australians in the Games. The programme that we have in place is designed specifically to take advantage of opportunities. 

"They can move on to the rest of their lives with something from the Games."