It was only in his 20s, when 35-year-old Scott Boland, Australia’s fast bowler who was about to play in the fourth Test against India, realized his origins. It started with her uncle remembering the secret whispers of Boland’s grandmother that silenced her husband. Paul Stewart, Boland’s life coach, a proud Taungurung man who worked with Cricket Australia as an indigenous cricket expert, remembers Boland’s family talking about those difficult memories. “The story goes that whenever his grandfather Jack had a few drinks, he would start talking about Colac, the home of the Gulidjan and Gadubanud indigenous tribes. And his wife was saying to him, ‘shut up Jack, shut up’.
Years later, Boland’s uncle followed that memory trail, did some digging, and discovered that Jack’s real name was ‘Alexander John Wyn’ whose mother died shortly after his birth. He grew up with an aunt, but was then taken in by a family named Edwards. He joined the army and became a printer after his retirement, but until his death, it is said that he did not mention the Edward family.
“Scott’s grandfather may have been a child of the ‘stolen generation’; I don’t know if he was forced out but growing up aboriginal in the 60s was a very difficult time. We had no voting rights. Children were taken from indigenous women,” said Stewart.
Every country has its dark side and this was Australia’s. From the early 19th century to the 1970s Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families as part of the Australian government’s assimilation program. The institution had treated indigenous people so badly that in 2008 the government, under prime minister Kevin Rudd, issued a formal apology to the “stolen generations”.
Stewart ran into the young Boland and his brother during the annual cricket tournament he ran for the native players. “He wanted to know about his roots and that got the ball rolling.” In 2018, Stewart became Boland, the fourth Indigenous Australian to wear the Baggy Green at Harrow, the spiritual home of Indigenous cricketers. Stewart remembers Boland’s usual composition getting emotional. It was at a special dinner in Harrow, a small town between Melbourne and Adelaide, home of Johnny Mullagh, the most famous Aboriginal player who played on Australia’s first tour of England in 1868.
“That quiet private dinner was a very emotional moment for him. I remember him saying, “It’s amazing that I had the privilege of carrying their names and being able to meet their descendants”. In 2018, the Boland brothers reached out to a group of Australian Aboriginals who traveled to England to commemorate the first voyage. Each player was given a name to ‘drive’ on the tour, the name of a player from the original 1868 tour. Scott was given the name Gulligan by first team player Yellanach aka Johnny Cuzens. His brother Nick represented Gronggarrong (Mosquito).
“Miyane and Cuzens were brothers like in Bolands. When we visited Harrow before the tour – Nick met Aunty Fiona Clarke (descendant of Mosquito) who designed the walkabout wicket logo that was used on the tour uniforms,” said Stewart. “Scott also had the opportunity to meet Aunty Vicki and Ashley Couzens (J Cuzens’ descendant). Boland was so moved that he told Stewart: ‘This is something I will carry on from this journey and for the rest of my life’.
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18-year-old Boland was obese, weighing 118 kgs. He often held a part-time job as a bartender at Doyle’s Hotel in Melbourne’s beachfront area and drove a van full of fast food wrappers. A few years later, in 2009, at his Frankston Peninsula cricket team’s ‘Meet the Coach’ day, head coach Nick Jewell gave him a stern pep talk: “You want to play for the first team so much but you’re not going to play for me, until you show me how much you want it.” The agreement was that if Boland lost at least five kgs, he would be given the opportunity to play in the big team match.
Boland was called ‘Barrel’, an obvious reference to his size. He asked his mother to give him soup as a main meal, and he kept his side of the deal, and lost those kgs. As well as the coach, Boland’s career began to evolve gradually. In four months, he lost almost 10 kgs as he changed his game drastically. Under Jewell’s tutelage, he learned to cut the ball away from left-backs, which is now his strength.
On Thursday, he will return to the MCG where he captured the imagination of the Australian public by taking 6 wickets in 7 against England in his December 2021 Boxing Day Test debut. In just four overs. His team mates were trying to get him to lift the ball but the embarrassed ‘Scotty’ just threw the ball at the referee, as many fans kept shouting, “Scotty Scotty!”. A cult-hero was born, almost in spite of himself.
“That’s him,” said his mentor Stewart. “Apart from that episode at the Harrow meeting, I’ve never seen him upset. I have never seen him angry. Always a soft voice. He is not one to grind or chirp on the field. He just barked and left.”
It must have helped him to face the reality of being in the team but not getting a chance due to the presence of the troika: Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. “Oh yes, of course. I sometimes joke with him who has a hammer or a knee that he wants me to twist, and all I get is a shake of the head and a smile. But of course, as a professional athlete, it must be very frustrating but he can’t be seen. He just waits for his turn.” Boland is close to waiting: his chance to play in the first team at his club, a place in Victoria’s first-class team, for the national selectors to call him, and the rare opportunity to be in Australia. eleven. Or for that matter, knowing about his Native roots.
As part of his education, Boland began visiting historical sites sacred to the indigenous people of the Western Regions. Waterholes, communities, and finally he found his way to Harrow, where the Mullagh museum is now a place of pride in the town.
“We started talking about maybe, it was my grandfather’s decision not to tell anyone about his origins. Because of the many challenges we face. I remember saying to Scott, ‘Mate, you’re really lucky because a lot of other families aren’t so lucky’. That stayed with him and he wanted to learn more and how he could help other underprivileged children. He was talking about how to embrace the culture,” said Stewart. “We would go to the Western regions, talk to the indigenous families there, and then they would be accepted by them.”
Scott’s reserved nature doesn’t seem to make him a natural choice to be a cult hero for cricket fans or locals. “But that is the most attractive thing in the cricket section. As far as Indigenous kids go, there’s nothing bigger than seeing someone like him play for Australia. Actions, more than words, move people.”
At his debut, when he presented the Mullagh Award to player of the match Boland, pride was evident in Belinda Duarte, the first traditional member of the MCG Trust and a descendant of Dick-a-Dick, a club mate. Mullagh on that historic first trip. “Some even say that adults have something to do with this,” he said. “We carry our elders everywhere. There were many indications today that they were close to him. ” Stewart hopes they will have Boland again against India in another Boxing day Test at the MCG. “Imagine, 90,000 people shouting ‘Scotty’ and he gets that Mullagh trophy again”.
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