Indigenous cricket star and Cricket NSW (CNSW) Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group co-chair, Andrew Gordon, spoke to CNSW Foundation’s Project Specialist Tamara Lowe ahead of NAIDOC Week on the importance of this year’s theme Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud, and how cricket brings community together.
Gordon spoke to Lowe about his cricketing journey as a Kamilaroi-Wailwan man growing up in regional NSW and how he went on to play for the Imparja Cup. “Playing at the Imparja Cup was something I was pretty fortunate to do because I didn’t have a lot of Aboriginal cricketers in the team that I played with growing up. I spent a vast majority of my time when we played Imparja Cup learning from the other guys that played cricket, with a lot of them older than me at the stage,” Gordon said.
He talked about how he now helps younger players through the experience he has had. “When I became one of the senior players, I was able to offload some of my experiences to the younger generation that’s coming through,” he said.
This year’s NAIDOC Week theme, Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud honours the enduring strength and vitality of First Nations cultures. Gordon says 2024’s theme is also not just about your own personal journey, but also what you want to achieve in your life, both as an Aboriginal person, but also as someone in the community.
“The theme is about keeping that fire burning because, you know, while we’re all on a different journey, we’re also all on the same journey I think NAIDOC week is about celebrating the Aboriginal people of our nation, celebrating our history, but also thinking about what our future is going to entail,” Gordon said.
This NAIDOC Week, CNSW has launched an organisation-wide update to everyone’s email signatures to include the Aboriginal Land on which we work and play. CNSW’s Sydney-based staff will also contribute to a hand artwork during NAIDOC week as a symbol of belonging and connection between individuals, communities and ancestral spirits, and a group will participate in a guided Wangal walk with Indigenous academic Dr John Hunter to the Murama Healing Space in the lands adjacent to CNSW’s home, Cricket Central.