Melbourne Cricket Club
Spare button from MCC blazer worn by Dr Ian McDonald c.1958-1980, backmarked Stokes. Images used with kind permission from the Australian Sports Museum.
The first cricket match was held on Saturday 17th November 1838, with five men also meeting to form the Melbourne Cricket Club.
Port Phillip Gazette, 24th November 1838 page 3.
Port Phillip Gazette, 24th November 1838 page 3.
Quoted in The Age, 3rd December 1938 from a publication 30 years prior.
When building of the Hobson’s Bay Railway required the club’s ground in 1853, they were granted land in Richmond Park, to be their permanent home.
Illustrated Australian Mail (Victoria), 18th January 1862 page 40. “The grand cricket match between the All England Eleven and Eighteen of Melbourne at the MCG from the 1-4 January 1862. The first test match was held during the 1866-67 season.
The Australian News for Home readers, 20th December 1866 page 1. A match was to be held between ‘The Whites’ verses the ‘Aborigines of Victoria’. One player, Sugar, (standing to the immediate left of the white captain ) died before the match. They were described as “formidable opponents”.
The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil (Melbourne), 30th July 1881 page 252. A new pavilion was built , with the foundation stone laid by Prince Albert Victor (Queen Victoria’s grandson) on 4th July 1881. It replaced the original wooden members’ stand.
The MCC activities, apart from cricket and football, have included clubs involved in rifle shooting, lawn bowls, tennis, baseball and lacrosse.
Bowls at the MCG in 1921.
The Grandstand of the MCG for the Austral Meeting of the Melbourne Bicycle Club, 1898.
Referee (Sydney), 8th December 1938 page 16. Note the club monogram on the cap, as on the button.
For any comment or question, please use the Contact page.