The First Cricket Tour to Australia and the ss Great Britain

The Mariner's Mirror Podcast

In 1861 the engineering maritime marvel ss Great Britain was chosen to take the first ever English cricket team to Australia. The tour was the brainchild of Melbourne-based businessmen, the caterers and wine merchants Felix William Spiers and Christopher Pond who had failed to persuade Charles Dickens to conduct a lecture tour of Australia. With cricket’s popularity growing in Australia they invited a team of leading English cricketers to tour the country. They arrived in Melbourne to a rapturous welcome on December 23, and played their first game on January 1, 1862. A quarter of the city’s population watched the match. To find out more Dr Sam Willis spoke with Natalie Fey from the ss Great Britain to discuss the players who went over on the voyage, how they would have lived and trained on the boat; Victorian cricketing superstar EM Grace, who wrote a very detailed diary which shows his first impressions of Australia; and the ss Great Britain's new mini cricket exhibition which goes on display on the 16th June with newly acquired collection items.

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