by Syd Jackson
FOOTBALL has given me opportunities most only dream of. Do you know the biggest crowd to ever watch a game? I do.
At the 1970 Grand Final between Collingwood and Carlton 121,696 people crammed into the MCG.
I know because I not only saw it, I played in it – one of the greatest finals ever.
Collingwood gave us a first half footy lesson. Everyone thought it was all over when they led by 44 at half time.
I can’t remember what Ron Barassi said in the break but it can’t have been pleasant.
It worked though because we knocked their lead back to 17 in the third and went on to win by 10 – the greatest comeback in Carlton’s long history. Sometimes I think I can still hear that crowd.
You don’t get many experiences like that in life and I’ve shared in the recognition that team earned ever since, which is a good feeling.
But here’s the thing. I’m not really Syd Jackson at all.
I mean, I am, in a sense, but that’s not what my mother called me.
I have no idea what she did name me, but it would have been in the language of our people from the desert country out around Leonora in WA.
White people there called me Sydney, after the actor, Sid James, apparently.
When I was only tiny they came and took me and my sisters to a place called Moore River Native Settlement. Someone there gave me the surname Jackson.
Later we were sent off to different missions. So I lost my mother, my sisters, my language and my real name. I couldn’t tell you what my birthday is.
Officially it’s 1 July, the new financial year. Plenty of us kids that were taken have that ‘birthday’, but it’s made up.
So the truth is I was brought up in a country that was very, very bad at recognising Indigenous Australians.
Along with many others, I never got the most basic piece of recognition, the piece of paper that says you were born, that you’re Australian.
Years later I was picked in a side to play overseas but almost couldn’t go when I said I had no passport.
Trying to organise one I was asked for my birth certificate.
“What certificate?’’ I said.
In the end the VFL had to appeal all the way to the Prime Minister. PM John Gorton directed that a passport be issued. Recognition at last.
I was grateful for that, but my mob have been in this country since long before recorded human history. You shouldn’t need two premierships to be recognised as an Australian.
The AFL is supporting RECOGNISE this weekend.
It’s the campaign to change Australia’s Constitution to recognise Indigenous Australians and their connection to this land for thousands of years.
You’ll see the ‘R’ logo everywhere – show your support at recognise.org.au.
I congratulate the AFL for this. It shows how much times have changed since I was a boy.
That’s a good feeling too.
Highlights
2015 WA Hall of Fame Video