Australia: Great Sporting Land

Explore the unifying spirit of Australian sport - from tales to traditions, larrikins to legends

In collaboration with

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of FameCricket AustraliaAustralian Sports MuseumMelbourne & Olympic ParksSydney Cricket & Sports GroundsAustralian National Surfing MuseumMelbourne Cricket ClubMelbourne Cricket Ground
and 22 more collections

It's the story, not the score

1st Quarter

The Culture

Aussie sporting DNA

2nd Quarter

The People

Legends of the game

3rd Quarter

The Moments

Highlights from history

4th Quarter

The Places

Great sporting landscape

A nation of good sports

Watch

What Does Sport Mean to Australians?

Explore Australia's sporting culture

National Portrait Gallery

How Australia's Affection For Sport Endures

Australian sporting culture throughout history

Cricket

Australia had a cricket team before it was a nation

Football

Rugby union, rugby league, soccer and AFL

Surfing

From a recreational activity to a mainstream sport

Athletics

Some of Australia's greatest household names have come from the track

Tennis

5% of Australians over 15 play Tennis

Swimming

Great swimming heroes and their stories that have shaped a national identity.

Motorsports

A sport for a vast and diverse landscape

Boxing

One of Australia’s oldest sports

Horse Racing

Horse racing began in 1788

“Sport to many Australians is life, and the rest a shadow.”Donald Horne, The Lucky Country, 1964

Firsts in the field

The people behind key developments in Australian sport

National Sports Museum

Australian Athletes Who Changed the Game

From Ido "Snowy" Munro to Judy Dalton

State Library of New South Wales

The First Australian Woman To Get the Gold

From 1910-1918 Sarah 'Fanny' Durack was considered the world's greatest female swimmer

Look back with a legend

Steve Waugh on putting his pads on wrong and winning the World Cup

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame

Steve Waugh Visits The Bradman Museum

Join his tour and hear him tell stories from his career

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame

Take a Tour With Steve Waugh

Explore the Bradman Museum with the iconic cricketer

Knock yourself out

See legendary cricket bats up close and learn their stories

Bradman Museum

Bradman's First Bat

The bat where it all began

Bradman Museum

Bradman's World Record 452 Bat

The signed 1930 Sheffield Shield bat

Bradman Museum

Bradman's 304 Leeds Bat

The bat with which Don Bradman scored his triple century at Headingley.

Bradman Museum

Victor Trumper's 1902 Test Bat

The first ever batsman to score 100 before lunch.

Bradman Museum

Packer's World Series Bat

"It's got to be the world's most expensive cricket bat"

Bradman Museum

Dennis Lillee's Aluminium Bat

A bat that caused a great deal of controversy...

Bradman Museum

The Bodyline Bat

Signed by the Australian 2nd Test Team and England's touring squad

Bradman Museum

Bradman's Blackheath Bat

See the cracks and the crossing marks

The bits you'd never normally get to see

Enter the inner sanctum

Sydney Cricket & Sports Grounds

Inside the Away Changing Room at Sydney Cricket Ground

A closer look at the inscriptions on the cupboard

Access all areas

Take a guided tour

Inside Melbourne Cricket Ground

Tour Australia's home of sport

Take a guided tour

Inside the Australian National Surfing Museum

Celebrate the history of surfing

Take a guided tour

Inside Bradman Museum

Where cricket is brought to life

ExploreMelbourne Cricket Ground, On the Ground
ExploreAustralian National Surfing Museum Boardwalk
ExploreBradman Museum

The home of Australian sport

From football, to rugby, to the Olympics

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Discover the History of The 'G

Where the first cricket Test match between Australia and England was held in 1877

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Watch the Removal of the MCG Portable Cricket Pitch

Melbourne Cricket Ground

From Cricket to Football in Four Days

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Replacing the Turf at MCG

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Timelapse: MCG arena transforms for Guns N' Roses

How has cricket changed since 1744?

Zoom into a rare handkerchief to see how different cricket is now

Melbourne Cricket Club

The Historic Rules of the Game

Curved bats, underarm bowling and a two stump wicket

The green and gold, the boxing kangaroo, and the baggy green

National Sports Museum

Symbols of Australian Sport

What separates Australia from rival sporting nations?

National Sports Museum

Australia's Sporting Colours

They haven't always been green and gold....

The true story of the mythical ashes

How the rivalry between Australia and England was born

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame

The Ashes History

It all started with a mock obituary...

Melbourne Cricket Club

The Winning Blackham Ball

The ball that won the 1882 match at Lords was one of the best kept secrets

Sydney Cricket & Sports Grounds

A Timeline of the Ashes

From 1882 to now

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame

Was it Really a Perfume Bottle?

The origin of the trophy revealed

Cricket Australia

Remembering the 2005 and 2007 Ashes Series

Warnie, Hayden, Ponting talk about the 2005 and 2007 Ashes Series

Sport for all

Video

Women in sport

Seeking to defy the physical limitations society prescribes to women

Editorial Feature

How Sport Changes Lives On and Off the Field

Paralympian Kurt Fearnley on how inclusion and accessibility in sport is changing the world

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame

The Invention of Blind Cricket

How the equipment and rules was modified to be more inclusive

Discover more about Australia's sports culture

Australia's sporting DNA

Explore the 1st Quarter

Making history

National Sports museum

How Hubert Opperman Cycled the Bol d'Or After His Bike Was "Sabotaged"...and Won

And other stories of trailblazing Australian world champions

The household names

Prized portraits of Aussie athletes

Soccer: Michelle Heyman

Former Matildas striker and LGBTI role model

Paralympics: Kurt Fearnley

3 time Paralympic gold medalist

Rugby Union: Mark Ella

10 time Australian rugby captain

Swimming: Dawn Fraser

Broke 39 world records

Rugby Union: Peter FitzSimons

Wallaby in seven tests

Athletics: Anna Meares

Won 11 world championships and 6 Olympic medals

Paralympics: Dylan Alcott

2 gold medals in wheelchair tennis

Athletics: Marjorie Jackson-Nelson

First world-record-breaking Australian woman

Rugby Union: Ken Catchpole

The greatest halfback the world has known'

Swimming: Ian Thorpe

The country’s leading Olympic medallist

AFL: Adam Goodes

Most AFL games played by an Indigenous footballer

Snowboarding: Torah Bright

Most successful female winter Olympian

Athletics: Louise Sauvage

Won 9 gold and 2 silver Olympic medals

Athletics: Cathy Freeman

First Aboriginal athlete to win a Commonwealth gold medal

Sailing: Jessica Watson

Sailed solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world

Cricket: Max Walker

34 Test matches between 1973 and 1981

Tennis: Lleyton Hewitt

Ranked world number 1 in 2002/3 and 2001/2

Swimming: John Konrads

Broke all the freestyle swimming world records from 200 to 1500 metre

Athletics: Betty Cuthbert

Leading gold-medal winning track and field athlete

Athletics: Robert Di Pierdomenico

Scored 130 AFL goals and played in 24 finals

What does sport mean to you?

Australian All Stars on what sports means to them

Meet Ellyse Perry

Come face to face with the youngest person to represent Australia in cricket

Tatyana - Basketball and Ninja Warrior

Tatyana is constantly inspired by the many famous sportspeople from her hometown, especially the people of colour

Phil - Surf Life Saving

Phil can't recall how many people he has rescued at Bondi beach, but it is well into the hundreds

Ellyana - Rock Climbing

Ellyana climbs to connect with nature, her body and her mind

Andrew - Speed Skating

Even as the years mount up, Andrew still feels the need for speed

Rina - Cricket

Rina truly believes that the game should be for everybody

Olivia - Soccer

Olivia strives to stay close to the game she loves, no matter what happens

Andrew - ex Rugby

The highs and lows of Andrew's rugby career following a string of injuries

Champions on the court

Tennis Australia

Australian Women's Tennis Champions, Past and Present

From Margaret Court to Ashleigh Barty

Discover more about the people of Australia sport

From backyard heros to sporting legends, these are the stories of triumph and adversity

Explore the 2nd quarter

The moments to remember

Australian Football League

AFL Grand Final Moments Every Fan Will Recognize

That "one day in September" when the final two Aussie Rules teams battle it out

Editorial Feature

Gerard Whateley's Favorite Sporting Moments

A lifetime of reflections on our sports-mad nation

What's your game?

The origin stories of some of Australia's favourite sports

Cricket

The story of Australian cricket

Aussie Rules

The big kick off

Golf

How golf teed off in Australia

Tennis

The history, from the 19th century until today

Motor Racing

Vintage Australian racing cars

Sporting throwbacks

Watch quirky vintage videos of games and athletics

Water Ballet

Janzen Water Ballet at City Baths, Adelaide, circa 1938

Skiing in Australia

A sport for 1% of Australia's land mass

Coobowie Rodeo

Bull riding, buck-jumping and a whip cracking competition, 1952

1920s Golf

Golfer Will Corry demonstrates how to play various shots, 1920s

BMX

A loop around Canberra BMX track

Donald Bradman Flicker Book

Don Bradman demonstrating the batting strokes in the 1930s

Discover more about legendary sporting moments

Highlights from history

Explore the 3rd quarter

Behind the scenes at Rod Laver Arena

Tennis Australia

Court Painting is an Art Form

A behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create one of the world's most famous tennis courts

Tennis Australia

The Arena Gets a Roof Upgrade

Rod Laver Arena has always been at the forefront of technology. Now in 2019, the roof is faster than ever

Surf's up

Time to hit the beach

North Bondi Life Saving Club

A History of the North Bondi SLSC Club Buildings

From a tent to an architectural delight: the development of the club and its award-winning buildings

ExploreBondi Beach Walk
ExploreAustralian National Surfing Museum Boardwalk

The grounds where Don Bradman learnt to bat

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame

A Boy Who Became the Pride of the Town

The story of a rural Australian community and how Bradman captured the heart of the nation

Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame

The Captivating History of Cricket

As told by the Bradman museum and International Cricket Hall of Fame

ExploreBradman Oval, Bowral
ExploreInternational Cricket Hall of Fame

Cricket: From Leg to Toe

Step Into the Positions of the Players

Know your gully from your slips

Discover more iconic sporting locations

Australia's great sporting landscape

Explore the 4th Quarter

Explore more

Images

Exhibits

Videos

Streetview

Collections

Google Expeditions

Are you a teacher? With Google Expeditions, take your students on immersive, virtual journeys and let them discover more about Australian sports

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