The Traditional Meeting Place
Since 1853, the Club and the MCG have been based on land of profound cultural significance to the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. Yarra Park was a location where people of the Kulin Nation would assemble periodically for ceremony, dance, sport and business – such as arranging marriages and settling disputes. Games included projectile sports – such as spear, waddy and boomerang throwing, wrestling and ball games.
MCG Events enables you to incorporate an acknowledgment to the first nations, as well as a celebration of arts, history and culture into your next event.
The Wurundjeri people inhabited this area way before Melbourne was founded in 1835. Yarra Park has a significant indigenous history, noted for both its landscape and sporting heritage dating back to the 1850’s. The area was first set aside as parklands in 1856, when it was known as the Richmond Paddock and police hordes were left here to graze.
The first game of Australian Rules Football was played here in 1866. In 1866, an Aboriginal Cricket team under Tom Wills played against an MCC Cricket team on the MCG before 11,000 spectators on 26 and 27 December. The Aboriginal team played a further 3 times on the MCG up until 1869.
In the park, there are also some scar trees, large red gums, named for the markings left by harvesting the bark for canoes by the area’s original inhabitants, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. It is thought some of these trees could be between 200 and 800 years old.
Let us elevate your next celebration at the G’.
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by Melbourne
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This is the inspiration for our food philosophy, ‘Victoria’s best, flavoured
by Melbourne.’
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