The Wire

On the 17th of April 1993 Indigenous AFL player Nicky Winmar stood before a hostile crowd at Melbourne’s Victoria Park and confronted the racism he had long suffered on and off the field. The famous photo of AFL player Nicky Winmar lifting his shirt and pointing proudly at his skin has become iconic. Yet it’s just one element in a history of race relations in Australian sport that continues today. A new book explores that history, using the famous photo as a starting point. ‘Black and Proud’ by Matthew Klugman and Gary Osmond explores this history through the stories of indigenous footballers Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam, and Wayne Ludbey and John Feder, the photographers who fought to ensure the photos saw publication.