MAYSAR, Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Co-Operative

MAYSAR, Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Co-Operative He believed it would empower young people and get them off the streets. Its success led to its rapid expansion.

Herbert 'Jock' Austin
In response to the drug and alcohol problems affecting young people within his community at the time, Jock proposed an idea for a gymnasium and youth club. With the support of VAHS management, he leased a venue and opened the Fitzroy Stars Aboriginal Community Youth Club Gymnasium in 1982. Jock eventually secured funding from the Aboriginal Development Commission to purchase

a building in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. The organisation, which is now known as Melbourne Aboriginal Youth, Sport and Recreation (MAYSAR), is still located there today. The new youth club gymnasium provided young Aboriginal people with a place to learn, train, and connect with peers. While Jock was a highly-regarded boxing trainer, the activities on offer ranged from cricket and netball to kick boxing and aerobics. However Jock had created far more than just a youth club gymnasium. It was a safe and welcoming place that offered shelter and structure to anyone who sought it: black or white, young or old. The youth club gymnasium became an important focal point for the entire community and Jock was its heart, a tough but adored father figure.

30/05/2026
19/05/2026
16/05/2026

🌟RETRO - FITZROY STARS X NEW BALANCE🌟

Secure yours in the first shipment arriving in mid-June to make sure you're looking deadly for NAIDOC week!

Limited sizes remain, so get in quick. -> https://www.fitzroystars.com.au/shop

If your size is already sold out, we'll have a future pre-order opportunity soon.

You'll be notified when your order is ready for pick up from the club. ⚫🌟🔴

*ai generated image

08/11/2025
27/02/2025

Members of the Aboriginal cricket team that toured England in 1868 - the first Australian team in any sport to play overseas.

This incredible all-indigenous team was made up of players from across the Western District, including several from Gunditjmara clans around Warrnambool.

Prior to travelling overseas, some members of the team (under then-captain coach Tom Wills) played the Melbourne Cricket Club in a Boxing Day match in 1866, which was when this photo was taken.

The team also played against the Warrnambool Cricket Club in October 1867, scoring 140 runs in their first innings. Warrnambool was bowled out for a mere 16 runs in the first innings and 24 in the second.

The historic UK tour took place just a year before the start of the Aboriginal Protection Act in Victoria.

This Act saw Aboriginal people forced onto reserves where they required signed permission to leave, making it impossible for most to continue playing competitive cricket.

A trove of information can be found online about this team, so we will simply share the names of those pictured:

(L-R)
Standing:
Bullchanach/Bullocky,
Murrumgunerrimin/Tarpot,
Tom Wills (coach and captain),
Unaarrimin/Johnny Mullagh,
Brimbunyah/Red Cap;
(seated, l-r)
Jungunjinanuke/Dick-a-Dick,
Yellanach/Johnny Cuzens,
Grongarrong Grongarro/Mosquito,
Jarrawuk/Twopenny,
Lytejerbillijun/Jim Crow,
Bripumyarrinain/King Cole [Bripumyarrimin fell ill and died on tour.]

[Image: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales. Photographer unknown.]

27/02/2025
What wonderful experiences you have shared with your band, family, traditional owners and your audiences👣
26/02/2025

What wonderful experiences you have shared with your band, family, traditional owners and your audiences👣

Our thoughts are with the Austin family today as they lay to rest community legend, Lawrence (Locky) ‘Baby Cassius’ Aust...
06/02/2025

Our thoughts are with the Austin family today as they lay to rest community legend, Lawrence (Locky) ‘Baby Cassius’ Austin.

Baby Cas, as he was known, became Commonwealth Champion in 1977, defeating Hector Thompson, a highlight of his long list of accomplishments.

In his later career, Uncle Locky fought out of the Fitzroy Stars boxing gymnasium in Gertrude Street, trained by his brother and former Fitzroy Stars President, Herbert ‘Jock’ Austin and Johnny Douglas, with World Champion Boxer Uncle Lionel Rose and his brother David ‘Toopy’ Austin in his corner.

Uncle Locky will be missed, leaving behind a lasting legacy. Rest in peace.

25/01/2025

"I wanted to be an Olympic champion and I didn’t care about the goings-on around me. In my heart and with all of my soul I was ready, willing and I was very able. I had a deadly sense of self-belief. I’d go to another level and say I had a deadly sense of self-conviction where you can say whatever you want, you can do whatever you want but you’re not going to touch me"

"Cathy Freeman’s mother, Cecelia, of the Kuku Yalanji people, was born on Palm Island. Her father, Norman ‘Twinkletoes’ Freeman, of the Birra Gubba mob, was born at Woorabinda in Queensland"

"Cathy Freeman was born in Mackay in 1973. Always proud of her ancestry, Freeman hoped her success as an athlete would be an inspiration to all Aboriginal children"

"Family is important to Freeman. Her first coach was her stepfather, Bruce Barber. And after winning her gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, the image in her mind was of her older sister, Anne-Marie, who had been born with cerebral palsy"

"Anne-Marie had died from an asthma attack in 1990, three days after 16-year-old Freeman won her first gold medal at the Auckland Commonwealth Games"

"Freeman was keenly aware of the many injustices done to Aboriginal people. Her grandmother was part of the Stolen Generations, forcibly taken away from her family at the age of eight. Freeman was upset the Howard government had refused to issue an apology for this policy. As she told the London Daily Telegraph after winning the Sydney 2000 Olympics 400 m :

"You have to understand that when you have a government that is so insensitive to the issues that are close to people’s hearts, that have affected so many lives for the worse, people are going to be really angry and emotional"

“Somewhere deep inside, I’d absorbed
all the pain and suffering my people had
endured and turned it into a source of
strength.” — Cathy Freeman

🖤💛💖

CATHY FREEMAN Foundation/Community Spirit Foundation is now known under the name MURRUP Murrup - incredible work helping getting/keeping kids in school.
See website for details and how to make a DONATION https://www.murrup.org.au/our-story 🤗

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/cathy-freeman

Image: "Cathy Freeman 1994 Commonwealth Games victory lap with the Aboriginal flag wrapped around herself – a moment that symbolised a movement" courtesy of Woman's Day

Address

184-186 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy, VIC
3065

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 7pm
Tuesday 9am - 3pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+61394164255

Website

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