WA Museum new home for sports collection

Western Australian cricket legend Mike Hussey has donated his winning batting gloves, two cricket bats and helmet to Western Australia’s sporting memorabilia collection, which will soon be displayed at the WA Museum.

• WA Museum to breathe new life into WA sports collection
• Mike ‘Mr Cricket’ Hussey donates winning gloves and bats to collection
• WA Museum preserving State’s sporting heritage for future generations

The collection contains more than 2,500 items of WA sporting collectables including the ‘baggy green’ cap of fast bowler and 1965 Wisden Cricketer of the Year, Graham McKenzie, and an entire outfit worn by tennis great, Margaret Court.

Sport and Recreation Minister Terry Waldron said the collection, formerly housed at Challenge Stadium and managed by VenuesWest, had been donated to the WA Museum to ensure the memorabilia could be enjoyed by all West Australians.

“This is an important collection representing the diverse range of sports embraced by West Australians over the past century, including cricket, football, tennis, swimming, hockey, cycling, horse racing and pacing - there’s even a stuffed fox from fox-hunting days,” Mr Waldron said

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day thanked Mr Hussey for the new acquisitions and said he hoped the collection would inspire all West Australians, especially our future sports men and women.

“Becoming part of the State’s permanent collection will ensure these objects survive as enduring records of WA’s sporting achievements and capture the significance of the role sport plays in the lives of everyday West Australians,” Mr Day said.

Other notable items include silks, whips and toe-weights from harness-racing driver and trainer Frank Kersley; and silks, a broken saddle and gold-mounted whip from jockey Frank Treen’s 1949 Perth Cup win. There is also Sig Schlam’s famous golden helmet and golden crown from Claremont Speedway in the 1920s; the bike that Steele Bishop rode to victory in the 1983 World Championship; and WA football great Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer’s Hall of Fame medal.

A Gaming Community Trust grant of $250,000 has allowed the WA Sports Museum collection to be transferred to the WA Museum where it will be curated and prepared for future display.

Fact File

• The WA Sports Museum operated from 1985 to 2004
• The State Government is investing $428.3 million to build a new museum for WA