A tradition honoring the Indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand is returning for another season in the National Basketball League.
After successful iterations in 2022 and 2023, the Oceanic league is once again bringing back its annual Indigenous Round for the 2024-25 season. Each of the league’s 10 teams has unveiled a special jersey designed by a local Indigenous artist, which they’ll wear for Round 8 of the season (November 7 to 10).
Here’s a look at what the teams will be wearing and the stories behind the designs:
The Adelaide 36ers — who broke out their Indigenous Round jerseys early for a match against the Cairns Taipans on October 25 — will wear a jersey designed by Arabana and Kokatha artist Mali Isabel. Her artwork aims to inspire 36ers fans and people across the land the team represents to come together as one. Four meeting places down each side of the jersey represent the 36ers’ four NBL championships. Human, emu and kangaroo tracks are also found on the jersey, but they’re all headed to the same place: an outline of Kuarna Yerta, the traditional tribal land of the Kaurna people, covered by the Australian Aboriginal flag.
The Brisbane Bullets’ jersey was created by Cassie Dover, an artist with connections to the Kombumerri clan and the Kunja people. It centers around the Brisbane River, which flows down the front of the jersey. The blue spaces and connecting pieces represent “the community and the land surrounding the organisation.” The circular designs on the jersey represent each individual player in the middle, with the people who support them — families, coaches, team staff, sponsors and others — surrounding them.
The Cairns Taipans’ jersey was designed by Kevin Edmondstone from the Yidinji clan in Far North Queensland. His design centers around the sea, including animals that “are traditional food we hunt for, to eat at weddings, gatherings and funerals.” The footprints across the bottom of the jersey represent the land “we stand on and live.”
The Illawara Hawks’ jersey was designed by Aunty Trish Levett, a proud Gundungurra woman from the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Her design “tells the story of connection to mother earth and father sky.” At the bottom of the jersey is a river with circles that represent “sacred medicine water holes where we wash our medicines or mix them with water.” Above that is a hawk with a meeting place on its chest and sacred mountains on either side. The top of the jersey is dotted with stars, which Indigenous people have used as navigational guides “since the beginning of time.”
Melbourne United’s jerseys were designed by Alex Kerr, a proud Wurundjeri artist. His design “is all about the importance of Bunjil (a creator deity in Australian Aboriginal mythology) and what it means for the Wurundjeri people.” It also tells the story of William Barak, the last “ngurungaeta” (Chief) of the Wurundjeri people, through a blend of styles and a meeting place design on the side of the jersey. The front of the jersey features Waa, a crow protector, with “his feathers on the designs watching over the community and ensuring their safety while conducting business on Wurundjeri country.”
The artist behind the New Zealand Breakers’ jerseys is Anthony Wilson from the Awatere Marae nation near Auckland. He was inspired by KŌWHAIWHAI, a traditional Māori pattern used to enhance storytelling and inspired by patterns found in Māori meeting houses: “These patterns illustrate our connection to our creator, with lines extending all the way back to the source of creation.” The trim and side panels feature the colors of PAUA shellfish, “which symbolise our deep connection to the sea.”
The Wildcats’ jersey was designed by Jarnda Bina Councillor-Barns, an artist with Karrajarri, Nuggaja, Noongar (Binjarup) and Maori ancestry. It stands as “a testament to resilience, echoing the journey of an individual.” The paths depicted on the jersey “represent the winding roads of struggle, each twist and turn a testament to the resilience required to navigate through those barriers.” Among these paths are patterns “drawn from the fabric of cultural identity. The opaque entities in the back represents the rich connections of our elders and their presence with us on our journey giving us strength to push through our challenge.. Through the design, those barriers that are depicted as obstacles to be overcome, their presence acknowledged but ultimately transcended in the pursuit of unity and strength.”
The Phoenix’s Indigenous Round jersey was designed by Dixon Patten, an artist with Gunnai, Yorta Yorta, Gunditjmara and Dhudhuroa ancestry. His design honors the orange-bellied parrot, of which there are only 100 left in the wild. “Dixon’s hope is that like the Phoenix, the Orange-Bellied Parrot rises up strong, yet unlike the Phoenix, hopes it does not become a symbol of death for us to acknowledge its significance.” The diamond patterns and geometric shapes in the design honor the carving culture in modern Victoria.
The Sydney Kings’ jerseys were designed by Stewart James, an artist who was born and raised in Narrandera, Wiradjuri Country. His design is all about identity and who the Kings are as a club — “the people, the areas across Sydney, and the proud history of all that has come before them.” Five meeting place symbols represent the “ancestral lands and waters of all the First Nations Clan Groups that cover the entire footprint of the Sydney area. Leading outwards from these symbols are swirling lines that connect to the entire design, which demonstrates the link to the old stories and the new stories. Still to this day, those areas carry a proud history and connection to those places and those peoples.” The five symbols also represent the Kings’ five NBL titles. The diamond pattern, meanwhile, is one also found on traditional Indigenous shields.
The jersey design for the JackJumpers — the defending NBL champions — was created by artist Caleb Nichols-Mansell, a proud Tasmanian Aboriginal man. The nine circular motifs found on the front and side panels of the jersey represent the nine Indigenous nations of Lutruwita (the traditional name for the island now known as Tasmania). “The JackJumpers will wear these nine nations on their front as a reminder of the leaders we were, and still are, on their backs as a reminder of the past and deep time connection we hold, and on their sides as a reminder we walk side by side.” The wave pattern covering the rest of the jersey represents the ocean.
The NBL’s 2024-25 Indigenous Round tips off Thursday, November 7, with the Brisbane Bullets hosting Melbourne United and the Perth Wildcats at home against the Tasmania JackJumpers. Other games in the round include:
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