Learning module:
Popular culture Defining Moments, 1945–present
Investigation 2: The impact of sport on Australian popular culture
2.2 Nicky Winmar’s protest
Wayne Ludbey / The Age
In 1993 an incident occurred in the Collingwood versus St. Kilda Australian Football League (AFL) game that had important consequences not just for AFL, but for Australian society more widely.
Read the information in the Defining Moments in Australian history: 1993 AFL player Nicky Winmar responds to racist abuse from spectators. Use that information to answer these questions.
1. What happened at the end of the 1993 AFL game between Collingwood and St Kilda?
2. Why did this event occur?
3. What was the meaning behind the gesture?
4. Why was Winmar subject to abuse?
5. How did people react to his gesture?
6. How did the football administration react?
7. Why do you think the reaction was so quick, so strong and so successful?
8. Do you think the incident reflected popular culture, or changed popular culture, or both?
9. If it had happened in a far less popular sport do you think the impacts would have been the same?
10. What does this event help you understand about developments in Australian popular culture after 1945?
11. Why was this Defining Moment so significant in Australian history?
12. If you were advising the National Museum of Australia on an object that it could display to tell the story of this event, what would you suggest? (You can see what objects they actually have using the National Museum of Australia collections search)
Look back at the Key Questions. Which of these questions do you think you can now answer fully? Which need more research?
