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<\/a><\/p>\nMuch had changed in WA, and Australia, between the late 19th century and the 1930s. Intermarriage between whites and Aboriginal people was first discouraged, then virtually outlawed.<\/p>\n
In the west, a strict policy was introduced in 1927 to ban the Indigenous community from setting foot into the \u201cNative Prohibited Area\u201d that broadly covered the Perth central business district and select suburbs either side of the Swan River. And in Queensland, an Aboriginal fast bowler named Eddie Gilbert was swift enough to knock the bat out of Don Bradman\u2019s hands, but not to play for Australia.<\/p>\n
When the Gaunt family moved from York to Perth, as Walter\u2019s building business grew, he purchased land and built a house in a suburb called Rivervale, on the eastern bank of the Swan River. Tellingly, Rivervale was the nearest suburb on the outside of the prohibited area, which was only rescinded in 1954 \u2013 well after Ron had started playing club cricket.<\/p>\n
Gaunt was among the most promising young fast bowlers in the country, with enough of a competitive streak to indulge in a bit of \u201cBodyline\u201d bowling for WA in 1956. In a game against Queensland, umpire Colley ordered WA captain Ken Meuleman to change the field, and warned Gaunt about his bowling.<\/p>\n
It is ironic that two of Gaunt\u2019s three Tests were played against Apartheid South African teams \u2013 just another reminder of the complexities facing a young man of mixed race in Australia in the 1950s and \u201960s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWA was a very harsh place for Aboriginal people,\u201d says Ron\u2019s niece, Jenny Ewell. \u201cI think they wanted to avoid that, and absolutely because of Ron\u2019s cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cRon absolutely loved playing cricket, he lived and breathed the game, and I think it would have just destroyed him had he not been able to play it. So that\u2019s probably where it came from.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 17-year-old Hughes walked into training at Footscray in November 1978. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was a middle-order batsman who bowled maybe second or third change and then got down to Footscray and had a talk to the president, the coach, Ken Eastwood was in on the conversation as seconds captain, and Ron Gaunt was there,\u201d Hughes says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reckon I bowled three balls and Ron came down and said you don\u2019t bat any more, you\u2019re a bowler. He stood at the top of my mark for two or three years, just talking bowling, theories, sorting batsmen out, a whole gamut of different things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he did for me was extraordinary. Without him, I would\u2019ve gone down to Footscray and battled away as a middle-order batsman and part-time bowler. If I had said to Ron, \u2018You\u2019re kidding yourself, I\u2019m a batsman\u2019, I\u2019d probably still be plugging away in Footscray thirds now…\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaunt, by this time nicknamed \u201cPappy\u201d, would also mentor Tony Dodemaide, and was instrumental in helping the club win its inaugural first-grade premiership in 1980.<\/p>\n
Hughes remembers Gaunt\u2019s skill as a technical coach, plus his ability to still send down beautiful outswing in the nets. But what sticks with him is the older man\u2019s personal touch \u2013 sports psychology before it had the name.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could talk to him about anything,\u201d Hughes says. \u201cHe could pick up on if you were having a bad day or whatever, and that\u2019s the philosophy I take with kids now. You talk to them, and it\u2019s not just about cricket, but about school, are exams coming up? If guys aren\u2019t concentrating on their bowling, you try to get to the bottom of it, and he used to do that beautifully.<\/p>\n
\u201dHe knew you had the talent and if you weren\u2019t producing at training he\u2019d try to get to the bottom of it. He\u2019d say, \u2018Listen, you\u2019re at training, you can leave that behind, and concentrate on your training\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Merv](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/33a4f831165bb79c0f8ac51d905df9f4bd38e6cb.jpeg\")
Merv Hughes was mentored by Ron Gaunt at Footscray. Getty<\/p>\n
Some earthier incentives came when Hughes and Footscray were fighting for their lives in the 1980 first-grade grand final.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first XI grand final I played in my second year at Footscray, there was 10 and 11 batting, and he just said, \u2018Right boys, if you can get to double figures here I\u2019ll buy you a slab\u2019,\u201d Hughes remembers. \u201cHow hard do you reckon we worked to get those runs?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you did well, he was always there for you. It wasn\u2019t him beating his chest, it was just him patting you on the back and saying, \u2019Well done\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dodemaide, a couple of years younger than Hughes, can recall watching Gaunt bowl, perhaps planting a seed that led an initially front-on bowler to change his action to allow for the away swingers that netted Dodemaide 10 Test caps.<\/p>\n
![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2dc29299d9e03b98b6290d77b8c062db907122c9.jpeg\")
Australian selector Tony Dodemaide (right). Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had the tracksuit on and was clearly well past playing age, but he went in to bowl a few balls and demonstrate what he was talking about, and he had this beautiful side-on jump and action, and it was just so smooth,\u201d says Dodemaide, now an Australian selector. \u201cI thought, \u2018Wow, could I ever bowl like this bloke?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a couple of Test players around the club was just gold for a young kid like me. He only played a handful of Tests, but that was enough as far as we were concerned \u2013 to spend any time around someone who\u2019d played at that level of cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of Hughes, Dodemaide or even his fellow Footscray Test cricketer Ken Eastwoood had any idea about Gaunt\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew that, but that\u2019s a real feather in his cap,\u201d Hughes says. \u201cTimes have changed for the better. I thought I spent a fair bit of time with him, but it was never mentioned. Back then he might\u2019ve been hiding that heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is one former teammate, Lindsay James, who has told Dodemaide that Gaunt did indeed know of his Indigenous heritage, and that the pair discussed it quietly, once, long after both had finished playing and coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine him being a fearsome fast bowler,\u201d Dodemaide says. \u201cHe had such a gentle demeanour about him, and very generous with his time and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
After retirement, Gaunt moved to the NSW Central Coast to share more time with his children, Karon and Andrew. Gaunt and their mother had divorced when Andrew was two years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce a year we used to get to see my father around Christmas time for a month, [and] then he\u2019d have to go back to Victoria to work,\u201d Andrew says. \u201cBut when I was around 21-22, I went and stayed with him for a few years, and that was good. He was pretty much just like a mate, he spoke like a mate and that\u2019s how we were.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came back to Sydney after a couple of years, and we kept in closer contact, and, eventually, he retired up the Central Coast and I went up and stayed there for a while. But work was back here in Sydney. So I was always going up there weekly, pretty much for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b31146d34a39a898479f180133241941367317de.jpeg\")
Australian Test players Ron Gaunt (left) who played his first Test against South Africa with captain Bob Simpson and Richie Benaud.”The News” and “The Mail”<\/p>\n
Sport in general, and cricket in particular, was never far away from the conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had no choice on the TV, it was cricket when it started until it finished, then he\u2019d go, \u2018OK it\u2019s yours now\u2019,\u201d Andrew recalls. \u201cHe never boasted, he never bragged, that wasn\u2019t him. Other people who knew him would say, \u2018That\u2019s Ronnie Gaunt, he used to play for Australia\u2019. But he\u2019d never say that. He wouldn\u2019t talk too much about it \u2013 what happens on tour stays on tour almost.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Gaunt was taciturn about his cricket achievements, his heritage was buried deeper still, remaining unknown to the family when Ron died in 2012. Eight years later, during COVID-19, Andrew\u2019s half-sister Kellie started digging into family history. Ancestry searches were followed by DNA tests, revealing a hidden Indigenous bloodline.<\/p>\n
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Indigenous Test star Scott Boland.Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day, out of the blue she gave me a call and said, \u2018Andrew, guess what, you\u2019ll never believe it\u2019, and I just said, \u2018Nah, get out of here\u2019. And my other sister Karon couldn\u2019t believe it at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Kellie got in contact with Jenny, and she took it up and ran with it. It was a such a well-kept secret, and maybe that was a reason why. He may not have played for Australia or got the chances he did if they knew he had Indigenous background.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was speaking to my sisters about Jason Gillespie saying, \u2018Geez, he\u2019s supposed to be the first person of Indigenous blood to play for Australia\u2019. I started laughing about that and going, \u2018Oh man, sorry about that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ask Andrew what he might have said to his father had he known, and he pauses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d probably have said, \u2018What the hell were you thinking?\u2019\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u2019m actually quite proud or glad, it just cements that footprint in our family as a full-on Aussie. But I don\u2019t think they looked at it like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ron got his mother Ruby\u2019s red hair, Andrew and Jenny are both darker in complexion. Andrew can remember, as a teenager, that Ron got them together at Martin Place in Sydney.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met Jenny one time when I was about 16,\u201d he says. \u201cDad was in Melbourne at the time, but he came up to see us. He wanted me to go and meet my cousin, he goes, \u2018Come and meet your cousin\u2019, and Karon said, \u2018What about me?\u2019 and he says, \u2018Nah, just Andrew\u2019. I thought that was a bit odd.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the first and last time I met Jenny [who moved to the United States, where she still lives]. But I think Dad was sizing me up with her because we were both darker in complexion. That\u2019s just my take, but my sisters Karon and Kellie thought that made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Jenny took up the family research, she passed much of the information onto Dudley Gaunt, who still lives in WA. He has had inconclusive discussions with WA Cricket about Ron\u2019s Indigenous heritage, and has also made attempts to contact the Ballardong Noongar community. Cricket Australia is looking into the Gaunt family story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to ensure cricket\u2019s heritage fully reflects all those from different backgrounds who have contributed to the game,\u201d a CA spokesman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stories provided by those exploring family ancestry is an important way to ensure the diverse backgrounds of past players is recognised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dudley says the main issue in his meeting with WA Cricket was not Gaunt\u2019s Aboriginality, \u201cIt was whether he accepted his Aboriginality, whether he told people. Did he tell people at South Perth cricket club?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he wouldn\u2019t have been able to play cricket, why would he tell anyone at South Perth that he was Aboriginal? It was a different time, they parked it away, hid it and got on with their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2005, the former chief justice of NSW, James Spiegelman, spoke about hidden Aboriginal histories in that year\u2019s Charles Perkins Oration.<\/p>\n
Editor’s pick![\"g\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786224856_505_cc3e509ebccdda9e0de9e4239d5b89993d06f492.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cLet me state one undeniable fact: many, probably millions of Australians have an Aboriginal ancestor,\u201d he said. \u201cThis should be recognised as an important bond. However, most do not know this fact about their family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a strong sense of racism involved in the suppression in thousands upon thousands of Australian families of the Aboriginal origins of one or more of their forebears. For most of our history this has been regarded as a matter to be suppressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears to me that the process of reconciliation would be advanced by a wider recognition across the broad Australian community that the number of Australians who have Aboriginal ancestors probably amounts to millions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reconciliation process cannot succeed if it is based, contrary to historical fact, solely on maintaining a rigid and categorical distinction between black and white. It will succeed if a significant proportion of those Australians of whom it is true take pride in acknowledging their roots in both communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Jenny, the secret is itself a significant part of the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very proud to find that out myself, to think we\u2019ve got heritage that goes back 60,000 years in Australia,\u201d she says. \u201cBut in going back to speak to the family, I found out that the family did know, and didn\u2019t say anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked, thinking, \u2018Gosh they kept it a good secret all those years\u2019. But a lot of it might have been that they wanted to work and get on with their lives. This is my opinion \u2013 because Ron was playing cricket and very successful, they wanted that to keep going and that it wasn\u2019t made more difficult for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew recalls one other comment from his father that has taken on new meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad used to tell me, \u2018You have a whole other family in the west\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a big secret, and back then I could understand it. Whereas now I\u2019m like, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s cool\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In January 1958, a young West Australian fast bowler by the name of Ron Gaunt was flown into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-848404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Ron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/834a3df9c4da52b6b0aa8bd5afe6497410281fb0.jpeg\")
Ron Gaunt with Bob Simpson in 1957.<\/p>\n![\"Indigenous](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/04abbfd768d47c80e8a744212ce7ad15dbada61b.jpeg\")
Indigenous cricketers Aunty Faith Thomas and Ash Gardner. Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Matilda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/03b84faf7493e335373d409e796741a59751e7cd972ab76c9ce4469c46b651aa.jpeg\")
Matilda Gaunt, who was Indigenous, is seated at right. She was Ron Gaunt\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n