Mr Eddie Gilbert

Eddie Gilbert is best remembered as the Aboriginal fast bowler who in 1931 dismissed Sir Donald Bradman for a fifth-ball duck after a few balls earlier knocking his bat out of his hands through the sheer speed of his delivery.

This legendary incident prompted the world’s greatest batsman to describe him as the fastest bowler he ever faced and earned Gilbert folklore status. Originally from Woodford, he grew up in Cherbourg and was reportedly the second Aboriginal after Alex Henry in 1901 to play first-class cricket in Australia.

He played 23 first-class matches for Queensland from 1930-36, taking 87 wickets at 28.97, with six five-wicket hauls, despite missing the entire 1933-34 season after a leprosy outbreak at Cherbourg.

He had a highly flexible wrist, said to be a legacy of many years throwing a boomerang, and was once no-balled 13 times for ‘chucking’ in a Sheffield Shield game in 1931.

He died in 1978 aged 72, but his legacy lived on as Queensland Cricket launched the Eddie Gilbert Cricket Program in 1998 to help inspire and encourage Indigenous cricketers.