Indigenous Round

The WNBL’s Indigenous Round aims to embrace First Nations culture and heritage, to foster inclusive participation and to engage communities.

Indigenous Round will bring players, teams, and fans together in a series of community engagement initiatives, with players from the league visiting Indigenous communities, schools, and cultural centres to share experiences, foster dialogue, and strengthen connections.

Throughout the Indigenous Round, fans at games can expect an immersive experience that highlights the beauty and significance of Indigenous culture.

Each WNBL team will wear Indigenous-themed playing uniforms, while pre-game ceremonies will pay tribute to the traditional custodians of the land, amplifying the voices and stories of Indigenous Australians.

In honour of the Round, all eight clubs will wear indigenous-themed jerseys and warm-up tops, and the WNBL referees will wear uniforms that represent Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander communities.

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As part of the Round, the WNBL aligned with Indigenous artist, Tamara May Murray (a proud member of the Barkindji and Maraura tribe on her mother’s side, the Yorta Yorta and Dhudaroah tribes on her father’s side), who created a special piece of artwork for the league. Titled “The only colours we know are the colours of the game”, the artwork depicts the essence of basketball and the unity of the game that brings us all together.

You can read more about Tamara and the story behind the artwork below.

“The only colours we know are the colours of the game”

The story behind the artwork & about the artist

The story

The artwork depicts the essence of basketball and the unity of the game that brings us all together.

The semi-circle in the top corner of the artwork visualises a team facing the court. The different layers in the semi-circle represent the individual players that make up the team.

The centre circle represents the basketball court, a communal space where players come together as equals to compete and play the game in unity.

The yellow connection lines emanating from the centre of the court acknowledge that basketball is truly a team sport – not only in relation to the players and spectators, but all the people across our sport supporting and coming together to make the great game happen.

The gateway at the bottom of the piece represents the many opportunities that basketball creates – individuals coming together as a team, working in partnership through the highs and lows to achieve success together.

The opportunity to make friends, to improve health and fitness, and to jointly fight to make their team, fans and supporters proud.

The only colours we know are the colours of the game.

About the artist – Tamara May Murray

The artist, Tamara May Murray, is a proud member of the Barkindji and Maraura tribe on her mother’s side, the Yorta Yorta and Dhudaroah tribes on her father’s side.

She grew up on the Namatjira Mission in the small country town of Coomealla.

“Culture is everything to me, it’s a way of life, it’s my identity, it’s who I represent – my people, my family. Culture is our way of healing, telling stories, keeping spirits and traditions alive. It’s our connection to the land.”

For Tamara, her art is not simply paint on a canvas. It’s a story; it’s a place; it’s someone she has met along the way that has inspired her. It’s a deep connection to the land and her culture. It is a story that has been passed down.

“I want my art to help break down barriers between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. I hope I can help educate and contribute to a more peaceful world where our children can all walk as one, hand in hand, no matter their skin colour or cultural identity.”

Referee Uniforms

Archer, official supplier of technical officials’ equipment to the WNBL, incorporated the league’s special Indigenous artwork into the referee shirts.

Using the existing silhouette being used for the regular season shirts, the artwork takes prominent position across the front and rear torso of the garment.

This season’s WNBL shirts have been engineered specially for the summer-based league, incorporating multiple mesh fabrics and ventilation panels to provide optimum range of movement and climate control.

Player Warm Up Tops

Featuring the league Indigenous artwork, created by Tamara May Murray, all players from the eight WNBL clubs will wear warm up t-shirts in support of Indigenous Round celebrations across Round 1.

These exclusive t-shirts are currently available for purchase via the WNBL shop.