In Round 4, 1952, James “Jim” Wandin became the first ever aboriginal footballer to play for St Kilda.

The last person born at Coranderrk Station (an aboriginal reserve near Healesville), the fresh faced Wandin ran out onto Junction Oval wearing the No. 27 as just the 10^th aboriginal man to play VFL/AFL football.

Wandin went on to play just 17 games over two seasons before returning home to Healesville.

Wandin was a prominent figure in the Victorian indigenous community and was the great-great-nephew of William Barak, the famous ngurungaeta (tribal leader) of the Wurundjeri-willam clan.

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The ex-Saint eventually also became the ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri nation and was involved in aboriginal affairs with the Victorian government.

Wandin’s lifespan linked Australia from a time where the despicable practice of displacement of indigenous nations was rife, into a new era, where the game he loved and excelled at celebrated a dedicated Indigenous Round.

Jim Wandin passed away in February 2006, but the impact our first aboriginal player had on his people and subsequent indigenous Saints still reverberates today.