Sydney Swans forward and proud Noongar-Wajuk man Lance Franklin has signed an impressive portrait that was painted in his honour to raise funds for New South Wales Police and Australian Federal Police Legacy.
The portrait was painted by Indigenous artist, Senior Constable Johnathon Concha, who is an accomplished artist and kindly donated the painting for raffle at the NSW Police Football Championships.
The championships, which are played annually, give opportunity for police personnell to play some competitive football and to remember and celebrate fallen colleagues and their memories. As part of the last carnival held, a number of fundraising efforts were undertaken to raise money for both NSWP and AFP Legacy who support the families of those fallen police officers.
The major draw card in the fundraising efforts was the painting of Franklin, which was painted during the championships closing function at the National War Memorial, Canberra.
As a token of NSWP and AFP Legacy appreciation to Franklin, he was presented with an Australian Police Football Association All-Australian Guernsey which was commissioned by Ngunnawal artist Stanley ‘Budda’ Connors. His design captured both the story of the local area and the national identity of the championships. You can see more of his artwork here.
The story behind the guernsey presented to Franklin:
-Both meeting places represents our ancestral knowledge.
-Our Dreaming’s, our song line, our story telling, our dance, our birthing, our naming and our sorry business.
-The green line with the white dots represents Our Journey.
-The Blue represents the Murrumbidgee River.
-The Birds are those that belong to lands of this country,
-Kookaburra from NSW, Helmeted Honeyeater from Victoria,
-Yellow Wattlebird from Tasmania, Piping Strike from South Australia,
-Black Swan from West Australia and the Brolga from Queensland.
-All converging on our ancestral lands to meet with our very own
-Gang Gang Cockatoo
