Celebrating Aussie sport: More ways to help you explore, learn and get into the games you love
Whether we’re playing or barracking, we Aussies take our commitment to sport very seriously. We have public holidays for horse races and grand finals – and 92% of us are interested in sports.* Over generations, sport has become a defining pillar of our identity, values and culture.
This passion for sport comes through in Search. According to Google Trends, Search interest in Australia sport is higher than Search interest in the weather every year – and the most searched Aussie by Aussies this year so far is tennis player and former cricketer, Ash Barty.
With this fascination in mind, we’ve been on a mission to help Aussies better connect with and explore the sports they love. Last year, we launched live scores, match results, fixtures and ladders across AFL, NRL, Cricket (and more) to help you stay up to date and cheer on your favourite teams. And this year, we launched voting in Search, inviting AFL fans to vote for their Friday Night Best on Ground and Player of the Round - directly in Search.
We know rich content and live streaming are important to fans. In the coming months, we’re delivering more tools to help partners bring their live streams and highlights through Search.
Building on these efforts, we’ve been working with more local partners to help people in Australia and around the world explore and learn about our rich sporting heritage.
Today, Google Arts & Culture is launching our first dedicated celebration of sports, Great Sporting Land – showcasing the people, moments and places which have shaped our extraordinary sport history. Australia was chosen as the first country to kick off this initiative – a true testament to our weight in the world of sport.
The exhibition features over 11,000 archived images and videos, and more than 100 original stories from over 30 partners including the Melbourne Cricket Club, Australian Football League, National Portrait Gallery and Bondi Surf Lifesaving. Google’s Art Camera technology also travelled to sporting institutions across the country to capture over 200 pieces of art, archival materials and artefacts in high-resolution gigapixel quality.
Cricket legend Steve Waugh will take you on a tour of the archives of the world-famous Bradman Museum to discover some of the most famous bats in the history of cricket, including hand-etched scores on the back of Don Bradman’s first bat. Steve will also take you through a video series that offers never-before-seen insight into his work and memories of the sport.
Zoom into the details of Don Bradman’s original bat (here held by Steve Waugh), from the Bradman Museum.
You can also venture to Sydney Cricket Ground's Away Changing Room where visiting players have taken it upon themselves to graffiti their standout batting and bowling figures on the changing room door.
Sydney Cricket Ground's Away changing door, from Sydney Cricket & Sports Grounds
If you’re ready for a dip, put on your togs and take a trip to Summers Past—an exhibition celebrating the golden days in the Australian sunshine. You can also Watch the Waves (a selection of photographs of surf lifesaving by the National Archives) or explore the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club in VR.
A lifeguard watching over swimmers from a lookout, circa 1966, from National Archives of Australia
Whether you’re in Melbourne, Mumbai or Manchester, you can discover the tales, traditions, legends and artifacts that have shaped our great sporting nation at g.co/GreatSportingLand – or download the Google Arts & Culture app on iOS or Android.
*BCG Intergenerational Review of Australian Sport 2017, Australian Sports Commission
