Liz Ellis netball collection

• Sporting gear donated by Australian team captain Liz Ellis
• Helps to trace the increasing popularity of the game
• Includes Ellis' representative goal keeper's uniform

Liz Ellis visits the National Museum's netball display. Photo: George Serras.

Australian netball team captain Liz Ellis has represented Australia more times than any other netball player.

Liz's story and her netball uniform are on show at the National Museum in the display Sport: A National Obsession?

Liz Ellis first played netball for Australia in 1993 and became captain in 2004.

Netball has the highest participation rate of any team sport played by women and girls in Australia.

Liz's donation to the National Historical Collection helps to document the development of the game.

Curator Cinnamon van Reyk said Liz was a well-known ambassador for Australian netball and that her high profile had contributed to the popularity of the sport.

Liz has won several national netball titles as captain of the Sydney Swifts team.

She is passionate about equality in sport and campaigns for sponsorship
and a better deal for players.

Liz's uniform is on show in Canberra alongside a 1940s Victorian team uniform and other memorabilia.

Netball is included in the sport display with tennis, football, surfing, cycling, cricket, horseracing and the Olympics.

Netball has provided important and rare opportunities for women to shape sport. Today, is it played in about 50 countries, mostly member states of the British Commonwealth.

Key developments in the history of the sport include:

• A new form of basketball is developed in the United States in 1871
• Women's basketball is introduced to England in 1890
• Immigrant teachers bring the game to Australia, with the first recorded game recorded in Australia in 1897
• The contemporary version of netball is codified in 1970
• Australia wins the gold medal at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, the first games to officially include netball on the program.

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