Portrait of Mulga Fred Wilson in the 1930s (photographed by James McColl).
Born
c. 1874 (possibly as early as 1868).
Pilbara region, Western Australia
Died
2 November 1948
Horsham, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)
rodeo rider, stockman, actor
Mulga Fred Wilson (c. 1874 – 2 November 1948) was an Australian Aboriginal stockman and buck-jump rider, known as Mulga Fred. He was the star attraction of various touring rodeo shows in the decade before the First World War. Wilson is considered to be the first Aboriginal actor to appear in a motion picture for his role in the film Bushranger's Ransom, or A Ride for Life, completed in 1911. By the 1920s Wilson was leading an itinerant lifestyle, mainly throughout the western districts of Victoria, with occasional visits to the urban centres of Melbourne and Geelong. He was a well-known character in western Victoria where he attended agricultural shows and football games, demonstrating his skills with the stockwhip and the boomerang, as well as his abilities as a buck-jump rider. He also worked as a horse-breaker and station-hand throughout his life. Mulga Fred died in November 1948 at Horsham railway station, aged about 74 years, from injuries received when he was hit by a train.
There was a wide-spread belief that Wilson had been the original model for images of an Aboriginal man, known as 'Pelaco Bill', featured in advertisements for the Pelaco company, a Melbourne-based shirt manufacturer.
MulgaFredWilson (c. 1874 – 2 November 1948) was an Australian Aboriginal stockman and buck-jump rider, known as MulgaFred. He was the star attraction...
p. 68. ISBN 0-7322-6426-X. De Bolfo, Tony (14 March 2017). "200 Club push for 'Mulga', Baxter and Bob". Carlton Football Club. AFL Hall of Fame v t e...
Archived from the original on January 17, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018. Abel, Fred. "MAOT's Super Bowl". Pageantry Magazine. "Chandler Champion uses passion...
ISBN 978-0-253-34366-6. Weijola, Valter; Vahtera, Varpu; Lindqvist, Christer; Kraus, Fred (14 March 2019). "A molecular phylogeny for the Pacific monitor lizards (Varanus...
There are many different types of vegetation and landscapes including mulga woodlands (Acacia aneura), gypsum depressions, limestone plains, spinifex...
League:Melbourne. 2005, p. 18. De Bolfo, Tony (14 March 2017). "200 Club push for 'Mulga', Baxter and Bob". Carlton Football Club. Wikimedia Commons has media related...
Retrieved 27 August 2014. Piesse, p. 142. Bolfo, Tony, "200 Club push for 'Mulga', Baxter and Bob", Carlton Football Club, 14 March 2017.[permanent dead...
7 May 1956), p.10. De Bolfo, Tony (14 March 2017). "200 Club push for 'Mulga', Baxter and Bob". Carlton Football Club. Hogan P: The Tigers of Old: A...
sandy loams on arid plains and dunes. Examples include, hummock grasslands, Mulga flats, alluvial flats and gibber plains, with Coolibah and Acacia woodlands...