When Cameron Cox first picked up a cricket bat at the age of three his father knew then that nothing could dim his son’s passion for the game.
“He just loved the game, as soon as he could walk he was playing cricket,” Malcolm Cox said.
Sadly Cameron’s life was cut short in February last year when the young farmer and talented cricketer was killed by a lightning strike while trying to protect his family's livestock from several grassfires sparked by a freak storm at their property in Moolarben, about 40 kilometres north-east of Mudgee.
In a moving gesture, Cameron’s family has donated the fleece from the last ram he ever exhibited to Australian Wool Innovation’s (AWI) Flock to Baggy Green project.
The unique project, that combines the national game with Australia’s natural fibre, gives woolgrowers a chance to donate some of their wool to help create the next batch of Baggy Green caps.
“We thought it would be nice to tie in the fleece with cricket and that it would be a great legacy because when Cameron wasn’t showing sheep on the weekends he was playing cricket, he just loved the game,” Mr Cox said.
The fleece came from the supreme exhibit ram at the 2017 Armidale Ram Show and Sale, in which Cameron was the handler.
It was a week before he was killed.
“He thought it was all him that got the win across the line,” his sister Bec said.
The ram also won the champion ultrafine and champ poll ram competitions at the same show.
“We weren’t sure what to do with the fleece,” Mr Cox said.
“Rather than putting it in a bale with other fleece, we wanted to put it towards this because cricket was close to Cameron’s heart.”
As Mr Cox sits on the fence in the sheep pavilion at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show surrounded by his children Bec and Hayden at their Bocoble Merino Stud pens, his face lights up as he talks about his son.
Mr Cox doesn’t talk about that fateful day that claimed his 22-year-old son’s life but he talks about Cameron’s love of the game.
“Hayden and Cameron were fifth generation playing cricket in Mudgee,” Mr Cox said.
By the age of nine, Mr Cox said Cameron was picked up by western area primary school squad and then won a state title two years later.
Three years ago Cameron scored 192 – his highest score with Mudgee under-21s in a semifinal match against local rival Orange.
”He only needed eight to reach 200 and said he would do it in two hits but he got out on the next ball,” Mr Cox said.,
“He was so excited but said he was bloody sore the next day.”
More than 400 woolgrowers have donated in excess of 500kg of wool to the Flock to Baggy Green project – a joint project between AWI’s marketing arm The Woolmark Company, Cricket Australia and Kookaburra.
Rather than putting it in a bale with other fleece, we wanted to put it towards this because cricket was close to Cameron’s heart.
- Malcolm Cox
The wool from across Australia will be collected and processed into woven fabric to be donated as finished cloth to Cricket Australia.
Every woolgrower who provides wool will receive a sample of the finished fabric as a keepsake.
During the course of this project, woolgrowers will be able to see what is involved from taking wool through the supply chain.
The baggy green cap is made from 100 per cent Australian wool. It is worn by Australian Test cricketers and is seen as the highest honour a player can receive.
Australian cricketers first started wearing what became known as the baggy green in 1899. Kookaburra took over production of the iconic caps in 2016.
Cricket clubs have long formed a vital part of the fabric of rural communities, with sheep stations many years ago having their own cricket teams and many cricketing heroes past and present having had connections to the wool industry.
Cricket is Australia’s number one participation sport, with an increasing number of Australians enjoying the various forms of the game from backyards to the mighty Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Australian Cricket Coat of Arms, created before Australia officially existed, features a sheep, which shows the wool industry’s prominence in the Australian community when the team first formed.
In fact between 1860 and 1960, wool was Australia’s largest export earner, the industry being one of the key drivers of economic wealth for a young country finding its feet.
Today, the wool industry is worth $3.5 billion and employs tens of thousands of men and women across the paddocks, sheep yards, woolsheds, processing plants, design studios and fashion houses across the country.