Not many Australians know about The Invincibles - an Indigenous cricket team in the late 19th century which won most of the matches they played.

Initially captained by a future West Australian premier, the New Norcians team won their matches in WA by huge margins.

But when the West Australian Cricket Association (WACA) was formed, they were not included.

A new book titled The Invincibles by Fremantle author Bob Reece details this little-known but unique chapter in the history of the game.

The story starts in the 1870s on the Victoria Plains.

Young Henry Lefroy had returned to the family property at Walebing after attending school at Rugby.

Lefroy's father was the colony's treasurer, and Henry himself would become agent-general for WA in London - as well as the state's 11th premier before receiving a knighthood.

But before all that Henry, a keen sportsman, dreamed of captaining a cricket team.

He decided to source players at the New Norcia Mission, 35 kilometres to the south of Walebing, possibly inspired by an Aboriginal team's tour of England in 1868.

The New Norcians, who had swung a bat and thrown a ball by the time Lefroy arrived, were willing participants.

The Abbott of New Norcia, Bishop Rosendo Salvado, encouraged it, seeing cricket as physically and mentally enhancing.

Lefroy taught the finer points of the game and apparently paid for uniforms and gear.

As author Reece explains, success came quickly.

"They had a string of victories from 1879 through to 1883. They beat almost every team they played and that included York, Guildford, South Perth, Fremantle," he said.

"They were very hard to beat.

"They were very enthusiastic to play the follow-on rule and they made a lot of use of it so in many cases they didn't just win, they'd win in an absolutely crushing way."

Trek from New Norcia to Perth to play matches

In 1879, the team walked from New Norcia to Perth and played their first match against the Metropolitan Cricket Club.

They were beaten at the Recreation Ground (now Wellington Square in East Perth) but the curiosity of the locals had been stirred.

Bishop Rosendo Salvado encouraged the playing of cricket at the mission. ( Charles J Wainwright - New Norcia archives )

When the New Norcia team played at Fremantle the next day, the crowd was behind them and they won, creating a sensation.

The Herald reported: "The crowd was evidently delighted that the Aboriginals had won and exhibited their delight by constant cheering".

The evident skills were put down to the Indigenous men having good eye-hand coordination as a result of being hunters and gatherers.

But as Reece said, that did not explain everything.

He said by living and working together, and knowing each other so well, they had advantages other teams did not.

"They worked very closely together, they were all inter-related, they lived side by side in the village in New Norcia," he said.

"They went to church together, they went to dances together at night on Sundays, they had a routine, they had a village life in which cricket played an important part."

Winning no guarantee to entry

The New Norcians continued to play and win but as Reece explained, they were not accepted by the WACA when it formed in the 1880s.

"They weren't invited to join the WACA and I suppose that could be seen as a vexed issue," he said.

"Were they excluded, or was it simply because it was impractical for New Norcia to take part in fixtures in Perth over the summer when they had to travel for two days to get here?

"So I suppose there was a practical problem but at the same time maybe the excellence of these people at cricket was something some white people weren't happy about."

Over the years, Australian Rules Football would draw more Indigenous sportsmen.

"Footy was a much more egalitarian, working-class game - where you came from. What colour you were didn't matter quite so much," Reece said.

There was one man descended from the New Norcia cricketers who went close to being selected to play for WA without ever being given the honour.

Aboriginal cricketer John McGuire believes barriers still exist. ( ABC News )

John McGuire's great grandfather was John Blurton, a star all-rounder.

McGuire was one of 24 men who amassed 7,000 runs in district cricket, but the only one not selected for Sheffield Shield.

Mount Lawley president Peter Murphy said he does not know why McGuire was not given a shot.

"The amount of centuries that he scored, his continual aggregate every season was phenomenal," he said.

"Unfortunately the state side was very strong at that time and he just couldn't force his way in.

"He always opened the batting - maybe they just thought he needed to score a bit quicker but his record stands alone and from our perspective he certainly deserved one."

South Australia offered McGuire the chance to play there with the chance of working his way up to their state team, but he wanted to represent his own state.

McGuire remains Western Australia's most decorated Aboriginal cricketer.

"Our history of involvement in cricket spans close to 150 years so it's been a game that we've been able to play," he said.

"But we've not seen that transition over that period of time into the higher levels of the sport."

He did lead an Aboriginal side to play in England in 1988, to commemorate the tour of the Aboriginal players from Victoria in 1868.

McGuire played a role in programs designed to encourage talented Aboriginal youth to commit to cricket but players did not break through.

'Exclusion' still there and barriers remain

Now chairman of the Aboriginal Cricket Council, McGuire believes the barriers are still there.

"We still see exclusion, you can participate but you won't be included and there is a difference," he said.

"There has to be a pathway and an opportunity for a kid who picks up a cricket bat and says 'I want to play like Ricky Ponting. or I want to play like David Warner', knowing that if they're good enough and they put in the hard work that they can get there.

"For Aboriginal players, I don't think there is that pathway."

WACA game development manager David Clear said the association has targeted programs to encourage Indigenous players but he accepts no Aboriginal man or woman has yet played for the state.

He says a lack of role models makes it hard.

"When you've got 10 per cent of players Aboriginal - AFL-contracted players - and in Australian cricket we've had Dan Christian that has been contracted, Jason Gillespie, Josh Lalor for New South Wales but you can sort of count those players on one hand," he said.

John McGuire and Peter Murphy both say the star batsman's Aboriginality never caused him problems at Mount Lawley.

But when asked if he still thinks there was a kind of colour barrier in cricket, McGuire says that for a start, clubs need to be more welcoming.

"Lots of people would say, 'Ah you can't roll out that old chestnut because it's about inclusion and we have vilification rules in all of the games, all sports these days' but there is a lack of opportunity for Aboriginal players in cricket," he said.

While saying the WACA and Cricket Australia are doing a "marvellous job" attempting to improve participation, McGuire said there is a different culture at a cricket club when compared with a football club.

He is hoping to help drive change.

"I'm in a much better place to influence change and that's what I want to do," McGuire said.

"I don't want West Australian Aboriginal kids to look at the sport and say look, I'm good at it but I'll never get the chance to play for my state or go up the rung and play representative cricket.

"I want Aboriginal kids to look at the sport and say I can make it, I can be that good."