Honouring Woorabinda's rugby league legacy

Cultural disclaimer: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this article contains names and images of people who have passed away.

Woorabinda loves its footy. For generations, rugby league has been a source of pride and community connection.

The small town’s rugby league story stretches back to Woorabinda’s establishment as an Aboriginal settlement in 1927. From the late 1920s to the early 1950s, rugby league competitions involving teams from Cherbourg, Palm Island and Woorabinda Aboriginal settlements were played throughout Queensland.

A look through digitised newspapers from those early days records a long and proud sporting tradition, despite the conditions experienced by Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples living under the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act (1897).

Woorabinda’s homegrown heroes

The rugby league tradition began with the great Oscar Munns (1906-1982) captain of the Woorabinda team and described by The Sunday Mail in 1933 as being “fit to represent Queensland”, alongside Cherbourg’s Frank Fisher.

Indeed, Woorabinda’s Oscar Munns Memorial Trophy is a lasting tribute to a man who helped shape the town’s love of the game.

Sixty years later, Reggie ‘the Woorabinda Wiz’ Cressbrook continued the tradition as a founding player for the mighty North Queensland Cowboys from 1995 to 1997, playing 34 representative games.

And today, the local Woorabinda Warriors team proudly carries that legacy forward as role models, guiding the next wave of players to reach their full potential, on and off the field.

Upgrade for future generations

Given the town’s rugby league history, it’s no great surprise news of the $4.54 million to upgrade the Woorabinda Community Rugby League and Sports Precinct felt like a match-winning try.

The rugby league and sports precinct upgrades will be funded through the Closing the Gap Priorities Fund to support other recreational activities, improve health outcomes and give Woorabinda a first-class facility to host regional sport competitions.

The investment will transform the precinct into a modern, multi-purpose sporting hub.

Woorabinda Mayor Terence Munns said the community would be cheering for this project from the sidelines and it’s already generated plenty of excitement.

“Rugby League in Woorabinda is the number one sport. It's (the upgrade) been a long time in the making,” said Mayor Munns.

"If we can get this facility up and running, it's not just a benefit for one sport … it'd be a multi-purpose sports complex."

The 2026-27 State Budget committed more than $73 million through the Closing the Gap Priorities Fund to deliver new public health and essential infrastructure projects in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

These projects represent meaningful progress toward Closing the Gap outcomes and reinforce the vital role infrastructure plays in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Queensland.

And with a new generation set to benefit from upgraded facilities, Woorabinda’s proud rugby league story is entering an exciting new chapter.

1933 Rugby Football Team – played in Central West, 1933, unidentified, State Library of Queensland. Negative number: 108906

Front-Back: Oscar Munns, Joe Rankin, Gordon Henry, Leo Freeman, Norman George, Ernie Williams, Harold Munns, Nemo Rankin, Andy Richards, Jimmy Daisy, Isaac Gundy, Dudley Waterton and Edgar Saunders.