Pelaco
‘Pelaco’ playing cards with Aboriginal characters by Sands & McDougall, Australia, c.1930.
‘Pelaco’ Playing Cards
Sands & McDougall, Melbourne, c.1930
Pelaco playing cards depict Aboriginal characters on the court cards, joker and back design, with the ace of spades also suggesting a face. The images are believed to have been inspired by Mulga Fred (c.1874-1948), an Aboriginal buckjumper and one of the greatest rodeo riders of his day. Around 1917 the clothing firm Pelaco Ltd company advertising depicted a bare-legged and bare-foot Aboriginal man. By the 1930s ‘Pelaco Bill’ sported a monocle and cigar, or stood resplendent in shirt, tie and trousers. Biography of Mulga Fred→
Above: ‘Pelaco’ playing cards with Aboriginal characters on the courts, manufactured by Sands & McDougall, Australia, c.1930.
Right: front and back of the tuck box →
Mulga Fred was 5 ft 10 ins (178 cm) tall, full-bearded and softly spoken; in later life he walked with a limp, a legacy of rodeo work. His tombstone is engraved with a stockwhip and boomerang, symbols of the two cultures he mastered. A design application appears to have been lodged at the National Archives dated July 1933. The names on the four Kings are unclear, but may be Billy Kinnear, Frederick Charles Petty and Percy Joseph Brown of Prahran Vic whose names appear on the application.
By Jan Walls
Australia • Member since March 02, 2019
I collected playing cards since I was in primary school.
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Shane Chalmers
22 July 2026, 08:33Dear Jan,
I would like to seek your permission to use the photos of the Pelaco playing cards on your site in an academic publication that is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press in 2027. The book is a legal history of Australia, titled "The Colonial Legal Imaginary", authored by me, for a primarily academic audience (students, researchers, teachers). I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong and Adjunct Associate Professor at Adelaide University. If you don't mind giving permission to use the photos in the publication, I would be happy to answer any questions. My email address is chalmers@hku.hk.
Thank you for considering this request,
Shane