A right old giggle was had in Cunnamulla earlier this year at the sight of a young lad plastering hand-drawn flyers around town.
The artwork, scrawled in coloured pen on the blank side of scrap paper, featured two boys and a girl playing cricket on a fresh, pea-green pitch.
"Cricket. Come down every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 3pm-5pm," it declared.
"Hosted by Henry Land.
It was an endearing scenario, but not one that many residents of the remote south-western Queensland town expected to bear fruit.
They underestimated the depth of young Henry's zeal.
The boy — then 11, now 12 — was hell-bent on starting Cunnamulla's first junior cricket club in more than 30 years.
And he did it.
The town now has two junior cricket teams, and about half the town turned up for their first match.
The Cunnamulla Emus with their coach, Michael Lloyd. (Supplied: Marsha Bolitho)
'This is cricket'
The term "cricket obsessive" feels an inadequate description for the passion young Henry feels towards the gentleman's game.
He and his sister Claudia moved from South Australia to Cunnamulla with their mum Marsha Bolitho last year and were disappointed at the town's lack of junior sporting options.
It was rugby league or zilch. Even tackle footy expired when kids turned 12.
Henry Land is the catalyst behind Cunnamulla Emus. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh)
Henry coaxed a few mates down to the local cricket nets after school, then upped the ante with his hand-drawn propaganda campaign — and the palm-greasing promise of free icy poles.
He became this band of barefoot boundary bashers' unofficial coach, manager, umpire, and equipment supplier all rolled into one.
Together the kids developed a list of rules for these training sessions.
"We had to show respect, no swearing, bowl before you bat, and we weren't allowed to throw hands [fight]," Henry said.
There were more rules, too — no cheek, don't leave rubbish at the nets, no laughing at people if they miss a hit and, importantly, if you're at the nets you play cricket.
Henry's mum naturally became the chief supplier of icy poles and was continually amazed by the kids' ability to run their own show.
Henry with his mum Marsha, who drives him 400km to Charleville and back to play cricket on weekends. (ABC News: Peter Quattrocelli)
She recalled the moment a new boy turned up at the nets one afternoon and dropped a curse word.
"One of the kids stopped him and said 'listen, we don't talk like that at the nets. This is cricket'," Ms Bolitho said.
"They've got so much respect, and they've got a real sense of ownership and belonging to this team.
"They're the ones who started this, made the rules and showed up.
"They should all be really, really proud of themselves."
Emus on parade
Local artist, Andrew Nelson, donated the emu print for the team shirts. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh)
Things started to snowball for Henry and his mates after some enthusiastic coverage from the ABC.
Some of cricket's top administrators caught wind of the burgeoning club, including Queensland Country Cricket president Kev Maher.
He spoke about the kids at Queensland Cricket's annual general meeting, and soon Henry and his mates no longer had to share busted old bats and a few pairs of grubby pads.
"That's how we got all that gear sent out from the Brisbane West club," Mr Maher said.
"After the meeting one of their delegates came up and said they had all this equipment they weren't using, and asked for their address so they could transport it to Cunnamulla."
The match went down to the wire. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh)
UK-based youth cricket charity The Lord's Taverners also teamed up with The Gabba to upgrade the kids' cricket nets with brand new surfaces, an outback coach ran a few clinics, and sponsors started rolling in to get the club off the ground.
It culminated in an afternoon match with all the pomp befitting such an occasion — a big community turnout, welcome to country, more sausages than a butcher's scales, and trophies for most respectful players.
Most importantly, this ragtag Australian answer to the Sandlot Kids now had a name.
The Cunnamulla Emus.
And they had some very flash uniforms to boot.
Marsha Bolitho's clothesline shows the less glamorous side of being a cricket mum. (Supplied: Marsha Bolitho)
Hit for six
The dust has settled on the Emu's first game and what might be the shortest season in cricket history.
Temperatures in Cunnamulla are creeping back towards 40C as summer draws near, so the season is already over after one match.
The kids though are still training several times a week.
"They've certainly had their training leading up to this fierce game," Ms Bolitho laughed.
"They've had a year of it."
Henry's sister Claudia captained one of the teams, the Gulberis — an Aboriginal word for emu. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh )
Looking back at what Henry, his mates, and his incredibly energetic mum have achieved over the past year is staggering.
They now have two teams of eager young players ranging from five to 12 years of age, a registered sporting club, and eyes on entering the competition 200 kilometres away in Charleville next year.
More than half of the Emus come from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander backgrounds which bodes well for a sport with only a 3 per cent national Indigenous participation rate among adults.
Kaydan Munn-McFarlane and Jakarhlem Munn in line for first bat. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh )
"It shows that when you've got the spirit and the will, you can get it done," Mr Maher said.
"When regional and country cricket are strong Queensland cricket is strong.
"Some day who knows what they'll achieve."
Henry's just happy to play cricket.
And watch cricket.
And dream about cricket.
The kids were split up into two teams for their first and only game of the season. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh)
"I'm really proud that we've achieved all this, that we've learnt the sport and worked together as a team," Henry said.
"We haven't got a coach yet so we're hoping to build the club this year, get as many kids as we can at the nets, and play fun community games in our uniforms for special occasions."
But first he's hoping to catch a glimpse of one of his sporting heroes.
"I'll be going to Adelaide over the Christmas holidays to watch a few BBL games," Henry said.
"I really like Usman [Khawaja, captain of the Brisbane Heat] so it'll be awesome to watch."
Perhaps the Aussie batting star will ask Henry for his autograph.