Well before he became a statesman for the code he was called far worse, which is why he took added pride in watching the Wallabies become the first national team to wear an Indigenous jersey when they hosted the All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium.

McDermott was in the stands for the Bledisloe clash in Brisbane on Saturday night and for him, the result mattered less than the art on the jumper. Of all the codes, rugby was a curious one to win the race for a green-and-gold Indigenous strip and it wouldn't have happened if not for McDermott's resilience and drive.

Now 77, McDermott was the first of just 14 Indigenous players to wear the Wallaby jumper, with Kurtley Beale the sole representative of the current era. He played a pair of Tests against the All Blacks in 1962, a highly significant achievement given the roadblocks in his path when he began learning the code.

He said he was subject to racism as a schoolboy player in Brisbane and at then club level. He would be abused both to his face and when he was out of earshot. He always heard the whispers.

Instead of deterring him, he said it only made him strive harder to succeed. And anyone brazen enough to confront him with a racist sledge more often than not ended up on their backside.

Aboriginal pride: Kurtley Beale models the Indigenous jersey before the captain's run at Suncorp Stadium. Photo: AAP

"Yes, there was racism. A bit of in-your-face racism and a fair bit of racism behind your back. I found that it was at the school and club level, racism was more prevalent," McDermott said.

"When you played at state or international level, I never experienced any racism. A lot of the great rugby union players were black; Maori or Fijian or Samoan. It was more or less in the lower codes I experienced racism.

"It never affected me. It just made me play harder. If somebody called me a racist word, I'd just dump them. I didn't take any nonsense from the other side."

Indigenous athletes are a rarity in the modern game so it's difficult to imagine how McDermott must have felt among the green fields and predominantly white players of Brisbane private schools in the 1950s.

His heroes were boxers like Dave Sands, not rugby players, but it was his sporting and academic ability that earned him a scholarship to Churchie, where the game flourished. The rest is history and by the age of 22, he was on the wing for Australia.

He famously walked away from the game in 1963 when, with a tour to South Africa looming, he was asked to declare himself a 'token white'. His refusal to do so generated little publicity at the time, but it's a decision he recalls with pride.

"It only became news after I'd retired," he said. "But I'm extremely proud. Not only proud but it makes you proud for the other players as well."

He has done much to try to entice Indigenous players into the game but acknowledges its struggles compared to rival winter codes.

"Rugby league and AFL have got more money than the ARU, which is going through hard financial times now. We're at a disadvantage there. But we'll come good.

"It's what you do early in life. If you play early in life, soccer or AFL, you probably follow on with that. You have to get in early."