Australia's shirts for this year's Ashes campaign will feature a piece of Indigenous artwork designed to commemorate the region's pioneering Aboriginal XI.

Warrnambool-based artist Fiona Clarke said she was "over the moon" to know her design, Walkabout Wickets, would follow in the footsteps of her ancestors.

"I was told about it earlier this year that they were going to do something for the Ashes and I was surprised about it, to be honest," she said.

"It really means a lot to me, from the bottom of my heart."

Clarke's great-great-grandfather Jimmy "Mosquito" Couzens (Grougarrong) and his brother Johnny Cuzens (Yellanach or Zellanach) were members of the 1868 Indigenous team that toured England.

Station hands and stockmen who worked on properties around Harrow and the state's west formed the team.

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The side, remembered as the Walkabout team, was the first Australian sporting team to travel overseas - some 14 years before the first Ashes series.

"I wasn't told about the time from around there (western Victoria) until I was about 15," Clarke, of the Kirrae Whurrong clan, said.

"How Cricket Australia found that history and, of course, kept it and celebrated it ... there's just a wonderful feeling about it."

Walkabout Wickets recognises Indigenous cricketers past, present and future, using the symbol "Minkgill", which means star, from the Aboriginal Dreamtime.

The design first featured on Australia's shirt for the 2016 Boxing Day Test against Pakistan and has since been incorporated into the playing strips of the present-day Indigenous teams.

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"The large circle represents the grounds that the Walkabout team played cricket on," Clarke said.

"The lines between the smaller circles represent the wickets knocked down by my Aboriginal ancestor cricket players, proudly beating the English at their own game."

Clarke, a keen follower of cricket, said she was counting down the days until the first Test match.

"It's doing really well and I can't wait to see the design out there," she said.

"It's a wonderful sort of feeling to know that it has gone over to the Ashes."

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