Living History

The 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Fact: Betty Cuthbert was the first Australian athlete to win a gold medal on Australian soil, not only did she win gold – she won three - the 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4x100 metre relay.
Fact: Ron Clarke, a middle distance runner, became an Australian sporting legend.
Fact: The women's swimming relay team set a world record of 4 min 17.1 sec to win gold.
Fact: Dawn Fraser won the 110 yards in a new world record of 62 seconds as well as silver in the 400 metres swimming.
Fact: Murray Rose won three swimming gold medals - the 400m, the 1,500m and the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Fact: Shirley Strickland won two gold medals in athletics.

This was just some of what became the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Melbournians have always loved their sport and it was a proud event for the once quiet city to host. The 1956 Olympics put Melbourne on the world map and also gave Australia recognition for being one of the most affective countries to host and, successfully compete in, an Olympics.

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics began in October and coincided with the introduction of television to Australia; households across the country were able to watch the broadcast of exciting events. Our beloved Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) was the main stadium and on the 14th day of competition demonstrated to the world the game of Australian Football. As the above list illustrates, Australia produced some of what we now consider to be Australia’s greatest sports-people.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to send in their story and photo. We have been delighted with the response and encourage everyone to continue to write and to contribute to the recording of Australian history through the Seniors Portal 'Living History'.

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