Francis Arthur Sedgman is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Over the course of a three-decade career, Sedgman won five Grand Slam singles tournaments as an amateur as well as 22 Grand Slam doubles tournaments. He is one of only five tennis players all-time to win multiple career Grand Slams in two disciplines, alongside Margaret Court, Roy Emerson, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams. In 1951, he and Ken McGregor won the Grand Slam in men's doubles. Sedgman turned professional in 1953, and won the Wembley World Professional Indoor singles title in 1953 and 1958. He also won the Sydney Masters tournament in 1958, and the Melbourne Professional singles title in 1959. He won the Grand Prix de Europe Professional Tour in 1959.
Peter William Thomson was an Australian professional golfer. In the late 1940s, Thomson turned pro and had much success on the Australasian circuits, culminating with a win at the 1951 Australian Open. He then moved onto the PGA Tour, playing on the circuit in 1953 and 1954, but did not have much success, failing to win. He decided to focus on Europe thereafter with extraordinary success, winning dozens of tournaments on the British PGA, including the Open Championship five times. As a senior, Thomson continued with success, winning 11 times on the Senior PGA Tour. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all-time.
The Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic cycling race is a one-day road bicycle race. The race started in 1895 and is Australia's oldest one day race and the world's second oldest one day race, after the Liège–Bastogne–Liège Classic. Historically until 1938 the race started in Warrnambool and finished 165 miles (266 km) later in Melbourne. In 1895 the race was run in the opposite direction, from Melbourne to Warrnambool and then again from 1939. The route started in the Melbourne central business district and followed the Princes Highway to Warrnambool on Victoria's western coast. This traditional route was the longest race on the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) calendar, the exact distance varying slightly over time.
Donald 'Don' Wilfred Gale was an Australian rules football player who played for Wynyard and Burnie in the NWFU and Hobart in the TFL. He was selected in regional and state representative teams.
Frederick James "Mulga" Davies was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The Australian National Road Race Championships, are held annually with an event for each category of bicycle rider: Men, Women & under 23 riders. The event also includes the Australian National Time Trial Championships since 2002. The Australian Championships were officially known as the Scody Australian Open Road Cycling Championships from 1999 to 2010, taking the name of their main sponsor. This changed to the Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships from 2011 but they are more commonly referred to as The Nationals. The under 23 championships were introduced in 2001. Note that these results do not currently include the senior and junior amateur road race championships that were held prior to the open era.
The Ballarat Football Netball Club, nicknamed the Swans is an Australian rules football and netball club. The football squad currently competes in the Ballarat Football League in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia.
Australian rules football was one of two demonstration sports at the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne.
Alfred Ernest Shepherd was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the electorates of Sunshine (1945–1955), Ascot Vale (1955–1958), and Footscray (1958). He was Minister for Education in the 1952-55 John Cain government and was leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1957 until his death the following year.
The Round Australia Trial was a long distance rally, which was run on multiple occasions between 1953 and 1998, circumnavigating Australia. Its early years were tremendously popular as the roads through large portions of the country, particularly west of Adelaide, were unformed. Automobile manufacturers enthused over the event as it provided a particularly severe test event for their products, proving their cars were able to stand up to whatever conditions remote Australia could provide. Early editions of the event were heroic tests and were front-page fodder for the newspapers of the era.
Nino Borsari was an Italian cyclist who won a gold medal in the 4000 metres team pursuit event at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Jenny Staley Hoad was an Australian tennis player who was mainly active in the 1950s.
David Bland was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He played 36 league games for St Kilda, over five seasons. During that time he missed 14 games through suspension, 12 of them for two incidents in the 1953 VFL season.
Maurice "Jack" Fitzgerald was an Australian Track racing cyclist, particularly in sprint and Six-day racing.
Michael Patrick Blake was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
John Joseph Holland was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1925 to 1955, representing the electorates of Flemington (1925-1945), Footscray (1945-1955) and Flemington again (1955).
The Ampol Tournament was the richest golf event of its time in Australia. From 1952 the sponsor, Ampol, offered great prize money to attract the leading American and European players to compete.
Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) is the Commonwealth Games Association for Australia, and is responsible for representing and promoting the Commonwealth Sport movement in the country, and organises the participation of athletes at the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games. It changed it name from the Australian Commonwealth Games Association to Commonwealth Games Australia in 2015. The Commonwealth Games have been held in Australia five times, most recently the 2018 Commonwealth Games were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Neilma Bailieu Gantner was an Australian philanthropist and author who wrote as Neilma Sidney.
Harry Williamson Berwick was an Australian golfer. He won the Australian Amateur twice, in 1950 and 1956, and won the 1952 New Zealand Amateur. He won two open titles in 1956, the Lakes Open and the New Zealand Open. He was part of the Australian teams that won the 1954 Commonwealth Tournament at St Andrews and the 1966 Eisenhower Trophy in Mexico City. He turned professional at the age of 52.
