The Chairman of the 1982 Commonwealth Games was Sir Edward Williams.[2] The 1982 Commonwealth Games Logo was designed by Hugh Edwards.[3][4][5] The symbol is derived from the form of a bounding kangaroo. The three bands, forming stylized A's (for Australia), and is in colours which are common to flags of many Commonwealth countries.
The mascot for the games was also designed by Hugh Edwards and is a caricature of a kangaroo was named Matilda.[6] A 13-meter-high (43-foot) mechanical kangaroo travelled around the stadium and winked at the crowd.
The event was officially opened by The Duke of Edinburgh and closed by Elizabeth II.
Brisbane was awarded the Games by default after being the only candidate city left at the bid election after Birmingham reversed its decision to submit an application.[7]Nigeria's boycott of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal made Lagos' bid lobbying impractical.[8] The 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal were plagued with cost overruns, and bidding on a sports festival anywhere in the world was not good politically.[9]
Participating teams
Countries and places which competed at the 1982 games
Forty-six Commonwealth nations and territories took part in the 1982 Commonwealth Games.[10] A total of 1,583 athletes and 571 officials participated in the event.[11] The Griffith University student dormitories in the adjoining Nathan Campus were used as athletes' villages.[12]
Participating Commonwealth countries and territories
Opening ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane with mascot Matilda winking to the crowd
The ceremony at the QEII Stadium was held on a fine but extremely windy day. The wind was so strong that skydivers who were going to descend into the stadium were cancelled.[11] Instead they made an entrance at the closing ceremony.
Closing ceremony
Her Majesty The Queen at the Closing Ceremony of the Games
Elizabeth II closed the Games during a colourful ceremony, which included parachute jumpers (who had originally been also intended as part of the Opening Ceremony display) jumping and landing in a special target area within the stadium and red, white and blue balloons. Matilda the Kangaroo also winked at the Queen. Following the closing of the Games, the Queen and the Duke left the stand to be driven from the stadium. However, nobody wanted the Games to end and the Australian team formed a 'guard of honour' and ran beside and behind the car in which Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were travelling, as it circled the stadium several times before finally leaving.[19] Team members from other countries also joined in running after the royal car.
Highlights
Day 1 (1 October)
The first event of the Games was 100 kilometres (62mi) Road Trial in cycling. England won the Gold Medal in the event, and Australia won the Silver Medal—coming second to England by only six seconds.
Other sports which were contested on the first day of competition included swimming and diving, weightlifting, shooting and bowls.
Day 2 (2 October)
Sports contested included swimming, diving, weightlifting, shooting, cycling, bowls and archery.
The day was marred by both Australia and Canada being disqualified in the 4 × 100 metres relay in swimming, both problems occurring during change-overs. The medals awarded for this race went to England, Scotland and New Zealand.
Day 4 (4 October)
Sports contested included swimming, diving, cycling, athletics, archery, hammer throwing and shooting.
The day was marred when Canada was again disqualified, this time in the 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay. Canada protested against the winners, Australia, as well as against their own disqualification.
Aboriginal movement protests
The Brisbane Commonwealth Games were also noted by large-scale protests by the Aboriginal rights movement in Australia, which brought to the centre of international media attention the lack of Indigenous land rights in Australia, poor living condition and suppression of personal and political rights in Queensland in particular, and in Australia as a whole.[20] One of the targets of the protests was Queensland's Aborigines Act 1971,[21] which restricted and controlled the lives of Aboriginal people in Queensland.[22]
There were large marches on 26 September (2,000 people), 20 September (1000), and a sit-in of 104 people on 4 October. Also on that day, around 20 spectators held Aboriginal flags in the stadium during the entire program. On 7 October, about 500 people attended another protest, and 400 police arrested 260 people, including then Governor-General's daughter, Ann Stephen.[23] The protests were all peaceful, but police came out in force and blocked roads, making arrests under Queensland's Traffic Act.[24]
Bob Weatherall, a Kamilaroi elder, is a lifelong activist,[30] a researcher in Aboriginal history,[31] and musical collaborator with Brisbane band Halfway[32]
The protests, which were followed by large-scale arrests, are a significant event in the history of the Australian Aboriginal rights movement.[33][34][35] When the Commonwealth Games returned to Australia in 2018 at the Gold Coast, it drew a series of peaceful protests.[23][26]
This is the full table of the medal count of the 1982 Commonwealth Games. These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a country. The number of silvers is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. This follows the system used by the IOC, IAAF and BBC.
12McBride, Frank; etal. (2009). Brisbane 150 Stories. Brisbane City Council Publication. pp.274–275. ISBN978-1-876091-60-6.
↑"Provincial Councils". The Official Website of the Government of Sri Lanka. 3 September 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2009.
↑Greenberg, Tony (4 April 2018). "When the Tigers won Games gold". RichmondFC.com.au. Richmond Football Club. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
123456"Just the right price". The Australian Women's Weekly. 11 August 1982. p.129. Retrieved 31 January 2026– via Trove.
↑"Brisbane 82". The Scotsman. 29 September 1982. p.19. Retrieved 9 February 2026– via British Newspaper Archive.
↑The XII Commonwealth Games, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, September 30 - October 9, 1982: The Official History. Brisbane: The XIIth Commonwealth Games Australia Foundation. 1983. ISBN0959220712.
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