Other Sports - 1949

Australian stars in minor sports in the Menzies Era included:

Jack Brabham (motor car racing) (born 1926 in Sydney)
Jack Brabham won the World Championship three times (1959, 60 & 66).
His 1966 victory was in a self-designed car.
He won the Constructor's Championship (for car design) twice.
Jack Brabham was selected as Australian of the Year in 1966 and was knighted in 1979.
He retired in 1971
Ken Catchpole (Rugby Union football) (born 1933)
Ken Catchpole is regarded as Australia's greatest Rugby Union halfback.
He played 23 test matches for Australia (from 1961)
He was made Australian captain in 1961 but thereafter was vice-captain.
Jimmy Carruthers (boxing) (born 1929 in Sydney)
Jimmy Carruthers won the World bantamweight championship in 1952 by knocking out Vic Toweel of South Africa after 139 seconds of the first round during which he threw an estimated 147 puches.
He successfully defended the title four times in 1953 & 1954.
Jimmy Carruthers retired undefeated in 1954 but was defeated attempting a comeback in 1961.
Johnny Famechon (boxing) (born 1945 in France)
Johnny Famechon became Australian featherweight champion in 1964
He became Commonwealth featherweight champion in 1967
and World featherweight champion in 1969.
He is the only World feathereight champion never to have been knocked out.
Johnny Famechon retired in 1970 and was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles in 1997
Bernard "Midget" Farrelly (surfing) (born 1944 in Sydney)
Midget Farrelly won the Makaha International surfing in Hawaii
This prompted Ampol Petroleum to sponsor the firstt official World Surfboard Championship which Midget Farrelly also won in 1964.
Heather McKay (squash) (born Heather Blundell in 1941 in Queanbeyan)
Heather McKay won the Australian Amateur Squash Championship 14 times (1960-73)and
the British Amateur Squash Championship 16 times (1962-77)
She was beaten only twice in her 20 year career, once in a NSW State championship in 1959 and once in the final of the Scottish Championship in 1960.
Heather McKay also represented Australia in hockey
She retired in 1979 after losing a set for the first time in five years during the British Open.
She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1979.
Kel Nagle (golf) (born 1920)
Kel Nagle won 55 major tournaments between 1938 and 1978.
He won the Australian Open in 1959 and the Australian PGA six times,
the New Zealand Open and the New Zealand PGA nine times each,
the British Open (1960),
the Canada Cup (now called the World Cup), with Peter Thomson, twice (1954 & 59) and the World Series twice (1971 & 75)
Bill Northam (yachting) (born 1905 in England)
Bill Northam took up sailing at the age of 46.
He won the 5.5m Olympic gold medal in 1964 in "Barrenjoey" becoming the oldest person (at 59) to win a gold medal.
He was knighted in 1976 and died in 1988
Bill Roycroft (equestrian) (born 1915 in Flowerdale, Victoria)
Bill Roycroft learnt to ride as a child but did not begin entering competitions until middle age.
He competed in five Olympic games from 1960, where he won a gold medal in the three-day event.
He won Olympic bronze medals in the same event in 1968 & 72
Peter Thompson (golf) (born 1929 in Melbourne)
Peter Thomson won 57 major tournaments between 1949 and 1979.
He won the British Open five times, including three consecutive years (1954,555 & 56)
the Australian Open twice (1951 & 1967)
the New Zealand Open nine times and
the Canada Cup (now called the World Cup), with Kel Nagle, twice (1954 & 59).
He retired from tournament golf in 1979.
Robert "Nat" Young (surfing) (born 1950 in Sydney)
Nat Young won the World Surfboard Championship in San Diego in 1966
He was the first person to win the title who was not a resident of the host country.
He retired from competitive surfing in 1990 and set up a resort near Yamba, New South Wales.

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	*OTHER SPORTS**