Fred Kirkham (born Frederick Angus Benfield; 5 April 1937 – 25 October 2007) was an Australian

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

medal winning

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Early life

Kirkham was born in

Leichhardt, New South Wales Leichhardt () is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Leichhardt is located 5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and is the administrative centre for the local government ...

and attended

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

(1945–1953). During his adolescence he was known as Fred Benfield but reverted to his mother's maiden name as an adult.

Rowing career

Kirkham took up rowing at Newington College in Sydney. His senior rowing was with the

Sydney Rowing Club Sydney Rowing Club is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, Australia formed in 1870. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's Parramatta River at Abbotsford, New South Wales, Abbotsford Point since 1874. The club has a focus on it ...

.Benfield Profile at Austn Rowing History
/ref> His first and only state appearance for New South Wales was in the three seat of the senior men's eight which contested and were runners-up for the

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

at the 1956 Australian Interstate Regatta. In 1956 for the

Melbourne Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the excepti ...

the winning

Victorian eight was selected as the Australian men's eight excepting for Kirkham in the three seat from New South Wales. Kirkham rowed in the Australian eight in their Olympic campaign to a thrilling final where the Australian eight took it to the US and Canadian crews and came away with a bronze medal.Benfield at World Rowing
/ref>

Police and legal career

For twenty years Kirkham served as a member of the

New South Wales Police Force The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police officers, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,60 ...

. Kirkham served as a uniformed officer for several years before training to join the NSW Police Drug Squad. After completing his HSC at the age of 30, Kirkham attended night school to complete his law degree. He was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1974 and practiced mainly in the area of personal injury. After 14 years at the Bar he was appointed a Judge of the

District Court of New South Wales The District Court of New South Wales is the intermediate court in the judicial hierarchy of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a trial court and has an appellate jurisdiction. In addition, the Judges of the Court preside over a rang ...

in 1988 where he served until his retirement.

Music career

In 1963, Kirkham co-wrote

The Delltones The Delltones were an Australian rock 'n' roll band, which formed in 1958. They started as a doo-wop, harmony quartet with Warren Lucas (tenor vocals), Brian Perkins (baritone vocals), Noel Widerberg (lead vocals) and Ian "Peewee" Wilson (bass ...

' hit song ''Hangin' Five'' with Ben Acton.

Community activities

He served as President of the Old Newingtonians' Union at the time of its Centenary (1995–1996).Newington Across the Years, A History of Newington College 1863 - 1998 (Syd, 1999) pp 347

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkham, Fred 1937 births 2007 deaths Australian male rowers Australian police officers People educated at Newington College Old Newingtonians' Union presidents Olympic rowers for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Rowers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics 20th-century Australian judges 21st-century Australian judges Rowers from Sydney Sportsmen from New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen