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Daphne Jean Hilton (née Ceeney; 7 January 1934 – 25 July 2016) was an Australian
Ceeney was born in the New South Wales town of Harden-Murrumburrah on 7 January 1934, as the eldest of four children. She became a paraplegic after breaking her back in a horse-riding accident in 1951 at the age of 17. She spent 9 months in Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before returning to Murrumburrah. Eight years after the accident, she moved to Sydney, where she spent six months at the Cherrywood Rehabilitation Centre and then one year at Mt Wilga Rehabilitation Hospital. While living at the rehabilitation hospital, she developed her sporting ability and skills. She was selected as Australia's only female athlete at the 1960 Rome Paralympics.
In 1967, she married Frank Hilton, whom she had met at the Northern Archers Club. She worked as a shorthand typist until the birth of her twin girls, Nichole and Rachael, in 1970. She was at the
Daphne Ceeney – Athletics Australia Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceeney, Daphne 1934 births 2016 deaths Paralympic archers for Australia Paralympic athletes for Australia Female Paralympic swimmers for Australia Paralympic table tennis players for Australia Paralympic wheelchair fencers for Australia Australian female bowls players Australian female archers Australian female foil fencers Archers at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair fencers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in archery Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic medalists in table tennis Paralympic medalists in wheelchair fencing Wheelchair-category Paralympic competitors People with paraplegia Sportswomen from New South Wales Australian female javelin throwers Australian female shot putters Australian female wheelchair racers Australian pentathletes Wheelchair javelin throwers Wheelchair shot putters Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters 20th-century Australian sportswomen
Paralympic
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...
competitor. She was the first Australian woman to compete at the Paralympic Games. She won fourteen medals in three Paralympics in archery, athletics, fencing, swimming, and table tennis from 1960 to 1968.
Personal
Ceeney was born in the New South Wales town of Harden-Murrumburrah on 7 January 1934, as the eldest of four children. She became a paraplegic after breaking her back in a horse-riding accident in 1951 at the age of 17. She spent 9 months in Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before returning to Murrumburrah. Eight years after the accident, she moved to Sydney, where she spent six months at the Cherrywood Rehabilitation Centre and then one year at Mt Wilga Rehabilitation Hospital. While living at the rehabilitation hospital, she developed her sporting ability and skills. She was selected as Australia's only female athlete at the 1960 Rome Paralympics.
In 1967, she married Frank Hilton, whom she had met at the Northern Archers Club. She worked as a shorthand typist until the birth of her twin girls, Nichole and Rachael, in 1970. She was at the Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in the suburb of St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, University of Technol ...
for six months before the delivery, and was the first person with paraplegia to give birth to twins in Australia; a thesis was written about her pregnancy and birth. She officially opened the athlete's village at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympics, and was part of the 2000 Paralympic torch relay. In August 2012, she donated a set of medals from the 1960 Games and three Australian team blazers to the Australian Paralympic Committee
Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian tea ...
. She died in Canberra on 25 July 2016 at the age of 82.
Sporting career
1960 Summer Paralympics
Ceeney was the only Australian female competitor at the inaugural 1960 Rome Games. At the games, she won two gold medals in the Women's 50 m Breaststroke complete class 5 and Women's 50 m Crawl complete class 5 events, three silver medals in the Women's St. Nicholas Round open in archery, Women's Club Throw C, and Women's Javelin C events, and a bronze medal in the Women's Shot Put C event.1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
She won 8 gold medals and one silver medal at the1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
The First Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 10 to 17 November 1962. These Games preceded the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games which were held in Perth from 22 November to 1 December of that yea ...
in Perth, Western Australia
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, specifically in athletics, archery and swimming.
1964 Summer Paralympics
At the 1964 Tokyo Games, she won a gold medal in the Women's Doubles C table tennis event with Marion O'Brien, a silver medal in the Women's 50 m Freestyle Prone complete class 5 event, and three bronze medals in the Women's Albion Round open in archery, Women's 50 m Freestyle Supine cauda equina, and the Women's Foil Individual (wheelchair fencing) events; she also competed but did not win any medals in athletics events at the 1964 games.1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
Ceeney won 13 medals including 6 gold medals in swimming fencing, shot put, table tennis and pentathlon at the1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
The second Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica from 14 to 20 August 1966. There were 133 athletes from 10 countries. The Games were opened by Prince Philip.
Participating nations
The following nations participated at ...
in Jamaica. At these games, she was the only female member of Australia's wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...
team. These Games were where she added wheelchair basketball to her repertoire becoming to first female wheelchair basketballer to play in men's competition in Australia.
1968 Summer Paralympics
At the 1968 Tel Aviv Games, she won a silver medal in the Women's 50 m Freestyle class 5 (cauda equina) event and two bronze medals in the Women's 60 m Wheelchair C and Women's Pentathlon special class events. She retired from Paralympic competition in 1968. Hilton retired from Paralympic sport with a total of 14 medals which was a record not passed by any Australian Paralympic athlete until 2000.2002 World Wheelchair Games
In the 1990s, Ceeney came out of retirement and took uplawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
in the hope of gaining selection for the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. The sport was taken off the program after the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics but Ceeney went on to compete at the 2002 World Wheelchair Games
The World Abilitysport Games (known as the IWAS World Games before 2023) are a parasports multi-sport event for athletes who use wheelchairs or are amputees. Organized by World Abilitysport (formerly IWAS), the Games are a successor to the origina ...
winning a silver in the singles and bronze medal in the pairs and this took place 42 years after her first international sporting success. She retired from lawn bowls in that year.
Recognition
In 2012, Hilton was one of 31 individuals invited to be an ambassador for the 50 year celebrations of Wheelchair Sports NSW. Hilton was inducted into theNew South Wales Hall of Champions
The New South Wales Hall of Champions is a museum at Australia Avenue, Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia. The property is owned by State Sports Centre Trust (State Government). The museum's collection was added to the New South Wa ...
in November 2014. In December 2016, she was posthumously inducted into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame.
References
External links
Daphne Ceeney – Athletics Australia Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceeney, Daphne 1934 births 2016 deaths Paralympic archers for Australia Paralympic athletes for Australia Female Paralympic swimmers for Australia Paralympic table tennis players for Australia Paralympic wheelchair fencers for Australia Australian female bowls players Australian female archers Australian female foil fencers Archers at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair fencers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in archery Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic medalists in table tennis Paralympic medalists in wheelchair fencing Wheelchair-category Paralympic competitors People with paraplegia Sportswomen from New South Wales Australian female javelin throwers Australian female shot putters Australian female wheelchair racers Australian pentathletes Wheelchair javelin throwers Wheelchair shot putters Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters 20th-century Australian sportswomen