Merle Erica Richardson (born 1930 in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

) is a former international

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

competitor for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Bowls career

World Championships

Richardson won the fours and team event

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s at the

1977 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 1977 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held in Worthing, England, from 21 May to 5 June 1977. Elsie Wilkie successfully defended her singles title which was held in a round robin format. The pairs went to Hong Kong, the triples t ...

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the fours gold was with Dot Jenkinson, Connie Hicks and Lorna Lucas. Eight years later she won three golds at the

1985 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 1985 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Reservoir Bowling Club in Preston, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia from 13 February to 4 March 1985. Merle Richardson of Australia won the Sylko Trophy (Singles Gold medal), Aust ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. The golds were in the singles, the pairs with Fay Craig and the team event (Taylor Trophy).

Asia Pacific Championships

She won two medals at the

Asia Pacific Bowls Championships The Asia Pacific Bowls Championships formerly the Pacific Rim Championships was a bowls, lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Asia Pacific region. The event was inaugurated in 1985, and it was initially held ...

including a gold medal in the 1985 singles at

Tweed Heads, New South Wales Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

Awards

Richardson was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for services to bowls in 1987. In 2011 she was inducted into Bowls Australia’s Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Merle 1930 births Living people Australian female bowls players Bowls World Champions Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal 20th-century Australian women Sportswomen from New South Wales