Shirley Barbara de la Hunty AO, MBE (née Strickland; 18 July 1925 – 11 February 2004), known as Shirley Strickland during her early career, was an Australian athlete. She won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running sports.

Family

Strickland was the only daughter, the second of five children. She grew up on the family farm east of the wheatbelt town of Pithara, Western Australia. Her father, Dave Strickland, while working at Menzies in the goldfields of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, was also an athlete. He was unable to compete in the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...

because he lacked the money for a trip to Paris. Instead, in 1900, he directed his efforts to the

Stawell Gift The Stawell Gift is Australia's oldest and richest short-distance running race. It is the main event in an annual carnival held on Easter weekend by the Stawell Athletic Club, with the main race finals on the holiday Monday, at Central Park, S ...

130-yard (120-m) foot-race, winning in 12 seconds off a handicap of 10 yards. His performance was considered to be as good as those of Stan Rowley, who won the Australian amateur sprint titles that season. (Rowley went on to win three

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

s in the sprints at the 1900 Paris Olympics). Dave Strickland subsequently went on to play one senior game of

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

with Melbourne-based VFL team St Kilda in 1900 and six with WAFL club West Perth spread across the 1901 and 1909 seasons. Her mother, Violet Edith Merry, was American-born with a British mining engineer father and a Norwegian mother.

Education

Strickland's early education was by correspondence. From 1934 to 1937 she attended the newly established local East Pithara School, winning a scholarship to attend Northam High School, where, in 1939, she won 47 out of 49 events as a schoolgirl athlete. After high school, she entered the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

from where in 1946 she graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics. In her spare time she lectured in mathematics and physics to returned servicemen at Perth Technical College, played wing in the university hockey team and gained a reputation as an extremely gifted sprinter and hurdler.

Athletic career

The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was disruptive to women's athletics in Australia. Some runners, including Strickland, enlisted to help the war effort. While teaching at Perth Technical College, she was coached by Austin Robertson, a former world professional sprint champion and

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

footballer. She improved her 100 yards time from 11.8 to 11.0 flat. At the 1947 Western Australia state titles, she won the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, the 90 m yards hurdles and the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. The following year, she took up running seriously, with great success. She won the national title in the 80 m hurdles in 1948 and was part of the Australian delegation to the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

in London. There, Strickland finished third in both the 100 m and 80 m hurdles and won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. Despite being awarded 4th place in the 200 m final, a photo finish of the race that was not consulted at the time, when examined in 1975, showed that she had beaten American Audrey Patterson into third place, a discrepancy that has been recognised by many reputable Olympic historians. After winning three gold medals in the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary fil ...

, she won her first Olympic title at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. She won the 80 m hurdles in

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

time (10.9 s). A baton mix-up cost her a second gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. In the 100 m, she again won a bronze medal. She set a new world record of 11.3 s for the 100 m in Poland in 1955. Further, in the 1956 Olympics, she won again in the 80 m hurdles and with the Australian 4 × 100 m relay team.

Post-athletics

De la Hunty maintained her Olympic involvement in athlete administration, with the Australian teams during the

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and 1976 Olympics in Mexico City and Montreal. She also coached sprinter

Raelene Boyle Raelene Ann Boyle (born 24 June 1951) is an Australian retired athlete, who represented Australia at three Olympic Games as a Sprint (running), sprinter, winning three silver medals, and was named one of 100 Australian Living Treasures, Nation ...

for the 1976 Olympic season. Along with her husband, de la Hunty had a longstanding involvement with the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...

. She was a founding member, and later served as president of the party's branch in Western Australia.SHIRLEY DE LA HUNTY, 1925‐2004
– State Library of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2015. From the early 1970s through to the mid-1990s, de la Hunty was a

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

for state and federal political office, although never elected. She stood in six state elections – in 1971, and then in five consecutive from

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. In 1983,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, and 1996, she stood for the

, while she stood as an

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

in the remaining years. She ran for the Legislative Assembly in 1983 and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

(in East Melville and Melville, respectively), and for the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in 1971, 1986, 1989, and 1996.Black, David (1989). ''An Index to Parliamentary Candidates in Western Australian Elections, 1890–1989''. Parliament of Western Australia, Parliament House, Perth, Western Australia At the federal level, all but one of de la Hunty's runs for office were made as a Democrats candidate. In total, she contested seven federal elections—four consecutive from

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, as well as the 1981 by-election in

Curtin Curtin may refer to: Places *Curtin, Australian Capital Territory * Curtin, Oregon, U.S. *Curtin Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, U.S. *Curtin, Nicholas County, West Virginia, U.S. *Curtin, Webster County, West Virginia, U.S. * RAAF Base Curt ...

, and then in

and

. She ran for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

in 1981 (Curtin), 1984 (

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

), and 1993 (

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

), with the latter being her only independent candidacy at federal level. At all other elections, she contested the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, where she was generally placed second or third on the Democrats'

group voting ticket A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a Ranked voting systems, preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member ele ...

. Although never elected to parliament, de la Hunty served two periods as a

City of Melville The City of Melville is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in the southern List of Perth suburbs, suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, east of the port city of Fremantle and about south of ...

councillor, from 1988 to 1996 and from 1999 to 2003. This political affiliation contrasted with the background of her first coach,

Betty Judge Betty Beazley (née Judge; 21 March 1921 – 13 September 2015), known as Betty Judge during her career, was an Australian athletics world record holder at 880 yards, 330 yards and 300 metres. She coached the Olympic champion Shirley Stricklan ...

, who was the wife of Kim Beazley Sr. and mother of

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. Since 2022 he has served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial. Previously, he was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...

, both prominent

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politicians. De la Hunty was one of several female Australian Olympians who carried the Olympic Flame at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Games. In 2001, she attracted media attention by auctioning her sporting memorabilia including her Olympic gold medals. She was criticised by some for that but asserted she had a right to do so and the income generated would help pay for her grandchildren's education and allow a sizeable donation to assist in securing old-growth forests from use by developers. Her memorabilia were eventually acquired for the National Sports Museum in Melbourne by a group of anonymous businessmen who shared her wish that the memorabilia would stay in Australia.

Personal life

In 1950, she married geologist Lawrence Edmund de la Hunty, who had been one of her students at Perth Technical College. They had four children: Phillip (1953), Barbara (1957), Matthew (1960) and David (1963). Matthew was the lead singer in Australian rock band

Tall Tales and True Tall Tales and True were an Australian rock band formed in 1983 by Matthew de la Hunty on lead vocals and guitar and Paul Miskin on bass guitar, backing vocals and guitar. They released three studio albums, ''Shiver'' (1989), ''Revenge!'' (1992, ...

. Barbara graduated in Science. Phillip's intended medical career was destroyed by heroin addiction though he later graduated with honours in Science. David is an

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

practising in Rockingham. Lawrence died of a heart attack in 1980, aged 56. De la Hunty was appointed Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO) on 26 January 2001 for service to the community, particularly in the areas of conservation, the environment and local government, and to athletics as an athlete, coach and administrator. She had been appointed Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(Civil) (MBE) for services to athletics on 1 January 1957. Her body was found on 16 February 2004 on her kitchen floor, but the coroner determined that she died on the evening of 11 February. There was no full autopsy and the coroner said the cause of death was "unascertainable", though not inconsistent with natural causes. The Western Australian government honoured her with a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

, the first ever for a private citizen. In 2005, some members of her family approached the coroner regarding the circumstances of her death. In 2006 an investigation was conducted by detectives from the major crime squad. In 2008

probate In common law jurisdictions, probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased; or whereby, in the absence of a legal will, the e ...

was granted after a dispute over her will was resolved in the state

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. Shirley Strickland Reserve in Ardross, a suburb of Perth, is named in her honour. In 2001, she was inducted onto the

Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the Australian state of Victoria. It was launched by The Hon. Joan Kirner AC as a joint initiative of the Centenary of Federation Victoria Comm ...

. In 2011, Shirley was posthumously inducted into th
WA Women's Hall of Fame
and in 2014, Strickland de la Hunty was inducted into the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, coverin ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

References

External links

* National Film and Sound Archive
Oral biography with video clips
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strickland, Shirley 1925 births 2004 deaths Australian female hurdlers Australian female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Australian people of American descent Australian people of British descent Australian people of Norwegian descent Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia World record setters in athletics (track and field) Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Officers of the Order of Australia Olympic athletes for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia Sportspeople from Northam, Western Australia Track and field athletes from Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni Western Australian Sports Star of the Year winners Recipients of the Olympic Order Australian Democrats politicians Western Australian local councillors Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian women politicians Women local councillors in Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportswomen from Western Australia Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games Australian Athletics Championships winners New Zealand Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Australian sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics