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Mrs
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE
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Governor
of South Australia
3rd November 2001 to 8th August 2007
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Born in 1931,
Marjorie Jackson (later Marjorie Jackson-Nelson) is well known
throughout Australia for her outstanding athletic achievements,
and for her work in raising money for leukaemia research.
Nicknamed
the "Lithgow Flash" after the New South Wales town in which she
was brought up, Marjorie Jackson won two Olympic gold medals (Helsinki
1952) and seven Commonwealth Games gold medals. Between 1950 and
1954 she won every State and Australian title for the 100 yards,
100 metres, 220 yards and 200 metre sprints. Marjorie was the
first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal for track
and field and the first Australian (male and female) to win an
Olympic gold medal on the running track since 1896. During her
athletic career Marjorie Jackson broke world sprint records on
ten occasions.
In 1952 Marjorie
was recognised as Australia's "Sportsman Of The Year". In the
same year, the prestigious Helms Foundation in the United States
awarded her the title of "Outstanding Athlete 1952". In the 1953
Coronation Honours, Marjorie Jackson was awarded an MBE for her
services to athletics.
In 1953 Marjorie
Jackson married Peter Nelson, an Olympic cyclist. Following his
death from leukaemia in 1977 she launched the Peter Nelson Leukaemia
Research Fellowship and has since dedicated herself to raising
funds to sponsor research into fighting this disease. Based in
South Australia, her single handed campaign in this area has involved
thousands of hours of work speaking to groups across Australia.
In 1986,
Adelaide's Lord Mayor held a civic reception to honour Marjorie
Jackson-Nelson's achievement in raising $1 million for leukaemia
research. The funds raised were used to sponsor a leukaemia laboratory
in Adelaide and more recently for the appointment of a second
researcher at the Flinders Medical Centre, also in Adelaide. In
April 2001 another reception was held at Government House in Adelaide
to honour and acknowledge her work for leukaemia research, by
which time her fund raising had reached the $3 million mark.
In 1986 during
South Australia's sesquicentenary celebrations, a plaque was laid
in North Terrace, Adelaide, honouring Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
as a great South Australian.
In 1988,
she was nominated by the Governor-General and the Prime Minister
as one of twenty living members of the '200 Great Australians'
recognised by the Australian Bi-Centenary Committee.
In 2001,
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson became a Companion of the Order of Australia
and, as Governor, was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian
Order by Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of the Royal Visit
to Adelaide in February 2002.
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Marjorie
Jackson
"The Lithgow Flash"
Statue
by Antony Symons
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Click on
image for a larger view
Career
Highlights and Honours Received
| • |
Small
Business Proprietor in the Unley Precinct (Clothing & Sporting
Goods Retail) |
| • |
Past
President of the SA Division of the Australian Olympic Federation |
| 1982 |
Women's
Section Manager of the Australian Commonwealth Games teams. |
| 1985 |
Admitted
into Australia's Sporting Hall of Fame.
Chosen as one of the outstanding athletes of the association's
seventy-five years by the International Amateur Athletics
Association |
| From
1985 |
Served
five years as a board member for the South Australian Government's
Sports Institute |
| 1986 |
Women's
Section Manager of the Australian Commonwealth Games teams |
| 1988 |
Honoured
by the Governor-General and the Prime Minister as one of twenty
living members of the '200 Great Australians' recognised by
the Australian Bi-Centenary Committee |
| 1990 |
Women's
Section Manager of the Australian Commonwealth Games teams
in Auckland, New Zealand.
Awarded
the Officer of the Order of Australia for services to sport
and health |
| 1990
to 1992 |
Deputy
Chairperson for Adelaide's bid to host the 1998 Commonwealth
Games |
| 1992 |
Guest
of the Australian Olympic Federation at the Olympic Games
in Barcelona, Spain |
| 1994 |
General
Team Manager, Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada (the
first time a woman was appointed to this position).
Member of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee for the Confederation
of Australian Sport for many years |
| 1995 |
Named
a Legend in Australian Sport |
| March
1997 |
Made
a life member of the South Australian Olympic Council Selected
for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia as Athletes' Liaison
Officer |
| 1998 |
Honoured
by Australia Post on a stamp celebrating Olympic legends |
| December
1998 |
Appointed
board member of the Sydney Organising Committee for the 2000
Olympic Games |
| December
1999 |
Featured
on an Olympic coin produced by the Perth Mint |
| February
2000 |
Inducted
as a Life Member of the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Sydney
Football Stadium |
| February
2000 |
Inducted
in the first Australian Athletic Hall of Fame |
| July
2000 |
Awarded
Australian Sports Medal instituted by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth
II |
| September
2000 |
Carried
the Olympic torch at Lithgow, NSW
Unveiled statue in Lithgow Plaza in her honour.
Carried the Olympic flag into Stadium Australia for the opening
ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. |
| October
2000 |
Inducted
into the International Women's Hall of Fame at the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel in New York City |
| April
2001 |
Received
an honorary doctorate from the Charles Sturt University, Bathurst,
NSW in recognition of her contribution to international sport,
Commonwealth and Olympic Games and leukaemia research
As part of the Centenary of Federation celebrations was honoured
in Victoria as one of 127 women pioneers in helping to shape
our Nation |
| August
2001 |
Awarded
the Companion of the Order of Australia |
| February
2002 |
Appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by
Her Majesty The Queen |
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