| Bib ID |
4901270 |
| Format |
Audio, Online [sound recording] , Online - Google Books |
| Author |
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| Online Access |
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| Access Conditions |
Access open for research, personal copies and public use. |
| Description |
2010
2 sound files (ca. 136 min.)
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| Series |
Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project.
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| Summary |
Bill Mather-Brown born in Freemantle, W.A. talks about his parents and family background; his brother Donald; contracting polio at the age of two; the family living at Agnew near Kalgoorlie at the time; spending two years at Kalgoorlie hospital; the effects that it had on his body; his philosophy of life; Kevin Coombs; working as a sports reporter with station 6IX; seeing wheelchair basketball for the first time; basketball training; the court at Trenton Park; Sir George Bedbrook; the beginnings of the wheelchair basketball teams in Perth; the spinal injury unit in Perth; Johno Johnston; patients encouraged to become fit and strong; winning some weightlifting competitions; Ludwig Gutmann; Stoke Mandeville Games in England (1957); John Rayne; medals; competing at the first Australian Paraplegic Championships (1960) in Melbourne; his selection for the team for the first Paralympics, Rome (1960); fundraising; support staff; his definition of the Paralympics; the standard of officials at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Mather-Brown discusses meeting his future wife, Nadine (1967); Tel Aviv Paralympics (1968); patients rights; the importance of fitness for paraplegics; Heidelberg Paralympics; Commonwealth Games in Dunedin, New Zealand (1974), Kingston, Jamaica (1966) and Edinburgh, Scotland (1970); the decision to stop taking part in competitive basketball; Winter Paralympics; being made a life member of the Wheelchair Sports Association and W.A. Citizen of the year for sport (1981); Frank Ponta; being awarded the Australian Sports medal (2000); Tony South; coaching wheelchair rugby; his thoughts on wheelchair sport and competition; the classification of disabled athletes; his children; inventing a hand control for automatic cars which is commercially produced; the East Fremantle football club; using his links to the team to inspire his athletes to play at their highest level.
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| Biography/History |
Bill Mather-Brown has been a wheelchair sportsman for over fifty year. He is a three-time Paralympian and has also contested several Commonwealth Games for the disabled. In 2002 he co-authored a book, The fight in the dog, about his life in wheelchair sport. He has also published two volumes of poetry.
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| Notes |
Recorded on 3 June 2010 in Perth, W.A.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
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| Index/Finding Aid Note |
Timed summary (5 p.) |
| Subjects |
Mather-Brown, Bill, - 1936- - Interviews. | Paralympics. | Athletes - Australia - Interviews. | Athletes with disabilities - Australia - Interviews. | Sports for people with disabilities - Australia. | Basketball players - Western Australia. | Wheelchair basketball. | Poliomyelitis.
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| Other authors/contributors |
Poke, Robin, Interviewer | Mather-Brown, Bill, 1936- Fight in the dog
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| Related records |
Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project
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