Sporting Legends of Ipswich Project

In July 2000, the Conservation, Parks and Sports Committee submitted a report to Council recommending the implementation of the ‘Sporting Legends of Ipswich Project’. This initiative aimed to celebrate and document Ipswich’s rich sporting heritage, which had gained renewed community interest following the Olympic Torch Relay and the Olympics. Notably, Ipswich has produced more sporting champions per capita than any other region in Australia.

The Olympic Torch Relay and the 2000 Olympics sparked significant community interest in our rich sporting heritage. Notably, Ipswich has produced more sporting champions per capita than any other region in Australia.

As previously reported to the Conservation, Parks and Sport Committee on 17 August 2000, an initiative for 2000-2001 was to research the city’s strong sporting heritage. The aim was to compile comprehensive information on Ipswich’s past and present state, national, Olympic, and other elite athletes.

Research

For all project-related inquiries, calls were directed to Ms. Sue Ward, and the Queens Park Caretakers Cottage (the home of the project) was open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. A group of enthusiastic community volunteers undertook the research component.

Preliminary consultations between Conservation, Parks and Sport staff and a volunteer group representative helped define the research scope. It was proposed that research focused on the following categories:

• Masters representation at State, National and International;
• Veterans and Seniors representation at State, National and International;
• Juniors who have represented the region at a state championship, represented the state at national championship or Australia in a International competition;
• Athletes with a Disability representation at  State, National and International;
• Australian representation;
• State representation;
• Officials such as referees, umpires and team managers who have been involved in State, National and International Teams;
• Australia Day Awards; and
• Championships that Ipswich has won over the years e.g. Bulimba Cup.

During this consultation, it was agreed that the specific sports to be included in the research should be clearly outlined to help define the project’s scope. It was proposed that the research focus was on sports featured in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, with the addition of Rugby League and Motorsports due to their particular significance within Ipswich’s sporting culture.

Olympic Sports

Additional Commonwealth Games Sports

Additional Sports

Ready, Set ... Go!: Sporting Life and Australian Art Exhibition

Ready, Set ... Go!: Sporting Life and Australian Art Exhibition, was held at Global Arts Link from 17 August to 25 November 2001. This exhibition was scheduled to coincide with the 2001 Centenary of Federation celebrations.

To inform the development of the public programs for the Ready Set ... Go! exhibition in Global Arts Link, an invitation was sent to regional sporting clubs, organisations, and individuals to be a part of an Ipswich Sport Taskforce. The resulting taskforce met regularly in the lead up to the exhibition and helped with advice and knowledge of the local sporting scene as well as acting as a conduit for networking with the local sporting community.

The public programs which were developed, took the form of a series of three Morning Teas with sport as a focus, a Thank You wall, Sports Extravaganza, holiday workshops with a sports theme for primary school children and the official opening of the exhibition. The three Ready Set ... GO! morning teas had the themes of:

• Behind Every Sportsperson – recognising and thanking those who support sportspeople, the coaches and trainers, the parents who transport the children to games and practice, wash uniforms and all of the other unseen tasks. This Morning Tea also launched the Thank You Wall project.
• Bulimba Cup – recognising the very important part that the Bulimba Cup played in Ipswich’s sporting history, bringing together past players and reliving old memories.
• Women in Sport – saluting the amazing contribution that women have made to sport in this region and hearing their stories.

Thank You Wall 
A postcard was developed that regional community members could fill in to thank a particular person who had been specially instrumental in their sporting lives. A special writing desk and ‘postbox’ were set up in the foyer of Global Arts Link prior to the opening of Ready Set ... GO! for people to write and then post their completed Thank You cards. Once the exhibition was opened there was a special wall set aside in the gallery for the display of the completed cards with the writing desk for further cards.

Sports Extravaganza 
The Ready Set ... GO! Sports Extravaganza was a major feature of the public program. Many taskforce meetings were held to develop this event held on Sunday 26 August 2001 in Limestone Park, a large sporting venue close to the gallery and the Ipswich CBD.

Over 30 sporting organisations were involved in the day itself which began with a march past of representatives from each of these organisations as well as Olympians, Paralympians and other sporting award winners.

During the day there were demonstrations and static displays from many different types of sporting groups, demonstration games, Life Be In It activities and fun street theatre to keep people amused. A shuttle bus ran between Limestone Park and Global Arts Link to carry people from the Sports Extravaganza to the Ready Set ... GO! exhibition itself and to reinforce the link between the event and the exhibition.

Holiday Workshops
During the June/July school holidays, art workshops are traditionally held in the rural areas of Ipswich as an outreach program for Global Arts Link.

This year these workshops were directly linked to the Ready Set ... Go! exhibition by offering children the chance to explore the concept of what a trophy is and to create their own trophy from clay. Skilled, experienced arts workers from the Ipswich region led these workshops. A selection of the trophies created in the workshops was then incorporated into the Trophy Display which was an integral and very popular component of the Ready Set ... Go! exhibition.

By working with the young people of rural Ipswich there was a greater sense of ownership of the exhibition by them and their families and the workshops served to promote the Ready Set ... Go! exhibition to a wider target audience.