This story contains images of an Aboriginal person who has passed.
The year was 1962 and the boy from Bourke in New South Wales had won the men’s high jump at the Perth British Empire and Commonwealth games, setting a new bar for the sport and for aspiring Indigenous athletes.
A Gundamooka man, Percy started jumping at sports carnivals when he was 13 years old practising his craft in his own back yard leaping bamboo poles from his grandmothers garden.
His run-up would start in a laneway between the pub and his house. Eventually, his cousin Frankie Bye who was a welder fabricated a makeshift bar and uprights.
Initially, Hobson just landed on the ground, but when he broke the NSW record held by Jack Metcalfe help soon arrived.
“The (Bourke) Council come along and dumped a big load of sand in the backyard…that was luxury plus,” Hobson said in a 2020 interview with NITV News.
Friend and author Helen Coolican is writing a biography on Percy Hobson and she describes him as “an inspiration to all people”.
“An amazing example of dedication and focus and just getting out there and doing something,” Ms Coolican said.
Percy Hobson with Olympic high jumper Joel Baden. Source: Supplied
'I didn't cry ... it just felt good'
Born in 1942, Percy Hobson was one of 10 children to parents Fanny Williams and Percy Snr. His mother was the daughter of NSW Police Aboriginal tracker Frank Williams.
He was coached mostly by correspondence by Sydney athletics coach Doug McBain with the two men only meeting face to face occasionally, and travelling long distances to compete was another hurdle Percy Hobson had to overcome.
His achievements were modest to start with but at the Australian Championships in March 1962, Hobson shook up the field by winning the competition and being named in a five-person high jump squad for the Perth Commonwealth Games.
His home town of Bourke rallied behind their champion and raised much-needed funds for him to travel to Sydney to continue to compete and train.
In October, he confirmed his place in the Commonwealth Games high jump squad by finishing second in the final team trials. In early November, he celebrated his 20th birthday just before heading to Perth.
In stifling forty-degree heat and in front 20,000 spectators, Hobson went on to win by jumping a games record height of 2.11 metres snatching the gold ahead of 1956 Melbourne Olympic silver medallist Charles Chilla Porter.
He had defeated a crack field to take the Commonwealth title and become Australia’s first Indigenous Olympic or Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
“Yeah I’m pretty proud of that. That was the biggest achievement. The journey there. And I can’t complain — I ended up with a gold medal,” he told NITV in 2020.
“Didn’t sink in straight away, you know, I was just emotional,” said Hobson. “I didn’t cry or anything, I just really felt good.”
John Murray's tribute to Percy Hobson was painted on a water tower in Bourke in May 2021. Source: Supplied
Hometown legacy
News of his achievement was received in his hometown of Bourke with relief and delight and celebrations at the Hobson household.
“On the night I’d won it, mum never had any visitors ever. And that night the whole house was packed, people wishing her good and all that.”
His achievements are still celebrated in Bourke, a mural of him in full flight adorns the towns water tower, a park and an entire area at the visitor’s centre is also dedicated to his legacy.
Percy passed away on Tuesday January 4. He was 79.
He is survived by his four children, sons Wesley, Doug and Keith and daughter Francis, along with his six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, along with surviving sisters Freda, Heather, Sue, Margaret and Jean.
His life will be celebrated in Melbourne on Wednesday.
