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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 2 Hansard (28 February) . . Page.. 350 ..


MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

In December 2000, the new Bradman pavilion at Manuka Oval was officially opened during a ceremony at the Prime Minister's XI game. Sir Donald himself was not well enough to attend that particular occasion. He had declined the invitation to open it himself due to ill health. His son was also unavailable on that day. The building was officially opened by the Prime Minister, and Sir Donald commented that he was honoured to have the new building, which would replace the building he opened himself in 1963, named after him. It will remain the ACT's memorial to a truly remarkable man, and other memorials are no doubt being planned as we speak.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my condolences and that of, I am sure, the whole Assembly, to the family of Sir Donald Bradman. They can be comforted in the knowledge that his memory and legacy will live on in an enduring way, and this is not often the legacy of a cricketer, or indeed of any sportsman or sportswoman in this day and age. I believe not only that the lives of all Australians have been enriched by his life, but that, indeed, the lives of all lovers of cricket throughout the world have been enriched similarly.

MR SPEAKER: Would you formally move the motion, Chief Minister?

MR HUMPHRIES: I move:

That this Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of Sir Donald George Bradman, AC, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family.

MR SPEAKER: Thank you.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition): Mr Speaker, I am very pleased to join the Chief Minister this morning in this condolence motion.

Donald Bradman was the greatest batsman to grace the sport that has-probably quite rightly-been called Australia's national game. He had an unmatched first-class batting record, 117 centuries and an average of 95.14; and an unmatched test record, 29 centuries and 52 tests, with an average of 99.94. Notably, in tests he was never dismissed in the nervous 90s. They were always converted into hundreds or double centuries or more.

Bradman dominated the cricket scene throughout his career. He had few, if any, of the bad patches that have been the fate of other, lesser players. Even in the notorious Bodyline series he averaged over 50 in tests.

But Bradman's influence was on more than just the cricket field. His career spanned some of the most trying times in Australia's short nationhood-the Great Depression and the Second World War. He gave Australians something to take hold of in times when they needed reassurance. As John Huxley wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald today, in the outpouring of emotion on news of Bradman's death:

it was clear the nation had been joined in something more profound than mere remembering, or mourning.

Something extraordinary, albeit sad, that may tell us as much about ourselves and our notions of the nature of human greatness as about our greatest hero.


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