Page 1510 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011
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ACT Cricket annual presentation night
Walk and Talk: City with a Soul
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (7.08): Mr Speaker, in yesterday’s adjournment debate I spoke briefly about four great contributors to Canberra cricket—John Gallop, Denis Axelby, Reverend Peter Nelson and Ron Axelby—who were presented with their 50 years of service awards. But I ran out of time to talk about their contributions, which I will now address.
John Gallop AM QC RFD came to Canberra in 1963 and joined Kingston Cricket Club. He was captain of first grade for about five years and was also captain of the ACT team for about the same period. He played for a New South Wales country team which played a three-day game against the England touring team in Newcastle in 1964 and was also chosen to play in the Prime Minister’s XI team against South Africa at Manuka in 1964.
After an injury John retired from playing in 1974. However, he was always involved in the administration of the game. When he was at the Waverley club he was on the general committee of the club for about five years. In Canberra he was the honorary solicitor for the ACTCA for 10 years, and then became the president. John held that position for 28 years and did not seek re-election in 2010-11. The one-day club competition in the ACT is known as the John Gallop Cup.
Denis Axelby has had an uninterrupted and distinguished association with Canberra cricket as a player since 1959 and administrator from 1966. His passion and commitment to the on and off-field success of his club, his love of cricket, the manner in which he plays the game and his fierce competitive spirit are legendary across the ACT region and beyond. As a member of North Canberra Gungahlin and its predecessor entities, Denis served his club with distinction as treasurer for a continuous period of 32 years while also contributing to club cricket for many years as grade captain, selector, curator, equipment manager, fundraising officer, junior coach and association delegate. Denis has also held the position of ACT Cricket Association Vice-President. He has taken more than 850 wickets and scored around 5,500 runs during his grade career and is now the leading wicket taker for NCGCC since its formation in 1989. In 2007-08, at the age of 59, Denis was awarded the Dene Moore Medal as the ACT’s best fourth grade player as voted by his peers. He continues to play in the ACT fifth grade.
The third nominee was Reverend Peter Nelson, who has scored around 27,000 runs in turf grade cricket since he began his playing career with Riverside in the Northern Tasmanian league in 1960. He later moved to Melbourne, where he represented Malvern Cricket Club in 141 matches over 12 seasons. Peter was one of just 40 nominees for the Malvern team of the century, which included five players who had played for Victoria. In 1983 he moved to Canberra, where he represented the City District and North Canberra Gungahlin clubs. Peter is also a member of the ACT Over 60s team.
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