Page 1089 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2012

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certainly a most generous organisation and I would like to note Brendan Bilston and also say g’day to Michelle Bilston, his sister, who was also participating in the relay for life on the weekend; and the John James Memorial Foundation.

The keynote speaker on the day was Carl Sueli, who is a three-time survivor of leukaemia and also works at Point Project Management. His story was very inspiring.

I say to the chairman of Lifecyle, Mr Mark Blake, to all of the committee involved in that and all of the people participating: well done. If anyone needs any more information, they should contact Jillian Brownlie from Show Pony Events and she can point them in the right direction.

Cricket

MR COE (Ginninderra) (6.27): As we approach the upcoming weekend of local grand final cricket matches, I would like to put on the record my thanks to the individuals and organisations that contribute so generously to cricket in the ACT. Sport is a great way to strengthen communities, and there is no better example than cricket as an activity which removes barriers and binds communities together. Whether it is India, Pakistan, England, New Zealand, South Africa, here in Australia or in any other cricketing nation, the sport and the players are revered and hold a special place in society.

Canberra has a proud tradition of cricket being played dating back to the 1850s. Teams such as Ginninderra, Queanbeyan, Goulburn, Yass, Gundaroo, Braidwood and other towns and clubs in the region used to play relatively frequently. One of the key advocates was William Davis, who led his Ginninderra team to much success. In a book authored by Lyall Gillespie there is an article about a match between Ginninderra and Queanbeyan reported in the Golden Age on 29 January 1863:

A more exciting match than the one in question has seldom been played on the ground, and it resulted after a hard fight in a victory for Queanbeyan men with nineteen runs to spare. Everything passed off well and pleasantly. The ground presented a very gay appearance and flags flying—the various tents each surmounted by the colours of the different clubs—a large booth erected by Mr William Lee, in which the creature comforts were plentifully supplied.

In spite of the match being 149 years ago, I would think it could easily have been on any other weekend since.

Back to 2012—let me acknowledge some people who make cricket in the region possible. Firstly, the current board of Cricket ACT: chairman, Ian McNamee; secretary, Bruce Dockrill; the treasurer, Barry Mewett; grade cricket committee, Jim Meszes; future direction, Jim Body; and the game development committee, Bronwyn Fagan, Peter Downing and John Miller.

Cricket ACT is also well served by its CEO, Mark Vergano, and his staff: Andrew Dawson, Mark Higgs, Martin Garoni, Anna Baker, Chris Doyle, Kyle Piper, Paul Egan, Dougal Reed, Charlotte Anneveld, Matthew William, Brad van Dam and Blake Moore.


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