Percy Hobson, Australia's first Indigenous gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games, has died aged 79.
A Gundabooka man who was known as the Boy from Bourke, Hobson won the men's high jump at the Perth 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
Born in 1942 and raised in the western NSW town of Bourke, he was one of 10 children to parents Fanny Williams and Percy Hobson.
He was coached by Doug McBain by correspondence from Sydney, and most of his training was undertaken in his own backyard.
He would start his run-up in a laneway between the pub and his house, clearing a bar held up by metal uprights made by his cousin who was a welder.
Initially, Hobson just landed on the ground, then bark shavings.
"The (Bourke) Council come along and dumped a big load of sand in the backyard ... that was luxury plus," Hobson told Kris Flanders of NITV in 2020.
In front of a crowd of 20,000 at the newly constructed Perry Lakes stadium, there were 11 starters for the Commonwealth Games men's high jump final.
With competition taking three hours in the stifling 40-degree heat, Hobson cleared 2.06m on his second attempt to take the lead from Melbourne 1956 Olympic silver medallist Chilla Porter.
Aged just 20, Hobson went on to win in a Games record height of 2.11m, also becoming 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 Flanders.
Bourke celebrated upon his return and in later years had a park named in his honour.
In May 2021 work was completed on a Bourke Water Tower mural of Percy Hobson clearing a high jump bar.
Hobson was due to return to Bourke in early 2022 for its official unveiling.
He is survived by his four children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, along with sisters Freda, Heather, Sue, Margaret and Jean.
Freda said Hobson was thrilled to be invited to the annual First Nations Day at the 2022 Australian Open tennis.
"He was so thrilled to be invited and remembered and was really looking forward to that,'' she said.
"We are all heartbroken ... he was our hero".
